Chuck Dukowski Sextet, Electric Chair Repair, Echolocation; Vitus, Oakland, CA 2/11/12

Disaster Amnesiac made it to Oakland's newest Rock bar, Vitus, at Jack London Square, to catch Chuck Dukowski's long-running band, up from L.A. Brian  Lucas met up with me there.

Openers Echolocation play an appealing, somewhat Desert Rock, reverb-ey instrumental music. Their sound is loose, with a great, all over the place drummer. Fine, trippy jams from these guys. I look forward to hearing them again.

Above: Echolocation space
Below: Electric Chair Repair dig in

Middle band Electric Chair Repair play a lock-step, rhythmically precise, instrumental Rock. Their music is heavy, bass-driven, and driving. A bit more of a machine-tooled, U.S. heartland aesthetic to their sound. Quite enjoyable, and rocking.

It was interesting to note that both of these Oakland bands feature front lines of Telecaster guitar and Rickenbaker bass. That said, their respective sounds were divergent enough to make for a fine opening portion of the show.

Up next, the mighty Chuck Dukowski and his band. Although billed as a sextet, this quartet, made up of Chuck, his wife on vocals, his son on guitar, and a drummer, play a heavily emotional, rhythmically shambolic freak-out Psych Rock. Although nowhere near as tidy or tight as the previous two bands, their raw, explosive set owned the evening.

 Above: CD6 lay waste the Vitus Bar

It was great to hear Chuck and his son Milo, as they played their inter-twined counterpoint, along with singer Lora Norton's unabashed wailing.
Thanks for Chuck and his band for bringing some L.A. Freak Out Energy up to Oakland. I hadn't seen them since 2003. Hopefully they'll come up this way again, with Saccharine Trust in tow!

Above: "....MY WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"