Scenesters Discover Fire / Truckstop Darlin at the Replay / Dean Monkey and the Dropouts Deliver a Love Load

Readers, when we saw Fally's Twitter pic (below) of the new Replay fire pit, we were so, so happy!  Sure, it blocks the stage damn near entirely if you're standing at the back bar, but still...it's fire pit...full of fire...in the middle of the Replay!  At least one of these three is absolutely mesmerized by it.

So of course we had to go down and witness it with our own eyes during yesterday's Replay matinee.

 The fire pit added a delightful campfire sing-a-long feel to the opening set of pickin' and grinnin' by The Ready Brothers (not that anyone actually sang along with tunes such as a nice cover of Guy Clark's "Homegrown Tomatoes," but they SHOULD have).  And then Portland's Truckstop Darlin took the stage for a set of hard-rocking Americana--very Lucero-y vocals--that was accented by remarkable, sometimes almost psychedelic, pedal steel work.  A lone dancer loped around the foot of the stage, at one point using a trash can as a dance partner.  This behavior was quickly stopped by the doorman so, for future reference, do NOT attempt to dance with the fucking trash cans at the Replay! 

Give Truckstop Darlin's 2012 Hope and the Heart It Breaks a listen on Bandcamp here . They seemed like good dudes.

Here's a pic of the band through the fire pit (pedal steel player is not really visible on the right!).

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We've loved the doo-wop hijinks of Dean Monkey and the Dropouts ever since we first saw the legendary video of them playing a show in their underwear in that hole behind the train station.  Watch it below if you dare.  Now we're especially pleased to announce that Chip's favorite Dean Monkey song, "Love Load," is finally immortalized on record for your perpetual listening pleasure ("Cover your eyes and open your...heart / Tonight my love's on you.")

We think it's safe to say that they'd be very pleased if you listened to it while fucking.

Visit Bandcamp here to check out the five sweet tracks of Dean's Steak House.  And reread our Dean Monkey interview here in which we ponder the Church of Malt Liquor, blue balls, and the band's future shenanigans (but did they ever actually play a set where they were all on horseback?  we don't think so!).