If there's one thing the gorgeous city Of San Diego is good at, it's producing local rock stars. Thanks to a music scene rich in both all-ages and 21+ venues, bands in San Diego are allowed enough time to get better, enter different musical phases, get notoriety and implode just as the rest of the world catches wind of them.
Thankfully, San Diego indie rock musicians rebound like Dennis Rodman. When Pitchfork (yes, it was a the name of a band before the e-zine) imploded, guitarist Jon Reis took his bounce from that and simultaneously rode both Rocket From The Crypt and Drive Like Jehu into legendary status. When Heavy Vegetable, Thingy, and the 10 other bands guitarist Rob Crow was in simultaneously hit a wall - he formed Pinback with his buddy Zach Smith, and became famous enough to start another 4-5 bands and a solo career.
So it comes as no surprise that singer Brandon Welchez and guitarist Charles Bowers have found themselves as trendy up and comers following the demise of their provocative noisecore band The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower. After 5 years spent pulling audiences pants down, groping unsuspecting dudes and dressing up like fascists, Welchez amd Bowers rightly knew that their days of having to go nuts and playing difficult music were over. They had already fulfilled the press kit section of "paying dues."
Like Crow and Smith before them, they combined forces as a duo, under the name "Crocodiles." Gone was the quirky head snapping stomp of TPTBUTEF, and in its place a Jesus & Mary Chain-ish approach to surf rock that bordered on psyche rock. The pair wrote all the songs themselves - thus having less people to share royalties with. Also like Pinback, after going as far as they could onstage as a two piece, which was pretty far as they landed a deal with Fat Possum records - one of the few independent labels to thrive in 21st century - they invited several of their friends to back them up on tour to fill out their sound, while (hopefully) not emptying their wallets.
Seeing how Crocodiles' dreamy power pop is like crack to a skinny pants-wearing, 4AD records worshipping nu new wave head, it's easy to see them crossing the pond and reintroducing the brits to the music they abandoned 15 years ago. In the meantime, Friday's Crocodiles show at the Vagabond will be a great time to see the well-known local music impresario / anglophile known as Lolo in a state of contagious musical bliss.
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