Dirty Pretty Things
"Sorry about this," frontman Carl Barat said, gesturing at the Union Jack sling on his right arm. He didn't explain it -- he'd broken his collarbone last week -- but he didn't mope about it either. Instead, he led Dirty Pretty Things through a hide-tanning set of good ol' head-bobbing rock 'n' roll Tuesday at the Music Box.
That's rock 'n' roll, mind you. Three minutes of power and an abrupt halt. No obtrusive keyboards, soggy ballads or moody introspection here. This was a loud guitar-bass-drum garage throwdown that paired the rigorous Brit sounds of the Clash, Jam and Kinks with the modern simplicity of the Strokes and left the young crowd buzzing. And all for 15 measly bucks.
Expanded to a five-piece with Paddingtons guitarist Josh Hubbard filling in for Barat, Dirty Pretty Things combined rookie fervor with veteran tightness. Arising from the smoldering wreckage of the Libertines, the band basked in Anthony Rossomando's choppy-crisp riffs and crackly leads, while Gary Powell's relentless, bashing drums pushed from behind. A muddy, bottom-heavy mix was frustrating at first, but the group's quick takes on fast songs kept the energy level high enough to flog any piddly technical shortcomings.
The band was launching a brief U.S. tour to support its debut album, the 33-minute "Waterloo to Anywhere" (Interscope), which had hit U.S. shelves that morning. Playing all of the record -- including "B.U.R.M.A.," which was left off the stateside release -- DPT varied its sound enough to keep things interesting while never taking a foot off the gas.
Kicking off with the Strokes-like new single "Deadwood," the band combined quick bursts of lyrics and a welcome raggedness with moshable beats. The loping "Be My Baby" drum intro of "Wondering" fed into a biting guitar lick that snaked through the song, giving way to a decidedly Clash-like verse. "The Gentry Cove" began as a power-pop take on island music, then saw multiple abrupt shifts and somehow morphed into a boogie thing. And the hooks kept comin' -- from the pouty melody of "If You Love a Woman" to the two-minute punk blast of "You Fucking Love It" through the slow-building "Blood Thirsty Bastards."
The many Libertines fans got theirs with a trio of that band's songs, including two in the encore, but this night was about announcing something new. Barat's cocky-cool stage manner left no doubt that he's the star now, and the all-bash, no-flash Dirty Pretty Things have no need to look back.
By Erik Pedersen
Source:
The Hollywood Reporter
