N'Somnia at Snoop's

I decided to stay close to home Friday night and check out N’Somnia over at Snoop’s on Perrin-Beitel. Very glad I did! Not only were they and their friends very nice and fun to hang out with, but the band was phenomenal! Not just due to their musical ability but also their choice of songs. Sure, they played a few cover band staples, which sounded good and all that. But they played some of my favorite classic rock tunes that I never hear bands play and did such a kickass job with all of them. A great trip back in time.

We’re talking Rush “Red Barchetta” (on request), Jethro Tull “Aqualung,” Deep Purple “Perfect Strangers” (love that song), Yes “Roundabout,” and several Led Zeppelin songs, including “The Ocean” and “The Immigrant Song.” They also did Sponge “Plowed” and Dishwalla “Counting Blue Cars”...all these great songs that not everybody does. It was great to hear something different and the audience was loving it all.

Jerry

Every member of the band sings, but Val Mora performs the majority of the songs, as well as playing bass guitar. Awesome voice! The vocals of Robert Plant is his prime, especially on songs like “The Immigrant Song” with those gritty highs, can’t be easy to duplicate, but he was right on. Plus, he is so hyper and seems to be having such a great time that you can’t help having a good time, too.

Val

While perhaps not quite as energetic as Val, the rest of the band seems to have a great time, too. Lots of joking around, lots of laughs. I was very impressed with the musicianship of the whole group. Twins Jeff and Jerry Doyle (also of The Bad Boys) on guitar and drums, respectively. One of the highlights of the night was their rendition of Ted Nugent’s great song “Stranglehold.” Jeff nailed that awesome guitar solo! There are video clips of “Stranglehold” as well as Led Zeppelin’s “The Immigrant Song” over on the Video Page...check ‘em out.

Jeff

But wait, there’s more. The other really cool thing about N’Somnia is their keyboard player, Rick. Wearing what one of the band’s friends called his “organ grinder cap,” with a cool calm, this guy does some great keyboard work. But even better, he also shreds on the flute! Definitely the highlight of the first set!

Rick (didn't catch a pic on flute, sorry)

Great music, fun time. Definitely I’ll go see these guys again.

Oh wait, I already did. Saturday night I stopped in at Make My Day, where N’Somnia was playing. Actually I was there to meet a friend to get a disc from him, but as a bonus I got to watch another set from N’Somnia. First thing I noticed was that I recognized quite a few people in the bar from the night before at Snoop’s. The second thing I noticed is that Make My Day has the smallest stage I’ve ever seen. The whole band wouldn’t even fit on it! The third thing I noticed was an extra band member, playing one of those freaky little guitars that have no headstock. Those things always trip me out. They look more like a keyboard than a guitar. He also sang Journey’s “Send Her My Love,” which bummed me out a little as it reminds me of something sad, but he did a good job of it. The coolest thing was that he played flute also, so he joined Rick and we had a dual flute jam.

I later learned that this extra person (whose name has escaped me) used to play with Val in the band Heyoka and was sitting in with them that night.

We only stayed at Make My Day about an hour and then we moved on to go hopping down St. Mary’s. But that’s another story...for tomorrow.

You can catch N’Somnia back at Snoop’s this Friday May 26th and at Tiffany Billiards (or whatever that place is called nowdays) on Saturday June 3rd.