The Gutter Twins

Great Northern

Avalon - April 2, 2008

Live Review and Photograph by Alexis Roberts

The Avalon is a great venue despite the shitty disposition of the staff. The bars are easy to access, there’s plenty of  standing room and you can even sit down upstairs in the mezzanine if you like. The lighting is good, the sound ain’t bad and the bathrooms are clean. Throw a great band into the mix and you’ve got yourself the perfect evening.

Los Angeles natives Great Northern surprised me with their interesting and intricate set. They're a lovely, energetic bunch that plays music which is light and shoegazey, without being too melodramatic. As the only openers, I’d say that they left a mark on the audience. Not having any stylistic similarities to the The Gutter Twins may have been an advantage, as they did manage to keep the interest level of the old men in business attire and young kids trying to bring back the glory days of grunge.

The whole idea of The Gutter Twins makes fans of the Screaming Tress (Lanegan's beloved grunge band), Afghan Whigs (the band you know Dulli for) and other patrons of the grunge rock era pop a stiff one. Two iconic men joining forces under a different name and writing music that sounds nothing like what they used to play never seemed so appealing until now.

Both men have gotten a little bit rough around the edges, but they are still transfixing - and, as you could clearly see from the raging party and cloud of smoke that was going on backstage, their days of partying are still clearly far from being finished.

The two men stood front and center on the stage, while their backing band composed by a plethora of other dudes held down the rest of the space. Some of them walked onto stage and smoking cigarettes during the first song - how incredibly rebellious.  The Twins' eclectic music rang through the building bringing forth much excitement, especially during "Idle Hands" (their first single).

The unabashed style in which they created this music was an obvious success as the fans' energy carried them through the set. Nothing was missing, there was no void, it could not have been better.