The Long Winters/Stars of Track & Field/The Broken West @ Mercury Lounge

The West Coast took over Mercury Lounge and Maxwell's this weekend as three bands representing Portland and Los Angeles brought in some indie rock bar band goodness.

Headliners The Long Winters are the band you wished played every day at your college bar. I alluded in my Top 10 Albums of the Years that the trend in the indie music scene is going away from the garage rock and heading into your local drinking establishment. Gone are the skinny jeans and coked up attitude, in comes in western shirts, baggy jeans, facial hair and distinct odor of whatever is on tap. Obviously, the Hold Steady are the kings right now with Springsteen and Wilco being the patron saints, but The Long Winters are not that far behind in performing indie rock with a slight alt-country edge. The distinction with this subgenre, and something that I find refreshing for once, is the attention to songwriting and storytelling.

Enough with the analyzing, Long Winters are hellauva good time to see live. It's half gig/half comedy improv show. I didn't know going into tonight that lead singer John Roderick is quite the comedian. He started the show with about 10 minutes of stage banter, kind of breaking down the pretension that often comes with gigs. Between every song, he rifled off quips and observes, even having the group breaking into some Rush covers and jazz improv. It's one of those "you had to be there" moments. Nothing makes a crowd laugh like homoerotic jokes about moustashes and making out with band members.

Since Roderick likes to chit-chat with the crowd, their setlist is created on the fly, with fans suggesting what they played next. Songs such as "Carparts," "Unsalted Butter," "Prom Night at Hater Town," "New Girl" and "Pushover," from the latest album, Putting the Days to Bed, crept into the show. I'm really only familiar with that new album, so I discovered that they have a pretty decent fan base. Being a part of the Barsuk Records family and being cohorts in the whole Pacific Northwest Scene with Death Cab and the Decemberists helps.

Anyway, I enjoyed that the songs are about tangible subjects like falling in love with a rock star or astronauts and the music has a bounce and rhythm to it.

Make a new cult every day to suit your affairs. Kissing girls in English, at the back of the stairs. You're a honey, with a following of innocent boys.

Not to far off music spectrum are the other Portland band on the line-up tonight, Stars of Track & Field, with their big guitar sounds and dreamy rock sounds. Even though it's just three guys, they produce a massive, epic effect. All you need a few electric knobs and kapow!, you got some large musical landscapes. Their guitarist, Kevin Calaba, gets into that rock mode big time, spazzing about the small stage. You need to in order to get those big, Edge-type guitar riffs.

Back again in the area is Los Angeles-based band, The Broken West, who graced our city last month when they opened for The Walkmen. Next month, they return again with The National at Bowery Ballroom. These guys are more similar sounding to Long Winters, and also reminded me of Ireland's La Rocca. Again, the bar band sound in the the sound of 2007. I better start a tab then.