SWEET CRUDE BILL AND THE LIGHTHOUSE NAUTICAL SOCIETY
El Rio
Sept. 14, 2007

I saw Sweet Crude Bill outdoors at El Rio on a Saturday afternoon. It was a strange setting for this band, whose songs are full of dark lyrics, toe-tapping honky tonk basslines, and hard rock guitar playing. While those elements are a perfect fit for a late night drunken evening in a poorly lit, smoky barroom, it was a little jarring to watch the five of them shuffling around the stage in their sunglasses, appearing somewhat uncomfortable in the daylight.

They opened with a cover of the Beatles "Don't Pass Me By," that country pop song written by Ringo. It seemed like a punk rock sneer at the Church of Lennon & McCartney. I wondered at first why they didn't just do a Rolling Stones tune, but watching their set I discovered that Sweet Crude Bill deals more in black irony than the in-yer-face strut and swagger necessary to "do" a Stones song.

This is not to diminish the over-the-top stage presence of Sweet Crude Bill. Their antics, particularly those of the lead singer, Octavian, bring the show to almost theatrical levels. But far from being simply a "good times" party band, Sweet Crude Bill stomped out songs of war, politics, death, and drinking, with lots of nature references to ground the songs during their hour long set. The sheer volume of their songbook (they claimed to have material for another 90 minutes) necessarily means that some ideas get watered down. In particular, some of the lyrics seemed to have sprung from half formed politico-philosophic-rambling sessions, possibly while stoned.

Behind their dancing wailing boozing lead singer are two guitars, bass, and drums. The lead guitarist is really on top of his music technically, and he brings many disparate influences into the mix. Songs based on chords taken from the Johnny Cash songbook would evolve into titans-of-rock Led Zepplin riffage, then squalling feedback and noise, and back through a Stooges riff that finally leads us, five minutes later, to the original bitter country chords. I couldn't help hearing Phish in my ears as they jammed away, burning through their influences song after song.

But take heart! A heavy dose of hallucinogenics is not required to enjoy Sweet Crude Bill and the Lighthouse Nautical Society. But I would suggest a shot of whiskey and several cold beers.

[Jeff Bissell]

[STREAM] Sweet Crude Bill and the Lighthouse Nautical Society: Various Tracks