Really, we should all be mad about Pink Mountaintops. Because they're Canadian. And they're doing down-and-dirty, makin'-it-behind-the-bleachers rock 'n roll, a genre that we should theoretically own, hands down. And worse than that, they're doing it well. I mean, as if Canada had not already asserted its indie rock dominance, now they come trouncing on home territory.

Yet, it’s just really hard to be mad at a man with questionably short shorts and Jesus-hair crooning about “sweet 69” over a thunderous blast of percussion and fuzzed-out guitar.

Playing Sunday night at the Warehouse Nextdoor with Chicago-band Catfish Haven, Pink Mountaintops gave an aural pummeling of psychedelic drone mixed with rustic Americana (Canadana?) to an enthusiastic crowd of scraggly-headed hippiesters.

Pink Mountaintops started out as the sex-rock side project of Black Mountain frontman Steve McBean but has since morphed into a more paranoid, less-horny seven-piece drone-rock outfit. Boasting members from both Black Mountain and McBean’s third band, Jerk with a Bomb, Pink Mountaintops is backed by two drum kits, two keyboards plus guitar, bass and a lot of tambourine, making for a full sound (and a cramped stage). While BM dabbles in the harder stuff, Pink Mountaintops favors a kinder, if not gentler, rock ‘n roll. Reaching past the retro glam and punk of the 80s for its influences, the band gives musical nods to Velvet Underground, Kinks and Zeppelin.

McBean and Co. provided an onslaught of slow-grinding 70s rock, replete with smoke machine and fuzzy, driving guitar riff. To this McBean added his distinctive vocals that slide effortlessly between a low grumble and a seductive croon. Highlights included the raucous “New Drug Queen” and “Sweet 69,” during which the overcrowded stage forced keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Lyndsay Sung to drum in the audience.

Unfortunately, the band seemed to still be sound-checking during the show, and multiple adjustments between songs still left the female vocals inaudibly low. The poor sound was especially disappointing on the otherwise fantastic “Tourist in Your Town,” about the ill-fated tryst of a model and a gutter punk.

Opening for Pink Mountaintops was Chicago trio Catfish Haven. Drawing comparisons to My Morning Jacket and Kings of Leon (both of whom they’ve opened for), Catfish Haven takes its name for the Missouri trailer park where frontman George Hunter grew up. And the music itself sounds like it should be blasting from the jukebox in a roadside pool hall. Catfish Haven is Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Boss put through the indie rock meat grinder. Hunter sings a ballad like he means it, with a croon channeled from the ghosts of classic rock past. It’s Americana without any ironic posturing. While sharing the heartfelt soul and melodic hooks of 70s rock, Catfish Haven also falls into some of its lyrical trappings. Women are laid “down by the fire.” And when your lady goes away, she’s begged to “come back, come back.” While the band might occasionally slip into bar rock, Hunter’s world-wary vocals and the band’s tight sound keep them above the fray. I predict it’s not long before the kids are requesting a Catfish Haven song for the slow-dance at prom.

[Note: Local artist Benjy Ferree also opened, but this DCist did not get there quite that early.]