'HOUSTON'S OTHER'
VOLUME 3- ISSUE 16
NOVEMBER 8, 2000

  I head down to Fitzgerald's to check out one of the band's upstairs. They bore me, so I wander downstairs to see what was going on down there. I walk in and see two guys with short hair setting up their equipment. It is my expert opinion that, in the music biz, long hair equals rocknroll credibility. I know it's an ignorant idea, but I can't help myself, and, like it or not, appearances are important in music. It's the first thing you notice about a band when you see them play live, and I much prefer to see a band of scumbags than a couple of clean-cut, clean-living kids up there. In fact, the only reason I stuck around was because their ridiculously long-haired bass player had on a Harley Davidson t-shirt, earning the band back some credibility. And the drummer looked cool, too. I'm glad I stuck around.

  As soon as they started playing, I was yelling, "Fu Manchu!" at my friends. The band, consisting of Jeremy Stone(vox/guitar), Justin Waggoner(guitar), Greg Green(bass/hair), Dave Obert(drums), then proceeded to promptly smog out the entire room with their heavy-duty smoke machine. "Yeah, we like the smoke machine," Justin told me afterwards. "It's the F-150 of smoke machines, the Cadillac of smoke machines." What I remember most about their set was Greg calling for more tequilla shots and Jeremy predicting futures and feeding us fortune cookies. "This is gonna be our last show here, Fitzgerald's won't invite us back after this," he jokingly proclaimed as he hurled handfuls of the Chinese cookies across the dance floor. Not to be an ingrate (thanks for the cookies) but next time I hope they bring whiskey for us. Free food's good and all, but it didn't me any drunker. Oh yeah, they totally rocked the house- I remember that, too. I could hardly hear the vocals, but it didn't hurt the show much. Their music is all about the groove. And the lyrics are almost written as an afterthought in stoner rock, so you just gotta groove, man.

  Mr.Plow's music is heavy, but not Slayer heavy. It's stoner rock, plain and simple. I wouldn't call it metal. but it's almost metal. They reminded me of Deliverance-era Corrosion of Conformity at times, but Fu Manchu all the time. They've got plenty of "Mississippi Queen" style cowbell. If you like Fu Manchu or Kyuss, you will like Mr. Plow. When asked about their influences, Jeremy was quick to reply with the definitive list: "Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Black Sabbath, Monster Magnet, AC/DC." No suprises there, pretty much what I expected. They wear their influenced on their sleeves. Jeremy tells me that stonerrock.com called them "completely unoriginal, but somehow better than what it emulates." Exactly.

  They gave me a copy of their self-produced CD, "Head On." It's basically a demo, but really well produced for a self-released album. Much better than those early Fu Manch and Monster Magnet discs. You can hear the lyrics, which, though they may not be brilliant, are pretty cool at times. "The Gauntlet" is pure cheese, but they balance it with "Travis Bickle," in which they stick up for /sympathize with DeNiro's Taxi Driver character. "Mexican Smoke" also features some cheesy lyrics, but I still like it almost as much as "Molly" (my fave).

  Mr. Plow aren't gonna save the world. Listening to them isn't gonna save the whales or help some great cause. Mr. Plow has no cause. Except to rock your ass. They'll be playing at Fitz-Down Friday while the mighty Misfits punk-shock the upstairs.