POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Raging Slab at the Whisky Leads a Southern-Fried Bill

Clad in buckskin and bell-bottoms, Raging Slab grooved fans to the core Thursday at the Whisky in a show featuring three booming rock bands with a Southern-fried edge. The New York quintet, with the addition of a second percussionist, is a fore-runner in a resurgence of Lynyrd Skynyrd-influenced rock but with a grittier, urban edge.

It’s a strange phenomenon: The countrified sound packed out arenas in the ‘70s, but despite a continued presence of Southern-rock oldies on “classic rock” radio today, these new mutations seem too on-the-fringe for mainstream rock stations and yet too “uncool” for supposed alternative outlets.

Raging Slab’s tight, triple-guitar approach demanded attention from the first number on. The band pumped out grooves so thick and smooth that audience members in Germs T-shirts were swaying to the band’s slide guitar and toe tapping to the clanking cow bell.

But there’s a joking element that made the show more than just a rehash of the same ol’ boogie: Greg Strzempka, the gravel-throated singer, stopped near the close of one, l-o-o-o-n-g jam and said, “I hold the key riff that ends this song,” encouraging audience members to beg for a close. For the grand finale, the band capped the set with a riff from that quintessential ‘70s band Kansas.

The closing quartet, Monster Magnet, played a less charismatic take on the backwoods sound. Muscled and bearded singer Dave Wyndorf screamed over abrasive and less groove-friendly tunes that were powerful but lacked the fun.

Opening band Paw, a Kansas quartet, falls on the college-rock side of the country equation, playing whiskey-sipping licks inside of a grungy framework. But Thursday the group’s grinding set lacked the one or two good, solid songs to break through.