Editor's Note: This story previews Red City Radio's Monday, Aug. 20 show at Slowdown with Arliss Nancy, Dummy Head Torpedo and Divided Heaven. Info here. The writer grew up with the RCR's drummer, and tour managed the band on an East Coast tour a couple years back. So he's completely biased on the band's worth. Explore and decide for yourself.]
by Andrew Norman
The Two Cow Garage song, "Speaking in Cursive" starts, "Oklahoma City was just leather jackets and noise. No blood spilled. No switchblades. Just weak and scared little boys. Hidden behind some long-dead, forgotten scene. And we washed them clean."
That wasn't my experience Aug. 4 at The Conservatory, where I watched OKC send off Red City Radio on their current West Coast tour that ends Monday, Aug. 20 at Slowdown with Fort Collins' Arliss Nancy, Dummy Head Torpedo and Divided Heaven. Though I'd never attended a show in the city, I didn't actually take Two Cow Garage's lyrics literally. But it was worth considering whether the scene is dead.
It clearly isn't. The Conservatory, a concrete pit seemed built for easy mop-up, was packed with a crowd that came to see their hometown punk band. (Red City Radio drummer Dallas Tidwell is a native Nebraskan.) It was a hot night, and there wasn't a dry shirt in the joint by the time the band played their closer, the singalong "Nathaniel Martinez" from their Paper + Plastick debut The Dangers of Standing Still.
Weak and scared little boys? Nah. Just high-energy, anthemic punk rock fueled by excessive quantities of low-point beer. See it here.
Video and audio: Angie Norman and Andrew Norman
Editing: Andrew Norman
Andrew Norman is Hear Nebraska's Editor-in-Chief. He loves Two Cow Garage, and captured them playing this song in a club in D.C. a couple years ago before he understood anything about shooting video. Contact him at andrewn@hearnebraska.org.
