Rocking For Angela
Whenever friends and music come together for a cause, you can always expect excellence. My friend Angela, had an accident earlier in the year that created a domino effect of multiple nodules by her thyroids. It was deemed not to be cancer, but she has been in pain from it and surgery was a must to stop any more from forming. So long story short, a bunch of awesome local bands got together to help out and successfully raise money for her.
Off the bat, I saw a local band I had yet to hear called Jane ‘n The Jungle. They went acoustic for this set. With that, it meant they didn’t have drums, but neither thing had an impact on how great they sounded. Their lead vocalist, Jordan, was the best singer I heard this night. They play an alternative rock, and have been featured on local radio KWSS. I didn’t know who these gals and guys were, and now Jane ‘n The Jungle is on my list of bands to try and catch going into 2017.
Right after them were the funny punk dudes of Burgandy Jurk. Last time I caught this band, they were a two piece playing at Tempe Tavern. The full band they have put together is fantastic. However, the banter between Mike and Ian was my favorite part. It probably helps that I got included in the dialog halfway through the set. The humor runs deep into the music and song titles. These guys deserve to have you in their next audience if you have never seen them before. Burgandy Jurk is killer on spell checkers, but great on the ears.
Smack dab in the middle, we got more of the metal and rock with Belletrist from Flagstaff. For the most part, it comes off as some great inspired music from Motorhead and older Metallica. Then you hear them do the more modern deeper, gruffer singing of some modern Metal bands in the song adding their own touch.
From there we went to the band with the lead singer that puts the Shane in Pogue, Perfect Sense. I’m still figuring out who their regular guitarist is, but tonight’s set was another good one. It was great to hear Chuy doing lead vocals on a song. I have missed that since the days of Los Fuckin’ Ramirez. The guys in Perfect Sense were having a ton of fun for a great cause.
Last, Nomada pulled out all the stops to make this special to help out Angela. Not only did we have Mario back in the mix one more time, we had Danny, from Captain Squeegee and Fayuca, and Arturo, from Fayuca, on stage with them. This night made me wish we could somehow keep Mario in both Fayuca and Nomada. His chemistry with Oscar Rock on stage is one of the best to watch. Their closing song may have clocked in as the longest non-progressive rock song I’ve seen too. Nomada’s set made me wish that we could keep the five piece permanent. Regardless, it was a good night for raising money for a friend with some great music on the Pho Cao stage.
