Heavy Trash Pay Half-Century Homage

In support of their second full-length album for Yep Roc Records, Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray — known together as roots rock outfit Heavy Trash — have been giving American concert goers the finest fifties flashbacks possible.

Mostly presenting material from Going Way Out With Heavy Trash, released a week and a half prior, the charismatic duo shook Schubas in Chicago last weekend. Spencer, who energetically employed a ’50s bad-boy persona, joined Verta-Ray in throwback homage with slicked hair, open-collar suits, and rockabilly flair.

Backed by PowerSolo, the night’s raucous psychobilly opening act from Denmark, Heavy Trash tore through a set that demonstrated a reverence for rock ‘n’ roll and sex.

Spencer snarled and howled dirty, echo-drenched vocals over an acoustic foundation, which gave way to Verta-Ray’s delayed, twangy leads. The famed Blues Explosion front man kept his lyrical content base and raunchy; he demanded asphyxiation in “Going Way Out” and announced cruel intentions while ruing a relationship in “That Ain’t Right.”

But for as perfectly as they played their cards, Heavy Trash were nearly upstaged by PowerSolo. The Scandanavian three-piece, which handled upright bass, lapsteel guitar, and drums later in the evening, began the show with undeniable force.

Members “Kim Kix” and “Atomic Child” ran vibrant chrome guitars through low-end fuzz pedals; drummer “Chief Benz” provided alternately poppy and heavy back beats. Kix and Child exchanged quirky two-part vocals, but Kix stole the performance by channeling countless personalities, including a mariachi singer on “Juanito” and a bugged-out cat on “Kat Nazer.”

– Scott Morrow

Heavy Trash: www.heavytrash.net
PowerSolo: www.powersolo.dk
Yep Roc: www.yeproc.com