The White Stripes
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There seem to be an awful lot of good bands emerging from the garages of Detroit these days and three of the Motor City’s most promising new models were on display at this Monday night 9:30 Club show. On a night when the University of Maryland was playing for the NCAA basketball championship, you could be forgiven for thinking Jack and Meg White of the White Stripes were showing their support for the Terrapins by dressing in red and white. Of course, you’d be wrong because the Whites always dress in those colors.

The brother and sister duo (or husband and wife depending on who you believe) have gotten a lot of attention in the last few months after their White Blood Cells album landed on many critics’ year-end top ten lists. The record has a blues-y garage punk sound like singer/guitarist Jack and drummer Meg have done a lot of listening to both of the Nuggets box sets of ‘60s one-hit and no-hit three chord wonders. You know the formula: some raunchy guitar, primitive proto-rock drumming and a singer who sounds like he could go over the edge.

Meg bashes away at the skins with powerful if imprecise abandon. On this night she got a vocal showcase of her own on a tongue in cheek cover of Loretta Lynn’s “Rated X.” Jack showcased his guitar skills on “Hello Operator” and some unearthly slide blues sounds on “Stop Breaking Down” from the band’s self-titled debut. He switched back and forth between guitar and electric piano on songs like “I’m Finding It Harder to Be A Gentleman” from the latest and “Apple Blossom” from 2000’s De Stijl.

Jack also had an additional vocal mike over by the drum kit with a ton of echo on it. When he sang into it, his unhinged vocal style sounded like Sweet’s Brian Connolly does on “Ballroom Blitz.” But he showed he can also play it straight vocally on songs like the sweet, McCartney-esque childhood reminiscence “We’re Going To Be Friends.”

The duo proved equally adept at tackling heavier rock tunes like the White Blood Cells centerpiece “The Union Forever” and “Astro” from the first record as well as catchy pop songs like “You’re Pretty Good Looking,” “Boll Weavil,” and the bouncy crowd favorite “Hotel Yorba.” The set also included the punky single “Fell In Love With A Girl.” And intriguing covers of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” Bacharach-David’s “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself,” and Bob Dylan’s “Isis” also satisfied.

Surprisingly the basic guitar and drums lineup wasn’t as limiting as one might expect. There were a few too many thudding three-note songs like “I Fought Piranhas” but for the most part the duo mixed things up well and kept things interesting. And you get the feeling from watching them in action that Jack and Meg are gonna enjoy being big stars.

Jack White made a surprise early appearance during Brendan Benson’s opening set, singing lead and playing guitar on “Folk Singer,” a terrific song from Benson’s new Lapalco album. “Every single day at eleven I’m home at bed in sleep heaven / Alone cause my girl leaves at seven / Ain’t got time for my bed-in / she says ‘stop pretending / you’re not John Lennon’,” he sung. Benson returned the favor, I guess you could say, during the Stripes set later when he did some stage diving and nearly killed a few people in the front row. As for the rest of his set, it continued the Beatles theme with a tasty cover of Paul McCartney’s Wings chestnut “Let Me Roll It.” He also offered a good sampling of tunes from Lapalco backed by a four-piece band (guitar, bass, drums, percussion/backing vocals) dubbed the Well-Fed Boys. Although Benson recorded much of the record by himself, with an occasional assist from buddy Jason Falkner, the band gave the songs a more fleshed out, often endearingly sloppy Replacements-like feel.

The evening began with a set by Soledad Brothers, a duo similar in style to the Stripes composed of guitarist/vocalist Johnny Wirick and drummer Ben Smith. They performed some nice blues-y garage rock numbers from the recent Steal Your Soul and Dare Your Spirit and their 2000 self-titled debut.

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