Incoming: the Dandy Warhols, September 3 & Pinback, November 5

Two tours hitting the area in coming months have opening acts just as entertaining as the headliners. The Dandy Warhols have a show on September 3 at Beaumont Club. They are touring in support of The Dandy Warhols ARE Sound, which is the “Director’s Cut” of 2003’s Welcome To The Monkey House. Prior to the release of Monkey House, The Warhols had been pressing for a version mixed by Russell Elavedo, whose credits include D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar and The Roots’ The Roots Come Alive, among others. Now in 2009, as owners of their own label, Beat The World Records, the Warhols had the freedom to release the original Elavedo mix.

Interesting as that story is, the band’s sound has been power-pop done well, with elements of shoegaze and dance, but never quite recognized enough to break into the mainstream. Despite prominent use of the band’s “We Used to Be Friends” as the theme to Veronica Mars (RIP). the Warhols never quite made it to household-name status. Opening the Beaumont show is neo-psychedelic Spaghetti-Western band Spindrift. Think Calexico with more drug use. They’re worth showing up early, having some whiskey, and getting chill before you rock out.

MP3: Spindrift, “The New West”

It’s the same thing for the Pinback show at the Granada on November 5. As amazing as Pinback is, especially in a live setting where their songs get a little funk in them, the Homosexuals are far more entertaining. Bruno Wizard and his band of backing musicians that make up the second iteration of this post-punk act always put on a fantastic show. I’ve caught them in Austin the past two years, and they are the sort of band that usually impresses me to the point of paying far too much money for their records whenever I see them in shops. The songs are arty, angular, and not without a little of that post-punk funk that’ll lead well into Pinback.