THE BUCK PETS
Club Lingerie
Hollywood, CA

Yes, folks, for every meaningless waste of stage time and vinyl by overhyped, MTV, poseur, Bon Jovi type, Aerosmith rip-off bands, there's usually one real relatively unknown (for now) hard rock/ thrash/ metal band waitng in the wings to blow everyone away. This one band is called The Buck Pets.

No lipstick, no spandex, no big wigs. The Buck Pets are a quartet of painfully young and cute dudes who play fast, hard, loud, sweaty, aggressive rock 'n roll worthy of an opening slot on the next Anthrax or Metallica tour.

Recently, Dallas' own Buck Pet beauties performed in lovely Los Angeles for one headlining show at Club Lingerie. Hitting the stage at about 11 PM, The Pets instantly began executing brilliance from their self-titled, major label debut. (Buy it now or die!) Heads banged and long hair went flying (including that of yours truly) on such outstanding tunes as 'Iron Cock', 'Lost', 'Inamorata', 'More and More' and Hendrix's 'Foxy Lady'. The hour long set was energetic, powerful, brilliant and waaayyyy too short. The Buck Pets performed the best set I've seen this year.

The Buck Pets are new, fresh, exciting and wonderful... a young band with (hopefully) a long and promising future in rock and roll. The Buck Pets Rule!

-- by Maureen Odell

Buck Pets
The Rat, Boston MA

Sometimes it's enjoyable to be at an "event." This show, maybe the last time we'll be able to see the marvelous, beautiful-grunge, garage-punk Buck Pets at a cozy, grungy-garage-punk kind of a joint, had that air of "place to be, band to see." And, I'll tell ya, these guys were fun and would not disappoint folks who've been listening to Mercurotones and admire their no-frills stage energy.

The Buck Pets live for the friendly stages of rock bars and small clubs. From the very first note, this youthful band seemed to genuinely get a kick out of wailing and getting the crowd going. The crowd, whether they knew all of the Pets' stuff or just heard "Pearls" and "Libertine" on the radio, was paying close attention once the band began tearing off their 2-guitar fueled, powerhouse numbers.

The drummer's heavy-handed, chugging beats, utilizing lots of cowbell, and the stone-faced, stoically posed bassist's lines -- complex enough to counter what the guitarists were doing -- gave the Buck Pets a funky groove behind the well-managed squall, but without being anything like the "punk-funk" sound so popular today. The essence of their sound was meaty tunes, highlighted by a seamless wall of buzzy distortion and relatively clean stuff, carved into friendly, upbeat songs with terrific hooks and choruses. While many of their songs were immediately classifiable as catchy and drew on a variety of strong songwriting influences, the guitar texture and style were gratifying like certain early punk bands: this side of hard thrash and metal, but that side of hard rock/pop. It's kinda indescribably good.

These inspired young Texans didn't seem too special warming up for Jane's Addiction on the cavernous Orpheum stage, but they impressed the hell out of me at the Rat. While their popularity may lead to venues grandes, the Buck Pets are best heard close up, loud and with cheap beer.

-- Adam Gropman