“It feels like fifteen years ago,” my Showing Going Friend Joe said. “It feels like fifteen years ago when I was back in San Francisco.”

Joe was talking about TAB the Band last Friday night at Middle East Down. Tab had Joe swooning in nostalgia and memories of local California bands he’d rocked out to in the ’90s with their ’70s-inspired rock and roll (check outBBC’s interview with them last week). This was a group of boys I could’ve sworn I’d heard on WOXY (but probably never did) (and holla to my Midwestern roots!) with hot bass lines and driving guitars that made me think of Kaiser Chiefs. Later, too, I found myself comparing the lead singer’s voice to Ozzy – an odd twist in the mix, considering the music was anything but metal, more like a college-rock-meets-indie-rock-meets-really-really-good-and-you-should-go-see-them. When I mentioned my Ozzy musings to Showing Going Friend Joe, he thought I wasn’t too off, noticing a lot of their bass lines reminded him of a particular Black Sabbath album. Tab the Band was rad and an excellent opener for any show, pumping up a crowd that seemed to already dig them and know their lyrics.