The Figgs - The Man Who Fights Himself

It's always nice when America's Finest Rock Band, aka The Figgs, drop some new tunes in our lap. And so they have. The Man Who Fights Himself marks the 10th studio full-length (in 23 years) from our Saratoga heroes. In keeping with its number, there are 10 songs, all of whom are pretty great. They aren't all 10s, but they are a hell of a lot better than most stuff that claims to be rock music in this day and age. You get the expected level of rockness, along with some Joe Jackson/Knack-y turns, a little vocoder, plus the drummer sings one and has a theme song, so why not cut to the chase and snap this up stat-like. Here's a link. Buy it now. The guys have kids, fer chrissakes.

R

Live: The Figgs @ Fontanas 6.14.10

Springtime, a Friday and The Figgs at 8pm are a pretty unbeatable combination. I went straight from work to find a surprisingly large crowd present to see America's Finest Rock Band. Not a lot of spring chickens (or hens for that matter) but I was able to grab a couple minutes with Casino Hayes before things jumped off. The Brothers Johnson arrived in short order and things could easily said to be on.

The reason for the show was that there's a new Figgs record called The Man Who Fights Himself. Given the short lead-off set, they played the record in it's entirety, with only two dips into the back catalog, but please be informed that your Figgs brought it and the crowd gave it right back. The new songs sounded good and it seemed like they almost knew them, with Gent managed to play some serious clammage into an interpolation of Big Log that was almost a set-stealer. I think I like Happy Hour Figgs shows and the rest of the rooms sure seemed to as well. It was definitely one of the bigger shows I've seen the boys do in recent years. Hopefully they can also tag onto some of the Soul Asylum dates now that Donnelly is playing with them. 400 years in, The Figgs will still rock your ass in a pronounced fashion if you let them. Pick up The Man Who Fights Himself here and have the good sense to check here regularly to see where you can get your dose of their live show.

R