Hot Lava Monster

Saturday, Sept. 12 • The Flying Saucer
Hot Lava Monster
11:40 p.m.-12:25 a.m.

Look, don’t let Hot Lava Monster fool you: Being in a kickass rock band is totally easy. All you need is a singer with an absolutely perfect rock ‘n’ roll voice, as much Jeff Buckley grace as it is Robert Plant swagger. Then, match him with a guitar player who’s the embodiment of pure, molten rock, capable of everything from searing leads to subtle jazz phrasings. Next, add a rhythm section that plays with the power of infinite decibels with the precision of infinite decimals. After that, the riffs will flow like water, encompassing everything from vintage British hard rock to modern American grunge. Yes, maybe we’re being hyperbolic. And OK, maybe we lied. Maybe being in a band that rocks as hard as Hot Lava Monster — easily as close as this town’s ever going to get to Led Zeppelin — isn’t easy. But goddamn do they make it look easy.

The band recently spent a week in scenic northern California in the studio of producer Sylvia Massey (Tool, Rage Against the Machine); the accompanying studio videos posted on YouTube provide snippets of what are perhaps the band’s finest to date.
- P. Wall