Some old musical cohorts and I were having a boy's night out this week and as a result of one of us having just witnessed a neo-Sabbath metal act called Priestess we had a conversation about “genre bands.” You know, those bands for whom evocation of a specific genre (or more often sub-genre or sub-sub-genre) seems to be their raison d’etre. “Country-swing bands, metal bands, garage bands, it doesn’t matter,” Matt, who had just endured Priestess said, proclaiming his distaste. As an example, he mentioned the Derailers (who were at the time a pretty darned fine honky-tonk outfit who could sound eerily like the Buckaroos ca. 1964), saying that he saw them a few years back, and while he enjoyed the show, he couldn’t ever imagine listening to them at home, because he’d rather listen to “the real thing.” He then started busting on the Chesterfield Kings and the Tell-Tale Hearts, and everyone looked at me because they knew I was going to say “But I like those bands.”

Bret’s rejoinder in defense of the Derailers was that since the members of the band obviously wanted to play country music there was only so much bandwidth they could work within, and that since they probably didn’t care to be a Travis Tritt tribute band, it made perfect sense that they fell into the sound they did. Stephen defended the early garage revival bands, pointing out that very few people even knew what “garage” was at that point since there weren’t a million re-issue compilations yet, and that furthermore they were a reaction to the watered-down aspects of new wave, and in that sense had the same motivation as the Ramones did in the mid-70s, even if they didn’t forge an original sound.

My offering was that my appreciation of “genre” bands varies proportionally with my interest in the genre, and also with the band's ability to write good songs. I like the Derailers, and Little Hits watchers know of my fondness for most of the 80s garage revival bands. My reasoning: Given that I like this specific style of music, why wouldn’t I want to hear a great song in that genre regardless of when it was recorded? If all of the elements I require are there, why should it matter to me if it was recorded in 1966 or 1986 or 2006?

I imagine most people can identify with all of the above positions in one context or another. I know I certainly do. I thank all of my witty, intelligent friends for a terrific evening of mirth and conversation, and for providing a jumping-off point for this awesome 45 by Scotland’s The Green Telescope. (One good thing about neo-garage records; they’re much cheaper than “the real thing.”) The Telescope made a couple of 7” records before becoming the Thanes; you can hear “Make Me Stay” from the equally great “Two by Two” EP on the Children Of Nuggets box. The Thanes are still at it; their recent LP Downbeat and Folked-Up on Screaming Apple is a swell listen. There are also excellent retrospectives on Rev-ola and Corduroy.