oczc zo= The city gets rocking with these great acts BY MrcrrAEr crr,Tz Three lads from the Isle of Man, the power trio Back Door Slam retmsto the Mercury Lounge for the third time in less than a year.</p><p> Their fi$t sh()w, the roonl was half empry But when sing- er and guitarist Davy Knowles, bassist Adam Jones and drummer Ross Doyle took the stage for their second show, the crowd was twice as big, with seem- ingly everyone who came to the first show coming back with a friend in tow So expect a jmmed audience wherr they play Jan. 23 to promote their CD "Rotl Awa,v," with Knowles in particular showing the flashy fretwork of a young guitar god with a deep. bluesy voice.</p><p> For the amiable Knowles, it's just a chance to keep doing what he has been obsessed with ever since his dad played a Dire Straits album and Mark Knopfler led to Peter Green, Rory Gallagher and the treasure trove of American blues. "l was playng all the time," says Knowles, who can't e'ait to tum 21. (In the lJ.S., he says it's armoying not to be able to buy a beer at the bars he's play- ing.) "Early moning l'd plav before school, during school at breaks I'd plav. on the bus on the way back home.</p><p> I stiLl do play alt the time. "Then my parents bought me a Span- jsh Fuitar," says Knowles. "lt *'as three- quarters size.</p><p> I had to play that for a year before they'd buy me an electric guitar The electric guitar I got was a Stratocaster I tried to patch it up like Rory Gallagher's.</p><p> It looked terible.</p><p> In the end, me and my friend finished it with this metallic blue.</p><p> I've taken muchbetter cile of my guitars since then-" And now they're touring the world.</p><p> New to the set list this time tround might be a Willie Dixon cover, "Walking the World," md the Robert Cmy song that gave the band its nme.</p><p> But what- ever they rip into, Knowles h6 already proven he cm strike feil into muicim fwice his age: As a teen, he would sit in with a local blues band whose members were as old as his dad until the lead gui trist got a litde irked md slowly edged the mnderkind out.</p><p> Wu Knowles starting to play better thm him? "Oh, I might have been," ad- mits Knowles with a laugh. t (l an. 23, the Me rc ury Lounge: 272-260- 4700.) Bmds used to drem of getting their year-old, whose group plays at Joe's Pub Ireland and showed that their compelling songs on fie radio.</p><p> But the lrish group on Jan. 16 (and the Bowery Ballroom pop music with sing-along choruses and Bell X I is hoping to conquer the U.S. the in March). "l'm really looking foward sink-in-your-brain hmks wtr ready to ex- new-fashioned wal': TV A huge act in 10 the big square states like \[cming. plode worldwide- And the group's rous- their homeland (only U2 is a bigger con- I have this romantic notion of travel- ing live shows - viewed by obsessive fans cert draw), Bell Xl has seen its songs ing from coast to coast on a tour bus md in clips on YouTube - are the best place to played on the Thanksgiving episode of stopping for pancakes in tdaho." see what Bell Xl is all about "Grey's Anatomy" and on "l'he C).C." Originally the drumer in the band Ju- "Recorded music has been deval But lead singer Paul Noonan hasn't giv- nipel Noonan stepped to the fore when ued due to the fact that you can get it for en up on good old-fashioned touring yet, that group's lead singer.</p><p> Dmien Rice free," says Nognm. "So gigs have be even though he knows European acts can went solo and almost immediately beme come more special. l'hat collective expe- tou the U.S- for ages md still (eel like a mmsively successful adist lvorldside. rience of being at a gig - nothing can re- thefve barely scratched the sdace- with relentless touring of its o*n, BeU place that." a "Yeah, you can tour for a year and Xl built up a devoted fan base.</p><p> The band's (Jan- 16, loe's Pub,212-539-8778: M,1rch 15, that's just the East Coast." says the 3 l - new CD "Flock." due F'eb. 5, hit No.</p><p> I in Bowery Ballroom, 212'533 2111)Jersey girltakes you on allthe rides Asbury Prk denizen Nicole Atkins hre an acclaimed major-label album - "Neptune City" - that sounds like the result of a lifetime of feverish listening to Phil Spectog Roy Orbison md other booming pop acts from the '50s md ear- ly'60s.</p><p> But Atkins says that retro flayor was an accident. 'The girl group [somdl almost cme by accident," says Atkins, who perforrre at tie Bowery Ballroom Jan. 25. .lVhen I was making ny demo, neitier I nor my friend David MuUer were good lead guitar players at all.</p><p> I sang all the guitar parts md hmonized it, md suddenly it morphed into a girl-group somd.</p><p> But it w6 more out of necessity tim out of intention." Still, the 29-year-old composer of epic tunes like "]-he Way It Is" md 'Brooklyn's on Fire" admits that the sound - think of a female Chris lsaak, modern but witi one eye on the retr- view minor - isn'l entirely out of tie blue. "The songs I love are 30 or 40 yearsold and have that big sound," says At- kins. 'It's fumy how eYerybody makes a fuss about the grandness of the sound. ...</p><p> We're sick of mmic being made on computers.</p><p> Irt's make m6ic with real itrtruments once in a while." Not that Atkins isn't enmored with technolog/.</p><p> A major fan of filmmaker David Lynch, it's clear how well she'd get along with the oddtlall director when she describes some idem she has for her stage show. "This is going to sound weird but if you saw it, it would look really cool: I want to film my twin cousins sing- ing backup voals and dressed up as ghosts," says Atkins- '"l-trey'd be pro- jected onto two screens on each side of the stage md there would be a trig- ger so they would be singing prerecord- ed backup vocals.</p><p> Between songs we'd intemct with them - like if they're gig- gling I'd say, 'Shush!'md they would get quiet. -..</p><p> But for now we would just be happyto geta lighting guy." a (J an- 25, Bowery Ballroom; 212- 533-211 I)9. € o= z E zm{o ac= o o L I 7 -@ c am
