Photo Credit: Blaine Schultz
Los Straightjackets
“These guys are the quietest band at Summerfest,” a veteran local musician observed, as Los Straitjackets effortlessly cruised through an afternoon set Thursday at the Generac Power Stage.
The masked quartet played a set of guitar instrumentals that relied on dynamics over volume. In fact, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if they had given the sound mixer the afternoon off.
Clad in black to show off their gold instruments and colorful, trademark Lucha Libre Mexican wrestling masks, they delivered a musical history lesson that spanned big band and pop culture. But the prize in the crackerjacks for Los Straitjackets has long been the goldmine of surf and hot rod instrumentals.
Photo Credit: Blaine Schultz
Los Straightjackets
If The Ventures, The Shadows, Link Wray and Dick Dale are obvious jumping-off points, the show was a tribute to a hundred bands whose names we’ll never know. And the term show is key here, as Los Straitjackets conveyed plenty of entertainment without vocals. For a rendition of Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing” drummer Gringo Starr’s tom-tom was brought center stage and he finished the number with smart dance steps.
Each tune was a soundtrack to the movies playing inside your head; for the two guitar, bass and drums combo, nearly everything was a familiar melody, drawing from just-beyond-Easy Listening to the primal prototype of trashy garage and punk music to come. Everything was fair game with whiffs of spy movie themes and Spaghetti Western soundtracks leading to Santo and Johnny’s “Sleepwalk” to the “Batman Theme” with vocals from the crowd that segued into “Wipe Out.”
