Jammin at Rock City

A lot of the show last night at Rock City Bar was plagued with sound problems - microphone troubles, feedback - and as any man can tell you, equipment failure can be embarassing, but the band members handled it perfectly, laughing it off and giving us their all anyway.

First up was ESE from Houston:

ESE

Here's where the problems began. We couldn't hear them when they sang. Their sound was fast-and-furious hard-driving Texas punk rock, so without being able to hear the vocals, the songs all sounded a lot alike. Good, but very similar. Fast punching power chords, heavy rhythms, and Uncle Knotch has some of the fastest fingers on bass I've ever witnessed. ESE comes to San Antonio a lot, so I'll have to catch them another time when I can really hear their songs.

Next up, Vatos Locos, also from Houston:

Vatos Locos

Same problem, we could hear C. B. on vocals a little bit, but not very well. Vatos Locos is a very energetic band, great heavy punk rock. C.B. has great fun with his guitar, playing it like a gun shooting the audience, giving a pretty girl walking by a lewd gesture with it, and cranking out some cool guitar licks, too. Finally on their last song I could hear the vocals a little better, and what they reminded me of was when I saw Smash Mouth in concert at the White Rabbit. (If you've never seen Smash Mouth in concert, know that they play a lot heavier than they do on their cd's.) Another band I'll have to catch again.

Third on the bill, Double Clutch:

Double Clutch

Catching Double Clutch is one of main reasons I went to this gig. I met singer/guitarist Spider Mike at Rock City a few weeks back and he's a very interesting person. Tall, lean and mean...(except he's not really mean, but he looks like he would be)! They don't have a web site because Mike is allergic to the internet...he shudders when he says "e-mail."

JCM of The Killing Floor plays bass for Double Clutch and I asked one of his people exactly what kind of music Double Clutch played and the response was, "You tell me." So while I was listening, I was trying to come up with a fitting description: they're heavy, fast, guitar riffs bordering on metal, very Texas sound...then I heard two descriptions that were better than anything I could come up with. Spider Mike said they're "the world's meanest redneck rock band" and someone else said "ZZ Top on speed." So there ya go.

Again we had trouble hearing the vocals and between songs there was some terrible feedback coming from one of the amps (faulty cord I think) making it hard to catch Mike's between-song bits. So again, I didn't really get the full experience of the music. However, I have a Double Clutch cd, so I'll have to break that sucker out and do my first cd review.

Last up was The Killing Floor, with Jacob (who filled in for drummer Jack while he was out with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome surgery) sitting in on some congas and Warren and Deon of Amplifyd jumping in for some jams. Rock City's own Garbage at one point nudged Jack off his drums and jammed with them for a bit. TKF replaced the microphones with their own, so we finally got some vocals! Now I've already reviewed The Killing Floor with Amplifyd, so I won't get all wordy...I'll just do it this way:

5 Things I Learned Last Night at Rock City

1. Jack is crazy. OK, I already knew that, but here's proof.


2. Don't touch JCM's guitar!


3. Playing the guitar like a piano is always cool.


4. Garbage plays a mean drum.


5. Ok, I didn't really learn 5 things, but here's a pic of the jam!

Where to catch 'em:

ESE - no SA gigs listed right now

Vatos Locos - Ditto

Double Clutch - at Sam's Burger Joint next weekend (Friday I believe)

The Killing Floor - Saturday Oct. 22nd at Hemmingway's, November 4th & December 2nd at Rock City Bar

Amplifyd - no gigs listed at this time