Yr. Weekend, Pt. 3: Venomous Maximus + Haute Wheels + Black Bananas + More

A bit of a quieter day today (Sunday, May 13th, that is), which makes a little sense, both in that it’s a Sunday and Mother’s Day, and hell, musicians have mothers, too. Well, most of them, at least. There’re a few that I’m pretty sure were hatched in a lab somewhere as part of a plot to dominate the world through vapid, crappy, brain-destroying music. (Looking at you, Chris Brown.)

But I digress. There’re still a handful of cool things going on today/tonight; here goes:

Eyehategod/Venomous Maximus/TeXXXas @ Fitzgerald’s
Mëtäl. Grrawr. I’m kinda eh on Eyehategod, I’m afraid — nothing against ’em, really, but what I’ve heard before now just hasn’t done much for me, y’know? {Venomous Maximus}, on the other hand, are pretty dang great, barrelling through these heavy, sharp-edged slabs of fantasy-fueled backwoods/quasi-doom metal that’s raw and angry and, well, fun as hell to headbang to. Seriously, those guys are well worth the price of admission all by themselves. Plus, there’s also {TeXXXas}, a relatively recent H-town metal supergroup of sorts that sounds pretty intriguing — the band includes members of {Bowel}, Whorehound, {Krullur}, Unhinged, & probably a whole lot more. Dunno what they sound like yet, but the pedigree’s impressive.

Oh, and here’s a video from Venomous Maximus, the official, ultra-trippy one for “The Mission”; check it:

2nd Annual Haute Wheels Houston Food Truck Festival, featuring Roky Moon & BOLT!, Winter Wallace, The Wheel Workers, & Ancient Cat Society @ HCC Campus West Loop Center (5601 West Loop South)
Pretty sure this is already going on — sorry, I’m a bit (more) behind, w/all the Mother’s Day stuff — but get on over to the HCC West Loop Campus (south of 59, just past the Lowe’s & PetSmart) for the Haute Wheels Houston festival and feast on offerings from some of the coolest food trucks in town. I can personally vouch for Bernie’s Burger Bus, myself, a truck that’s become something of a roving holy place to me & several of my coworkers. Holy shit, those are some good burgers.

And hey, then there’s the music, which today includes Sergio from {Buxton}‘s “other” band, {Ancient Cat Society}, Beth Orton-esque songstress {Winter Wallace}, neat, neat indie-rockers {The Wheel Workers}, and yes, the soon-to-be-toast Roky Moon & BOLT!, playing one of a handful of shows before they vanish into the ether like they never really were there to begin with, Keyser Soze-style. (Or something, anyway; I was just out mowing the lawn in the heat & am somewhat dehydrated/disoriented, so bear with me here.) See ’em while you still can.

Black Bananas/Magik Markers/Dwarr @ Walter’s (1120 Naylor)
Last but not least, there’s Black Bananas, formerly known as RTX and which is the latest band of Jennifer Herrema, aka one half of the now-legendary Royal Trux. Black Bananas are a far, far cry from that former band, though, eschewing the garage-y rock in favor of all-over-the-place electro-funk that’s dirty and insidiously catchy at the same time; what I’ve heard so far sounds like what Prince might come up with if force-fed a crapload of illicit substances, and yeah, it’s pretty cool.

Check out/download a little of the band’s new album, Rad Times Express IV, right here:

Runners-Up:
Cop Warmth/White Suns/The Chemicals/Noguey/Electric Sleep @ Mango’s ($5)
Chico Trujillo/Los Skarnales @ The Continental Club