Are They Not Men? They are Stimutacs

(Stimutacs photo from MySpace)

If Toggle Switch really had its act together, it would be reporting on how Virginia bands -- including the delightful Hot Lava -- did at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas, a couple of weeks ago. Or, even better, Toggle Switch would report on how this year's edition of MACRoCk event in Harrisonburg. That new-rock celebration just wrapped up this weekend and I'm sure that some juicy news came out of that annual event.

Alas, Toggle Switch doesn't really have its act together. But maybe I'll eventually be able to devote some time to finding out how all that worked out. (Please do send me reports and I'll happily pass them on).

In the meantime, I'm going to write about Stimutacs, a Norfolk band that's worth your attention. Think about Devo with a more lo-fi approach and more metal guitars grinding in the mix, and you're starting to imagine what these guys are cranking out.

While the recordings posted on the band's MySpace page are a bit too crude for their own good, and the singing on all the tracks is a bit sketchy, there's clearly something interesting happening here. They're a band to watch -- which may be why they were signed up as an opening act for the Blonde Redhead-Marnie Stern show happening at ODU on April 25. For ticket info on that show, go here.