Trainwreck Riders

MySpace (listen to "In and Out of Love;" download "In the Wake of It All")
Official site

Hometown: San Francisco
Next local show: 3/1, Rickshaw Stop
Recent release: Lonely Road Revival, 2006

We've heard a lot of good country-punk-rock coming from San Francisco in the last few years, and this is the absolute best. No kidding. We would go so far as to say we like Trainwreck Riders more than Two Gallants, with whom they completed a major tour last summer and fall. Now don't get us wrong, Two Gallants write some great songs with excellent lyrics. They're intense as hell, and for a duo, hard to beat. But as far as pure listening enjoyment goes, Trainwreck Riders have more to offer. (more >>)

Here's the deal: listening to Two Gallants makes you think "Damn, these guys are awesome!" (which they are). You'll tell your friends about them, play a couple cool songs off the record, and feel good about it all. But listening to Trainwreck Riders really makes you feel. It moves you to get up and dance, sip some whiskey, ride a train (if you're from Oakland, ghost-ride it), fire a rifle, then sleep with someone wearing 19th century getup...or pan for some gold, march in place, tap your toe, bang your head, and throw your elbows in the pit. While Trainwreck Riders' lyrics can't match Two Gallants' literary quality, their music has a more palpable energy. Where the Gallants have grit, the Riders have spit. It's alt-country out of the box, old-fashioned punk rock. It's grey, it's old-timey. It's San Francisco on a silver disc, and you won't find much better rock music in the city right now.

BFF'S:
-Trainwreck Riders and Two Gallants sound similar, have toured -- and been arrested -- together, and are both from San Francisco. Yes, they're friends.
-Don't forget to catch Trainwreck Riders co-headlining the Rickshaw Stop with labelmates Langhorn Slim on March 1 for Noise Pop. That's gonna kick some ass.
-A cool new video for the song "Christmas Time Blues" is available here.

Two Gallants Fight!

Two Gallants were involved in an alleged police brutality case at the Walter's club in Houston on Friday night. The story goes that officer Gabriel Rodriguez was responding alone to a noise complaint at the club, and instead of going to the soundboard or the owner, he headed directly to the stage, where he asked lead singer Adam Stephens to stop playing. Soon the scene devolved to chaos as Rodriguez pinned Stephens and drummer Tyson Vogel to the ground. Some lay initial blame with the band (lead singer Adam Stephens allegedly refused to cooperate when the policeman asked him to stop playing, and may have told the officer, "Fuck you...suck my dick...); others can't resist the "fuck-tha-police"-speak, saying this was an officer hellbent on aggression and in blatant disregard of proper procedure. As is often the case, it was probably a little bit of both (or a little of one and a lot of the other...). (more >>)

One thing's for sure -- all hell broke lose in the club. People were tazed (including a UH student researching a paper on the local music scene and a 14-year-old boy and his father -- check out a post by the boy's mom's on this MySpace page; he may have suffered seizures as a result), and others arrested (including Vogel, who was involved in the onstage tussle, as well as Andrew Kerwin, guitarist for opening act the Trainwreck Riders, and a couple fans in attendance). Stephens escaped from the club and was sought by police helicopters with spotlights. No word on whether they caught him, although it seems not. Vogel spent the night in jail and Two Gallants played the very next night in Austin.

This is a big problem for all parties involved and it's only going to get bigger. A city council event is planned for Houston City Hall tomorrow (Tuesday). Stay tuned at the various websites and forums listed below. Many contain firsthand accounts from people in attendance that night. There's already a wealth of information, personal stories, and videos to be found across the blogosphere, on MySpace, and in local Houston news. It's only been two weekend days and about half of one working day. Welcome to the information age.

LINKS:
HPD Has Problems MySpace page pt. 2 -- pt. 1, initial epicenter of online info, received very heavy traffic and was shut down by MySpace around 3:30 p.m. on 10/16; pt2. is slowly rebuilding
Dan Sharber's MySpace page -- info, pics, and three videos
Katie Ford's MySpace page -- personal account of the situation, in which Ford claims she was arrested without being read her rights
Trisha Faye's MySpace page -- firsthand account posted in the comments section of this page by "The Vortex," another MySpace user (and music venue in Beaumont, TX), where the poster tells of her husband and 14-year-old son being tasered at the show
Two Gallants message board -- good info, pics, links, video, personal accounts, etc.
Hands Up Houston message board -- mostly chat by Houston folks
Two Gallants Dispute blog -- more general info
Links: The Walter's Disaster blog -- links to these sites and more
Houstoned: Houston Press blog -- blog report from Houston weekly newspaper
HoustonSoReal blog -- an interesting take from a Houston blogger, with videos
Houston Indepedent Media Center -- early news report on the incident
ABC13 Eyewitness News -- TV news report brief
Pitchfork -- news article with links and some reporting
Houston Chronicle -- Sunday morning article with initial reporting
Two Gallants Wikipedia page -- already contains info about the Walter's incident