As fall ushers the student population back to campus, the university area has become bombarded with concerts. Different kinds of generic, college-friendly noise is polluting most of the High Street venues near campus.
Sunday Lucero will provide much-needed relief to Bernie’s Distillery, 1896 High St., bringing songs about lost loves and drinking whiskey via an indie rock/country hybrid.
Lucero has stood out by proving their devotion to playing music on the road. Choosing to avoid the extreme temperatures of summer and winter, it is custom for the Memphis-based foursome to hit the road during those in-between seasons.
Falling from their punk roots, the band decided to pursue a sound that infused indie rock and country.
“Originally we just wanted to piss off the punk rockers and start a country band,” said Ben Nichols, lead singer and guitarist, during a show at Bernie’s in April.
The band’s hybrid of the two genres combined with a dedicated touring regimen quickly established a diverse fan base. Indie rockers and punks alike could finally come out of the closet about their country music fetishes without shame. The band went on to release two full-length albums since its breakout self-titled album in 2001. While their self-titled release was every bit as country as rock, subsequent albums progressively gave away more to indie rock.
Despite eroding their crossover niche, Lucero is not ashamed of their gradual transformation.
“We got people that are like, ‘All you used to be better in the old days,'” Nichols said. “We’re just a rock-and-roll band – just a bar band.”
While the country roots have been replaced by a solid rock base, the band still delivers incredible live performances. Long-term fans will not feel out of place because the old hits are played with the same energy and passion as when they were new.
The band has two split 7″s coming out with Loggia and Against Me. Against Me has lost much of its credibility with its older fans by jumping to a bigger label and changing its sound. Lucero has avoided much of the backlash despite touring with Against Me and dropping most of its original country twang.
Like its previous venture through town, Lucero picked the wrong night to play a show at Bernie’s. Instead of playing every request or until the bar closes, (which is the band’s norm) the group will need to wrap its set up before the weekly hip-hop night at 11 p.m. Scab Head will be opening.
