Pop Reviews : Whigs Rip It Up at Club With No Name

Of the zillion grungecore bands on Seattle’s Sub Pop label, the Afghan Whigs might be the hardest to pin down.

They’re from Cincinnati for one thing, pretty far removed from that cosmic Sub Pop lumberjack vibe, and the standard comparison is to early Replacements rather than to Iggy’s bastard spawn--though the Whigs often sound closer to the earlier, pop-structured garage-punk of, say, the Seeds. There’s nothing in the Whig sound that technically would have been anomalous in 1969, except, perhaps, a certain Mellencamponian wistfulness.

Anyway, at Club With No Name on Monday, Afghan Whigs ripped it up, crisp, clean, controlled, trebly noise, more melodic than riffy, that made you want to shake your long hair in your eyes. Singer-guitarist Greg Dulli has mastered the art of the raspily screamed chorus; Steve Earle’s drumming was subtle and understated, kind of trance-like.

Opening were Bug Lamp, a new band fronted by Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris that seemed more polished than accomplished, its post-Bad Companyisms less gestural than reverent. Morris’ dusky baritone is still one of the most appealing voices in rock ‘n’ roll, but he seemed almost lost in this journeyman context.

The young Sub Pop band Love Battery was sort of underwhelming, though its skillfully crafted grunge anthems may yet jell into something that rocks hard enough to hurt.

* Love Battery also plays Thursday at Bogart’s and Saturday at the Casbah.