Slabtown Bender 2011 - Friday Night Preview

While the enitre weekend looks great—I love Nobunny and Holly Golightly—I think Friday has the best lineup from top to bottom. And although I've been a fan of the Beat for ages, especially "Walking Out On Love", Paul Collins isn't even who I am most excited about. That's just how good the lineup is. Here are my top five for tonight:

Pure Country Gold (Portland) garage blues
If there was any doubt if I was coming out (there wasn't), finding out that this could be Pure Country Gold's last show ensured that I couldn't miss their set. This set may require double fisting.

The Tranzmitors (Vancouver, BC) power pop, garage rock
Busy Singles is by far my favorite album I came across preparing for the Bender. Pretty damn excited about seeing them.

The Mean Jeans (Portland) Ramones-style punk rock
Local favorites with energy to kill. Always fun.

The Blind Shake (Minneapolis) garage rock
Supposed to have an amazing live show. Their album Carmel rawks pretty hard, so I am inclined to believe the hype.

Welcome Home Walker (Portland) pop punk, garage rock
"Suds" is stupid catchy, so you might as well shout along.