sweet and tender hooligans

SC is a huge Smiths fan, so by proxy, I should be too. Except that I'm not. My negative feelings for The Smiths began in Junior High, when I was a metalhead who worshiped Dokken, WASP, Ratt, and most of all, Motley Crue. My friends between classes and after school listened to the same stuff I did, But my friends in class leaned towards what was considered college rock back then - The Smiths, The Cure, U2, INXS, etc. We had friendly debates on the merits of our music choices all the time. But while the debates may have been friendly, my dislike of their music was real.

So, last week a Smiths cover band called Sweet and Tender Hooligans played the Belly Up in Solano Beach for Morrissey's 50th Unhappy Birthday. I was asked if I would go, and because I'm so sweet on SC, I said yes. But, privately, I was not all that thrilled to go; I just considered it my duty. 

We get there, and almost immediately there are signs that this is going to be at least tolerable. I was wearing an Ill Repute shirt, and this guy who works there says to me, "Dude, I love Nardcore!"  Responding to to my confused look, he lifts up his word shirt and he has a Nardcore t-shirt under it. What are the chances of that? Count the odds.

Things are looking up. Then the band takes the stage, but instead of the cover band, for some reason, it's a mariachi band, which I found very cool.

 

That was cool. But then the singer of the cover band comes out and sings some Smiths songs with the mariachi band. That was very cool. 

 

Everything is going well. So then the band comes out and starts playing. Not bad, not bad. I'm feeling a little left out as I seem to be the only person who doesn't know the words to the songs, but that's alright. But then I notice the bassist, who looks very familiar. I ask SC's friend where this band is from. "Somewhere in Los Angeles." I ask if the bassist happens to be Joe Escalante from The Vandals. "Yep." WTF? Joe Escalante plays bass for a Smiths cover band? Craziness.

So, a night I was secretly dreading turned out to be really fun and eye-opening. I'm not gonna lie and procalim a newfound love for The Smiths or anything, but progress was definitely made. I can see the appeal, I actually like a lot of the lyrics and especially way the are crooned. The music is never going to be aggressive enough for me, but I'm quite sure SC will be giving me plenty of chances to become acclimated as we head into old age.

(Oh, if anyone from SATH happens to read this, SC's major complaint was "I can still go and see Morrissey, I can't see the Smiths, so play more Smiths songs")