Those Darlins, Choir of Young Believers, the Grates
October 20th at the Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco

I walked into the Rickshaw Stop on Tuesday night just before 9pm and caught the tail end of the Grates, a whimsical indie rock band fronted by a spunky blonde Aussie singer whose exuberance bleeds into her band members and the audience standing before them. Up next was Denmark’s Choir of Young Believers, who create hypnotic walls of acoustical arrangements with cello and lush guitar leading the way. Their songs are presented in English as singer Jannis Noya Makrigiannis builds on stoic lyricism while instrumental arrangements build and build in rich sonic suspense. I really liked it when they spoke Danish in between songs; the angular sound of the language against the grandiose nature of the music was a cool dichotomy. The sound system at the Rickshaw is exceptionally loud and robust, perfect for their delivery of crashing crescendos and harrowing vocals. An intense band, and an interesting choice to support the impulsive country-punk of Those Darlins, but also fully deserving of their supporting slot on the bill that evening.

When you think of girl groups, you might think of, oh, I dunno, the Vivian Girls in their blasé hipness or the marketing machinery behind the Spice Girls. Those Darlins are something else entirely. A trio of ladies from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, they are mostly categorized as a country act but just as deftly straddle the lines of punk and raucous rock ‘n’ roll. I first learned about Those Darlins a few months back when Crawdaddy! writer Bob Hill did an interview with the band, and then I got into their self-titled album, so I thought I’d knew what to expect from them on stage—quirky, Carter Family-influenced country-pop. Nope. These girls blew their audience away. The three of them amble around up there (with a boy in the background on drums), trading insults and stage banter, swapping instruments and vocal duties, bringing it all to a foot-stomping, guitar-crushing head. While many of their songs were rollicking novelty ditties, like “DUI or Die”, “Snaggle Tooth Mama”, and “The Whole Damn Thing” (which had people yowling along with them), towards the end of their set they entered into this surf-rock guitar jam that had the entire audience dancing and sweating as the girls descended into the crowd or got down on their knees on the stage like we’ve seen in photos of some of rock’s greatest guitar legends. Straight outta Appalachia, these girls are brazen and bewitching, and bring a straight-up rock ‘n’ roll spontaneity and excitement to the stage like I haven’t seen in quite some time. I hope they move to San Francisco and become my friends, but no matter where they end up, Those Darlins are going places.

Watch: Those Darlins, “Drivin’ Nails in my Coffin” [at youtube.com]