Last Thursday night The Eagle Tavern played host to a great night of down and dirty garage rock featuring local acts Ty Segall, The Baths, The Splinters and Nashville-based Jeff the Brotherhood.  First off, I need to say that The Eagle Tavern is my new favorite bar.  As one of San Francisco’s better known gay bear/leather bars, it’s not a destination that was on my radar.  But what a great venue, vibe and fun people! They have the best beer garden in town. And I got a kick out of teasing the bartender, who handed me the beer list, by ordering ‘whatever’s most popular with the ladies.’ After a momentary blank stare, I got a Stella Artois.

It was my first time catching up with The Baths and look forward to hearing more from this group.  Especially when they put out music on some other format than cassette tape. (I feel a trendspotting series coming on.) Luckily it appears the uber cool label Woodsist will be putting out their debut LP soon…which is a very good sign.  I dig their sound and something about them gave me a Girls vibe, but maybe that was just the lead singer’s dress and shawl getup and the fact that Christopher Owens often takes the stage in similar attire. Whatever the case, file them under one to watch.

The band of brothers, JEFF the Brotherhood, took the stage next and delivered a scorching set.  If you haven’t checked these guys out, do so.  How can you not like a band that tapes Jeffro Tull on their drum kit? Always a crowd pleaser, these guys know how to work the audience with Jake spending more time off the stage than on it.  Then there’s Jamin on drums who wails on his set with the kind of bounce and enthusiasm as Animal of The Muppets. Seriously, check it out.

Ty Segall closed out the night with a kumbaya set of old tunes and a handful of new ones. Members of The Baths joined in on the fun.  And if Ty wasn’t already adorable enough, the love and sweetness he was throwing down for his girlfriend (the bassist for The Baths) throughout the night was just too cute for words. When he dedicated “Lovely One” to her my heart melted too.  So uplifting and inspiring it was that I almost regained my faith in humanity. Almost.