Saucy Posse
Stay At Home Mom, sung by a guy
Followers of this blog know how much we love trios (especially those that play at Molly’s on Fairfax, just like we did!) Trios are daring, raw and honest. You can’t hide behind anything. Think Sublime, Rush, Triumph, The Police, Cream, Motörhead, etc. Saucy Posse fits in this vibe perfectly. This LA band is comprised of Dallin Nelson (Guitar, Vocals), Ty Bonaventura (Bass) and Kritika Malhotra (Drums). There’s a quirky honesty to the tones and arrangements of their tracks. Here’s our review of “Stay At Home Mom.”
Track is a full on Cake vibe, or Sublime, maybe even early Joe Jackson with his wonderful punk tracks. It starts with a phone call, a bass riff and a simple build up. When the vocals drop, we wonder just what perspective Dallin is giving until we hear the second line and we realize he’s equating himself to being a stay at home Mom. The breaks between the verse had us laughing out loud (in a good way) with the guitar riffs that mimic his vocal lines. When the chorus drops its totally different from the verses, a stream of consciousness of the “troubles” Mom faces. Love the chord progression here - it shows a depth to their writing. The brief guitar solo afterward is very tasty - very jazzy - a nice departure from the mostly straight ahead feel. Second chorus is extended with some stunning and ironic lyrics. Then we get hit with a totally different bridge section - almost like a dream sequence with lovely guitar voicings and backgrounds. We also get a bit of that great LA band DaDa here - very cool. It should also be noted how refreshing the mix is. Very dry. Very straightforward. Keeping the focus on the vocals and the story being told throughout the whole song. Coming out of the dreamy bridge, we get a third verse, and then the end. Having released dozens of songs ourselves, we must give high praise to Dallin and Harrison Donihue for how this was written. It’s hard enough to write a song, even harder to pull one off that sounds simple, but isn’t. There’s a tremendous amount of irony behind the lyrics, honesty in the instrumentation and subtleties in the arrangement. Well done.
Having spent a considerable amount of time on the LA scene, we believe this should go over very well out there. It’s a smart-ass vibe, in a good way. It’s take it, or whatever we don’t care. The whole album, “Sparky’s Bargain Warehouse” is full of songs like this. “5 O’Clock” is straight-up SoCal punk with great time sig changes. “Spring Mix” keeps up with the irony, and has an early ZZ-Top feel, without the distortion. “Dating Myself” shows a heavier side with some great guitar fuzz, but still fits the vibe of the record. And then there’s “Poop Deck,” which is hard to describe. ;) It’s in this song that you’ll get the title of the record and really get a sense of just how weird (and talented) this band can be. It’s hard to find another act like this out there - if you’re in SoCal - go check them out!