Living Things

Ft. Lauderdale • March 29, 2006

John Hood

Things you need to know about Living Things: They are at core three brothers – Lillian, Eve and Bosh (really). They are from St. Louis. Steve Albini produced all three of their releases. Their sound is all cool fury; their show is all tell. And they Rock, from a hard place called Now.

Struck to a stance that only an anarchist mother could provoke and swaggered in the strut of rock legend, Living Things are about as incongruous a congruity as you can get without re-breaking the mold. Again. Socio-political glamsters, pretty boy rock pulpiteers. A dirty Sweet with a Fugazi mindset.

Live, the Things certainly don’t rely solely on their good looks. After all, a chiseled chin might get you the girls, but it doesn’t mean the girls stay in the big picture. Or the boys. For that you’ve gotta give good groove, you’ve gotta sweat, and you’ve gotta mean it.

Living Things mean good groove, sweatily so. And they mean their groove to mean something. Meaty, beaty, big and bouncy, with brains. And a cause. Each song a protest song cloaked in boogie, each appearance a rally wrapped in rockdom. And if “Bom Bom Bom” is now used to pitch CSI: Miami, it just means the folk who hype the hit show dig brainy good groove. Besides, the bigger the broadcast the more people get a hear of the Things message.

And Things are ever on and all about message: This and this needs fixed; that and that and that are all wrong. Time to do something about it.

Time to leave the driving to us. In fact, singer Lillian is so convinced the powers are taking us for a ride he’s offering us a vehicle. So what if the car he’s proffered is a bit used; it’s been decidedly pimped. Like a classic with a whole new set of features, Living Things are not your father’s automobile.

The Living Things: http://www.livingthingmusic.com ◼