Action Packed Thrill Ride

Spacemen 3 very well may have taken drugs in order to make music to take drugs to. Action Packed Thrill Ride, on the other hand, appears to drink to deal with problems caused by drinking. Although Thrill Ride is firmly rooted in the country tradition, its songs don’t twang as much as they ride alongside the work of folkie Pete Seeger and the more avant-garde Okkervil River. On stage, the group comes across like a somber honky-tonk band, which seems at odds with its moniker but ultimately suits its gin-soaked cowboy image and the implied sardonic smirk in so many of its songs. Not that the music is ironic, by any means; more likely, that veneer of detachment is masking some tangible pain. Catch Action Packed Thrill Ride this Thursday, December 7, at the Larimer Lounge, with A Dog Paloma, Bad Weather California and the Black.