Toy Soldiers

Sat., Sept. 26, 6 p.m., $7, The Fire, 412 W. Girard Ave., iourecords.com/thefire.

by John Vettese

rock/pop

When Ron Gallo formed Toy Soldiers at Temple last year, the go-to comparison was The Black Keys. He and a drummer buddy played bars and garages, dishing bare-bones blues-rock. Things changed when he got into the studio this spring, however. Seeking honky-tonk piano for "Hard Times," or thick horns on "Myself Repeated," Gallo brought musician friends into the fold and they never left. Now a nine-piece featuring the talents of multi-instrumentalist Noah Skaroff (Falkonr) and backup singers Kate Foust (Perkasie) and Vinchelle Woods, among others, Toy Soldiers more handily resembles The Band, sonically and otherwise. Their debut full-length Whisper Down the Lane sounds much bigger than the guys we saw at The Fire last winter, but judging from the shows they played in town this summer, the band we'll see at The Fire on Saturday already sounds bigger than the album.