Salt, Mystery Machine, Local H
Bottom of the Hill. San Francisco. February 13, 1996.
Review and photographs by Scott Zimmerman.

With "Bluster," these past several weeks, Salt has been getting considerable airplay on San Francisco's trendy, commercial alternative radio station, the one I must embarrassingly confess to listening to on desperate occasions. Though "Bluster" is an above average song, hearing it has usually only brought me to ask to myself "Why is this song on the radio yet again?" I began to think that Salt was perhaps getting this generous radio exposure because of a large, obscure catalog of stronger material.
So on that though I checked out these Swedish rockers on their recent swing through the Bay Area. The result: Yawn! This trio comprised of Jim Tegman on drums, Daniel Ewerman on bass, and Nina Ramsby on vocals and guitar, presented a rather ordinary slew of uninspired rock, along with lyrics lacking anything in the form of melody, or even the advertised dramatic passion. Their performance of "Bluster" was the clear highlight of the set. And really the only highlight.
Bringing slight redemption to the evening, there were two okay opening bands, each being at least on par with the headliner, not that you are likely to find that to be a ringing endorsement.
First up was Local H, a loud, very loud, two piece out of Zion, Illinois, featuring a guitarist/singer and a drummer. A volume of about half would have been much appreciated, but even with such excessive amplification, a good bit of musical merit came through. I felt that throughout the music, some of the better elements of Nirvana were present, partially via the structure of the rhythm guitar playing, and more so via lyrics with sort of Kurt Cobain-esque phrasings.
Occasionally, a third guy would join Local H on stage, just to tackle singing, but he did not add much to the mix.
Vancouver, Canada's Mystery Machine, another guitar focused group (two guitars this time), held the center slot. Sweet sounding rhythms, with a bit of tuneful lead janglings here and there comprised their music. The set was nothing to jump up and down over, as the music came off as pretty straight forward, but it was still pleasant enough.

pictures from this gig:
Nina of Salt. Same photo as above. (21k)
Daniel of Salt. (15k)
Local H's guitarist. (23k)
Local H's drummer. (31k)