Your Favorite Band!

Just to prove that I really do fit in around here, I thought I'd recommend a band I saw live last night. The Red Elvises are a group comprised (mostly) of Russian musicians whose sound is an oddly cohesive mix of rockabilly, lounge, and traditional Russian and Ukrainian folk music. Add psychedelic costumes and an overall stage presence that would rival the hey-day of the B52's and you get what can only be described as a rollicking good time.

Founded by Russian refugees Igor Yuzov and Oleg Bernov in Southern California, they capitalize and pleasantly exploit the close relationship that's always existed between ethnic melodies and surf rock. Elena Shemankova, another Moscow-bred member, rocks the keyboards with disturbing (yet oddly familiar) sensuality. The two American elements do the group proud - Adam Gust, a massive blond Norwegian-looking dude from Minnesota wails on the drums (including, during last night's show, a 7 minute drum solo while the rest of the band went to the bar); and Beth Garner, a Texas gal, wails on a Stratocaster and occasional banjo while keeping up a trashy Russian girl act that has no discernible blemish. All-in-all, they fully own a self-deprecating kind of humor that is so flawlessly presented it can come across as mild disdain born from some sort of evangelical dedication to the music.

So if you see a poster on a light post with an ambiguously communist looking guy telling you to prepare for the ROCKENROL REVOLUTION - clear your calendar. Do your best to pretend that you're back in the Motherland where Rock 'n Roll is stifled as political heresy, and strap in for a night of rip-roaring, bloc-rocking subversion.