Dishwalla Shows Some Twists but Mainly Plays It Straight

The Santa Barbara band Dishwalla spikes its solid rock punch with hip-hop beats and urban soul, resulting in a big, U2-ish sound with a kick: dancing feet.

At the Troubadour on Tuesday, the group hauled a Moog keyboard onstage and singer J.R. Richards fiddled laboriously with an elaborate sampling system, hinting at a heady display of rock-for-the-’90s wizardry, something a little high-risk for the straight-rock set.

But that promise was never quite fulfilled.

Rodney Browning is a gutsy guitarist, delivering cheeky, wah-wah guitar against references to James Bond themes and Radiohead. And Richards beats Bush’s Gavin Rossdale in the charisma department, hands down. While Richards smacked of Jim Morrison--singing with bluesy grit and even vaulting off the drum set--he lacked that wildcat bent.

Dishwalla opened the show with a risk: a smoky, trance-like introduction to its rocker “Pretty Babies” that challenged the most tolerant attention span. But the group followed with friendly blues-rock that rarely tested conventions.

Everyone knew the words to the radio hit “Counting Blue Cars” (“Tell me all your thoughts on God, ‘cause I’d really like to meet her”), so the only real surprise in Dishwalla’s competent yet too cozy set came when the band halted the proceedings to sing “Happy Birthday” to its drummer.