Unfortunately, I was late...So massive apologies go out to the night's first band, Heather Leather whose set I totally missed out on. However, if anyone wants to tell me what I missed or anything else about the band feel free to comment below...
Rough Edge played a set that started with a heavy rock-n-blues romp and progressed towards a harder, more metal sound and presentation throughout their set. Wearing their influences on their sleeves, Rough Edge made me think of the spirit and rock and roll abandon of late 70s/early 80s rock staples like UFO, Riot, early Motley Crue and Unleashed in the East era Judas Priest. Add the surging and bottom-heavy rhythms of today and you get a pretty good idea of the Rough Edge sound. Major props have to go out to guitarist Ray who was an impeccable rhythm guitarist and literally goes for the jugular with each solo break.
Copper Child was next and played a cool and calculated high-energy set of alternative rock. What do they sound like? Several 99.5 KISS staples came to mind such as Stabbing Westward, Foo Fighters, and Bush among others. However, with songs that do more than mimic the aforementioned bands, the band brings to the surface the uniqueness of the Copper Child sound ("Open" immediately comes to mind). Another very cool thing about this band is that the singer will sometimes strap on a guitar and join the band's other two guitarists for a song or two. The spectrum-wide sound of a three guitar attack is hard to describe, but, to me anyway, it's such a lush and pleasing sound; it's very cool and unique and I'm interested in seeing where they explore with this setup in the future.
D.A.M.I.J was the final band of the evening and closed everything up with a high energy set of covers and a few originals. Led by the charismatic and commanding vocals of singer Adam, whose appearance reminded me of Suicidal Tendencies singer Mike Muir, the band played a wide range of covers ("D.A.M.I.J style") such as "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "Seven Nation Army," and Beautiful Creatures' "1AM" which I admit sounded spot-on and perfect enough to make you think it was an original. Like Rough Edge, D.A.M.I.J mixed their classic rock and metal influences with the more modern, abrasive, and groove-heavy sounds of today as evidenced by their own originals such as "Devils Whiskey" and "Voices Within." Another cool thing about this band is that they had two lead guitarists; Far from being "weekend warriors," they both shined on a cover of Iron Maiden’s "The Trooper" and during a brief guitar duel that playfully pitted the lead skills of one guitarist against another.
Shows and Links
Club Fuego
Rough Edge
no shows posted as of yet
Copper Child
no shows posted as of yet
D.A.M.I.J
August 18 8PM Sams Burger Joint