Asylum Street Spankers

What the hell is it? Does it count as blues? Or country-western? Or perhaps it's all just a put-on? Whatever it is they're really doing, you can't accuse Austin's Asylum Street Spankers of not possessing an overradiating intelligence.

Acoustic blues that quotes Black Sabbath? That's the Asylum Street Spankers for you.

Details

Scheduled to perform on Thursday, December 19. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10. Call 602-265-4842 for more information.

Rhythm Room, 1019 East Indian School

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The band mixes folk, torch music, jump blues -- basically anything with strumming acoustics, horns and Kamel Reds, fedora-sporting cool -- into songs that reflect the wise-ass sentiments of today. Wammo, the band's washboard player and co-songwriter, captures the band's contradictions best on "Antifreeze," a song from the Spankers' most recent offering, My Favorite Record. While the music is a vibrant slice of rockabilly shake, the lyrics are as ironic as a Replacements song. "I'll kiss you through the screen door on the submarine/If you promise you'll stop eating all the cat food," Wammo sings. Later, he name-drops for attitude: "The Jesus Lizard is much too mellow for my antifreeze/Sonic Youth is much too poppy for my antifreeze." These are definitely not the musings of a "hey, hey baby" Gene Vincent wanna-be.