Reviewers described live concerts by the Amps as unpolished and relaxed . The Chronicle 's Drema Crist praised their show at an unidentified location as " fun @-@ spirited and silly " . Greg Kot of The Chicago Tribune described one of their Chicago performances as " off @-@ kilter " and wrote that " Deal 's pungent vocals was swallowed up by the guitars , and the foursome 's slight melodies was lost amid all the bashing . " A review in The Chicago Reader of the same concert noted that " The Amps play with a low @-@ key , hangout sound . " The Phoenix 's Matt Ashare felt that at their December 1995 show in Boston " the Amps didn 't click in a way that would suggest that this was Deal 's new , full @-@ time band " ; he added that it was " an unpretentiously gritty way for Deal to let off some steam while the Breeders [ took ] a little break " . In Boston Rock , this concert was characterized as " sloppy " but " charm [ ing ] ... hanging loosely off Kim 's gruff vocals and ebullient personality " .