A visceral local rock experience, and possible extravaganza is in store for those that wander down to the Eagle Tavern tonight…

It’s long been a bastion of gay biker culture, run by members of the Rainbow Motorcycle Club, who’ve made it into a veritable museum & proudly fly the colors of all their fallen comrades from many other clubs as well on the walls. The friendly & loyal staff, plus large patio with it’s heat lamps & roaring fire pit is a great place to hang out & chat no matter what the weather. For at least the last 7 years or more , it’s also one of SF’s most beloved and low profile musical venues whenever a hard rocking edition of their long running Thursday Night Live series goes off.

The Sorrow Town Choir will be celebrating the release of their new EP “Espinas de la Vida” ( aka Thorns of Life), with some special musical guests including Eagle bartender/booker Doug Hilsinger (Waycross, Eno-orchestra etc) sitting in.

Opening sets will be provided by local up & comers Empty Rooms, as well as perennial punk rocktivist Jimmy Shotwell. Also on the bill is an increasingly rare live appearance by local musician/bartender Bone Cootes, tonight jamming with The Poontones who feature ol’ pals like Stinky ( Buck Naked) , Kevin Ink ( Kelley Stoltz) and Mike Hunter ( Naysayers, Tales of Terror).

I’ve linked up some mp3’s of the previously mentioned groups for anyone interested in previewing the noisy hubbub after the jump…

Here’s a snippet I wrote about the last Sorrow Town Choir album, as I along with everyone else coming tonight, are still waiting to hear more tracks from the new one…

When I put on a Sorrow Town Choir disc, I can close my eyes and see Sorrow Town Choir frontman Greg Dale bent over half lidded in ecstatic joy and half awash in tears as his guitar oozes big heaping clouds of bluesy wail. It’s clear in the lyrical layout herein that this man has run up some metaphorical tabs, and didn’t always have the cachet to just walk away and leave a big tip for the help to clean up the mess. The influential spirits of all the sad and beautiful heavies from Robert Johnson and Hendrix to Ian Curtis, Kurt Cobain, Stevie Ray Vaughan and on down are afloat in the dark foreboding spirit of their records. It’s a sentimental affair steeped in raw rock tradition that will drag you around by your heart if you so want. Sorrow Town Choir are perhaps headed to some sort of rock n roll debtor’s purgatory with all the other bad boys and legends before them. It becomes apparent they are on a muddy but well worn path as Dale’s gravelly voice intones that his ‘mama don’t keep no pictures of me’, and it sears the ears as likely true.

Sorrow Town Choir - Mama Don’t Keep No Pictures Of Me
To hear more Sorrow Town Choir visit their website http://www.sorrowtownchoir.com

Video of Wrist of Life by Sorrow Town Choir

Bone Cootes - Cursed

Bone Cootes - Paging Mr Babylon

Empty Rooms - Docks In The Distance

Jimmy Shotwell - San Francisco’s Withering