Opening with a new song? Bold move, Ryan Lindsey.

Not sure what it’s called but, the Norman/Tulsa punkers opened up with something that had “gotta get — gotta get it” in the chorus, and it was catchy as hell, but in a bouncy, rhythmic way. Very different from “Try Me Out Sometime”’s melodic catchiness.

Nonetheless, Broncho remain catchy, grungy, unserious in demeanor (there’s something kind of unsettling about watching three late-twenties/thirty-something dudes all droning in unison into their respective microphones, their eyes fixed upon something seemingly hours away), and hella loud. The crowd for their set was bigger than any in the Buffalo Lounge yet, and we’ll see if anybody on tonight’s bill (which includes Fiawna Forte, Green Corn Revival, Jacob Abello, Junebug Spade, JD McPherson, and OK Sweetheart) can step up and draw more.

So Cameron Neal (my latest local-rock man-crush) and his band of teenaged ACM@UCO students (drummer Preston Greer was the only Horse Thief-er whose hands lacked big, smeary X’s inside Friends Bar last night) sounded even larger, more looming and fierce than their Sooner Soundwave show in Norman last weekend, which was my first experience hearing them in person. With all the pressure and anticipation of the festival, I feel like they really raised the bar on local performances at SXSW. 

First off, Mr. Neal has this awesome old man authoritative rock voice that he adopts for narrative purposes on songs like “The Magician.” Most of Horse Thief’s topicality is mystical nonsense wrapped around nuggets of wisdom, so it’s a useful persona, and it gets really entertaining when he starts dumping sweat and shaking it all out in his impressive beard.

But yeah, it was really nice to see — after The Boom Bang’s raucous mess and The Non’s cerebral movements — a throwback-style band that earnestly wants to rock, while also trying to innovate a bit (they’ve got a keyboard that generates an organ sound which distinguishes them from most any other local band I know of). Cody Fowler looks up into the sky when the song calls for his bass notes to wobble all over the place and Greer makes an O-face when he gets to punish the snares. And Danny Rose looks about as happy shredding his guitar apart as Kevin Durant looks when he hits a 24-foot-stepack three.

Also, it should be noted that two members of The Boom Bang got kicked out of Friends for being rowdy at some point during Horse Thief's set which is impressive, because there was only The Non's in between them.

Photo by Doug Schwarz

They may not be aiming, high, but The Boom Bang are sure realistic.

Singer James Smith announced to The Buffalo Lounge earlier this evening that the garage-housed four-piece were “probably the worst band to play here all night.” He was kinda right, but that didn’t make their set any less fun. 

Smith mumbled his way through their usual schtick: noisy, propulsive rock styled after The Ramones’ sonic blitz and Andrew W.K.’s intentionally stupid revelry. It was a tie-loosening; a rowdy break in between two much headier bands — The Defining Times and The Non — that brokered the evening’s bill of rock acts nicely.

The show ended with a brief episode involving the sound guy, who chased a fan off the stage when the latter yelled “Fuck you!” into a microphone, shortly after McKenzie and drummer Brian Whetstone traded places for a final, scuzzy jam. If ever there was a better end to a Boom Bang show, I wasn’t there for it.

The Rockettops play a brand of pop-rock that fans of The Fray would enjoy, as the sound is built on piano-based songwriting, deft bass lines and soaring guitar lines. Vocalist/pianist/acoustic guitarist Jordan Smith's impassioned voice also soars, and it's his vocal melodies that get precedence in these songs. But the rest of the band doesn't slack in its support role; the instrumental interplay is strong, especially for a band in the pop/rock vein.

The band clearly was having a blast, as the members were smiling and laughing throughout. The upbeat atmosphere filled the room, especially when the band ratcheted up the distorted guitars in big crescendos. The Rockettops know how to build and release tension, and that serves their pop-rock songs very well. The tension never feels forced or smarmy, either; the sound feels organic and loose. They can also break it down for emotive moments; they aren't a one-trick pony. Fans of Lifehouse, Goo Goo Dolls, and Matchbox Twenty will perk their ears up at The Rockettops' sound.

Photos by Matt Carney