Afro-Acid Rock From Tribe After Tribe

“Afro-acid rock” sounds like something Hugh Masekela might have experimented with in the late ‘60s, but actually it’s the term the group Tribe After Tribe uses to define its style. Led by South African expatriate Robbi Robb, the Los Angeles-based power trio played the Shamrock on Friday as if the east-of-Hollywood neighborhood bar was the Forum, inspiring at least one onlooker to flick his Bic.

Tribe’s fiery, psychedelic punk assault burns closer to Jane’s Addiction than township jive (though Robb did throw in a few Zulu kicks that should pose no immediate threat to Johnny Clegg). With Robb swinging his right arm like Pete Townshend’s and wailing like a high-register Bono, this was a Tribe based more in standard power rock ‘n’ roll than Soweto soul.