Fan the Hammer
(self-released)
When he’s not playing with local honky-tonk sensations the Tabloid Twangers, singer-guitarist John McAlea kicks it with Fan the Hammer, a four-piece that just issued the AAA radio-oriented We Don’t Need Forever All We Need Is Now. While neither McAlea nor guitarist Jana McAlea has a particularly strong voice, the tunes are solid, and the McAleas harmonize on “Gossip,” where they recall the back-and-forth vocal style of X’s John Doe and Exene Cervenka. Uptempo roots-rockers “My SG” and “Death on Rt. 2” are the standouts here and fare better than melancholy ballads “Misery Town” and “Out of Control.”
— Jeff Niesel
Fan the Hammer perform at 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, at Prosperity Social Club (1109 Starkweather, 216.937.1938, prosperitysocialclub.com).
The Know Nothings
(self-released)
myspace.com/theknownothingsband
As song titles like “Girls, Got Me Going Crazy,” “Awkward Bits of Silence” and “Down for the Count” suggest, there’s nothing too complex about the music on this five-song EP. The workmanlike quality of those straight-ahead alt-rock tunes (think Black Crowes meet Stone Temple Pilots) isn’t all that appealing. The band is better off with “The Weight,” a bluesy grunge ballad with a driving guitar solo, and “Listen,” a moody ballad that suffers from its brevity (it’s a little more than a minute long). — Niesel
The Know Nothings perform with Chris Moss, Long Time Darlings, the Approach and the Education, and the Heights Band at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, at the Kent Stage (175 E. Main St., 330.677.5005, kentstage.org). Tickets: $5 advance, $7 day of show.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 2, 2010.
