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COWPUNK TRIFECTA

By Noah Sternthal

Using a slacker-approved, anti-buzz method of marketing, Eyes Adrift has faked out the corporate rock competition and stealthily rocketed into the rosy position of "best touring super group you never even heard of." The nagging question, of course, is: Who is Eyes Adrift, anyway? Well, remember that year punk broke the Nirvana mania? Following the grungey group's tragic demise, a common misconception was that a pushy blonde woman was the band's bass player. Not so. (She is her own rock soap opera.) While drummer Dave Grohl founded the Foo Fighters, bassist Krist Novoselic stepped out of the spotlight, waiting a bit before hooking up with Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets and Sublime/Long Beach Dub All-Stars drummer Bud Gaugh to form Eyes Adrift.

When the Meat Puppets were embedding countrified jangles in high-pressure rock, the sound was called "cowpunk." (We can't buy it if we don't know what to call it, although avoiding labels is a cornerstone of Eyes Adrift's crackerjack, anti-buzz campaign.) Picking up the frayed strands of the same psychedelic cowpunk yarn and weaving them into Novoselic's familiar, growling bass and Gaugh's precision drumming, Eyes Adrift make real ground on the new rock soundscape.

But if I hadn't heard a single flanged chord or open-ended, reflective, tripped-out lyric off the new album, and even if I didn't have my useless, semi-secret, deserted-island list, I would still recommend going to see Eyes Adrift at the White Rabbit on Sunday, December 8. The truth is that whenever musicians who have had as great an impact on pop music as these three come together to play at a local venue, the rock entertainment value reaches a level rarely available to $10-12 ticket holders.

EYES ADRIFT
8pm
Sunday, December 8
$10 advance,
$12 day-of-show
The White Rabbit
2410 N. St. Mary's
737-2221

Tags: Music Etc., Music, music

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