The Mad Caps are new to town but they aren’t necessarily a new band. The group, consisting of Ted Rader and Jon Real, hail from Las Vegas where they melted faces in the desert as a two-man rock ‘n’ roll wrecking crew. They recently relocated from Sin City to the Emerald City and are attempting to make their mark on the local music scene with a record containing 12 songs that would make the most stanch subscriber to the rock is dead theory quiver in his boots. I dare you to check out the video for “Rosie and the Wolfman” above and tell me you don’t want more.
In case you do want more (and you know you do) you can listen to their self-titled album in full over on their Bandcamp page. If your ears aren’t feeling adventurous allow me to attempt to describe their sound. The Mad Caps are what The Black Keys might sound like if they grew up in Memphis instead of Akron, traded in the blusey swagger of their Thickfreakness days for some down and dirty lo-fi garage rock and roackabilly grooves and managed to lose all of their shiny studio polish in the process. In other words, The Mad Caps are maddeningly awesome and they’re a local band that needs to be on your radar.
If the sound of all of that excites you then you need to be The Barboza tonight where The Mad Caps will open a solid four-band bill that also includes The Grizzled Mighty, Branden Daniel And The Chics and The Soft White Sixties (8 p.m., $10).
