The Cosmeticators at The Trunk Space, 6-30-11

Before the song, Jemsek told the crowd, "If you don't know who they are, I feel sorry for you." Throughout the song, he furiously strummed his bass so fast his fingers were often just a blur. Spastic was red-faced and popping up and down in his seat with every beat of the snare. There was lots of shouting, cymbal crashes, and walls of feedback. Reeves played his guitar over-handed for a bit, and howled and screamed like the most bad ass punk bluesman since Jon Spencer. It was glorious.

The set ended with Reeves playing the drums along with a pre-recorded car alarm, while Spastic slowly disassembled the kit.

​Next up were The Cosmeticators, who set up half on stage (just Amy Young behind the drum kit and the bass and guitar amplifiers), and halfway on the floor below (where guitarist/vocalist Dee Moreno and bassist/vocalist Chela stood). Despite having short songs averaging less than three minutes each, they played the longest set of the night, barreling through 13 songs, with some fun banter in-between like these exchanges:

Chela: "We'll do anything you tell us to."

Moreno: "If you're a robot."
Chela: "And have money"

Moreno (after turning around to take a drink of water): "We're not supposed to turn our backs on the audience. Sorry about that."
Chela: "I don't care. They like looking at backsides."

The trio played fast and hard, but tight. They've added some new vocal harmonies to older songs like "Apple," and despite the tendency to sound monotone, the "60s girl-group harmony" idea comes across, and works well against the band's backdrops of raging, Ramones-ish four chords. There's not a lot of showing off from the players, but Moreno did crank out a pretty cool solo during their cover of The Mighty Caesars' "You Make Me Die."

After rocking through original tunes like "Vanna" (an ode to Vanna White), "Jerry" (the aforementioned love song to Chela's dog), and "Brand New Man" (where Chela sings about finding a man who "likes the dog" and "has a job"), the band closed their set with a cover of The Pleasure Seekers' "What a Way to Die."

The Vignettes (from Memphis, Tennessee) played next and were the last band we saw, and we were damn glad we stayed. These two gals (Francis Vignette on vocals/guitar and Freddi Vignette on drums) cranked out a super short but wildly loud and rocking set. Their songs sounded like gritty, swampy blues punk, topped with Francis' hair-raising screams and soulful wails -- somewhere between Gossip and early 80s punks Anti-Scrunti Faction. Watching Francis stomp around in cut-off jean shorts, playing her guitar behind her head and screaming "Do you know how I rock and roll?" while Frankie banged away diligently on the drums, rarely looking away and steady on her one cymbal, was invigorating. And as previously mentioned, a couple of their songs were about cats.

The Cosmeticators set list:

Lovebomb
Heavy Metal
Insomniac
Apple
Vanna
Botox
Jerry
Double Man
Make Me Die
Roboman
Cosmeticators
Brand New Man
What a Way to Die

Critic's Notebook:

Last night: The Cosmeticators at The Trunk Space

The crowd: Mostly friends of the bands or other downtown musicians, a mix of thirtysomething females in casual attire and a gamut of guys in T-shirts (and one in a long-sleeved plaid shirt).

Personal bias: One of my favorite downtown drinking holes, The Bikini Lounge, is next to The Trunk Space, so beers between sets are totally possible.

Overheard: "It's so dry here. How do you stand it?" (Francis Vignette to the crowd)

Random notebook dump: "Hot. Very hot."