With its highly eclectic lineup, the Truth Explosion party at the Horseshoe was truly a mixer. Instrumental opening act Siberia used Edge-y guitars, loops and pedals, along with bass and drums, to sculpt their sticky, sweaty ambient slow-jams. By the close of their set at about 10pm, the room was getting full with a blend of punks, indie kids and outright rockers, pumped for the rest of the show.
Next we heard Dinosaur Bones, a five-piece whose countrified, meandering rock songs sport intricate, low-key rhythms and an air of melancholy. When singer/guitar player Ben Fox blew up his amp, Siberia members kindly brought one of theirs onstage. During this exchange, bassist Branko Scekic (who looks like the lost brother of Dallas and Travis Good) did some cool freestyling; you can see him perform at Rancho Relaxo on Wednesday. Standout Bones tracks include the keyboard-propelled, haunting “N.Y.E,” and the jittery “Royalty.” The band's rabid fans enthusiastically sang and danced along to the (Wall)flowery ballads and the (Radio)heady dirges.
Pandemonium ensued when local heartthrobs The Delinquints (that's not a typo, by the way — the “quints” denotes the fact that there are five of them) took the stage. We heard a smattering of tunes from their released-that-night CD, Live Your Life Like It's Stolen: the anthemic “Fun Police,” “Wicked City” and the excellent title track, which takes off on a pretty, Blue Oyster Cultish guitar riff. There was older material, too – the driving, melodic “Paint it Red,” the tough “No Cure For,” and the gutteral “Sin." The band's recent hard work has paid off — fun and furious, they delivered the punk rock and the moshing in front of the stage was maniacal.
The genre-defiant Bionic were most deserving of the headline spot, although they inspired considerably less moshing. (Presumably, their more complex rhythms thwarted any potential botherers.) Led by singer/guitarist (and ex-Doughboy) Jonathan Cummins, the band were consistently tight and hard, with influences that span the history of guitar-based rock music. Rocking a set that mainly focused on their 2008 release, Black Blood, they invoked a variety of entities, including King Crimson (“Soft as Margarine”), Bad Company (“Q: Is There TV in Heaven A: Yes, Yes There is”), Blue Cheer (“Theme for a Young Lion”), even our own Maximum RNR (“Turn You Out” from 2002's Deliverance). The husky howling, dirty riffs and proficient playing were dizzying and dazzling — a perfect end to a really fun night.