As driving forces in what used to be Seattle’s ear-piercing, inflammatory pioneer hardcore act The Blood Brothers, guitarist Cody Votolato and vocalist Johnny Whitney are expert crafters of jarring hooks. Alongside former Pretty Girls Make Graves drummer Jay Clark, the two found themselves veering last year toward a danceable, more pop-sensible brand of abrasive punk in Jaguar Love.

As many fans found out last night at the Cedar Door, they’ve taken that sound a step further, as Clark has been replaced by a drum machine. It’s an interesting shift — rather than smashing into each other in frenzied mosh pits, fans now bob, bounce and flat out dance to the throb of electro beats. And though Jaguar Love held onto some of their best songs like “Jaguar Pirates” and “Highways of Gold,” many from last year’s debut full length have been replaced by new numbers, presumably because of the difficulty of translating the rhythms into programmable beats.

But for the most part, the elements that draw fans to Jaguar Love remain the same. Whitney still belts soulful yet slightly disorienting melodies in an impossibly high, seemingly helium-altered register between breakdowns filled with his primal screams. And Votolato’s razor sharp riffs still dance over dissonant scales before diving into power chord blasts.

Unfortunately, something wasn’t quite working with the sound last night at the Cedar Door. Whitney’s vocals kept getting lost in the mix, and eventually the onstage monitors gave out.

But overall, it was a nice preview of the next phase of Jaguar Love, and fans at least now know to come to shows ready to dance.

Originally published on the Austin American-Statesman’s Austin360 20 March 2009.

Shy Child
By the time I arrived at the Trocadero, Shy Child was already powering through an electronic based and hugely dynamic set. It’s obvious that Pete and Nate live for their music and want nothing more than to show their audience a wild time. The set was tight and tons of fun.

Shy Child

Jaguar Love
After Sunday night’s performance, I finally understood where Jaguar Love gets its name: lead singer Johnny Whitney more often than not sounds like a cat in heat. Johnny Whitney’s vocals were once described as “like Robert Plant on steroids, or Perry Farrell after a sex change.” A cross between Little Richard and David Lee Roth came to my mind.

The set was wildly energetic and got the crowd sufficiently pumped for headliners The Faint (more on them in a post to come!), but I could’ve done with more instrumentals and far fewer vocals.

Johnny Whitney

Cody Votolato

Jay Clark

Shy Child: website | myspace
Jaguar Love: website | myspace | Take Me To The Sea review