Call Me Lightning's sound brings together the more frantic moments of The Talking Heads' early days with the freak-out riffs and wild vocal style of The Jesus Lizard. Throw in some lyric styling reminicent of The Minutemen and you have a powerful combination.

Nathan Lilley / Bill Kutsch / Shane Hochstetler

http://www.myspace.com/callmelightning

Sometimes, you hear certain cool people make fun of the not-so-cool-but-still-founded-a-million-dollar-software-company people who played Dungeons and Dragons, and you feel bad. You know it really was a screwed up way to relate to other peers, a way to avoid talking to girls or dealing with parents. I mean, sure it was great to throw a 14d6 fireball into a room of orcs, but you can't really go to school and talk to people about it at the lunch table. And they certainly didn't have cheerleaders for it, even though they would look hot in chain mail bikinis and such.

Anyhow, I digress. Sometimes the people making fun use certain references that clue you into the fact that they must have played the game themselves. Key words to look for are cleric, hit points, and especially red dragon (most people say dragon, but don't know that they came in colors).

Luckily, Call Me Lightning seems like a friend to the D&D'ers everywhere, who happen to like really fucking good music as well. With songs entitled "We be Dragons" and "Ghouls", "The Trouble We're In" also reeks of alcohol-soaked mornings and the unexplainable nights that preceded them. Somewhere between the Birthday Party, Les Savy Fav, and the Blood Brothers, these Midwesterners conjure up a sound almost reminiscent of the old Chicago days of the Jesus Lizard. Huge drums alternate between plodding behind and charging ahead of the always anchoring bass and the almost surf-like spasms from the guitar. What really brings it all together is the voices. Both Nathan Lilley and Bill Kutsch, guitarist and bassist respectively, lend their frantic phrasings to the already tense music, pushing just over the edge.

Put this record side by side with the newest release from the Paper Chase or that singles collection from Les Savy Fav and you will see a totally new Olympics. Only this one will be played on the hexagon field by ogres and pixies. Bring the thunder; I'll be the lightning.

from Indierockshop.com, posted by Grant Capes, October 30, 2004