Duffy booked these guys at the High Five a few years back and though the kid has never professed his love for metal / stoner-rock, he was floored by these guys enough so that he’s going to be headbanging front and center during The Sword’s return.

Torche, described by some as a “metal band for those who don’t like metal”, and Stinking Lizaveta, described by Trevor Danger as “an instrumental jazzy Sabbath”, open the show which is guaranteed to sell out (a limited number of tix will be available at the door but once they’re gone, they’re gone).

I hate writing shit like this and I hate reading shit like this but The Sword is poised to move onto bigger and better things (summer plans = Bonaroo, Ozzfest, opening for Metallica in Europe) so try to catch ‘em at the Ravari Room so you can say “I saw them before they were playing arena stages.”

MP3: Come Around

Check out the way my Thursday night is shaping up: brand new episodes of The Office (8pm), Survivor (9pm) and LOST (10pm) to start off and then a quick 15-minute car ride down to the Ravari Room just in time to catch headliners LIONS take the stage. Does it get any better? (Sorry Devil Moto, I suspect that you’ll be melting faces just as Hurley drops a classic one-liner).

Maybe you’ve heard my woe-is-me-I-missed-SXSW tale, maybe not. One of the biggest regrets I had about missing the festival was missing out on the multiple opportunities I would have had to see LIONS, hometown favorites in Austin.

I’ve said this to people before and have done LIONS a total disservice but I think of their sound as the type Kid Rock would have if he grew up on Sabbath and Blue Cheer (ie early stoner rock) rather than Skynryd (it’s the vocals … Matt D doesn’t do the whole rap-rock thing but there is something in his voice that reminds me of Rock’s when Rock is waving his metal freak flag). Rick Allen of The Other Paper said they sound like Soundgarden pre-Ben Sheppard era.

Cruise_Elroy from the DW message board says the band’s live performance blows away the record stuff which I think is pretty mindblowing itself (check out No Generation, one of those “wish I would have heard this in 2007 so I could have put it on my Best of list” CDs, for recorded evidence). And Cruise also made a Columbus connection to LIONS – lead singer Matt Drenik’s brother Jason is a founding member of Columbus’s Hairy Patt Band.

In the past year LIONS have toured with the Toadies and Blue Cheer and following this short stint of headlining dates will do a few weeks with Local H (damn, Cleveland is the closest show).

So … yeah … go see LIONS.