Opening Riff

MUSIC

Obits Not Dead Yet

By Jennifer Kelly

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Feb. 27, 2008

Rick Froberg's coming to Philly to break in his new band.

Froberg, you might remember, was in the incendiary Hot Snakes, and before that in Pitchfork and Drive Like Jehu. When Hot Snakes called it quits in 2005, Froberg almost immediately started rehearsing a new band. And yet, a couple years down the road, the Obits have played only one show, a sold-out, packed-to-the-walls gig at Cakeshop in N.Y.C. in January.

The gig at Johnny Brenda's on March 1 will be No. 2.

Think about it. Did you get out to the Ramones' No. 2 gig in Forest Hills? Were you there in Hamburg when the Beatles hashed out their ultimate lineup? You were not. Here's your chance to witness history.

Obits, like Hot Snakes, thrash out trashy, distorted rock 'n' roll, sweat-soaked riffs splattered into roadkill at punk rock speed. A live bootleg of the Obits' "Two-Headed Coin" is stripped and rampaging, pushed to the limit by stuttery rockabilly walking bass and fanned into flames by frantic bursts of guitar. Yet unlike Hot Snakes or Jehu or even second guitarist Sorhab Habibion's old band Edsel, Obits also have a fondness for classic rock and blues. They closed the show at Cakeshop with "Milk Cow Blues," written by Kokomo Arnold but covered by everyone from Aerosmith to the Kinks.

All of which isn't going to go down easy with the hardcore Hot Snakes/Pitchfork/Jehu contingent. But screw them. At 17Dots.com Habibion explains that playing with traditional rock sounds is part of the point.

"It's fun for us to see what can happen with that and to try and find our inner Tom Verlaine and Neil Young," he writes. "We also have a goal of not making the songs too long so, again, it's a balance. And one in which the Adverts will always win out over the Allman Brothers, but maybe not the Yardbirds."

Sat., March 1, 8pm. $8. With Orphan + Failed Alliance. Johnny Brenda's, 1201 Frankford Ave. 215.739.9684. www.johnnybrendas.com