Saturday night was the first official event in the brand new House of Blues here in Houston. For a few reasons, I was really excited about this show. First, I've been waiting for the HOB to open since I heard about it in February. Second, I can think of no better way to break in the new music hall than to have Cowboy Mouth do their thing. As a preview, at the beginning of the show, Fred promised to put on one hell of a show and "Beat these drums like they are my stockbroker." He did just that.
I first heard Cowboy Mouth in the fall of 1995. They were playing the college circuit and I stumbled in to one of their shows almost by accident. I was dumbfounded when, in a ratty college bar where half of the crowd had never heard of them, these guys burned down the house. Fred and the boys demanded that people listen to them and engage in the show, and the crowd responded. (Although I distinctly remember, at one point in the show, Fred actually ate a woman's bra that was thrown on the stage.) They still demand a lot from their audience, but I'll get to that a little later. At that first show in the fall of 1995, I became a Cowboy Mouth Zealot, I would follow them to 2 or 3 shows in a row when they were in Texas. I saw them at Trees, La Zona Rosa, Stubbs, the Satellite Lounge, Numbers, the 3rd Floor Cantina, the Dixie Theater, and countless other venues I've long forgotten.
At the time, CM was made up of Fred LeBlanc, John Thomas Griffith, Paul Sanchez and Rob Savoy. Rob, was the third bass player for the band and left a few years ago. Paul was one of the founding members but left to follow his solo career in 2006. In the Summer of 1996 Cowboy Mouth had their major label debue with Are You With Me on MCA records. That summer, I traveled to New Orleans with a good friend of mine to attend the CD Release party at the House of Blues. The show was sold out and we didn't have tickets, so we sat outside waiting for someone to sell us a ticket and finally found a scalper to sell us tickets at a premium. My friend had never seen the band, so he was skeptical if it was worth the effort, but we got our tickets and went in. That show was one of the most amazing, sweat drenched, screaming, dancing, and loud rock and roll shows I've ever seen. I've still got the faded, autographed, ticket stub for that show in the back of the jewel case for the Are You With Me CD. At one point that night, Fred climbed up on top of the speaker stack and then jupmed up to hang on to the outside of the balcony railing. He proceeded to sing and whip the audience into a frenzy all while precariously perched on the balcony railing overhanging the audience on the floor. It was a great show and my friend became a lifelong fan of the band.
So, fast forward 12 years or so to last Saturday night (10/11/08) and Cowboy Mouth was taking the stage as the first act to play at the new House of Blues. I've been really excited about the new venue and the show was a great reminder of that night 12 years ago. The current lineup of the band adds Regina Zernay (bass) and Jonathan Pretus (rhythm guitar). Without Paul's singer/songwriter personality, the band's sound has a noticeably harder edge. That said, Regina and JP are good additions to the band and seem to really enjoy putting on a good show. The band put on a great show that wrapped up right around 12:00 on Saturday night. They played many of the songs from their new album, Fearless, and many longtime favorites including Love of My Life, How do you Tell Someone, New Orleans, Jenny Says, Everybody Loves Jill, Easy, Joe Strummer, Voodoo Shop and All American Man (to name a few). To close out the evening, they played a hyper energized version of the Boss's Born to Run. For me, that was a great moment. One of my favorite bands, in great new venue, playing a classic song from one of my favorite artists.
It was a great way to kick off the new House of Blues. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of concerts there. During the show, Fred said "I think we've found our new home in Houston!" I hope he's right.
I first heard Cowboy Mouth in the fall of 1995. They were playing the college circuit and I stumbled in to one of their shows almost by accident. I was dumbfounded when, in a ratty college bar where half of the crowd had never heard of them, these guys burned down the house. Fred and the boys demanded that people listen to them and engage in the show, and the crowd responded. (Although I distinctly remember, at one point in the show, Fred actually ate a woman's bra that was thrown on the stage.) They still demand a lot from their audience, but I'll get to that a little later. At that first show in the fall of 1995, I became a Cowboy Mouth Zealot, I would follow them to 2 or 3 shows in a row when they were in Texas. I saw them at Trees, La Zona Rosa, Stubbs, the Satellite Lounge, Numbers, the 3rd Floor Cantina, the Dixie Theater, and countless other venues I've long forgotten.
At the time, CM was made up of Fred LeBlanc, John Thomas Griffith, Paul Sanchez and Rob Savoy. Rob, was the third bass player for the band and left a few years ago. Paul was one of the founding members but left to follow his solo career in 2006. In the Summer of 1996 Cowboy Mouth had their major label debue with Are You With Me on MCA records. That summer, I traveled to New Orleans with a good friend of mine to attend the CD Release party at the House of Blues. The show was sold out and we didn't have tickets, so we sat outside waiting for someone to sell us a ticket and finally found a scalper to sell us tickets at a premium. My friend had never seen the band, so he was skeptical if it was worth the effort, but we got our tickets and went in. That show was one of the most amazing, sweat drenched, screaming, dancing, and loud rock and roll shows I've ever seen. I've still got the faded, autographed, ticket stub for that show in the back of the jewel case for the Are You With Me CD. At one point that night, Fred climbed up on top of the speaker stack and then jupmed up to hang on to the outside of the balcony railing. He proceeded to sing and whip the audience into a frenzy all while precariously perched on the balcony railing overhanging the audience on the floor. It was a great show and my friend became a lifelong fan of the band.
So, fast forward 12 years or so to last Saturday night (10/11/08) and Cowboy Mouth was taking the stage as the first act to play at the new House of Blues. I've been really excited about the new venue and the show was a great reminder of that night 12 years ago. The current lineup of the band adds Regina Zernay (bass) and Jonathan Pretus (rhythm guitar). Without Paul's singer/songwriter personality, the band's sound has a noticeably harder edge. That said, Regina and JP are good additions to the band and seem to really enjoy putting on a good show. The band put on a great show that wrapped up right around 12:00 on Saturday night. They played many of the songs from their new album, Fearless, and many longtime favorites including Love of My Life, How do you Tell Someone, New Orleans, Jenny Says, Everybody Loves Jill, Easy, Joe Strummer, Voodoo Shop and All American Man (to name a few). To close out the evening, they played a hyper energized version of the Boss's Born to Run. For me, that was a great moment. One of my favorite bands, in great new venue, playing a classic song from one of my favorite artists.
It was a great way to kick off the new House of Blues. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of concerts there. During the show, Fred said "I think we've found our new home in Houston!" I hope he's right.
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