That Was The Show That Was: King Tuff, Wavves and Jacuzzi Boys | The Sinclair | 1 Oct.

At first blush, Brattleboro-bred power-pop trio King Tuff don't sound all that punk. The band colored its recently reissued debut Was Dead with agitated jangle, bright hooks and fundamental drumming, and lead Tuff Kyle Thomas -- who has also served time in Witch with J. Mascis and was also a member of freak-folk concern Feathers -- would seem more likely to cite Alex Chilton than, say, Ian MacKaye as an influence. But here was King Tuff on Tuesday, on a bill sandwiched between the primitive scuzz-punk of Jacuzzi Boys and lo-fi heros-cum-Weezer acolytes Wavves. And there were the kids, slam dancing away as Thomas' impressive mane bopped beneath his trademark "ME MAKE ROCK ROLL" trucker hat. At times the man looked positively dismayed at the carnage before him, but that didn't preclude him from tossing out Tootsie Rolls to devotees in honor of the "first day of Halloween."

After simmering in the under-underground for years, King Tuff landed on Sub Pop, and that leap to hyperspace seemed to be reflected in the crowd's adulation; there were probably more chants for the band following Jacuzzi Boys' opening set than for Wavves. And King Tuff did not disappoint. They were note-perfect on the jams from the self-titled Sub Pop debut, and proffered a towering, mosh-ready iteration of the anthem "Bad Thing." The songs from Was Dead stood out, spurred by extra oomph from behind the drum kit, which caused the songs' hooks to burst from beneath heavy distortion to the front of the mix. "Dancing On You," in particular, had the crowd pogo-ing with glee -- not aggression -- and offered a rare break in an otherwise extremely physical show.

Wavves have been touring their excellent fourth LP Afraid Of Heights for well over a year now, and it shows. Their set was packed tightly with slam-baiting jam upon slam-baiting jam. The gentlemen in Wavves don't present as imposing figures -- they convey instead a goofy stoner charm with their Blue Album pop smarts -- and neither do their fans. So, while sure the circle pit that erupted produced plenty of flying limbs, it's doubtful anyone feared bodily injury while inevitably mixing it up during "No Hope Kids." Jacuzzi Boys opened the night with a tenacious set of Cali-punk-indebted distortion pedal abuse. The King Tuff / Wavves / Jacuzzi Boys tour rolls on through Oct. 15 in Los Angeles, after which King Tuff heads northward for a short strand of dates in San Franciso, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. Check out all the tour dates at Sub Pop's King Tuff page right here. -- Dillon Riley

King Tuff: Internerds | Label | Facebook

Today's Hotness: Johnny Foreigner, Guillermo Sexo, Calories

>> [Photo ganked from the Johnny Foreigner Facebook page] Noise pop superheroes Johnny Foreigner are "50% finished" with a new EP, we were surprised to learn earlier this week via this blog post. We have no information about who will be releasing the EP, when it will be released, or what is on it. But here are some dots you can try to connect. First, there's this quote from the blog: "We're undecided if the lead-off single should be a standard yay happyclap pop song (for The Radio to pick up on and make us famous) or a depressing slow song (cos The Radio pretty much ignores us whateverr, and we're all growd up and mature now)." The Birmingham, England-based trio recently (finally) shipped its Every Cloakroom Ever 10", which the band self-released with the blessing of its label Best Before. We also know that Johnny Foreigner is planning a make-or-break U.S. tour, perhaps touring alongside notable Leeds-based indie trio Sky Larkin, which will release its stellar sophomore set Kaleide Aug. 9 as we noted here. And based on reporting by our KeepingSomeDarkSecrets colleague Luke Cotton, we know the names of two more as-yet-unreleased new Johnny Foreigner tracks: "The Wind And The Weathervane;" "Harriet By Proxy." And of course Johnny Foreigner earlier this summer released to the Internerds an amazing version of "With Who, Who And What I've Got," which we would expect the band will properly record in non-8-bit version. So that's three tracks, which could be most of an EP right there, yeah? An EP that might be sold on a fall tour, yeah? Anyway, watch this space for tour news, some unreleased video, and the like. Get excited people.

>> We say this constantly, but we're constantly surprised to find bands we like right here in our own proverbial back-yard (frankly, we find ones we don't like with terrifying ease, although it was *sort of* nice to hear that Jerry Garcia Band cover last night). We were inclined to ignore a recent pitch about a Boston-based act named Guillermo Sexo, because, really, doesn't that sound like it is going to be a dude in a gold lamĕ speedo singing lounge versions of Madonna songs? But, in fact, Guillermo Sexo makes compelling guitar music the likes of which we are constantly on the hunt for in Boston. The quartet released in June its third full-length Vivid Nights, and you can stream the whole thing gratis at this Bandcamp page. Vivid Nights contains a number of great songs, and we're posting the rocker "Neon Lights" below. The tune reminds us a bit of the aforementioned Sky Larkin -- because the lead vocal is handled, presumably, by Noell Dorsey rather than fronter Reuben Bettstak -- paired with some mid-period New Order chiming guitar and Kiss Me Deadly-ish sass in the chorus. That said, "Neon Lights" isn't stylistically representative of the entirety of Vivid Nights, which elsewhere embraces early Blonde Redhead-grade psychedelia (such as on the Guillermo Sexo track "Puppies To Rock"). Guillermo Sexo's previous full-lengths are Oh Wow, released in 2007, and Magic Lanterns from 2008. The band currently has no pending live dates posted, but we'll keep an eye out.

Guillermo Sexo - Neon Lights

>> [UPDATED] Back to Birmingham, England, then, for more news about power trio Calories' forthcoming sophomore set Basic Nature, which is due Sept. 13 on Tough Love in a combined vinyl/CD/digital download package that will apparently be limited to 500 pieces. Meaning we should really go pre-order before we post this. Hold on a moment. Right then, Calories has begun posting (sadly un-embeddable) streams for certain of the tracks from Basic Nature at this web site, where currently the curious can hear what we believe will be the first single "FFWD" as well as the songs "Thirteen" and "The Brink." "FFWD" is textbook Calories: concise, anthemic, wholly rocking; the single will be released digitally Aug. 30 and will be promoted by via video clip as well. "Thirteen" is a cover of Big Star's sweet acoustic ballad, a song choice that surprisingly eschews the usual anthemic bludgeoning doled out by the threesome (seriously, do we have to post the live video of "Drink The Potion" again?) and heads into Alex Chilton-ish territory [Thanks to Alexei Berrow for pointing out this is, in fact, a cover, something we were too daft to check before we published -- Ed.]. We presume Calories will tour with abandon come September, and we do something like praying with the hopes that they will come to America a bit, too.