American Gun, 2.14.09

click to view gallery

As American Gun led the “Heartbreak Valentine’s” party at Art Bar, images from the classic film Casablanca played on a bank of TV screens behind the band. In a way, the movie provides a good parallel for the band’s sound: classic, but perhaps a little overplayed.

Said classic sound falls somewhere between The Rolling Stones and 90s alt-rock. There’s also a Lynryd Skynyrd element present in having three southern guys playing guitar on stage.

The first half of the set showcased new material for the American Gun fans in attendance, of which there were quite a few. The songs brought a wide variety of atmospheres and textures to the table, using tambourine, slide guitar, tremolo effects, and steel-string acoustics to form a jangly wall of Southern sound. To me, the most valuable player in this area is Mr. Long-Haired Guitarist, who used finger-picking and volume knob swells to craft his subtle guitar parts.

"After his guest appearance, Arleigh rejoined the crowd of revelers in front of the stage and sprayed the band with a mouthful of swilled beer.”

I made up a name for Mr. Long-Hair because American Gun uses joke names on their Myspace. They also use a lot of jokes on stage, which go over to varying degrees with the crowd. Singer Beard-No Glasses cracked quite a few which barely brought chuckles, but did manage to win the audience over with “Drunk Girls.” This little acoustic ditty combined the undeniable allure of inebriated females with “joke’s on you” crowd participation to crack up the anti-Valentine audience.

The second half of the set picked up speed with guest appearances from Arleigh of the Defilers and Jeff, a former member of American Gun. Jeff added some keyboard parts but really shined in guest appearances on guitar. Jeff, a really short dude, was amazing with a Fender Stratocaster in his hands, wrenching out howling notes and looking damn cool while doing it.

click to view gallery

After his guest appearance, Arleigh rejoined the crowd of revelers in front of the stage and sprayed the band with a mouthful of swilled beer. Mr. Glasses-Singer later returned the favor by spraying a girl in the front row with his own beverage. (Maybe he should have paid more attention to MTV back in the day?)

So what began as an evening of basic American rock devolved into debauchery as band and audience alike downed beer and bourbon. American Gun may have a sound that’s been done to death, but like Casablanca they are entertaining to their viewers. “Here’s lookin at you kid.”

For More Info, visit: myspace.com/americangun