Posted by: Johnny Loftus on September 19, 2007 at 5:42 pm

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Detour has been live since June 1, with daily content including record and film reviews, riffs on esoterica from the depths of pop culture, and think pieces on everything from the megalomania of Jack White to actors and actresses who everyone sees but no one knows. Believe it: we have an opinion on everything, and the Web site to prove it. But the Detour 3-Day launch party is our first chance to make the Internet real, to show you in person what we love most about national and local music. It’s us standing by your stereo screaming “Check this shit out!” while twisting the volume knob right off.

Take Bonde Do Role, for example. The Brazilian trio is a mashup in motion, a rambunctious sex farce of a band who grab pieces of hip-hop, metal, electro, and the sounds of their country’s underground scene to present what amounts to a wet kiss come on in approximately five different languages, one or two of them likely made up. And Bonde’s convergence of sound and vision is exactly what we’re trying to do with Detour. We’re trying to illustrate that, in a world of content overload, what we all need is a little context on the noise. The launch party cuts through the noise with nearly 30 artists who we’ll vouch for as being fucking fantastic at whatever they do, whether it’s rock-n-roll, punk revivalism, one-man band electro freakouts, white boy hip-hop, pretty indie pop, or weird space rock that massages your cerebellum. We’re featuring all that and more, plus a barbecue. See you at the shows. — Johnny Loftus and the Detour staff

Check out the full schedule and buy tickets HERE

Read on for individual profiles of all 30 bands playing the Launch Party, MySpace links and MP3s…

<< THURSDAY, SEPT. 20 >>>>>

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CHILD BITE (9:30 pm, Magic Stick)

Besides featuring some of our favorite cover art of 2007, Child Bite’s recent Gold Thriller EP ferries the wiggy, spiny indie rock out of the wilds of the Ferndale/Detroit axis with appropriately shouty vocals and electric guitars set to “explode the chandeliers.” Why does their “I Like Friends” make us want to moonlight as substitute teachers at an all-girls high school?

Listen - “I Like Friends”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/jnr.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/childbite

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HEROES & VILLAINS (10:00 pm, Garden Bowl)

Denizens of consistently fantastic local imprint X!, Heroes & Villains scratch our simultaneous itch for Spaceman 3, splashy, open hi-hat psychedelia, and the sort of whispered narco shit that makes us hope they have Anton Newcombe handcuffed to a radiator in their practice space. “I talked to Jesus last night,” murmurs H&V’s vocalist in the song of the same name. “He told me I need his help.” And hey, that’s nice. But we suspect that this band’s “Jesus” is the kind of apparition that appears in the smoke above a Mexican votive candle. Don’t you know they’re loco?

http://www.myspace.com/heroesvillains

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THE SIGHTS (10:30 pm, Magic Stick)

The Sights have been knocking about Detroit and the world in general for nearly a decade now, and still vocalist-guitarist Eddie Baranek seems to not have aged beyond 25. It’s a feat of Steve Marriott-ian proportions, but his youth also keeps him hungry enough to write rock songs that plead and ache as much as they boil with the stew of electrified R&B. And the Sights don’t stop at a single threat. Over the past few years, organist, bassist, and vocalist Bobby Emmett has become the velvet balm to Baranek’s roughneck croon, contributing a number of gorgeous songs to the Sights already bursting catalog. Theirs is a natural born boogie.

Listen - “Will I Be True?”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/willibetrue.mp3]

www.myspace.com/thesights

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DEASTRO (11:00 pm, Garden Bowl)

Remember what being a one-man band used to require? Hours of tinkering with wingtip trumpet trigger mechanisms and thigh-mounted splash cymbals. Teaching yourself to walk like a packhorse under the weight of a bass drum and two floor toms. Playing the guitar with your hands, the harmonica with your nose, and singing for your supper through your mouth. Good luck getting those groupies, son!

It’s not like that anymore.

Today, technology has freed them, those brave musical narcissists who won’t share the cut of the door with anyone. Dudes like Dan Deacon and Jamie Liddell have proven that, with some crafty use of electronics rigs, laptops, and glowing skulls, you can inspire entire carloads of indie rockers to dance like Ren McCormack. But who cares about those guys, because we have our own one-man operation. He’s Randy Chabot, aka Deastro. (He’s aaka Our Brother the Megazord, but that’s another story.) Deastro’s songs sound like synth-pop if it were from the future instead of the past, and Depeche Mode was not a band but the brand name of an android on which ADD came standard. See this now before he’s the cat’s pajamas.

Listen - “An Encounter With A Sea Demon”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/theseademon.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/deastrothetracker

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JUICEBOXXX (11:30 pm, Magic Stick)

A kid from Milwaukee with a mic in his hand and hip-hop on the brain, Juiceboxxx is a rapper-producer who’s been piggybacking the word past the beer city by rocking collabos with types like Spank Rock, Japanther, and (what do you know?) Dan Deacon. He sounds as scrawny as he is, but the popular explosion and steady downgrade of contemporary hip-hop means it’s up to all of us to keep it vital. And in that regard, Juice is doing his part XXX-style. Who cares what the MC looks like, as long as the beats blow up and call and response is live?

http://www.myspace.com/officialjuiceboxxx

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ODD CLOUDS (12:00 am, Garden Bowl)

“Racket” is their middle name. Instead of hell’s rim aural terrorism of noise artists like Wolf Eyes, etc., Odd Clouds build their pieces from a more organic center. They will still pound on percussion, and while there are vocals, they aren’t concerned with words. But with the addition of woodwinds, brass, and unaccounted for electronic runoff, Odd Clouds principals Chris Pottinger and Jamie Easter’s noise often sounds more like an epic battle between the forces of nature. Welcome to the OC, bitch!

http://www.tastysoil.com/oddclouds/

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BONDE DO ROLE (12:30 am, Magic Stick)

Our special guests from Brazil have spent the last couple of years doing nothing but being cooler than most of the world. From raucous festival appearances, to being Fader cover darlings, to taking over America with the recent With Lasers, Bonde Do Role’s Marina, Pedro, and Gorky are here to show everyone what it’s like to get paid for singing songs about fucking, partying, and partying while fucking. The sound is a mishmash of regional Brazilian patois, hip-hop slang, heavy metal anthems, and 808 boom; without worrying about where their mess comes from, just know that you won’t have more fun at a show this year. Did we mention that they sing about sex a lot? It’s a Thursday night show. But you better make sure you wear your weekends-only underpants.

Watch: “Solta O Frango”

http://www.myspace.com/bondedorole

<< FRIDAY, SEPT. 21 >>>>>

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SERENITY COURT (9:30 pm, Magic Stick)

Detroit’s storied girl group history thrives again with Serenity Court, a trio featuring Carey Gustafson (drums), her sister Emily Gustafson (keyboards), and Annette Walowicz (guitars). The three share vocals, and it’s their lilting harmonies that really fuel SC’s curious indie pop. Well, the harmonies and healthy doses of looking cool and sounding like a heady blend of Tanya Donnelly’s Belly and tea parties with kindly forest creatures. This is pretty music, but it’s unpredictable, too, and it’s making us totally crush out. Fuck MySpace. One dose of Serenity Court, and you’ll want to make these girls your top friends in real life.

Listen - “Zebra”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/zebramix.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/serenitycourt

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FONTANA (10:00 pm, Garden Bowl)

Another X! Recordings roster member, Fontana are so punk that they make “Demo w out Vocals” and “Demo w out Vocals 2″ sound like actual song titles. A rusty mixture of grinding noise, found melody, and the vocalist’s flipped-out white-fro hairdo, Fontana should make the Garden Bowl’s checkered tiles clatter. We say “should,” because we’re honestly not sure what this shit is going to sound like. But that’s reason enough to be there, because it’s already awesome in our minds.

http://www.myspace.com/fontanafuntime

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JOHNNY HEADBAND (10:30 pm, Magic Stick)

Headband might best represent the percolating renaissance of Detroit music. It’s something we stressed when booking the launch party (see Deastro, THTX, Serenity Court, Eons, etc.), but Headband have it in spades. It’s been a few years and a few more incarnations, but Headband principals Chad and Keith Thompson still draw freely from dance-punk, the woozy daydreams of Wayne Coyne, and their own sense of humor for a sound that sweats as much as it grooves. We still can’t believe they aren’t selling Johnny Headband headbands at their merch table.

Listen - “Tell You”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/TellYou.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/johnnyheadband

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CARJACK (11:00 pm, Garden Bowl)

Greasy electro-rock for the robot fetish set, Carjack is another one-man band in the Detour launch party lineup, this one featuring Lo-Fi Bri and his fleet of homemade bot helpers. Is this Rollins-era Black Flag wired into a hard drive, Atom and His Package with a package of peripherals, or crap-tone keyboards and electronics reborn as the prime movers of rock-n-roll? The answer is unclear, but it has something to do with making the entire audience do the robot in unison. Kill the batteries just like that.

Listen - “Battery Killer”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/batterykiller.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/carjackband

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THE HARD LESSONS (11:30 pm, Magic Stick)

If you don’t know by now, you better move to Lichtenstein. The Hard Lessons — Augie, KoKo Louise, and The Anvil — have transformed the phrase “all ages show” into something to be universally adored, because it means we can all siphon off a bit of their boundless maximum R&B energy. By now they have a clutch of certified local classics, as well as the stories and scars from a series of big deal tours. (The scars come mostly from Augie leaping like a rock-n-roll fool off PA systems.) But they’re also debuting new material at this gig, and will certainly play the still-newish jam “See and be Scene,” which we still swear up and down will be the hit that makes the world forget about those buffoons in Fall Out Boy.

Listen - “See and be Scene”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/SeeAndBeScene.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/thehardlessons

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TERRIBLE TWOS (12:00 am, Garden Bowl)

Terrible Twos have it bad for older girls. So let’s hope for the sake of their love lives that the ladies love cool jams that churn like shaken-up toner cartridges. Blinding light guitars, some guy yelling, drums that aren’t dead, and a keyboard from the theme song to “Lost in Space” all combine into a version of “teeth-rattling” not yet heard by most humans. We’re on board; too bad we aren’t older girls.

Listen - “Older Girls”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/OLDERGIRLS.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/terribletwos

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THE GO (12:30 pm, Magic Stick)

The Go don’t just love their influences, they revel in them, turn them inside out, and introduce them to each other in the form of songs that bop and shake like the dancing girls on “Hullabaloo.” From bubblegum pop and Spaghetti westerns to garage rock and 1960s kitsch, Bobby Harlow, John Krautner, Jimmy McConnell, and Mark Fellis keep it hot in stripes and pegged pants. Dig it, because The Go are really the most.

Listen - “You Go Bangin’ On”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/YouGoBanginOn.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/thegodetroit

<< SATURDAY, SEPT. 22 >>>>>

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THE DISPLAYS (12:00 pm, Day Party + BBQ @ C.A.I.D.)

The kids are doing it for themselves more than ever these days. It’s not hard to understand — rockers rock, grow up to be parents, and have kids who rock as a result — and locally anyway, The Displays are one of our favorite tween-core combos. The songs? Choppy punk-garage amalgams with yelled vocal couplets worth pumping a fist to, and all played in that tumbling fast-forward time particular to kids who as anxious to get to the next note or riff as we are to hear it. Babies be steppin’.

Listen - “Baby Steppin’”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/BabySteppin.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/thedisplays

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EONS (1:00 pm, Day Party + BBQ @ C.A.I.D.)

Eons made an instant impression with their early shows at cozy local hangs like The Belmont, and the Richmond, Va./Detroit combo has only gotten better since. If songs like “Hotseat” and “Getchya Guitar On” (both from their upcoming full-length debut) don’t make you love that these dudes love the Afghan Whigs and the latent D.C. indie rock scene as much you do, then you should probably sell your record collection. Let’s see. Weird-chord hooks, wrangling guitar leads, and vocals that are actually sung without losing any of their balls-deep grind. Yeah, Eons are going places. Better see them now while you can eat a burger and drink a beer, and there’s still no service charge for the privilege. Getchya!

http://www.myspace.com/eonsmusic

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PORCHSLEEPER (2:00 pm, Day Party + BBQ @ C.A.I.D.)

The band that singlehandedly revived beer-core in Southeastern Michigan, Porchsleeper is probably the ultimate barbecue band. Pretension doesn’t exist in their world, but the Replacements do, and so does Big Star, and so do songs that combine all of that with lyrics that remind us of what really matters about rock-n-roll. It’s not about being smart, or wearing the correct shirt. It’s about raising a half-crushed can of beer to the sky while a sigh of relief escapes your lips. Some bands still believe in guitar solos.

Listen - “Too Smart For Rock ‘N Roll”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/toosmartforrocknroll.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/porchsleeper

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TROY GREGORY & THE STEPSISTERS (3:00 pm, Day Party + BBQ @ C.A.I.D.)

Did she tell you that she knew witchcraft? With the Stepsisters, Detroit rock man-about-town Troy Gregory (Witches, Dirtbombs, approximately thousand other projects) and his keyboard, bass, and siren song accomplices Teri Lynn and Mary Alice work within what can only be called parlor music — there’s rock here, but the songs more often keen like the curvy trajectory of ghosts in the sky. It’s captivating, it’s a little scary, it’s always catchy. Electrify!

Listen - “This Very Very Night”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/ThisVeryVeryNight.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/troygregoryandthestepsisters

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MASON PROPER (4:00 pm, Day Party + BBQ @ C.A.I.D.)

Over the past few years, this Ann Arbor-based quintet have smoothed some of the frayed weirdness in the sound, that stuff that probably sounded great in the dorm or wherever but was beginning to obscure the strong batch of songs underneath. And that’s where they are now, a band who can do the frail falsetto vocal over a shimmering keyboard line, but can bring the epic rocker ready for a CW teen drama, too. Just in time for the fall TV season!

Listen - “My My (Bad Fruit)”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/MyMyBadFruit.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/masonproper

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THE HIGH STRUNG (5:00 pm, Day Party + BBQ @ C.A.I.D.)

“Meddler” is such a great word, and it’s cool that Josh Malerman understands this. “What a Meddler!” is one of the highlights of Get the Guests, the Strung’s most recent album. But it’s also pretty typical of how the band sounds after various albums, lineup shifts, and tours of libraries — it’s power pop with the crusts left on, led by Malerman’s weird high notes on the mic but with some horns (or are those keyboards?) and enough ramble on the bottom end to make you dig it even more. You know, like that lovable old conversion van in your neighborhood, the one with no muffler but a sweet teardrop window.

Listen - “Maybe You’re Coming Down With It”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/maybeyourcomingdownwithit.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/thehighstrung

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THE NICE DEVICE (6:00 pm, Day Party + BBQ @ C.A.I.D.)

Alicia Gbur recently joined the latest incarnation of Jason Stollsteimer’s Von Bondies. But don’t count out her own group The Nice Device, which has developed over a 7″, EP, various compilation appearances, and the 2006 full-length Let the Nightlife Down into quite the spry indie pop band. The melodies on Nightlife feel familiar, like faded memories of junior high kisses or the perfume of an ex-girlfriend on a passerby, and Gbur keeps an edge on things with lines that temper the hurt with hope and a heart of glass. There’s a healthy dose of the 1990s indie sound that so many artists are reproducing these days, too, but it doesn’t matter where the sound comes from when the songs pulse with this much melody and style. Nice Device will class up this barbecue of ours.

Listen - “Innocent”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/innocent.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/thenicedevice

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SSM (7:00 pm, Day Party + BBQ @ C.A.I.D.)

Szymanski, Shettler, and Morris are adept at bashing rock songs; the “fiction” in “Fiction Rock and Roll” isn’t a reference to them. But most of their material is more esoteric, the kind of experimental pop that’s great just for being as untraceable as it is. The instrumentation helps — Szymanski’s squelchy organ leads finger Morris’s garage rock guitar chops, and Shettler probably thinks he’s playing along to an old electro record half the time. As for the lyrics, lines like “She may or may not be from the future” (from “2012″) act as a summary. SSM are scene veterans, yeah. But the coolest thing about that is what they’re doing with all that experience.

Listen - “No Looking Back”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/NoLookingBack.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/szymanskishettlermorris

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HADITUPTOHERES (10:00 pm, Magic Stick)

The Hadituptoheres make us sweat blood, then drink it. “On a Tryst,” “This Gun is Fun,” “In the Beginning” — “I notice the flaws in my dismissive style/I’m afraid I’m a killer that just hasn’t snapped yet/I keep it down with a handful of screws, contextual clues, the burning of bourbon” — “punk rock is dead” is a phrase more worthless than “punk rock is alive,” but when a band reignites revivalism and it sounds as brutal and gorgeous as this, there’s only one thing left to do. That’s right, you sweat blood, then drink it. Pass us the cranium of your enemies.

Listen - “On A Tryst”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/OnATryst.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/thehadituptoheres

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THE MAHONIES (10:30 pm, Garden Bowl)

Half jerkoff and half Dead Milkmen, we’re not sure if the Mahonies are kidding around or being serious with their quarter-assed and likely drunken splutter of punk-like chording. But it intrigues us that we can’t figure it out, and that just might mean that the Mahonies really mean it. Or that they’ll shit on us and call it an album. Either way, the Mahonies very likely rule. Or maybe not. Aren’t you curious? Look at that dude’s hair!

http://www.myspace.com/mahonies

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FREER (11:00 pm, Magic Stick)

Jeremy Freer has old blues songs stuck in his head, and a collage of the cover art from Elvis Costello’s first seven albums. But he’s a vintage soul guy, too, and R&B, and he’s at the head of a band that’s been busy injecting fervor back into contemporary music. Keyboards, bass, drums, guitar — it doesn’t sound that unconventional. But come out and watch it happen, because it’s the way Freer twist their songs into and out of pop that really grabs the ears. (And the mind.) And the lyrics? Wow, love is tough in the 21st century, isn’t it?

Listen - “Secret Chorus”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/2SECRET.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/freerdom

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THTX (11:30 pm, Garden Bowl)

Outrageous Cherry leader Matthew Smith’s other band also features drummer and percussionist Kerry Gluckman, bassist Ralph Valdez, synth/programming specialist Michael Sullivan, and a revolving door of guest musicians that contribute everything from saxophone to more synthesizers to, basically, more of everything. That might even be a THTX tenet, as the group’s freeform psychedelia is as fluid as its membership, exploring free jazz as much as cerebral space rock shit that makes us see visions of Robert Wyatt like he’s the Lady of fucking Fatima.

http://www.myspace.com/thtx

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KO AND THE KNOCKOUTS (12:00 am, Magic Stick)

We’re getting the band back together. The band everyone always wished would get back together is finally doing it. “Cry No More,” “You Did It,” “If I” — all your Ko and the Knockouts favorites, performed live and loud and seasoned with the wealth of this trio’s collective band experience (Dirtbombs, Sights, etc.) since, well, since whenever the trio’s last show was, which we think was either 1999 or 2001, depending on who you ask. Expect joyous twisting, bandstand memories, and new favorite moments created on the spot; expect special guests (ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Steve Nawara); expect the genuine fun of something that came from Detroit and is suddenly kicking the garage wall again. Could you get us a beer? We’re in the front row.

Listen - “Cry No More”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/CryNoMore.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/koandtheknockouts

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THE FRUSTRATIONS (12:30 am, Garden Bowl)

Not only is Scott Dunkerley a member, he’s also the president. Well, of X! Recordings, that is. With their own band, Dunkerley (drums, vocals) and cohorts Colin Simon (guitar-vocals) and Sean Dufty (bass) create a right mess of punk-ish noise, mealy-mouthed vocals, and the kind of energy that usually results in someone falling off the stage. (We’ve seen it happen.) However, since the Frustrations will be rocking the Garden Bowl, which doesn’t have a bandstand, the falling over at the launch party will be left up to the audience.

Listen - “Evil Twin”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/EvilTwin.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/thefrustrations

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BULLDOG (1:00 am, Magic Stick)

Kenny Tudrick sings with a weariness that’s also wry and eager for another shot. (That’s both kinds of shots, and both are in the mouth.) The veteran singer, songwriter, and guitarist has been in and out of a bunch of bands, but barring a few side gigs, Bulldog seems to be full-time once again. (The band is rounded out by pedal steel guitarist Pete Ballard, keys man Eddie Harsch, drummer Jason Rowe, and bassist Craven.) And hey, thanks for that. Like most people in Detroit and a lot of people around the world, we’re still playing Bulldog’s self-titled end to end, the one with the sunrise on the cover and the raft of rockers that support Tudrick’s easy singing style with references to what was meaningful about rock, folk, country, and blues before quite a bit of it was corrupted or otherwise made boring. Bulldog still wear their tartan cowboy shirts without irony; they probably slept in them, too.

Listen - “Your Reign”

[audio:http://www.detour-mag.com/audio/YourReign.mp3]

http://www.myspace.com/bulldogdetroit001

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CHARLIE SLICK (After Party @ C.A.I.D.)

This goes out to all the girls in the hot tubs in the basements. Charlie Slick’s scuzztronics ‘n’ come-ons shtick is pretty fucking perfect for an afterparty, especially when flanked by DJs who spin records. And while there won’t be a hot tub, there will certainly be loads of booze, jams, flirts, hands slapped, asses goosed, moves busted, tin roofs rusted, faces melted, clothing ripped, and invites offered to, at the end of it all, get with somebody. So don’t get trapped in the closet. And when that last one happens, remember who sponsored your fun for the last three days.

http://www.myspace.com/charlieslick

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