“No, no more Iggy Pop shit,” Orville Neeley announced nearly halfway into the OBN IIIs’ Friday showcase at the Volstead Lounge. “Maybe one day.”
Last year, this most Stooge-ly of local bands famously began waxing hard rock. With the excellent Third Time to Harm, Neeley restrained his street-walkin’ cheetah stage persona by strapping on a guitar. The riffs became less James Williamson and more Buck Dharma. Going by last night’s showcase, heavy on new tunes, the next LP’s spirit animal moves from Blue Öyster Cult to Thin Lizzy.
This would be a punkier Thin Lizzy, brimming with the barely controlled aggression that’s Neeley’s signature. Few are the local frontmen who’ll slam their guitars into the ceiling one song into the set, banging feedback and off-kilter harmonics from the poor instrument, then grab a Gibson and launch into the next tune all in one sweep. Equally, few local drummers effortlessly play the entire kit like Marley Jones, and few lead players rip Strats apart like Tom Triplett.
“Okay, here’s some old shit,” Neeley taunted. “I mean, no one wants to hear all these new songs, right?”
Mayhem erupted in the tiny, packed room the minute early garage-punk blaster “New Innocence” detonated. Come the break on the last LP’s anthemic “No Time for the Blues,” Neeley set down his SG and dove straight into the crowd, indulging the Iggy Pop shit after all.
Complete SXSW Music coverage at austinchronicle.com/sxsw/music
This article appears in March 20 • 2015.
