Concert review: Boiler Room in Denton’s last show (December 2)

It featured Fatty Lumpkin, Boxcar Bandits, and Foe Destroyer.

Photo by Misti Day

The Boiler Room

DENTON — Thursday night at the Boiler Room in Denton, three bands who call the city home gave the venue a final send off before it becomes the newly-anointed Abbey Underground. Foe Destroyer, Boxcar Bandits, and Fatty Lumpkin gave the Boiler Room's patrons one last reason to get on the dance floor and show their love for the venue.

Local music fans were shocked last weekend when a brief announcement was made via Facebook that the venue would be turning into “an Irish Pub devoid of live music.” But although the venue is changing concepts, live local music will be heard there once more – in a smaller capacity and without a cover charge. Think Lochrann’s Irish Pub in Frisco.

(The Irish pub concept might be fitting for the venue because upstairs is the Abbey Inn, a restaurant and pub that serves traditional British food.)

Warming up the venue one last time was Foe Destroyer, former members of Denton’s beloved Oso Closo. The band is now a duo instead of a quartet since losing members Ryan Jacobi and Andy Rogers, and we could hear that loss in their sound.

Most of the set was sloppy and inconsistent. If they had practiced at all before the show it was hard to tell, but maybe Foe Destroyer was going for a “rock 'n' roll” feel. The result, however, was that it felt careless. But, the duo shined when they switched instruments several times throughout the set: from guitar to drums, keys and ukulele.

After Foe Destroyer’s set, fellow Denton band Boxcar Bandits played their own brand of music they like to call “skungrass.” The band is a revolving door of Denton musicians – including Paul Slavens – and the current lineup is guaranteed to get your boots stomping and your hands clapping. The band features a single snare drum and washboard played by RTB2’s Grady Don Sandlin, plus an upright bass, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, guitar, and some of the best vocal harmonies this side of the Red River.

Boxcar Bandits would be comfortable playing on a stage, a street corner, or a front porch. Their mixture of gospel, country, and bluegrass – or “fastgrass” as they call it – is exactly what was needed to get fans to the dance floor at the Boiler Room.

After Boxcar Bandits' furious picking skills, fans were warmed up for the headliner of the evening. Fatty Lumpkin brought the funk to the Boiler Room until the final moments of the venue. With their infusion of jazz, blues, rock, funk, and even hip-hop, fans couldn’t help but groove to the beat that Fatty Lumpkin was putting down.

And thus came the end of the Boiler Room, with one final huzzah.