JOE IZENMAN: ENDED UP A ONE-BAND SHOW. OH WELL. STILL AWESOME >>>

There's no point in beating around the bush, so I'll just get right to it: Sordid Sentinels are awesome. They're really, really good. Maybe you'll think I'm saying this because I've become friends with the band, because I've played a few shows with them. But I'm not. I'm saying it because they are really frickin' good.

I really want Sordid Sentinels to play more shows with different bands. They are the kind of band that you see once because they are opening for your friends' band, and then can't stop seeing them, no matter whom they play with.

A couple weeks ago, writing about The Vile Red Falcons (who have played with the Sentinels in the past, I believe), I expressed my enthusiasm for what is best described as straight-up, balls-out rock music. It is that same love that keeps bringing me back to show after show with Sordid Sentinels.

So it was that I ended up at Bob's Java Jive Friday night looking for a rock show. I knew that two of the four bands on the bill had dropped off, leaving Riley Gratzer of the Sentinels in a scramble to fill up the bill. But at the very least they would be there, with touring group Siren and maybe one other band.

Well, no other band stepped up. And then Siren didn't show. Which was a disappointment of some degree, since I had listened to a few songs off their MySpace, and was excited to see another band in the world with a melodica.

The disappointment didn't stick. It wasn't long before Sordid Sentinels took the stage, and did what they always do, plus some.

Gratzer and co. proceeded to rock balls (a key component of balls-out rock) through a set opening with the Muse-esque (hope they don't mind me calling it Muse-esque) “Robot Love,” the debut of new track tentatively titled Railroad Ties, plus “Russian Dolls” and crowd-pleaser “Walking The Plank,” both of which are featured in the just-completed local feature film Bestseller, directed by Gratzer's brother, Rick.

Following the teachings of Eddie Spaghetti (whether they know it or not), the band didn't bother leaving the stage and launched directly into their encore (also known as "Oh God there are no other bands fill time fill time!"), featuring signature covers of Queens of the Stone Age and Michael Jackson's “Billie Jean,” and an excellent rendition of “Float On” by Modest Mouse with surprise guest vocalist (and Where Sails Meet Rails bassist) Adam Zack. By the end of the night the Jive was bouncing and some of the crowd was even dancing, not the easiest reaction to provoke in Tacoma.

Guitarist Chris White was in top form, as always. We had a conversation a few weeks ago wherein he insisted that he does not shred. And he's right. Shredding is for metal-heads and hardcore thrashers. White does something different: he wails. And wail he did, through riff-rock and ripping solos alike.

Keyboardist Josh Price unfortunately continues to suffer the same fate as always: I have no idea what he's doing because I can only ever hear him on one or two songs. When I can hear him he is excellent, which is why this is a problem.

Anyway, the point is: go see these guys. And if you're in a band, play with them, because then your fans will leave as their fans, and that's what the Tacoma scene needs most these days: people getting into bands full of people they don't really know.