Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | 9 a.m.
During a recent five-week tour supporting Modest Mouse, New York-based quintet the Walkmen got a long look at the red-hot Washington state headliners.
"They're making obscene amounts of bread right now," Hamilton Leithauser, vocalist and guitarist for the Walkmen, said. "But they're still really cool guys. I really like the way that they handle themselves."
After performing and recording for more than a decade far below the mainstream rock radar, Modest Mouse have hit the big time this year with a platinum-selling album and a much-played single, "Float On."
So does that unexpected indie-rock crossover provide hope of similar success for other critics darlings such as the Walkmen?
Leithauser isn't so sure.
"It would be nice, but I think they just wrote a song that happened to work in a radio format," Leithauser, 26, said in a phone interview from San Antonio's SBC Center before a show there Monday.
"If we happen to write a song that works like that, that will be great. But it's not something to try and do. We have enough trouble writing songs. We don't need to be thinking about anything else."
Since the February release of their second album, "Bows + Arrows," the Walkmen have mainly been thinking about touring.
Sunday night they open for Las Vegas' own the Killers at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. Doors open at 7 p.m. for the sold-out, all-ages show.
Although all five members of the Walkmen are natives of Washington, D.C., all but one now live in Manhattan.
There they have become associated with a revitalized New York rock scene that also includes much-hyped buzz bands the Strokes, the Rapture, Interpol and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
"It's a really big city, so there's no real vibe in the air," Leithauser said. "But there are definitely a lot of bands that people like now, a lot more than when I first moved there six years ago."
The only local band Leithauser remembers garnering much positive press when he first relocated to New York was called Jonathan Fire*Eater. Three of that group's members went on to form the Walkmen with Leithauser and another D.C. transplant.
Leithauser said the Walkmen originally existed mainly as a way to test-drive a Manhattan recording studio owned by the quintet, which laid down tracks for its 2002 debut, "Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone."
"It was just a recording project. That's how the record came together," Leithauser said. "It was the result of writing songs and then trying to learn how to use the equipment to record them."
"Bows + Arrows" followed months of touring, thus showcasing a band in a truer sense of the word.
"There's definitely a sense of playing together on it," Leithauser said.
The disc's 11 tracks range from atmospheric, experimental fare to straight-ahead rockers, an intriguing mix that gets better with repeated listens.
Look for it to show up on many critics' best of 2004 year-end lists -- even if it won't earn the Walkmen obscene amounts of bread.
Quick hits
A look at a few of the shows scheduled to hit Southern Nevada in the next week:
Veteran British rocker Billy Idol closes out this year's Mandalay Bay Beach concert series at 9 tonight. The 48-year-old vocalist's best-known songs include "White Wedding," "Rebel Yell" and "Dancing With Myself." Tickets are $55.
The Lift Ticket benefit concert series picks up again at 6 p.m. Saturday outside the Summerlin Smoothie King, 8502 W. Lake Mead Blvd. On the bill: local acts Blatant, Sorrow's End, Chase the Day, Coward's Courage and A Beginner's Mind.
Tickets are $5, with proceeds going to the Shade Tree shelter. For more information, call 639-6366.
British alterna-rock band Gomez teams with fellow UK act the Zutons at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the House of Blues. Gomez's fourth album, May's "Split the Difference," has been hailed as a return to the group's bluesy origins. Tickets are $15.
On sale
Andrea Bocelli performs with the Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra on Nov. 13 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Tickets are $52.50-$315 and are on sale now at the Mandalay Bay box office, at TicketMaster outlets, by phone at 474-4000 and at www.ticketmaster.com.
Chinese vocalists Emil Chau and Frances Yip share a Nov. 26 bill at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Tickets are $48-$168 and were to go on sale at noon today through the Mandalay Bay box office and TicketMaster.
Kanye West lands at Rain at the Palms on Oct. 17. Tickets are $40 and $75 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Palms box office and through TicketMaster.
Kid Rock plays The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel on Oct. 8. Tickets are $78 and $153 and go on sale Saturday at the Hard Rock box office and through TicketMaster.
Breaking Benjamin stops by The Joint on Oct. 15. Tickets are $15 and go on sale Saturday through the Hard Rock box office and TicketMaster.
Box Scaggs performs at the House of Blues on Nov. 6. Tickets are $45-$65 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at the House of Blues box office and through TicketMaster.
Lamb of God teams with Children of Bodom and Throwdown for a Halloween show Oct. 31. Tickets are $20 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday through the House of Blues box office and TicketMaster.
H.I.M. plays the House of Blues on Nov. 26 with support from Monster Magnet and Auf Der Maur. Tickets are $22 and go on sale at 1 a.m. Saturday through the House of Blues box office and TicketMaster.
Tickets are on sale now for four other recent additions to the House of Blues concert calendar: Mitch Hedberg and Stephen Lynch on Oct. 22 ($24.50-$32); Death Cab for Cutie with Pretty Girls Make Graves on Nov. 2 ($15); Tracy Lawrence on Dec. 4 ($32-$45) and Gary Allan with Cross Canadian Ragweed on Dec. 7 ($30-$45).
Ratt's scheduled Saturday show at the House of Blues has been postponed indefinitely. Refunds are available at points of purchase.
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