Los Duggans – at Sports and Spirits – Bakersfield, CA – June 4, 2010
June 4, 2010
On a Friday night I made my way to the south west side of Bakersfield to a quaint lil hole in the wall called Sports and Spirits. A band from LA called Los Duggans had made their way up to entertain all of us that were too cool to make it to the Rockin’ Roots Festival. Opening up the show was former front man and brain child of the band Spilt Milk. Sean Cummings, is an awesome Singer/Songwriter who’s lyrics have ranged from addiction and recovery to love and loss. In Sean’s younger days his sound leaned more toward the 90′s Punk rock era. Here the present day of 2010, Sean has truly found his niche. Acoustic guitar in hand, his music has progressed to the Americana, Folk, Country genre you may associate with artists like Frank Turner, Greg Graffin, Tim Barry, or Chuck Ragan. He played an soulful heartfelt set that included new material such as his song "Diggin’ Holes" that talks about the miners that lost there lives in the hills of West Virginia this year, some of his old Spilt Milk songs such as "Divide", which had a lot of old Spilt Milk fans singing along, and he even included a cover of the song "Simplicity" by Tom Ness. It was a great way to start the night.
Next up was a band who name has had quite a buzz lately. Los Duggans from Echo Park, Ca.! I had a chance to check out one of their live performances on You Tube, and I have admit, it had me really excited for this show. Los Duggans is a quartet including Dylan on Banjo and vocals, Peter on the washtub bass "gut bucket" and vocals, Adriel on drums, and Miguel on electric guitar. Sounds like a weird mix of instruments? Yeah, but these guys actually make it work. Their sound is unique, the banjo and gut-bucket provide a sound heavily influenced by bluegrass, and is completed with heavy metal guitar and kick drum. I was surprised to hear people shouting requests for songs, considering this was their first time playing in Bakersfield. They had bar patrons pounding fist on their tables and singing along to their tunes and it seemed the whole crowd was united and on the same page for their whole set as Miguel slung his hair around and Peter banged on his gut-bucket.
After the show was over I had a chance to knock back shots of Jack and talk with Pete and Dylan about their exploits and times touring. I was surprised to hear them say that they didn’t get the best response in Nashville. I would have thought that it would be a great place for them to play. But where as I loved what they have done to county, I guess some die-hard country music fans saw it as blasphemy, which made me love them even more. You can check out their music on You Tube and MySpace and make the decision for yourself. Either way I’m sure you will still find them intriguing.
www.myspace.com/moonshinedeathbed
-J. Moncrief-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter
More photos of the show can be seen HERE
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