DUMB QUESTIONS/SMART ANSWERS: THE CONTINGENCY

Every week we rack our brains to figure out who you, our attractive and hopefully non-cold suffering readers, would like to know more about. Then we ask them boring questions. This week we are all rocked like sock-hops to bring you into the mind of Bunny, guitarist, mohawkist, recordingist and standing somewhat creepily outside of Al's with a big bag-ist of The Contingency.

What are some of your favorite records lately?
I've been diggin the crap outta Amy Winehouse lately. I'm probably late on this on but that grrl can sing like baby jesus ate some crisco. Also I've been taking it back to '95 with Mineral and 400 years. If you haven't checked out Chris Simpson's new band Zookeeper..DO IT!

Are there any Houston bands who you've been digging lately?
Ryan Scroggins and the Trenchtown Texans. Probably because every tuesday I get to record them at our space at Fransiscos. Yes...you can record an album at Fransiscos. But it would really help if the crap ass metal band that practices on the first floor every tuesday around the time we're layin down vocals would...die or something equally quiet. But Ryan Scroggins and the Trenchtown Texans are the band to beat as far as potentially getting a nice chunk of spotlight. As soon as I'm done with their album, Megalith Records is puttin it out.

What's your secret Houston place?
My secret place is your pants. Or Roller Derby Bouts. As far as The Contingency goes we try to eat at Hickory Hollow once or 80 times a month. Also Beer Island kicks the ass.

What is the first sentence of the page you are on in a book you are reading right now?
"The orgies of archaic peoples are usually interpreted in a way that completely by-passes everything that I have tried to show." Erotism: Death and Sensuality by Georges Bataille

What's the best thing you have spent money on in the last year?
Dead-Hooker-Be-Gone and my new pink Daisy Rock guitar which is exactly like my old pink Daisy Rock guitar, but different pickups! Hell yeah! Dang I'm wild!

What is the best thing you got for free in the last year?
The clap. It took my mind off the crabs. And my tattoos on my legs.

What question should we ask the band next week?
How much do you love The Contingency and why does Bunny not have a girlfriend?

What does the Contingency have going on right now?
We are writing new songs more in the vain of what I wanted to do in the first damn place. Hopefully we'll be able to break into a different club and record another album before the year is up. We are in talks with Stacey Davidson about shooting a video for a song we're gonna write that will be better than anything you've ever heard. The video will be done in episodes. We're calling it "Trapped in the closet." I think it's gonna blow up. Also we got a show coming up on June 27th at Rudyards with The Girlfriend Experience from California. They are cool cats...at least over the e-mails. No tour plans for now. Maybe if more peeps came to our shows and gave us some damn love we could, but right now we's broke.

You can see for yourself just how much you love The Contingency and just how much a shame it is that Bunny is single tonight, May 18th, at Rudyards as they open a bill that also features Austin's Lick Lick and locals Fired for Walking.

THE CONTINGENCY: WE ARE PLAYING ONE (MORE?) SHOW THIS YEAR

Hey have you happen to have caught The Contingency at one of their shows yet this year? No? Well, mark May 1st18th(?) on your calendar (?) and be sure to show up wherever they are playing at Rudz(?), because we caught the dish from Mr. Jason Wheeler himself that they’ve got one more show to go this year and THAT’S IT(!). Why all the question marks, you may ask? Well, let’s just say we didn’t exactly have our stenograph or wits about us when we spoke with him Monday night (in fact, we have been accused of sass, subsequent…[?]) and can’t seem to remember all the details as sharply as usually is required to maintain our strictest of journalistic standards. Also Google is no help. Also we promise to remind you as the date approaches. Also has anyone seen our stenograph?

BUT WHAT WILL THEY BE UP TO? Well, writing and recording is what we hear, using Bunny’s mad knob skills and wicked portable setup. (Did you know their last album was recorded upstairs at Rudyards? No, seriously, over the course of three days while it wasn’t being used with the drums in the middle of the room and the bathrooms as isolation booths and the likes. Woah.) Stoked.

UPDATE: BIG THANKS to the person behind THIS FLYER, which revealed to us that the correct date is actually May 18th @ Rudyards with Fired for Walking and Lick Lick.

Week in Review: Other News

A Summary of our Other News postings from last week.

• Miss the Contingency as Fugazi? They're playing that set 2/18 at Rudz
• Free Sporatics CDrs at their Shows this Week
• Hell City Kings: Tonight is our Last Show For a While
• Turkeys/Act of God Show Moved to PJ's
• Houstonist Weekend Mardi Gras Picks
• Handstamp Seeks Reader Rodeo Reviews
• John Nova Lomax and Daniel Mee Talk about Indie Rock
• Milli Vanilli film to be made
• SNEAK PEAK: Rough Mixes of New Tracks by The Kimonos
• YUSS! Beyonce is SI's Swimsuit Issue Cover Model
• Houstonist Announces Light Rail Pub Crawl
• HoustonSoReal Covers the Bun B Style Wars Screening and Afterparty
• The Wiggins/RUA MINX, The Sporatics, others Saturday Night @ Notsuoh
• Boo Goo Doo Boom Offers Helpful Valentine's Day Mix
• Mourge City and The Contingency Wish You a Very Jugend Valentines
• Red Star of the Solar Federation Discuss Desire to Become More Radio Friendly
• Hosuton Press Unveils Mixtape Series that Includes no Houston Bands
• Houston Punk Archives Review Spikefest
• Sharks and Sailors/My Education/Red Sparrows 2/21 @ Walters

Fitz Bands Rock the Cecils Jukebox...and are Really Really Really Good

Fitzgerald’s, and the bands that play there, are the butt end of many a joke about the state of music in our city. Yet there it is; the keystone of a much larger and better-attended rock and roll scene than that which might be called the loose assortment of acts defined in the tag cloud in the column to your right. Yet, as indie snobs, when reading that a gaggle of said acts will be spending an evening covering as oh-no-he-did-nt acts as Fugazi, Rage Against the Machine, the Pixies and other staples from the jukebox at Cecils, it could be understood how one might absolutely throw down $10 for an evening pre-judged as “awesomely bad.”

Got that one wrong.

From the moment we arrived, close to the end of Mourge City’s downstairs set as The Cult, it was pretty clear that an evening spent in cap-lock LOL wasn’t going to be so because it was bad, but because it was actually pretty good. As they launched into a set ending (duh) version of Fire Woman, it finally occurred to me that these guys weren’t dressed like a bunch of dingleberries: they were dressed as The Cult (ok, I should have been clued in two songs earlier by the drummer’s hilarious wig). Holy crap, I remember this video; the singer isn’t just singing like Ian Astbury, he’s performing like him too. That extra umph of shtick, not just playing their songs but actually being the band, was a theme that was executed pretty much perfectly for the entire night, piling on the fun.

Oh, and these bands all played really really well too.

Heading up the stairs, which more memories of high school being coming back with each step up those bizarrely familiar stairs, there were moments to spare before Full Release launched into a pretty much spot on stomp through the highlights of Rage Against the Machine’s self titled debut. And, again, it ruled (though they cheated as they are actually a full time cover band). It started to sink in at this point that the silly appeal of the music played by the like S.A.R.S., Big Brown Truck, lizfits and Sports, cover bands that we know and love, translates just as easily in the 90s as it does the 80s; Bombtrack is just as fun, and terrible, after all, as Holiday Road.

Back downstairs for The Contingency’s set as Fugazi (another thing oft forgotten about Fitz – they stagger their shows so you can see pretty much every band play every song and don’t have to stand around picking your nose while backlines are being changed out). Covering a band as deadly serious and revered as the cornerstone of Dischord Records is risky business. But The Contingency did it, and did it well. They’ve been on our list of acts to check out for a while now, and with this performance they moved quite a bit closer to the front of the line.

Back upstairs, Hell City Kings, Turbonegro. No surprise here, a band fronted by the commandant of the local Turbojungend nailed it, look and sound alike. As the jugend poured on the beer, front man Christian (in a wig, no less), poured on the Norwegian. It’s fun to see guys who look tough as the coffin nail geek out so freely. Well done.

Ok, now its time to blow minds: The Smoke Eaters as The Pixies. We’ve never heard or even heard of this band; they didn’t look familiar from the grocery store, the bar or the borough (that includes their broken-thumb friend that they signed on for Kim Deal duty). Who have no clue who these people are or what their story is, but if there solidly curated and fancifully executed performance as the Pixies is any indication, this could be the best band in Houston you’ve never heard of. We cannot emphasize the point strong enough: this band floored us.

Even Lonestar Pornstar surprised us a bit with the raw earnestness with which they tackled the Red Hot Chili Peppers catalog. And while we would never ever ever advocate listenership any band fronted by a white guy sporting both ‘Soldier’ and ‘Fueled by Hate’ tattoos, they way he thanked Fitz for asking them to be the Chili Peppers for the evening was, awe, kinda sweet. Oh rad, GIVEITAWAYNOW!

And so then there we were, outside the center of a very different scene in the very same city; one that books bands whose publicity photos alone send eyes reeling and who won’t get rid of those damn damn damn blacklights. The door guy doesn’t know what Hands Up Houston is, and he doesn’t seem to care. Just like us, he’s got his scene and he’s not terribly curious about what’s going on just over the tracks. Cheers to you man.