Hans Condor
No one at The Stone Fox Friday night (The Spin included) was surprised how quickly Hans Condor has reclaimed the throne as Nashville's rowdiest band. Late last decade, the band built a reputation for thunderous riffs, raucous live shows and destroying everything that stood in the way of their having a good time. So excitement among their loyal legions of local fans spread quickly when word went out that the band was reuniting. In the past, we've seen them shred while standing on the FooBar bar. We've seen them dive off the Mercy Lounge stage. We've even seen them knock down four rows of back-lined guitar rigs at Exit/In. But Friday night The Condor took its high-flying act where it has never gone before — to West Nashville. But first we caught new locals Shocking Boobs and Brooklyn's Slonk Donkerson.
We actually got to the gig on time to satisfy curiosity and catch rookies Shocking Boobs, who were making their live debut. The new band features current Diarrhea Planet dude Jordan Smith and former Diarrhea Planet dude (and fine solo artist in his own right) Evan P. Donohue — two dudes who share an established love of two things: catchy power pop and band names stolen from a fourth-grade boy's Mad Libs book. We arrived long before the masses and got to see the Boobs set up and soundcheck with about 15 seconds of “Blitzkrieg Bop.” Clearly the band was ready to give us a good time.
Shocking Boobs
Thirty mints and at least two pints of brew later, the club brimmed with DP super fans and the band took the stage, kicking things off with an eponymous intro song, where they gang-sang a chorus of "The shocking booooooooooobs" enough times to make it clear that it was indeed their name. They followed it up with a song that sounded a lot like Weezer. Then they followed that up with another one that sounded like a different kind of Weezer song. We could repeat that sentiment for a while, but you get the picture. What did surprise us was how tight and professional-sounding they were for the first show. Recommended if you like Weezer.
Slonk Donkerson
We were pretty ready to rock when unfortunately named New Yorkers Slonk Donkerson took the stage, especially since the bass player looked like fallen Metallica soldier Cliff Burton — a lanky hesher wearing tight jeans and a denim jacket. While he was missing a sleeveless Misfits shirt, he did play a Rickenbacker. Just as we got geared up to start a circle pit and a "Battery" shout-along, Slonk Donk blindsided us with a sonic cache of '80s and '90s college-rock jangle. Recommended if you like the catchier Mission of Burma tunes, collect old Flying Nun records by way of eBay buys and regale friends with tales of how all the best shows you ever saw happened in Chapel Hill during the Clinton era.
Hans Condor
But let's face it: There's nothing quite as ferocious a Hans Condor show. The Condor came out loud, noisy and wild. Perhaps too wild for some of the Belmont-preppie indie rockers in the house, who quickly fled in fear for their lives from the band's earth-scorching riff-rock. In between said riffs, band members slammed back beers, threw around guitars and pumped fists, calling to mind their kindred rock spirits like MC5 and Rose Tattoo. You know it's a good night out when the frontman knocks over a floor monitor for the fourth time as he charges off stage and into the audience, leaving a pile of slain, sweat-drenched Condor fans in his wake. Two pieces of advice for young Nashville rock bands: Never try to play after Hans Condor and never let them borrow your gear.
