Citizine Reviews: Locals Only

The Service Industry, Moonlight Towers, and Rockland Eagles show Austinites how to rock locally.

Rockland Eagles
Osaka Cocka Rocka
(Almost There, 2008)

To paraphrase Eddie Spaghetti, lead singer and bassist of the Supersuckers, “You gotta do your part on behalf of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Record.” This insistence is not lost on the warriors in Austin’s rock brigade. With the vinyl platters of the Ramones, Kinks, Cheap Trick, oozing from their collections, locals Rockland Eagles crackle on Osaka Cocka Rocka in a celebration of all that is Big Rock. Lead singer and guitarist Mark Hutchins spouts off about the great rock pastimes of “hanging with your freak friends,” and being “big in Japan” (who isn’t?) in a gleefully cheeky manner on songs like the title track.

Rockland also incorporates some great 1980s Sunset Strip cock-rock in “Rock Queen,” which you can’t help but compare with underappreciated Los Angeles hard-rockers Love/Hate who had a song of the same name. Unapologetically shameless and without any pretense, these guys know exactly what targets they want to hit with references to The Six Million Dollar Man, roller-skates, and The French Connection. The more things change…

Moonlight Towers
Like You Were Never There
(Spinster)

“Polished” isn’t always a beneficial term when describing a rock album, but don’t tell that to the Moonlight Towers. On their disc, Like You Were Never There, one of the more overlooked records released by a local band in the past few years, a strong pop acumen is clear. There’s no reason these guys can’t command audiences the size of overrated bands like Ghostland Observatory or Spoon.

Granted, the Towers’ approach isn’t quite as spacey or pseudo-intellectual as those aforementioned Austinites, but it is as proficient as a pop/rock band can get (think Fastball before “The Way” got run into the ground on the radio). Triple threat Jacob Schulze helms the lead guitar, Hammond organ, and grand piano alongside fellow tradesman James Stevens on vocals, guitar, and Rhodes keyboard, with ample backing from skin-pounder Richard Galloway and bassist Jason Daniels to form an album that could be almost all singles, both in style and due to the fact they’re under four minutes long.

Head-bopping, toe-tapping layers of what borderlines bubblegum sneak forth on “Got Your Love” and the major standout, “I Sleep Alone,” while somewhat darker tones creep from “Another Castaway.” This disc almost hints at date night done right -- or wrong, as the heart strings are pulled more often than not in tales of lovin, lyin’, losin’, and leavin.

The Service Industry
Keep The Babies Warm
(Sauspop, 2008)

Channelling Frank Zappa, Ween, and Pavement’s philosophical humor, The Service Industry provides a smorgasbord of lyrics germane to their name. Questioning the practice of “pouring liquid meat into a form,” on the lead track of Keep The Babies Warm definitely brings a smirk to your face as they later serenade that great mystery meat sandwich, the McRib.

Probably the most gleefully sarcastic of the more recent crop of rock bands, The Service Industry skewers frat boys, the hypocrisy of their hometown, quirks of growing older than 30, doing lines of coke with one’s boss, and the culinary genius of enchiladas, and all on this one record. The song structures and the vocal layering hint at the mainstay influences from 1970s Album-Oriented Rock like Cliff Richards, Neil Diamond, Jackson Browne, and Warren Zevon, as well as post-modern pop-rockers Urge Overkill and The Replacements on tunes like “Churchy” and “Seaworld.”

Instead of looking down their noses at the 9-to-5 ratrace or trying to give it the world’s biggest middle finger, The Service Industry takes a higher-minded, yet somewhat snarky approach to the daily grind, and in a blissfully melodic manner. It’s akin to eating dessert before the main course; kind of sweet at first, but fulfilling and substantive overall. With a record like this, these guys surely deserve more than the standard fifteen percent gratuity.

Kevin Schooley hosts a late night radio program on KAOS Radio (www.kaosradioaustin.org).

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