On the Verge

But isn’t raw “in” these days? Drew Murray (my uncle) has been an A&R man since the ’70s and is currently a senior vice president at Sanctuary, an umbrella imprint for the distribution of indie releases. Asked whether the industry is chasing rawer, more offbeat acts in the wake of The White Stripes, Hives and Strokes, he says, “The overall blueprint hasn’t changed. When something new comes along, everyone jumps at it like lemmings, and then everyone gets bored.” He adds that while he thinks that “new rock” is still on an upswing, “The Hives ruined it.... We overhyped them.” Which only makes it harder for bands like Green Rode Shotgun to get attention.

Back onstage at Slow Bar, it’s 11:36, and Green Rode Shotgun are launching into their last song of the night, “As Pieces Fall.” It starts as a sort of stun-ray punk ballad and ends in semi-psychedelic cacophony, with Johnson moaning blankly into his mic while Sergio takes over the lead, singing, “I heard it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.”

When their short set ends, the guys tear down, hauling their stuff to their vehicles while accepting the congratulations of the crowd. Green Rode Shotgun are going their own way right now, hoping to advance, but unwilling to sign just anything for the luxury of having someone else worry about their future for a year or two. Henderson and Sergio have gone that route before; never again, they say.

GRS’ manager Tige Casey returns to the idea of trusting the process. “It would be impossible for R.E.M. not to have made it,” he says. The hope for Green Rode Shotgun is that Casey’s statement is as true now as it was 20-odd years ago.