Rhett Miller thedamnwells

You almost have to wonder if it’s a fake name. Rhett Miller. Sounds like a man who is a bit older and probably more suave than the Rhett Miller on stage at the Paradise, but the name just about gets it all right. Rhett Miller. He’s tall, talented, handsome (pretty, actually) and charming enough to get even shit-kicking Texas dudes in real-life cowboy hats to sing lines like “La-la-la, I’m in love with a four-eyed girl.”

So how does he do it? Why do University of Texas football players, 15-year-old Jersey girls, and Harvard post-docs all play along? I guess it’s because his songs are so goddamn catchy and there are just so many of them. Solo or with the Old 97’s, Miller has written over 100 songs in the past 10 years—almost every one of which will have you singing along by the second chorus, no matter what your age or persuasion.

So I guess the real question is why isn’t Rhett Miller playing amphitheaters or arenas, instead of awkward rooms like the Paradise in Boston, where fans peer must peer around four-foot-wide poles to peek at their star? Well, some marketing body must have screwed up over the past few years because Miller and the Old 97’s haven’t been on any magazine covers or Billboard record lists. And that’s really a mistake. So now Elektra Records is doing their best to remedy the situation: pushing aside the Old 97’s, pairing Miller with crackerjack pop producer Jon Brion, and filling the cover of Miller’s new solo album with a picture of Miller’s big ole mop-top, pouty lips and innocent gaze. Gone are Miller’s nerdy thick glasses—he’s solo now and looking not unlike a 1967-era Mick Jagger. Whether the new image works remains to be seen, but in the meantime Miller’s gaining airplay on not just college radio, playing free shows at Tower Records nationwide, guest-hosting on MTV and criss-crossing the country with a new (non-Old 97’s) band, the Instigators.

Marketing blitz or not, Rhett Miller has got the tunes and the chops to do it all in the pop-rock world. Friday’s show at the Paradise in Boston saw a completely confident idol-in-the-making. Rhett opened with two songs off his new album The Instigator: the bland (let’s call it a soundcheck) “Point Shirley” and the anthem-in-the-making “This Is What I Do”, which contains the signature guitar hook, melody and foot-stomping rhythm of all that is great in a Rhett Miller song.

The crowd went appropriately wild, and Miller grinned at the crowd and then told us what we wanted to hear: “I used to play in this band the Old 97’s, and you probably wouldn’t let me out of here unless I play some of those songs.” And with that the band tore into a double-time version of “Jagged”, off the 97’s 1999-release Fight Songs. It was an interesting choice, not just for its increased tempo, but because “Jagged” is the first song on the album that alienated many Old 97’s fans and inspired cries that Miller had sold out his country-rock roots for mass market radio airplay and a more homogenous audience. Indeed, Fight Songs produced two minor singles, “Murder Or a Heart Attack” and “Nineteen”, but the Old 97’s failed to establish any substantial ground with the MTV crowd.

So Miller’s double-time version of “Jagged” served as fair warning for the fans in the crowd: if you thought Fight Songs was just too much jangly pop, then you would do best to avoid Rhett Miller and the Instigators. But for those who knew what they were in for (and for those who didn’t mind the move away from twang in the first place, since Miller’s songwriting remained as solid, catchy and clever as ever), he delivered more than an evening’s worth of heart-wrenching howls, badass guitar parts, and flirtatious glances at the cute girls in the front row.

Mixing almost every track off The Instigator with some of the Old 97’s most venerable hits, Miller and his band kept most of the audience singing and fist-shaking for most of the night. The first portion of the set was heaviest on the new solo material—showing that Miller could still get Old 97’sy with rugged and rollicking new songs like “The El”, but perhaps losing folks a bit with the lesser material off The Instigator, like “Hover” (which embarrasses just about everyone that wants to sing along, with its chorus of “you come and you glow and you hum and you hover/I cannot believe that you’re my lover”).

Miller also gave the fans a brief solo treat from the Old 97’s salad days. The band left the stage and he knocked off four classics from 1995’s Wreck Your Life: “The Other Shoe”, “Big Brown Eyes”, “Question” and “Doreen”. This bit unified the crowd as the old-school fans finally had a sustained burst of the early days, while new fans were smitten by the sight of Miller on stage by his lonesome. It didn’t hurt that he turned on the charm at this point, too, chatting up the crowd about his taping that afternoon of the Conan O’Brien show in New York

The band returned for a finale of the best-written tunes off The Instigator and more of the cream of The Old 97’s. While a core contingent of fans no doubt missed the sight (and sound!) of Murry Hammond and Ken Bethea on stage, Miller’s new band could hold their own on even the most defining 97’s’ tunes like “Barrier Reef” and “Indefinitely”. The band may even have convinced a few diehards to spend the $10 on Miller’s new solo album with their performance of new song “Terrible Vision”. Likely the highlight of the evening, “Terrible Vision” saw Miller and his sidemen nail perfect three-part harmonies on the song’s very un-97’s-esque refrain, convincing much of the crowd that this band was about more than just playing the notes and looking nowhere near as purty as Rhett Miller.

So after about twenty songs and 90 minutes of music, the band left the stage to massive applause and hollering. They returned a few moments later for a four-song encore featuring “Lonely Holiday” and Pixies classic “Wave of Mutilation” (which Miller may have said was the best song ever written). The band then just about raced offstage, only to be seen on the streets outside the venue a few moments later. Miller was leading the expedition to find a bar where he could watch his performance on Conan, and he appeared to be out of luck. As it was already 1:15, I don’t think he found a spot in time, settling instead for the television on the tour bus. I’m sure the folks at Elektra were tuned in as well.

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Opening band thedamnwells gave everyone their $12-worth long before Rhett Miller stepped on stage. The Brooklyn-based quartet weren’t phased by the milling crowd or conversations by the bar—they took their time creating hypnotic, tension-filled, pop-rock, anchored by the whiplash rhythm of former Whiskeytown drummer Steven Terry and the melodic and emotive vocals of Alex Dezen. By the time the first song was finished, most of the audience realized their time was better spent listening than talking, and thedamnwells received their due attention. Singer-guitarist Dezen mesmerized the crowd with his strong voice and intense delivery, offering up a mix of new material and songs from their lo-fi EP PMR (Poor Man’s Record). Terry’s harmonies enhanced an already beautifully crafted and skin-tight sound, while Dezen’s vocals and guitarist David Chernis’ leads took turns in the front of the mix. Settling into some aural space between Josh Rouse and Radiohead, thedamnwells proved they are clearly the real deal and now just need to spread the good word. Hell, Dezen even knew how to work the crowd—starting an audience applause battle between the right and left sides of the stage, and even tossing in a Judas Priest reference. Hopefully, these guys’ve got another thing comin’. Like maybe a full-length album or headlining tour.