As we were eating and chatting about how much we liked the color of their plates and how much I wish I had their jukebox at my house, the band came in and set up and Chris Boss worked the room, chatting with some regular fans, etc. Which brings me to something I probably shouldn’t say, but I’m going to anyway. I went to see Chris Boss because he’s a new sponsor of SA Rocks. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to because of comments on the “Favorite Band” post on here. “Sounds like every other band in town,” “very into himself and rude to the audience,” “watered down version of any cheesy 80's band,” etc. We planned to eat, sit through a set, then head over to The Falls so I could check out this waterfall I keep hearing about.
Well, we never made it to The Falls. The waterfall will just have to wait. Because I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL THESE PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT! They must have seen some other Chris Boss. Maybe he has an evil twin running around town pretending to be him, being rude and playing cheesy music. I don’t know. But the Chris Boss WE heard and met was not only very nice and funny and all about pleasing the audience, but also very talented and versatile. Chris is an awesome guitar player and has a very distinctive voice and a good range. And yes, they did play some 80's songs. They also played songs from every decade from the 70's on up to now.
The thing that impressed me the most was that they would play almost anything the audience requested. Chris would say, “What do you guys want to hear?” Somebody would shout out a song or the name of a band, and they would (almost always) play it. So, as you can imagine, they played quite a variety of music. The thing that impressed Staci the most was when Chris Boss played an entire guitar solo with the guitar behind his head, then swung the guitar around front, still soloing, never missing a note.
They started off with some White Stripes, “Seven Nation Army.” Then moved on to The Clash, with “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” At this point, someone shouted out “Rock and roll!” so they played Led Zeppelin’s “Rock n’ roll,” complete with the drum solo at the end. Then someone yelled out, “Jimi!” Chris Boss mentioned that it was funny how with some artists, all you have to say is their first name and everyone automatically knows who you’re talking about...then he started playing some Jimmy Buffett, ha-ha! The guy yelled, “I was talking about Jimi with an ‘I’” and Chris said, “I know exactly who you were talking about,” and launched into “Voodoo Chile.” Next up was “Sweet Home Alabama,” then (on request) some Beastie Boys “Fight for Your Right,” Sublime’s “What I Got,” and Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun.” He then asked if we minded if they played some blues, which of course we didn’t...and unfortunately I don’t know the name of the song they did, but it sounded great, awesome guitarwork. Then they finished up the set with Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me.” Tell me “every other band in town” does THAT song!
As a good band should, the guys went out between sets and mingled with the audience. Chris stopped by our table to make sure we were enjoying the music and that we were going to stick around for awhile. To tell the truth, we got a little bored between sets because, well, I guess Wise Guys is kind of a “neighborhood bar,” where everyone knows everyone else and they all move around talking to each other. We didn’t know anyone so we pretty much just sat there waiting for the band to go back on.
Which they did, starting out with Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.” Then a song I just refer to as “that damn 80's song,” because I can never remember who did it or what the name of it is! More Sublime with “Santeria.” Someone shouted out, “Paradise City,” and they didn’t play that, but they did play “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” Some Blink 182 “All the Small Things,” Weezer’s “Beverly Hills,” and Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy.” A great medley of The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “I Wanna Be Sedated,” with the bass player on vocals (great job!). Green Day’s “American Idiot.” A girl requested Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” because it was her favorite song. Chris Boss said they didn’t know that one but they would try since it was her favorite...then they played it perfectly. Then they totally switched it up by playing “You Never Even Call Me By Name,” with everyone singing along. They finished the second set with Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me.”
I’m a little fuzzy on the middle of the third set, because at that point I actually did run into someone I knew and whom I’ve known since Junior High and haven’t seen since his band used to play at Sneakers, so we had a little catching up to do, but I’ll give you what I got and hopefully it’s right. They started off with “You Really Got Me” - the Van Halen version, complete with “Eruption” at the beginning. The Killers’ “Somebody Told Me,” Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out,”Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker,” Led Zeppelin’s “D’yer Maker.” Here’s where I ran into Darwin, but I know there was some Metallica and The Darkness. Then AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long,” Radiohead’s “Creep,” and Green Day’s “Basket Case.” And they ended the night with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Jimi-style.
I hope I didn’t bore everyone with all the setlist details, but I wanted to set the record straight on the variety these guys play. It all sounded great. And Chris was very nice to come sit with us afterwards and chat - about the movie “Crossroads,” (NOT the Britney Spears one...the GOOD one!), Steve Vai and guitar-throwing. So don’t believe the critics in the comments...these guys are very good, very versatile and very nice. But hell, don’t take my word for it...go check ‘em out tonight at The Falls (226 W Bitters).
You can learn more about Chris Boss at their website at www.chrisboss.com. They also play original music. You can hear some right now at http://www.cdbaby.com/chrisboss and they have a full album coming out soon, so keep an eye (and ear) out for that.