Ruining… or Making Your Grandma’s Music Better?
Expressions are a great way to engage with an audience. The more animated on stage the more entertaining it can make a performance. Tonight felt like the culmination of a couple of the most expressive performers in our scene getting together. The first two are perfect compliments to each other too. Franks and Deans brought on top one of the most unique punk performances I have seen.
The night opened up with the guys from Payson, Alex Squared. This fast paced group of punks right away showed their appreciation for what the date 3/16 stands for, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Throughout the set there were callouts to the WWE wrestler. The other cool thing I picked up on at this performance is they use three lead vocalists, Alex, Meatbag, and Michael. It is dependent of the song of the set. A theme in the past week or two of shows I’ve seen, that I love the dynamic it adds when you change up the main singer through your set. The last song they had Billie join them on vocals and Stone Cold shout outs. This is one expressive group of musicians too as they perform. If you haven’t caught them, be sure to catch them out of Pot of Gold on Saturday or another upcoming set.
Following them was the band Alex spent a couple months filling in at lead for Billie, while he wasn’t able to perform, and that was Contradiktion. I can’t tell if Billie or Meatbag inspired Alex more, but the way Billie plays guitar and sings has a similar style to Alex too. Although a tonal difference in voices, where I will easily associate Billie’s performance and sound to that of Billie Joe Armstrong. Meatbag doing double duty, still one of the most energetic drummers I watch. Jeremy on bass was using this set to show off his excellent skills on bass. Their set closed with Alex doing vocals on the last couple songs. Like seeing a No Gimmick and Reason Unknown show, the Alex Squared and Contradiktion combo are amazing compliments to see in a night of music.
Up after them was a different kind of Skull Drug set. Unfortunately, due to circumstances I don’t know if Roger wants put in here, they were without their bassist. It certainly threw them off in the performing of songs. The songs lost something without him. However, the energy we know from Evan and Justin certainly was present for the set. At one point, Justin having a little powwow on the floor by the stage stairs. While not exactly the Skull Drug sound we like, it was a solid set. It will be nice to catch Roger and bass back in the Skull Drug rotation tonight because it just isn’t the same without him.
Last up was a band I’ve followed some, but have by pure luck of the draw, have not seen live. This band I’m familiar with because of Pip, their drummer, and I met him back when he was in a Vegas punk band called Shotguns ‘n Gasoline. Matter of fact, I think it was three sets over about three days when they were in town one weekend. There was no way I was going to miss them play tonight while here, and I got to catch up with a friend I haven’t seen in a couple years.
The premise of this band is taking the songs of old swing and pop musicians, like Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, and blending it with the punk rock sound. That is including lead-ins and mixing in sounds of songs from NOFX, Green Day, and, I think, there was some Social D. A couple tracks had more of a ska sound to it, getting a circle moving during the set. On top, they bring the Vegas experience to the set with their entertainer and merch girl, who does a cabaret style of performance during the set. I love that they include cool subtle details, like their guitar straps spell out “Franks,” “&,” and “Deans” appropriately as they line up on stage. I haven’t seen a band like this, and it is an excellent, unique experience that I think everyone should check out when they get the chance. Hopefully that includes another visit this year to the Valley of the Sun.
