Dec
12
2009

Rock For Tots 5

12 Bands, Two Stages, Much Rock...For The Tots

(Add / View Comments) (0)PhotosSaturday, December 12, 2009 - 11:59:59 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Live Shows)
I've been anticipating this show since it was announced, and it did not disappoint! Lance's annual "Rock For Tots" charity local music show, raising money and Christmas toys for the "Toys For Tots" charity.

First up was Mike Mercer, who I didn't know, but was good for an opener.

Photobox ImageViolet Wild rocked the house! Katie realized early on that their early set was because Bobby and Chris probably had to play with Hairforce later on tonight. It was apparent that that was true from Bobby's clothes. [smile] I love Violet Wild at the best of times, but this seemed like a super polished set. I know this should never surprise me, but all the same, the power house that is Josh Kennedy blew me away. How the New Times piece a while ago didn't even give him a mention on the list of top 10 valley guitarists I have no idea. No shortage of smoking licks, huge jumps and all round ridiculousness floppiness that is Josh Kennedy. Much like the last time I saw them, Bobby's stage presence and posing was excellent. I was so hooked on this band years ago from their studio work, but man, seeing them live takes it to a whole nother level. Highlights were Bump On The Head, Without You (dedicated to Velvet Elvis - with a seamless transition into a Zep song and back again), and a killer version of Hitchhicker. So smoking that I didn't even realize that that's what it was until moments before the vocals kicked in.

As a side note, is there going to be a Saturday night with nothing going on soon so I can go see Hairforce?!?! I mean seriously, I've been dying to since long before leaving Australia, and still haven't had a chance to make it out on a Saturday!

Photobox ImageAfter Violet Wild we virtually followed Josh to the patio for the Velvet Elvis performance, which was Josh and Marc Norman acoustic due to the rest of the band having day jobs (ironically, both Phil and Ryan were spotted later in the night [wink] ). Three good tunes out of them until Marc switched out with The Judge for the rest of the set. Marc's between song banter was a reminder of why he needs to be on stage more. Much like B. Babb, Marc is as entertaining between songs as he is when he's singing.

Photobox ImageBack inside it was 36 Cents & A Dream. About two songs into their set I noticed that the drummer looked familar. Why? Because we'd watching him for about 2 hours earlier today playing for the Sugar Thieves. Who knew?! Not us apparently.

Photobox ImageThen it was back out to the patio for Brent Babb - awesome as always, but that's kind of a waste of characters even stating. A somewhat short acoustic set from him, dabbled with the usually wonderful morsels that you get from Brent in between songs (some of which were reduxes from last night). Highlight of the set was probably Burger Christ. There's something about singing along about the monolith, looking beside you and seeing Bobby and PC seeing every word, and hearing everyone behind you doing exactly the same.

Photobox ImageFollowing this was what we thought was going to be a band we didn't know - Rusty Buckles, but turned out to be who we know as N.A.P.P. I guess they found their new name. I'm guessing anyways, we'll see. Kinda ironic, given that I only just introduced myself to Jim Swafford the night before, and then he was up on stage tonight. Apparently their billing was at very short notice - indeed, since last night Thomas had said he 'might' be there doing an acoustic Ghetto Cowgirl set with Norm. So it was a surprise for us, and probably everyone else involved. [wink] We've been really looking forward to see them since Thomas first told us about the project back in September, so it was pretty sweet they played. Good stuff. And it was only last night that I was thinking how, as much as he's great to watch playing bass, I miss seeing him playing guitar. Wish granted, and he was in fine form. I recognized a few of their songs (I'm guessing from myspace) and definitely one of the old school Swafford numbers. I'd also forgotten the Phil Rhodes (count 1 for other Velvet Elvis members, and count 2 for Ryan who walked in later on) was in the band, which was cool. Definitely watching Phil play, I've got to say, if I were a drum kit and I saw Phil Rhodes walking towards me, I'd be very afraid! Man that guy can hit the skins. As far as guitar playing goes, I really thought I'd seen it all. But I was proved wrong tonight when Thomas played an entire song with a drum stick! I wonder, if I took lessons at Hammer On, could he teach me how to do that! [wink]

Photobox ImageBack outside, it was Thousand Yard Stare, who I know of, but aren't aware of their stuff, so it was a good opportunity to check them out and didn't mind their stuff. Followed up inside by Shawn Johnson & The Foundation, who were one of their few bands on the ridiculously awesome bill I wasn't that interested in seeing. Their stuff didn't too bad from what I heard from the patio though. Given how much of a big night it had already been, it was much easier to keep the seats we scored on the patio and wait from Tramps & Thieves.

Photobox ImageFunnily enough when we came in earlier tonight, Katie had noted how small the outside stage was, and that there was no way that Tramps were going to all fit. "Someone is going to have to stand on the ground". For a while it seemed like only Andy and Scott were there, but Emmett did eventually show up. And as predicted, Scott and Emmett were on the stage, and Andy was left to stand next to it.

Next up on the main stage was Bollox, who were the other band we didn't have much interest in. Since I had a mission to snap a photo of every band that played, I wandered in briefly to do so. While I've never heard of them, they seemed to have quite a decent crowd!

Photobox ImageOne reason to remain on the patio with our seats was that Strange Young Things was up next. Which equalled Corey Gloden acoustic. Which was completely fine with us (despite the fact that the only way the show could have been made better would to have had Strange Young Things, the full band, on the main stage). Corey was in fine form (when isn't he!??), playing a mixture of covers, new stuff and really old songs. His cover of Cocaine Blues was great, even when (or more to the point) "especially when" the hecklers fucked him up on the third verse. I'm pleased to report that he announced that if he was going to do the song he expected to see a shot of whiskey at his feet by the end, and he did. The other highlight for me was an acoustic version of Spoils Of War as well as the back story on the song. But saying "other highlight" feels really stupid, because anything this guy does is gold.

The other part that rocked about his set, was the once again, he wouldn't get off the stage (and this time was successful in his defiance [wink] ). I think every time I've seen him before with the exception of the Hard Rock last week, he has pretty much protested ending the set when he was supposed to. "Is the other band starting? I'm going to play one more. They are starting? Well, I'm still going to play one more". Aside from the fact that it means you get one more song (at least when he doesn't get shut down), it's so refreshing to have someone NOT want to get off stage, as opposed to people that just can't wait to. The enthusiasm of this guy, very much like with Josh Kennedy, is so infectious that it's hard to fathom that anyone couldn't be a fan.

Photobox ImageOnce Corey did however surrender the stage, Los Guys were well into first, if not second song inside. I'd kinda forgotten about the recent addition to Los Guys, and what it meant for the night - more Josh Kennedy! Just like with Violet Wild, all the stage stomping, jumping and blistering solos that you'd expect out of him. This line up just kills - Mark, PC, Gary and Josh. I'm not saying that they weren't awesome before, and Mark himself really wails, but Josh just brings such an added dose of rock to the group. And when you get both Mark and Josh trading off solos - how could you not just love this line up?

Definitely by the time I was rocking out to Los Guys, my feet and back really hurt - after all, we'd been there since 7pm, but the rock was enough to keep us going for a bit longer. I was kinda in a time warp, thinking it was 12:30, when it was probably 1:30, so Los Guys didn't play quite as long as I'd expected. Not long into my ears were ringing, so it was probably a good thing.

All in all it was an amazing night of local music. Typically we're finding that if there are more than 3 bands on a bill, it kinda sucks because you don't get much of each band. But Lance and co pulled this gig off perfectly with their duel stage setup and 7pm start time. Everyone got a decent set, and there was always a band setting up while another band was playing, so there was no waiting time in between bands. And you can walk away from it with a warm and fuzzy feeling, knowing that two kids that otherwise weren't going to, will have presents for Christmas this year.

It all makes you wish there was an event like this every week! And then ponder whether you could handle it if there was! [wink]

Videos:

Violet Wild - Concrete Lake


Corey Gloden


Corey Gloden - Spoils Of War

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