Topping an electric bill at the East Village Arts Club, the impending rock n’ rollers Mexican Dogs try to prove why you should be listening.

There’s action on both sides of the water on this Saturday night, but the Arts Club may be the place to be, as current rising rockers Mexican Dogs get to show what they’re made of with their own headline show.

Opening tonight’s affairs is an acoustic set by Matt McManamon, frontman of the now-dorment local legends The Dead 60s, who weaves through his set with wit and songs from his debut solo record, Scally Folk.

His set collected songs from both his time in the Dead 60s, especially the brilliant “Stand Up” which sounds more-than-fine in its stripped back form, and his solo effort, such as his latest single “Out of the Cold“.

After cracking a joke about if anyone remembered the 60s, McManamon finished up with their hit “Riot Radio“. It’s a wonderful little opening for the evening, and it’d be recommended to seek out Scally Folk.

Arriving next feels like a brilliant wildcard, Dancing to Architecture, or DTA as they’re also known. They’re wild oddities, with frontman Joel Goldberg bringing theatrics.

Their sound is wholly entertaining, able to keep you on your toes, and definitely difficult to pigeonhole into a “for fans of” thing, although their somewhat new wave, self-noted “schitzofunk” sound surely has its fans in this room. Their ability to curve around their songs is idiosyncratic and brilliant.

The times change, it was only a few years ago that the local scene was filled with oddities and strange wonders on stages like the Arts Club, something that seems to have passed over unfortunately, but it’s more than welcome to note unique acts.

Following up is local bockety rollers Silent-K, firing immediately out like a shot in the dark, fiery and excitable.

Strictly a rock n’ roll animation, the band don’t stop moving through their half-an-hour or so set, pure palpable energy. Throughout the evening of mixed sounds, Silent-K seem like a perfect opening act for Mexican Dogs, an act they’ve shared a bill with before.

Just before 10pm, the headliners make their way to the stage, entering to the sounds of Ennio Morricone‘s “The Ectasy of Gold“, a favourite walk-on for bands that influenced them.

Smashing onto the stage are the Mexican Dogs, who sound massive. It feels as-if they’ve upped all the speakers from the last three acts, and aim to obliterate the Loft.

It’s no shock that the band moved here from the poster-noted downstairs Theatre (the larger of the two rooms in the Arts Club), but it doesn’t seem like it’ll be long before they’ve got that room sold out.

“She Cries Blues“, “Run, Run, Run” and the especially brilliant “You and I” are sprinkled throughout their set, intertwined and laden with what seems to be influence sound-bites, such as the Foo Fighters‘ “My Hero“, and Jimi Hendrix‘s “Foxey Lady“, perhaps purely coincidental, but they wear their influences on their sleeves.

The packed Loft seemed adoring to their sound, feeling like you’re caught in-between a band and their rise, which doesn’t seem to far off, especially if they’re making the right moves. Arguably, with FestEvol rocking across the water, it seemed like their move to headline their own space has paid off.

Mexican Dogs are a band with the appeal, the look and the substance that can make star set of rock n’ rollers. Let’s hope they keep making the right shots, because they sure are catching on quickly.

Words by Jack Cinnamond. Photography by Jessica Jayne Sharpe.