Modena Vox updates the British Invasion fetish of fellow Ohioans Guided by Voices with good looks and slick, layered guitars that'll ring true for anyone who dug college rock in the 1990s. The quintet can sound familiar, but the songwriting's as lively as their Midwestern-band-meets-the-road adventures. Here are frontman Anthony Timperman's monomanias:
5. Minivan rentals: Our faithful but ancient van broke down on the way back to Columbus from SXSW. What's interesting about that? Maybe the odor emanating from the creepy Waco towing service dude that dropped us off at the rental place. What was he eating, cabbage and popsicles?
4. Locals only: We had the nearly fatal luck of booking a show "a little outside of town" in Missouri. We city boys did our best, but we learned never to croon the Stones' "Last Time" to a bunch of local lovelies. It was nearly the last time we did anything.
3. Kicker of heads: It was our first show in NYC. Exciting, right? Too exciting, as my head wound proved. Kicks should not be performed onstage without proper certification and training.
2. Thanks, kids: One of our first shows was opening for the Von Bondies, and going from playing for the sound guy and his girlfriend to rocking 1,200 in the space of a month was pretty great. The Von Bondies know what's what.
1. Deals gone bad: A HoJo in the center of Manhattan for a little over $100? What a deal! Well, until we found out the room was a glorified crawlspace. That night at Howard Johnson's, it was work to keep our respective johnsons concealed. Everyone slept in their clothes.
Friday, July 14, at the Lager House, 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit; 313-961-4668. With Nice Device and the Last Bastards.
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