Music

Mean Motor Scooter Still one of the hottest tickets around, the Fort Worth rawk band returns with the new record Mr. Sophistication.

BY JUAN R. GOVEA

Mean Motor Scooter may be “local,” technically, but the hard-rocking and -popping quartet has fans all over, including France and Spain, where MMS has received some airplay and good press.

Now with the release of the band’s latest recording, the EP Mr. Sophistication, there’s hope that keyboardist Rebekah Elizabeth, drummer Jeff Friedman, singer-guitarist Sammy Kidd, and bassist Joe Tacke can take advantage of their newfound international profile. Too bad a pandemic stands in their –– and everybody else’s –– way.

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Drive-In Shows Are Here Let me start this by saying that music venues and pretty much every other kind of establishment, most notably restaurants, are two wildly different things. At a music venue, congregating is sort of the point. At a restaurant, under any circumstances but especially now, you’ll need to stay as far away from my family and me as humanly possible. None of us wants to be forced to shield ourselves from your splattering coughs or, worse, overhear your inane conversations in your outside voice inside. We have much more exciting topics of our own we need to discuss, like Why do we wait until entire TV series are over before we start watching them? and Is getting dressed really all that important? and Why do I always have to be the one to help him with his homework?! You at least have zero patience. I have -10!

All the data indicate that most momand-pop establishments are not going to survive the lockdown, paycheck protection or not. (And it’s most likely “not.”) A restaurant at 25% capacity is, for most restaurants, about as close to closed as theoretically possible. The average bar at 25% capacity is what is referred to in the beverage industry’s esoteric parlance as “dead.”

Most venues here in the Fort are essentially bar-bars, and most of them are on the small side, equating to about a couple dozen people (not counting staff) to manspread in rooms built for 150-ish whenever Gov. Greg Abbott greenlights the reopening of bars/venues. For the curmudgeonly among us, the fewer walking meat bags on the stools next to us and down in front of us, the better. No pesky lines at the bar to stop the precious Bud Light from a-flowin’. No adjacent convos about messy breakups or crappy neighbors. For the venue owners and the patrons who want to rock out at a rock show, including the bands, it’s a bad scene. Being within cheersing distance of other people who want to bang their heads or two-step defines the essence of places like Lola’s Saloon, MASS, The Moon, and the White Elephant Saloon. Livestreaming takes the ethos of rocking and rolling only so far.

MMS was scheduled to play the Wildflower! Arts & Music Festival this week in Richardson with Joan Jett, Loverboy, and several other vintage rock headliners, but due to the pandemic, the event was canceled. Locally, MMS was supposed to perform an EP release show on April 11 at MASS. That instead turned into a livestreamed concert from the same venue on May 1. More than 2,100 people have viewed the almost hour-long show.

The average turnout for the group’s North Texas shows is approximately 50 to 100 people on most nights, Kidd said. While touring the West Coast in 2018 and 2019, performing in California and Oregon, sharing the stage with Alternative Tentacles’ The Darts, and meeting the label’s founder, Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra, the group played in front of some pretty packed crowds, Kidd said.

“Releasing an album during the pandemic has been less than ideal, to say the least,” Tacke said, adding that he and his bandmates have been able to pivot quickly to “focus on more streaming and radio stuff.”

Mr. Sophistication was recorded in one day in Fort Worth at Cloudland Recording Studio (Pinkish Black, Ting Tang Tina, Chillamundo) and One Horn Studio (Josh & The Jet Noise, Dome Dwellers). It was engineered by Dreamy Life cofounder

There may be a way to move forward.

As the concert/ticketing juggernaut Live Nation Entertainment has begun, um, rolling out concerts at drive-in theaters, Lava Cantina (5805 Grandscape Blvd, 214- 618-6893) is launching “drive-in” shows. At 8:30pm on Wednesday at the sprawling Colony-located venue/bar/restaurant, you can watch Texas Music singer-songwriter Wade Bowen perform in person, via Facebook Live, or in the cantina parking lot, a.k.a. at “the drive-in” — it’s a patchwork of designated parking spots, each with a table for up to six people separated 8-10 feet from Robby Rux (The Cush, The Fibs, Maestro Maya), Elizabeth, and Tacke, who also mixed and mastered it. Now available on digital platforms, including Bandcamp, Mr. Sophistication brings a high-frequency hard-rock pop sound with catchy beats crashing back and forth. It’s more than a well put together EP. Kidd’s screams accompanied by Elizabeth’s high-pitched organ match the ferocity of Tacke’s bass and Friedman’s heavy beats. On “Portals,” lyricist Kidd describes an outward universe longing for explanation, but to no avail. Instead, screeching and wailing resonate in concussive reverb-drenched waves.

Kidd said the nature of Mr. Sophistication is a characterization of the ego as someone seeing oneself in a way meaning to be good or bad or selfless or helpless, adding, “The EP relates to human form and acknowledging the dark shadows inside of us with bad and good elements and certain figures looking at the occurrences while not pretending everything is so black and white all the time.”

Kidd said MMS’ music is “a collage of a lot of different artists that we all listen to. Besides our main influences, we try to stay connected to artists,” including William S. Burroughs and other Beat writers and filmmaker David Lynch.

Part of Mean Motor Scooter’s international profile comes from their record labels. Along with Dreamy Life Records here in the Fort, Dirty Water Records U.K. released Mr. Sophistication. MMS had been working with Dirty Water U.S. before that office closed. Though the EP has been spun locally only on KXT and The Pirate, it’s received airplay overseas on several platforms and outlets.

the next closest table. The performances inside will be broadcast in real time to a “massive” LED wall facing the tables, the cantina says, and in full sound. Concierges will serve food from the abbreviated menu and drinks and escort driver-inners to the restroom. For customers who do not feel safe leaving their vehicles to experience the performances, the shows will be broadcast on an FM station. Prices vary.

For live views inside the cantina, the area in front of the stage will be divvied up into eight “yards” — a yard is a table enclosed by bicycle racks and at least 8 feet away from the next nearest other yard. On the patio, eight tables will be spread out by 6-8 feet, and 10 tables separated by the same distance will be available on the balcony. For stream viewing inside, a distance of 6-8 feet will separate the 16 tables in the dining area and the 10 tables on the roof.

Lava Cantina’s adherence to social distancing deserves to be commended. Now it’s up to Bowen to make sure they are respected throughout his concert, and since he appears to be a pretty standup guy who’s unfairly maligned by Texas Music purists, I think he’ll do just fine.

This is not the future. It’s just the future for now, and it’s a positive step. In many ways, Lava Cantina’s Wednesday show predates what’s being called the first major U.S. concert since the pandemic began. That’s on Friday, when country singersongwriter Travis McCready is scheduled to play an intimate acoustic set at an 1,100- seat venue in Arkansas. Temple Live is still waiting for Gov. Asa Hutchinson to sign off on the show because it’s arriving three days before venues can reopen according to his most recent proclamation. Temple Live promises to adhere to social distancing. Like Lava Cantina.

Mr. Sophistication was part of a planned double-EP release at two separate dates with a future plan to release a vinyl version with the EPs on sides A and B. “That’s what we were talking about doing,” Kidd said, “but we don’t have the funds to put it out right now.”

Kidd is happy with the band’s sound now, especially with the relatively recent addition of Elizabeth, who joined in 2016 right before MMS’ lone album came out. Hindu Flying Machine and the 2016 singles “Naked Brunch/Such a Seducer,” a music video for “Gutterboy Blues,” last year’s TV Baby EP, and two other music videos altogether helped propel the West Coast tours.

“We have no idea what it looks like moving forward,” Tacke said. “It doesn’t look like live shows will be back in any real sense of the word for a long time. Live shows were obviously our bread and butter. They were by far our biggest source of income, and now that’s completely dried up.” l

After the past several weeks, of pain and confusion on all levels, from the urban villages and ’burbs to the (scandalously clueless) White House, people are just ready to rock.

While drive-ins and drive-in shows are great, people are still going to have to wait for the full live-show experience. It could be over a year, based on some estimates.

“In today’s world of fear and unease and social distancing,” the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl recently wrote in The Atlantic. “It’s hard to imagine sharing experiences like [concerts] ever again. I don’t know when it will be safe to return to singing arm in arm at the top of our lungs, hearts racing, bodies moving, souls bursting with life. But I do know that we will do it again, because we have to. It’s not a choice. We’re human. We need moments that reassure us that we are not alone. That we are understood. That we are imperfect. And, most important, that we need each other.”

And we do. — Anthony Mariani

LISTENING Local

FORT WORTH, Texas— Billy Bob’s Texas announces a virtual cook-a-long and music event on Saturday, May 16 at 6 PM. This event marks the second Dishing Out Relief fundraiser to provide some much-needed assistance to the restaurant industry in Texas amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In honor of National BBQ Month, the event will feature BBQ cooking demos by several Texas top chefs as well as performances from country music artists. Billy Bob’s is partnering with the Texas Restaurant Association (TRA), the leading business association for Texas’ multi-billion dollar foodservice industry, and Dallas-based digital marketing firm Lux214 Media Group to host the event.

There is no cost to watch the event on Billy Bob’s Facebook page, but donations will be accepted: Text DishingOutRelief to 31996. All proceeds will go to benefit the Texas Restaurant Association Relief Fund, which was established in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the pandemic has resulted in 688,000 lost jobs, $80 billion in lost sales revenue, and the closure of 34 percent of the 50,000 restaurants in Texas since mid-March.

“Our objective is to provide immediate relief by getting the money to restaurants quickly,” said Dr. Emily Williams Knight, President and CEO of the TRA. “The effects of this pandemic have been devastating for restaurants all over the state, and now we’re all coming together to help each other out.” Chefs will be presenting tips and tricks on how to make some of their favorite dishes in a series of engaging “how-to” videos.

Participating chefs include Dean Fearing (Fearing’s), Tim Love (Woodshed, Lonesome Dove, Gemelle, Atico, Love Shack, Queenie’s Steakhouse, White Elephant, Side Dough), Kent Rathbun (Shinsei, Lover’s Seafood and Market, Imoto, Rathbun’s Curbside BBQ), Richard Chamberlain (Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House and Chamberlain’s Fish Market Grill), Chris Fersch (Billy Bob’s Texas), Barry Cooper (Cooper’s Old Time Pit BBQ), Sarah Heard (Foreign and Domestic), Rebecca Mason (Fluff Bake Bar), and Lucky Campbell (Parliament, Standard Pour, and Clover Club).

“If you love cooking and country music, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you to get them both in one place,” said Chef Tim Love, owner of several restaurants throughout Texas and Tennessee, will be one of the participating chefs. You will be learning some great home cooking tips, listening to some great music, and most importantly if you donate, you will be helping out an extremely worthwhile cause.”

In addition to cooking and drinking along with top chefs and bartenders, expect performances from some special musical guests. “It is only fitting that the World’s Largest Honky Tonk host an event of this magnitude,” said Billy Bob’s General Manager, Marty Travis, referring to the venue’s famous nickname. “Combining two of the most Texan things I can think of—barbecue and live country music—is a fantastic way to raise money for restaurants in Texas. And just in time for National BBQ Month in May.” Virtual Cook-A-Long & Music Event to benefit the TRA Restaurant Relief Fund is streaming live from the Billy Bob’s Facebook page this Saturday, May 16 at 6pm. #DishingOutRelief #TXRestaurantReliefFund

CrossTown Sounds

MAY 13 Lava Cantina Presents @ 8:30pm: FOREVER HENDRIX Live Stream, In-Person or Drive-In Facebook.com/LavaCantinaTC 5805 Grandscape Blvd The Colony TX MAY 15 Chief Records Presents @ 7pm: AMBER DIGBY Virtual Album Release Facebook.com/ChiefRecordsOnline

MAY 16 Traders Village Presents @ 1-5pm: THE BLACKBIRD MAFIA 2602 Mansfield Rd Grand Prairie TX MAY 20 Kessler UMC Presents @ 7pm: An evening with JOSH RITTER “A Book of Gold Thrown Open” Tour 1215 Turner Ave, Dallas TX

MAY 19 The Dock Presents @ 8pm: VIRTUAL OPEN MIC Hosted by Sin & Aye Michael E via Instagram Live @DockOpenMic

MAY 21 Fat Daddy’s Free Tribute Band Thursdays is back with ROCKAHOLICS Live on the Patio 781 W DEBBIE LN Mansfield TX