{"id":2600,"date":"2016-01-02T19:30:59","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T19:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/?p=2600"},"modified":"2016-01-31T17:56:39","modified_gmt":"2016-01-31T17:56:39","slug":"two-tons-of-steel-mucky-duck-houston-tx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/2016\/01\/02\/two-tons-of-steel-mucky-duck-houston-tx\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Tons of Steel – Mucky Duck – Houston, TX"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"010216-twotonsofsteel1\"<\/a>Written by Eddie Ferranti<\/p>\n

The first time I was ever exposed to what is called \u201cRockabilly\u201d music, I was really smitten. The band was The Stray Cats and I was in the sweaty confines of a club called Numbers in Houston, Texas. They went on to be MTV darlings and even made it to the US Festival in California on the mammoth stage in front of 125,000 fans with only 3 \u201ccats\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 The sound which features stand-up bass really gets you movin\u2019 and recently I finally got to catch a band I\u2019d heard of from San Antonio called Two Tons of Steel. They\u2019ve been crankin\u2019 out their high energy music since 1994 and incorporate more raucous punk into the mix which makes it even more infectious.<\/p>\n

Frontman Kevin Geil looks more like a CEO of a company than a boogie woogie Elvis style bad ass leader of a sound that has taken him from Texas to the Grand Ole\u2019 Opry, the National Theater in Havana, Cuba and European tours spreading the word of Texas Country rock!<\/p>\n

The current line-up is celebrating the 20th<\/sup> years of Two Tons and sounds stronger than ever led by KG on vocals and shimmy shake acoustic, solid electric guitar rock of Brian Duarte, bottom backing of Rich Alcorta on drums and super \u201cwhack n\u2019 go\u201d bombastic Jake Marchese on upright bass!<\/p>\n

They strolled into the venerable McGonigels Mucky Duck for their first visit to which Geil\u2019s remarked:\u00a0 \u201cY\u2019all will either be dancin\u2019 on the tables or we\u2019ll be loading the van early out front!\u201d Well, that surely did not happen as they blistered the crowd from the get go with gems like \u00a0\u201cAll Tied Up\u201d, killer \u201cCrazy Heart\u201d, and \u201cYou Know\u201d about him getting his butt kicked by his wife\u2019s ex-cop boyfriend. They kept the songs rollin\u2019 with minimum chit chat keeping the audience back on their proverbial heels enjoying the crisp clear sound that the Duck always delivers.<\/p>\n

\"010216-twotonsofsteel2\"<\/a>Geil made lots of references to the band being \u201cin the garage\u201d and\u00a0 that is a key to their grounded blow you away style. \u201cRun Away Baby\u201d ruled and a slap at the Munich Beer Fest for making them search for over 3 hours and still finding \u201cNo Beer\u201d was epic indeed.\u00a0 \u201cNot That Lucky\u201d was a CD they released in 2009 and it reached #4 on the Americana charts with the title track scorchin\u2019 the place.<\/p>\n

To me, a cover tune they did embodied their sound with a story about needing to do one more song to be paid $100 for a gig.\u00a0 Tore it up with the Ramones \u201cI Want to Be Sedated\u201d!\u00a0 KG then told yet another great tale about the band\u2019s \u201cSweet White Van\u201d that was being laid to rest and many good miles of touring.<\/p>\n

Down to earth just doesn\u2019t seem to be cool enough to describe Mr. Geil. I should have known it would be a good gig when I saw him in the rest room before the show and told him to \u201cbreak a leg\u201d.\u00a0 He dead panned : \u201cI think I\u2019ll break two thank you!\u201d\u00a0 The guy reminds me of performers I dig like Chuck Meade and Chris Isaak. Then, when he broke out Brian Henneman\u2019s Bottle Rockets tune \u201cIndianapolis\u201d it just slayed me!<\/p>\n

Since 1995, Two Tons has been doing \u201cLive from Gruene Hall\u201d where more than 150,000 loyal fans have supported the summer long event.\u00a0 Sweet gig indeed.\u00a0 In parting, as KG said throughout the evening, \u201cCan you give me a Two Tons?!\u201d\u00a0 Yes sir I can and plan on doing it a lot more in the future.\u00a0 Y\u2019all should too\u2026Peace and Live music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Eddie Ferranti The first time I was ever exposed to what is called \u201cRockabilly\u201d music, I was really smitten. The band was The Stray Cats and I was in the sweaty confines of a club called Numbers in Houston, Texas. They went on to be MTV darlings and even made it to the… <\/p>\n

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