Can’t forget these Drive-Bys

By JOHN BENSON

entertainment@vindy.com

The members of the Drive-By Truckers have had many labels — alternative country, indie rock and Southern rock — attached to their music over the years.

However, it was nearly a decade ago when the band employed a drunk rock sound during a memorable show at the Beachland Tavern.

“We’ve had a long, interesting relationship with Cleveland,” said frontman Patterson Hood, calling from his Athens, Ga., home.

“Back in 2002 we played there and it was next to the last night of what turned out to be a grueling tour. You know how sometimes a band goes long enough without a day off and has that meltdown? Well that happened to us in Cleveland. Everybody was drunk, and (guitarist Mike) Cooley was particularly drunk. He was sore at me for some reason, so he tried to attack me with his guitar and was too drunk to connect. He ended up smashing his guitar on the stage except it didn’t break. So he ended up breaking the stage. And they had to literally rebuild the stage after we left.”

Patterson laughs because not only was it the band’s worst show ever, but the next time the outfit came through northeast Ohio, it sold out the larger Beachland Ballroom. In addition, the drunken show became the group’s own personal Woodstock. Despite the fact less than two dozen people attended the meltdown gig, Patterson claims over 100 people over the years have said they were in the room.

As if that’s not a special enough connection to the Beachland Ballroom, the Drive-By Truckers added to its legend last month when the act was opening for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers national tour. Due to illness, Petty’s band had to postpone a show at Blossom Music Center. Never wanting to pass up a gig, Patterson and company made a surprise midnight appearance that evening, returning to the scene of the crime and playing for 150 people in the Beachland Tavern.

While the Petty tour is officially over — the rescheduled show takes place Tuesday at Blossom Music Center — Patterson said the Drive-By Truckers wouldn’t pass up another show near the Rock Hall City. This is despite the fact the act is busy putting the finishing touches on its new CD “Go-Go Boots,” which is due out next year and is a follow-up to the recently released “The Big To Do.”

“We recorded like 36 songs since the beginning of last year,” Patterson said. “Early on we separated the songs into two categories. ‘Go-Go Boots’ is a polar opposite record for us compared to ‘The Big To Do,’ which to me is more straightforward rock and power-pop. The songs are sort of shorter and snappier. The new record is almost R&B and soul music influenced. It’s a very different, sort of darker and spookier record. I’ve referred to it as our record of R&B murder ballads. I’m real proud of it.”