Once again my brothers and sisters, I returned to the halls of the Roxy to take witness in the glory of the night that was to be, a night that the Lord hath given to us. *smack* Whoa, I don’t know where that one came from. Yes, it was another night at the Roxy, not a bad one that that either. A few bands that I know and love and some new blood, which is always cool.
The first band of the night was a new comer to the LA circuit; a band called Gifted, and you know when a band is on stage and they have the appearance, or stage presence that makes you think that they have a few cards missing from their deck that makes you go, ‘Ya, this really works. This band rocks!’ You know it’s all good. With songs like ‘Vindication‘, ‘Beautiful Invalid‘, ‘Secret‘ you know it’s going to be a kick ass ride.
The next band up is UnEarthed.Com’s UnSigned band of the Month for April, Sad Story. If you haven’t seen these boys yet, you are missing something special. I’ve known of Sad Story for over a year now, and the improvements and maturity that they have had is quite a feat. Some of the songs that Sad Story belted out where ‘So called Friend‘, ‘Individual‘, ‘Endless Rue‘ and ‘Stress‘. The combination of Garrett (Mic), Travis (Drums), Paul (Guitar), Mike (Keys), and Hershey (Bass) is really quite powerful.
Now the Roxy throws in a curve with Wick. Not by any means am I saying this band is bad, because they aren’t; In fact they are very talented. The bass player alone handled more strings that most guitarists use (seven string bass!). Kind of reminded me of Primus but a lot less weird. If you’re in the mood to see a band that’s not your typical ‘rock’ band, check these guys out!
Now it was time for Flambookey, and sad enough as it was, this was to be Stick’s last show with Flambookey. I’m not saying I go way back with these guys, but I remember seeing Flambookey for the first time back in early ’98 with Static-X and Suction err.. The Deadlights. I was down with the Flambookey vibe then, and still down with it today. It was almost as if fate wouldn’t let Stick have a good night and enjoy the last time on stage with Flambookey. If you haven’t seen Stick or the rest of Flambookey play, it’s like a whirlwind of power. Everyone is all over the stage, majority of the time jumping around, and with the amount of tape that Stick had on the pedals and cords, you would think that he was making a permanent home for them on the Roxy stage, and yet he managed to break free of the binding tape andunplug himself a few times. The prevailing vocals of Buddy seize you and slap you in the face. The pounding bass of Johnny B and the jolts that Joey C creates with his drums is phenomenal. Some of the songs that escaped from the quivering Roxy speakers where ‘Standing Alone‘, ‘Eyes Wide Open‘ and ‘ All 4 the Country‘.
Last but not least was the almighty Mugg opening up their set with non other than, ‘Bugg‘. With other favorites including ‘I Am‘, ‘Broken Rubber‘, ‘White Trash‘, and ‘Shine‘, which Bobby tells everyone that he is tired and needs help singing. Which brought everyone on stage. I think that’s becoming a MUGG tradition for ‘Shine.‘ If you haven’t had the MUGG Experience yet, what the hell is wrong with you? I can understand that if you don’t live within the 50 miles of Hollywood or the Glass House that you may have not seen them, but you HAVE to see this band once. No, twice. If you did fit in the category of living out of the area, have no fear, as I’m sure this band will be picked up fairly soon. Of all the things that I feel that a band needs to have to “make it”, I feel MUGG has them all. The night ended with an extra special ending, Jeff on vocals, just like it used to be a few years back, singing ‘Why‘. I still have the demo that I bought two and a half years ago that has ‘Why‘ on it, probably a collectors item now.
– Metalboy
brian@unearthed.com
