Sturm Und Twang: Germany's The BossHoss Storms Volcano

Photos by Jubal Lee Young

​Near the end of The BossHoss' show Wednesday night, Aftermath asked an Irish woman standing next to him in the crowd what she thought of seven-piece German alt-country ensemble.

"That man in dungarees is handsome and mannerly," was her quick reply.

We had no idea what to expect, not sure if it was a band of players or just some guys who'd been told to wear this hat, put on those boots, and stand like this. But we were completely taken aback by the throng that had already filled the bar well before the band took the stage.

​A four-person video crew and all their bric-a-brac lent an air of urgency to the proceedings as The BossHoss, with a new album in the hopper waiting to drop, went into Day 2 of a quick Texas tour following a night onstage with Alejandro Esccovedo at Austin's Continental Club Tuesday.

When the band finally took up their positions, a buzz went through the crowd. Waiting for last minute sound adjustments, the drummer sat with a bemused grin on his face and thousand-yard-stare that looked like the eyes of a submariner about to push that little button that fires a torpedo into the midsection of a fat tanker.

And that was about what it seemed like as the band exploded into "Rodeo Radio."

With the harp player making all sorts of nasty Junior Wells sounds, The BossHoss actually hit a groove that took those of us who've been around here long enough back to the days of Jesse Dayton's Road Kings. It was nothing that anyone hasn't heard before, but this crowd hadn't come to hear anything revolutionary anyway.