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| Scott Lucas |
Local H started
as a trio of high school buddies in 1990 in Zion, Illinois, but after the
bassist quit in 1993, the remaining members carried on as a guitar and drums
duo. Vocalist/guitarist Scott Lucas had
a high school friend modify his guitar with an added bass pick-up and second
output so he could double up guitar and bass sounds simultaneously. Local H
began recording in 1994, and "Bound
for the Floor" gained a wide audience in 1996. The band's most recent album
is 2012's Hallelujah, I'm a Bum, a concept
recording on which Lucas wrote about the deeply divided political climate in
the modern world. Local H's current members are Lucas and new drummer Ryan Harding.
The stage at the Mercury
Lounge is often quite dark, but tonight for Local H it was very, very dark.
At one point Lucas asked for more stage lighting, saying he could not see
anything around him, but the lighting increased only by a notch. While the
lighting was minimal, the volume seemed to be maximum. The duo loudly tore
through 20 career-spanning songs, with barely a moment's breather between most
songs. The music fell into a neat thick and heavy groove somewhere between hard
grunge and energetic punk. Lucas' hair is long again, and flew in his face as
he threw his upper body into guitar chords, riffs and occasional leads. He also
toyed with feedback and other deafening distortion effects. Meanwhile, Harding
pounded the drums so intensely that his jeans were soaking wet by show's end.
Local H opened with "Buffalo Trace," and then "Deep
Cut" set an angry, negative tone with a chorus that asked "What do
you do when opinions are everywhere? What do you do when it’s nothing you want
to hear?" The band proceeded to give the long-time fans what they wanted
to hear. Early into the set, "Eddie Veder" and a rare live
performance of the punk-flavored "Chicago Fanphair '93" had people banging
their heads to the ripping rhythms. Lucas stopped "Hands on the Bible"
long enough to ask the fans how they were doing, then finished the song. He
spoke back and forth with audience members a few times, but often with a sarcastic
or dismissive attitude. Perhaps that negative mindset was what fueled the hard
rocking set. "Don’t take this for granted. You’ll leave here empty handed.
So hateful, so shameless; won’t let you leave here blameless," Scott sang of
the beginning of the end of a relationship in the slow-building "The One
with 'Kid'." Lucas roared "California Songs," attacking the many
songs that sing the praises of California. "Fritz’s Corner" was a bit
of a sing-along: "One more thing before we go; I’ve stepped over everyone
I know. Everyone I know, everyone I know." Early on, the band performed an
unreleased song in which Lucas repeatedly shouted "I want you dead."
There was little cheer in all those songs. The raucous and rousing set
continued, leading to a curious cover of Lorde's
"Team." Lucas introduced another new composition, "One of Us,"
saying the band had a single coming out, but this was not it. At the end of
about 90 minutes, Lucas finished the final song, the lightning-fast "Heavy
Metal Bakesale," by crowd surfing to the back of the room. He then staffed
the merchandise table by the club's exit. One hopes he was more ingratiating
upon meeting his fans.
Visit Local H at www.localh.com.
