A Shotgun birthday

Shotgun Review’s Six-Band Sampler Platter
Birdy’s
Saturday, Aug. 28

While thousands packed the RCA Dome for the Colts game Saturday night, more than 100 lucky people enjoyed six of Indy’s best bands at Shotgun Review’s Fifth Anniversary at Birdy’s.

Frank Booth started the evening with bass, drums, guitar and a sax that evoked good old Blondie tunes. Troy Brownsfield headed the group with humorous hip-hop spoofs on popular lyrics in one satirical song.

Then The Shivers brought classic British style to punk when Roy Lloyd from Manchester, England, belted out lyrics in a delivery that approached Johnny Rotten. Girls danced as the group played fast bluesy punk over a double-time sock-hop beat.

The straight-ahead fast rock continued as The Common stepped to the stage with poetic lyrics and beefy country chords. They played an energetic cover of CCR’s “Born on the Bayou.”

Samsell then took the crowd off the mainstream and into the world of ’80s indie-rock with relaxed ballads and chorused guitars that roller coastered into an angry and ethereal wall of noise, placing their sound somewhere between R.E.M.’s “Eponymous” and “Dirty”-era Sonic Youth.

Lunar Event hyped the crowd with Loretta’s drummer backing Gwynneth Hermann’s sultry vocal and keyboard stylings with Derek Osgood’s guitar. Their vocals meshed in the mix rather than above it, giving songs like “Houston Doesn’t Answer” qualities of My Bloody Valentine’s “Loveless.”

Loretta closed the evening with waves of slow, spacey chords and fast-paced rage that recalled Radiohead’s “OK Computer” days. The singers screamed and hit high notes previously attainable only by Thom Yorke. They surprised me by exiting the stage with larynxes still intact.

Shotgun Review delivered six solid bands of various flavors and areas of strength. If you missed this, don’t fret; many of them will be playing in the final round of Battle of the Bands at the end of the month.