Two Cow Garage preview

Two Cow Garage
Bottom Lounge, Chicago
Saturday, October 11, 2008

Speaking In Cursive (Suburban Home), Two Cow Garage’s fourth album, is a surprise. It isn’t a change in direction, a leap forward in melody and ferocity, or a candidate for the Nobel in literature. No, it just seemed a smart bet the band would have broken up by now.

The Columbus, Ohio-based outfit — versed in the ways of Westerberg and W. Axl Rose — are so jazzed about the rock ‘n’ roll life their homepage was never rebuilt in time to promote 2007’s III (Shelterhouse), to say nothing about Speaking In Cursive or an announcement about Micah Schnabel and Shane Sweeney adding two members to the core trio. About that trio, before a gig at Chicago’s Subterranean last fall, original drummer Dustin Harigle cut and ran, forcing them to play unplugged. He has been replaced by Cody Smith, not that such info is on the Web site either. Myspace is the band’s official home now (presumably because it’s free), and the logo forming the background makes it impossible to read anything.

Do they want to still be a band? Cursive says yes, and a classic rock one, too. Openers “Your Humble Narrator” and “Brass Ring” have arena-sized hooks to spare, though Schnabel shouldn’t be quite so generous when shredding his vocal chords. Acoustic nuggets like “Swingset Assassin” might talk of dreams but are about as calming as emphysema with him hacking up the lyrics. Sweeney’s Robotussin’d Stones rehashes are fewer in number this time, but still serve a vital role as a safety valve for Schnabel’s explosive venting. Lyrically, the band only see more dark at the end of their tunnels (“There never was any brass ring to be found”), but we’ll take the album’s mere release as innovation enough.

Drag The River headline; Dollar Store open.

— Steve Forstneger

Click here to download “Should’ve California.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly