Rock that rocks

Last Saturday I went to the King Club to see the Hat Party and Colony of Watts, about whom I'll be writing in an upcoming Isthmus column. You can check that out when it hits the street, but meanwhile I want to tell you about the bill's third act, who completely blew me away: the Danger, a young Milwaukee band that combines power-pop hooks expertly played, neo-garage bombast, impish humor and boyish good looks.

The Danger cite British Invasion groups as influences, including the Beatles. Now many bands who claim Beatle influences take after the Fab Four's worst quality, their preciousness. But the Beatles I hear in the Danger's music is the groovy, rocking Beatles; I swear I heard the "Taxman" bass lick at least three times on Saturday.

And the Danger certainly take some stagecraft cues from the Who: bassist Michael Stanley does very convincing Pete Townshend windmills on his instrument, and singer Thomas Culkin whips his microphone cable around like Roger Daltrey (although in what is probably a fiscally smart move for a young band, Culkin removes the mic from the cable first). Also, some of the Danger's songs have pretty, strummed guitar chords that could be straight out of one of those instrumentals on the Who's great rock opera Tommy.

But what's really great about the Danger is their words. People from religious backgrounds often write the best lyrics, and it's clear that someone in the band has been to Bible school, because their tunes have lots of irreverant scriptural references. My favorite couplet is from their creepy, great song "The Pharoah": "Rippin' pages out of Genesis / All the way down to Memphis."

The Danger have a December date at the Slipper Club with the Hat Party, but I'm having trouble tracking down specifics. I'll keep you posted. You simply must see the Danger.