Pop Music : Spanic Boys’ Show Their Passion for Oldies at Club Lingerie

A study in contrasts at Club Lingerie: When Milwaukee’s Spanic Boys reached into the storehouse of classic oldies Friday night, the father-and-son-led quartet went for a hot-wired heart ‘n’ soul version of the surf instrumental nugget “Pipeline.”

When Seattle’s veteran Young Fresh Fellows, who followed, dipped into its toy chest, it came out with a flailing mirth ‘n’ smirk rendition of the “Sesame Street” theme.

The Spanics demonstrated the timelessness of rock ‘n’ roll’s essential qualities, coming on like what Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran might have been today if they had lived, but hadn’t lost their youthful zest. With Everly Brothers harmonies over Holly melodies played with Cochran energy, all wound around son Ian’s jaw-dropping Telecaster fret-work, the portly pair of fortysomething dad Tom and his twentysomething offspring won over the crowd with its unsullied passion.

The Fellows, by comparison, are what the Replacements might be today if Paul Westerberg hadn’t grown morose. All good fun, with some clever, smart-alecky songs courtesy singer-songwriter Scott McCaughey, but quite the letdown after the Spanics.

On any other given night, these jolly good Fellows would have been just fine, but this time it was the plain-spoken Spanic Boys that seemed young and fresh.