Rhythm & Views

The DT's

The DT's' second platter of finger lickin' hot wings and cheap brew is akin to a rock-and-soul bash thrown in a basement rumpus room, nubile chicks running wild, while the parents are away--a greasy, noisy and horny suburban juke-joint romp.

Led by Estrus label head-honcho/guitarist Dave Crider, the DT's (hailing from Bellingham, Wash.) have ditched some of the patented garage snarl of the Telecaster wrangler's former group--the revered cave mongrels known as the Monomen--in favor of a savory gumbo of Memphis R&B, soul, classic rock and Nuggets-era garage raunch.

Dynamically wicked singer Diana Young-Blanchard, who mixes the sultry, hip-shakin' highball of Annisteen Allen with a whiskey chaser of Janis Joplin, fronts the foursome like the possessed half-sister of Tina Turner. Unlike their last batch of self-penned, high-octane soul-rock bombs, the DT's now pay homage to their heroes with an entire album devoted to sweat-soaked covers.

Fueled by Crider's dirty stun-guitar roar and the bodacious rhythm work of bassist Scott Greene and Phil Carter on drums, the DT's grasp much-respected, spiritually fueled choices and inject them with ragged doggedness without clattering clumsily like a lame wedding reception combo.

From the gut-bucket trashiness of John Fogerty's "Pagan Baby" and Roky Erickson's "Don't Slander Me" to a sleazy, distortion-rattled take on AC/DC's "What's Next to the Moon" and the knee-bending emotion of Eddie Floyd and Booker T. Jones' "Big Bird," the DT's slash and burn their way to the promised land where Otis Redding and Angus Young reign as kings.