Shazy Hade

"Danny X"

by Patrick Rapa

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Yes. I want a song that starts out soft and then gets loud and a little rowdy about 30 seconds in. I want one-car-garage rock that sounds like it wasn't just recorded in a garage, it was written there, by a guy who doesn't have any idea why he woke up there. Gimme a greasy, asymmetrical distortion pedal and a catchy hook to run through it. And give me a single, genuine mantra of a chorus, maybe one that also works as a verse, and I wanna hear it the whole song long. "When you tell me you love me I choose to believe it" is what it should assert, and the voice should be grainy and straining. "When you tell me you love me I choose to believe!" Yes, "Danny X" could be the simple, imperfect counterpoint to these brainiac bar-band days. Craig Finn's gonna win in the end, he probably should, but Wisconsin-based Shazy Hade's got a case full of indie-pop cred and some jangly rock melodies to echo in your head all summer long. Yes.

Shazy Hade will play Doc Watson's on July 19, which might be today. You can hear "Danny X" at www.myspace.com/theshazyhade.