Snooky
Nu Ethix Suspension
13 Pills
Moloko Shivers
So here's the deal. You run a
popular gentleman's club that has a lot of live local music AND you're in a band. You're turning an unspeakable age. How exactly do you plan on celebrating your birthday? If you are DJB you invite a few other bands and a live suspension team, have a DJ there to fill in the breaks between acts, get your tattoo shop (
Sacred Skin) to pay for the food, and throw a huge party for anyone you can get in the door! So before I get too far into the review, let me tell B "Happy Birthday" one last time.
Snooky out of Racine WI was the first band. Most people know that since I'm not a musician myself, I tend to get hooked on the vocalists. There's one thing that will always draw me away, and that is an AMAZING BASSIST. Slap bass makes my day.
Bassist Eric Christian keeps the funk line going with out picking up a single pick. I was reminded of a young Robert Trujillo bass line. It sounded phenomenal live, however I can't wait to sit down and listen to the CD to hear it recorded! They are kinda funk, kinda metal, kinda pop, kinda heavy. They mix a lot of different sounds and influences to make a great sound. Vocals switch between a sweet sounding harmony and a Disturbed sort of strength. The song "Bring Out Your Dead" got stuck in my head for a bit. I liked the combination of aggression and sweetness on "Merrick." And also, how exactly can you go wrong with a song titled "Sucking the Thorny Cock of the Lord of the Hoary Host of the Netherworld"? With vocalist Terry Valdean doing a helluva Hulk Hogan impersonation as well as showing off his exotic dance skills between bouts of amusing sarcasm, Snooky put on a great show. In order to properly describe them for you, I must steal from the words of the great Mike Muir and simply say "Violent and Funky." By the way, did I mention the bassist was amazing?
Nu Ethix Suspension was up next. These people literally put their bodies on the line for your enjoyment. Not much to review, really, but check out the photos of the artists in the tattoo gallery. It was fascinating to watch both Brooke and Mute One do their work. I spoke briefly with Mute One in regards to the fact that they add new holes each time, and the other aspect that I found a little interesting was I was expecting to see more post-suspension blood. I may have to drag the hubby to see a longer display.
Next was 13 Pills, the birthday boy's band. They were actually one of the local acts I looked at when we first started this site and covering shows here, and honestly, I picked them out because of how they looked. Ok, I'm shallow. It isn't an exact science, but we were just getting started and I picked bands that looked like they played stuff we would like. Thirteen Pills looked like a solid old style hard core band. Well, that's what they looked like. You can tell the band has influences in the past - old skater punk/thrash undertones mixing the hardcore. This was the first show for their newest addition, guitarist Brad Hudon, making this now a 5-piece band. Both "Nebraska" and "Medicated Flow" were hard and brutal, with excellent chunk grooves. The song "Smoke" had a nice switch between pure aggression and sweet undertone. Oh, yeah, B can actually sing. So you can't always judge a book by its cover. Alternating between the pure aggression of a hard core type vocal, to a singing voice that was a nice surprise. I know it was a working night for our vocalist, however, I would have definitely liked a longer set.
Moloko Shivers closed up the night. Either they hit the acid hard or forgot their Ritalin that day. Back are the psychedelic costumes. In fact, the costumes actually made the girl near me frightened. While they lost a bit in their technical performance, they gained a bit in entertainment value. Gone is the relaxed Moloko we saw last time, and the Moloko of the 90s with the flamboyant energy and insanity has returned. Ripping through their set in all their day-glo energy, their need for a larger stage size is apparent. And tell me, who can fault a vocalist who tries to work the pole as well as the girls? "Groove Thing" was once again a highlight for the set. While I liked the more relaxed Moloko we saw last time, this was definitely a truly entertaining set.
As we head out into the insane April cold, I would like to again thank DJB and Heart Breakers for having us out to hang for the night.
