By: jhs5150
Influences: We’re all influenced by someone or something in our lives, aren’t we: our parents, teachers, sports heroes, musicians, movie stars, etc? Some may argue that to make your way in the world you must set out independently, break the mold and discover your own path to greatness. The truth is, even the great ones were influenced by someone – Picasso was influenced by Cezanne, Joe Namath by Johnny Unitas and real estate mogul Donald Trump by his father, the latter of which is probably more closely relevant to most of us. While the path to success is never easy, the things/people that influence us give us a starting point from which to start out on our own. This is nothing new but recently I’ve taken notice of what appears to be a common thread of current rock bands: to pay homage to bands that they recognize as having influenced them or made their mark in rock history. When I attended the Kiss/Def Leppard concert this year, both Def Leppard and Kiss paid homage to The Who by, oddly enough, using the same song (Won’t Get Fooled Again) in their performances. Def Leppard uses the song as the intro to their show and Kiss during the middle of “Lick It Up” in a solo duet with guitarists Tommy Thayer and Paul Stanley. The more I watched this, the more I asked myself; is this an emerging trend among today’s rockers?
Case in point: I was lucky enough to attend the sold-out performance of the relatively new band The Pretty Reckless as their tour made its way to Philadelphia, P.A. recently. This band, with the young and talented Taylor Momsen as their lead singer, seem not only to have roots in old school rock and roll but they use them as a starting point in some of their songs. Make no mistake about it, this is a hard rock band, and while they have a sound that is their own, they are rooted in old school hard rock and the blues.
As the band prepares for their appearance onstage the audience is treated to AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells” from which they launch right into “Follow Me Down”, with its Black Sabbath inspired guitar riff and drum beat, reminding me of the metal band’s “Children of the Grave.” They followed that with the punky and in-your-face “Since You’re Gone”, with its distorted, aggressive bass line that is every bit as angry as Taylor’s lyrics. And speaking of Sabbath, the next song; “Sweet Things” invokes a definite Sabbath tilt before it evolves into a sound that is the band’s own. These songs hit you hard and get you rocking in a way that invokes a slightly familiar feeling, yet take on a life all their own. I find a lot of the Sabbath’s influence in their songs: they are dark and heavy for the most part and if you’re going to make that kind of music, why not be influenced by (but not sound like) the band that more or less, created the genre’? It also makes me wonder how a songwriter such as Momsen, who started out as an actress in TV and movies, decided to trade that all in — embracing the counterculture and the dark side of rock. She surely could have taken an easier road and made pop songs and used her former movie/TV stardom as a fast track to financial success, but she hasn’t. She has remained true to herself and writes about the things she feels and experiences, and while I’m sure her former colleagues may wonder about the road she has chosen, her path to success seems certain – even if it isn’t the most direct route.
Changing gears, the band launches into “Cold Blooded” – a slow, deliberate blues number that’s a crowd pleaser if not purely because of a change in the dynamic from straight ahead rockers to a gut wrenching lament about a woman’s distrust of the opposite sex. When you write a blues tune such as this, lyrically you are writing about something that has affected you, and usually not in a good way. After all, the blues is about pain, whether physical or emotional and this song is hauntingly good and shows a Taylor Momsen who is wise beyond her years. It makes you wonder if she has experienced more pain than you or I know about. More rockers follow with fan favorites: “Why’d You Bring a Shotgun to the Party”, again invoking a punk-like feel in a shock-and-awe bombast that is as controversial as the song title’s name, then the eerie, yet mesmerizing “Absolution”, prefaced by the less-than-a-minute “Dear Sister.”
Breaking into an acoustic set, the band plays four songs: the pop-tinged “Just Tonight”, followed by “Zombie”, “Miss Nothing” and surprisingly enough, a cover of Pearl Jam’s “Daughter.” While I am not a Pearl Jam fan, I found their rendition quite good, if not better than Pearl Jam’s version. Like a lot of The Pretty Reckless songs, “Zombie” is dark, painful, self-deprecating and makes you wonder what part of her soul Momsen is drawing from when she composes such a song.
Resuming their electric stage set, they round out the show with “Kill Me”, “Heaven Knows”, “Make Me “Wanna Die” and “Going to Hell” followed by the encore — “Fucked up World.” Speaking of influences, listen to the intro of the live version of “Heaven Knows” and see if you can catch the reference in the intro.
This is an exciting young band and while their influences are apparent (at least to me), they sound fresh and seem ready to give hard rock that shot in the arm it so desperately needs. The true test of any band (at least in my mind) is if their songs make me want to listen to them again, and these songs do. It will be interesting to see how they expand their catalog in the future. I look forward to it.
For other clips from the show, visit http://youtube.com/jhs5150