Exit Stage Left

I went up to BoozeHounds Friday night to check out Ron Jarzombek’s new band, Exit Stage Left. I know what an awesome guitarist Ron is, and I had heard great things about vocalist Amanda Ruiz, so I had no doubt that it would be an enjoyable musical experience. And naturally I wasn’t disappointed. Ron of course kicked out the guitar licks to perfection. Amanda’s voice was amazing. You don’t hear many female vocalists belting out Rush, Led Zeppelin and Tool. At times, she actually sounded just like Geddy Lee. I think some of the really low notes were a bit of a strain for her, but I can’t fault her for that when she’s covering songs by male singers. She also impressed me on Heart’s “Barracuda” and “Black Dog” by Led Zeppelin. That girl rocks!

I didn’t know anything about the bassist or drummer, but I assumed they’d be good for two reasons. 1) I can’t see Ron putting together a band of sub-par musicians. 2) I think you have to be a pretty confident musician to decide to cover Rush songs. I mean, Geddy Lee? Neil Peart? Alex Lifeson? Undoubtedly some of the best musicians in rock. You just don’t attempt to play their songs in public if you suck, am I right? And of course, they were awesome.

They started the first set with the perfect choice: “Overture” and “Temples of Syrinx” from Rush 2112. I kinda wished they’d kept going and done the whole first side of 2112. That would have been so cool. I was very impressed that they didn’t limit their Rush covers to the more radio-friendly Rush songs, but also did some kickass Rush instrumentals, like “La Villa Strangiato” and “YYZ.” I was hoping they would, but bands are generally leery of doing instrumentals, so I wasn’t holding my breath. Exit Stage Left have the balls to play them, and the crowd was lovin’ it.

They also did a lot of more contemporary songs, and I honestly can’t really tell you which ones, because when they weren’t playing songs I was really into, I was more concentrating on getting my ass kicked at pool. I know they played that 30 Seconds to Mars song that goes “bury me bury me” or whatever, because I hate that song and think it’s proof that Jared Leto ought to stick to being pretty and dating everyone in Hollywood, but that’s just my opinion. People must like that song or else KISS wouldn’t play it constantly, right?

So, here’s where I run into a dilemma of what to say. My personal opinion was that Exit Stage Left should do more of the classic Rush, Led Zeppelin, Heart, etc. and less of the contemporary radio hits (except for Tool...they should keep doing Tool). Most of the local cover bands do all those other songs, but who else plays “Black Dog” or “YYZ”? I really enjoyed hearing those classic songs, and it seemed to me that the rest of the audience did, too. But I could be wrong. And as someone else pointed out to me, the band has more options of venues to play if they do more variety. I suppose that’s true. I guess I can only look at it from my viewpoint as a music lover of my age and not from the viewpoint of a band trying to be successful.

ANYWAY, Exit Stage Left kicked ass, check ‘em out if you can, you won’t be sorry. They’ll be playing at Roxy’s Friday and Soho Saturday. Check the rest of their schedule on Exit Stage Left's MySpace page.