The Upstage, 3619 Forbes Ave, Oakland. 681-9777
Hard rockin' tales of the new West may be slightly out of style but no one bothered to inform the guys from Colorfinger. Hailing from San Francisco, where there's still a thriving cowpunk scene, this guitar-fueled quartet has embarked on a nationwide tour on their way to a headlining gig at New York City's College Music Journal convention later this month. This band of veterans has experienced the drugs and depravity of the L.A. punk scene and managed to exhume themselves from the mire intact, clutching a catalogue of redemptive songs that tell tales of scarred lives while maintaining a wry sense of humor. For every fan lured in by the country sensitivity of ballads like "Eleanor Young" there'll be another who'll get a charge from the sarcasm of "Kill Jerry Garcia." Like California itself, Colorfinger's sound is living, firebreathing proof of the nation's residue drifting Westward---combining folk, metal, punk, rockabilly, often all at once with startling, surprisingly coherent results. Along with Colorfinger are two local bands known for their own spiritual depravity, the Cavemen from Oklahoma and Cold Water Flat, purging their souls in an altogether different way.
