With the opportunity to splurge on the Boston area at the Milky Way on Sunday, Drug Rug kept it carefree. Still awash in the glow of a recent (and inexplicably fawning) Boston Globe write-up, a healthy mix of friends, regulars and the merely curious turned out for an exercise in schoolbus-sing-along-indierock. A thumping, closet-country bass paced the set at a relaxed, regular tempo while the too-perfect frontcouple, guitarists Sarah Cronin and Tommy Allen, did their best “June and Johnny”-meets-Williamsburg act. Hot, acerbic guitar licks shared time with extended, trucking passages of Velvet Underground minimalism. Light touches were the order of the day- a delicate slide down the neck of the guitar, a peal of brass for texture, sweet whispers- anything to avoid bombast or monumentalism.
The good vibes rolling through the Milky Way threatened to overwhelm the masochistic Boston crowd. Fortunately, the bassist and sometimes singer, George Lewis Jr., king of casual banter, let the audience know they were “ugly.” Phew! Crisis averted! The headliners rounded out the set after six well-received songs. One gets the impression Drug Rug has more attitude than material at the moment, but quality beats quantity every time.
Opener Paper Thin Stages and Amoroso kicked off the night. PTS, a three piece ensemble of guitar, percussion and synth/laptop, showed up with a lot more rock muscle than you might expect from an electro-experimental outfit. In a spacey set comprised of a single song, PTS teased out a landscape of beeps and squiggles, strums and strains, a continuously evolving dynamic of tension and release that made for great bowling music. The second opener, Amoroso, a virtuosic two piece of guitar and drums, will make you roll your eyes the next time you listen to a White Stripes album. If only Meg could drum like that…
