Garbage
((Palace, Hollywood; 1,250 capacity; $ 13.50))
Band: Shirley Manson, Butch Vig, Steve Marks, Duke Erikson, Dan Schulman.
That hardly sounds like the formula for an exciting modern rock band, but the members of Garbage have turned this and other unlikely musical combinations into a cutting-edge group that improves with each gig.
Last seen locally racing nervously through an unspectacular set at KROQ's '95 holiday show, Garbage since has found a live groove.
Waifish she-devil Shirley Manson was the focal point at the sold-out Palace. The band's songs of emotional extremism and coming-of-age liberation countered her sexy and smoldering laid-back stage style.
The musicians -- comprising the players on the band's self-titled Almo/Geffen debut, plus new bassist Dan Schulman -- produced a throbbing and hypnotic sound that's equal parts dance-floor edge and rock-show flash.
Anchored by drummer Butch Vig, best known as the producer of Nirvana's "Nevermind" album, the group's wide-ranging influences and abilities were put to the test as songs bounded from pounding disco raves like single "Only Happy When It Rains" to the woman-in-a-man's-world angst of the non-album "Trip My Wire."
Opener Polara recently made the jump from indie-land to major label Interscope, but you wouldn't know it to hear the Minneapolis quartet's latest rumblings. Mixing a garage-rock vibe with Cars-like synths, nifty boy-girl vocal harmonies, Smashing Pumpkins song arrangements and a vicious Keith Moon-style drum assault (courtesy of monster percussionist Matt Wilson), the group appears to be on the verge of a run at the alt-rock brass ring.
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