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Review:
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It had the makings of a sociological experiment:
three indie rock Minions were planning to travel to The 9 Lives
Saloon, self described as “Atlanta’s Only Rock-N-Roll Club.”
That description may sound innocuous on the surface; however,
the reputation of The 9 Lives Saloon is as a hang out for the
more metally minded musicians in town. In short, it’s not a
place we would normally think to visit. However, we had all
liked The Blue Flame
Combo so much the time we had seen them that we were willing
to lay aside our biases and go to The 9 Lives to see them again.
When we got to The 9 Lives at the ungodly early hour of 9:20
pm, we were of course shocked to find out The Blue Flame Combo
(our reason for going) had already been playing for 15 minutes.
I mean, what kind of rock club starts music before 10? Still,
after a little debate, we paid our cover and went in to catch
the end of the set.
We were not disappointed: The Blue Flame Combo were just as
impressive this night as they were the last time we saw them.
Although we only saw 15-20 minutes of their set, their brand
of punk rock is so catchy that you can’t help but find yourself
singing along and bopping your head. Furthermore, this band’s
execution is nearly flawless: the guitar is loud and reverby,
the drums keep a driving beat while remaining varied in their
rhythm, and the stand up bass thumps along, acting as a bridge
between the tone and textures on the other two instruments.
In short, The Blue Flame Combo seems to be a near perfect blend
of style and substance, and are quite probably one of the best
bands I’ve discovered thus far this year.
Afterwards, we decided to stick around for the next couple
of bands. After all, we had paid the money, so it was a sunk
cost. And remember, this was an experiment, so we were fairly
open to seeing new and different stuff. Therefore, we weren’t
too put out when the next band took the stage, looking like
a hard rockin’ N’Sync. What do I mean by this, you ask? Well,
each member had a distinct look that differed from the rest
of the band. For instance, the drummer looked like an average
young rock kid while the bassist had a mohawk. One of the singers
had tattoos up and down both arms whereas the other resembled
a shaved-head club kid with his nicer shorts and clean t-shirt.
Based on their looks, the band’s name (Freakshow) seemed somehow
appropriate, although I’m not sure the band themselves would
agree.
Since the varied appearance of the band members gave no hint
as to their type of music, I was quite frankly stunned when
Freakshow began to play. Now, if you’ve read any
of my other reviews, you ought to have a figured out I’m
an indie rock kinda girl. I can’t help it, it’s what I do. However,
a corollary of this interest is that I haven’t had that much
experience with some of the more modern forms of hard rock.
And in particular, I haven’t listened to many bands that have
two equally loud and screaming lead singers trading vocals parts
over what I’d describe as solid, distorted power chords. But
this was in fact what Freakshow sounded like. And since it’s
outside of my realm of experience, I can’t objectively say whether
it was well done or not.
On the other hand, I have seen a fair number of concerts in
my day. And based on these experiences, I will tell you that
Freakshow was having a blast. The singers jumped onto the bar’s
floor, rolled around on tables, surfed off the stage monitors,
and shimmied around the stage while the rest of the band concentrated
on the music at hand. Despite my skepticism towards the music,
I have to admit I was impressed and fascinated by the performance.
I couldn’t turn away for fear of missing something entertaining,
which is a type of praise in and of itself.
After Freakshow’s set, their was a long lull in the concert
action, although there were two bands yet to come. At this point,
we figured out that the next band, The Evils, were getting ready
to record a live album, and they were apparently taking their
time to set up. We hung out for a while, figuring it was still
early, while we waited for the band to take the stage. Eventually,
at the point we were thinking about leaving, The Evils started
to play…..and play like Motorhead they did. I guess I could
go into detail about how or what they played, but suffice to
say, it reminded us all of Motorhead, and after 3 or 4 songs,
we realized that it all sounded the same. Still, the crowd around
us really seemed to like this band, and I suppose if you like
that type of music it was good.
However, I had seen the band I wanted to see as well as one
additional one, and I was ready to go home. So we left, happy
to have seen The Blue Flame Combo, and at the least entertained
by Freakshow. Not the best evening I’ve experienced, but certainly
better than I could have expected from sociological experiment.
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