The Freddie Steady 5
Tex-Pop (Steady Boy)After reviving the Explosives to back the resurrected Roky Erickson, drummer/guitarist Freddie “Steady” Krc takes aim at the long wake of the Beatles with Tex-Pop. True to the album’s title, Krc filters the Fab Four flavor through homegrown influences, most notably the organ-fueled axis of Sir Doug Sham, Sam the Sham, and ? & the Mysterians. It’s easy enough to imagine the Texas Tornados covering a chugging, country-tinged rocker like “What’s So Hard About Love,” but Krc’s agenda extends beyond state lines. Opener “Just Down the Road” combines a sneering garage rock beat with a high lonesome Byrds guitar sound. A jangling undercurrent of Eighties Southern pop imbues romantic longings like “If She Were Mine” with extra-sweet wistfulness. The local quintet’s penchant for Nuggets-style garage rock comes through with fists raised on “Cavestomp 2001,” a recollection of the Brooklyn music festival similar to Eric Burdon’s “Monterey.” Looks like pure pop and Texas twang aren’t so dissimilar after all.
This article appears in July 27 • 2007.
