Sealin' The Deal

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 24, 2006 5:32PM

The Empty Bottle is sure going to be stinky tonight. That’s because local sleaze-rockers The Last Vegas are rolling back into town after being on tour for the last few weeks and we really doubt they’ve showered much. It’s just the way of the road.

Even without the stench-o-van clinging to their tattered jeans we suspect that the joint would be pretty ripe anyway, since The Last Vegas specializes in the type of raunch-and-roll that made its home on the Sunset Strip back before hair-metal sterilized the scene with its fog of Aquanet and mascara.* The group got themselves a new lead singer last year, and while we admit we weren’t big fans of Chad Cherry’s flippity-floppity between turbo-charged macho-man and preening androgyne, in retrospect we believe that may have been due to the shock of seeing such an over-the-top personality replacing their previous front-man. Change happens, though, and in this case it really does seem to have reinvigorated the band.

The group is playing behind their new album, amusingly yet aptly titled Seal The Deal, which is a more tuneful affair than previous releases. A bit of the raw edge has been lost but it’s been replaced with sharper riffs and stronger melodies, so that’s an exchange we can live with.

The best part about tonight’s show, besides strong local openers The Peelers and Dummy? The show is free free free. As the boys in the band would be sure to say, that’s just fan-fucking-tastic.

*Not that we have anything against hair-metal. Fist pumping and head-banging are still cool in our book.