Weekend of local rock volume 12

This will be what you’d call a long post alert. Over last weekend I saw 17 bands in 11 hours of playing time, plus a few extra shots of stuff I found interesting. In order to compress things a little bit I’m going to use the captioning for the text bits and try to space these close together.

I’ll begin with the 12 bands I saw last Saturday night at Skip Dixxon’s Spring Luau.

Blake Haley started things off and as you'll see later finished them too. The guy on keyboards goes by the moniker Chuck D.

Adding a sense of humor to their acoustic versions of classic rock songs, Crowded Outhouse is a local favorite and came over straight from an earlier gig.

Woodstock isn't a group but a person, because that's the nickname he goes by. He did double duty in running the sound board as well. Anyone for bacon, eggs, and Jager?

Johnny Suit plays the guitar but I think one of his Nice Ties was at the cleaners. Otherwise wouldn't it be just Johnny Suit and the Nice Tie? They were the last of the four initial acoustic acts.

The show was plugged in once Melodic Groove was set up. The trio played a set that crossed the line between rock and blues.

Along the same lines as Melodic Groove, the talented Aaron Howell and his band showed their stuff to the gathering audience. By this time the diners were pretty much gone and the partiers were arriving.

Things started to rock a little harder with Trailerpark Romeo. In fact, they managed to blow a breaker someplace, which delayed things briefly.

You knew if Semiblind would be at this so would I. And how did they know I liked Tool's 'Sober'? At that point I wasn't strictly in that state but no worse than having cough syrup. By the way, the pic's in my personal collection but Alan the drummer had a grass skirt on. That's getting into the spirit!

If you like classic heavy rock like Led Zeppelin, you'd love Lower Class Citizens. They grow on me each time I see them. They also knocked out that breaker but kept playing until it was fixed, sort of like the long solo you'd get when the rest of the band gets their drink.

Next up was Matthew King and his band, who lightened things up just a notch. They were more toward the usual melodic rock that makes the girls dance.

Speaking of girls, that provides a nice segue to Agent 99. These three ladies and two guys tore through a half-dozen classic rockers. They get the gratuitous shots you'll see next.

While I'm not sure which came first, local radio personality Skip Dixxon returned to the drums to play with Agent 99. He also deserves a lot of thanks for putting this show together and lending his name to it. While some wear shirts that say 'Support Your Local Music' Skip really does his share.

I still dig that bottle-green 5-string bass. Casey carrying it is certainly a nice bonus for the eyes too. By the way I did get a gratuitous Kathy shot - she's the other guitarist - but it won't come out on this post and frankly I'm annoyed about it.

Blake Haley and Chuck D returned with their full band, Pirate Radio, to close out the show. They have a few different members and changed the sound a bit on songs I was familiar with from before. I think I liked the change, we'll see where they go with it.

So I rolled home after seeing all 12 bands and made it about quarter to three. About 14 hours later I was off to see more live local music, this time as part of the Salisbury Skatepark fundraiser. There were only 5 bands this time, with the locale being the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center’s Danang Room.

First on tap was a group called Death by Sunday. It's cool that these younger bands occasionally get a venue to work on their stage presence and such, and that's what these guys did.

One thing about this show was that there was a second stage. While the main stage bands were setting up, these guys who dubbed themselves the Sideshow Bobs would play a song or two. Indeed they were the sideshow. There were also giveaways of skater-related merchandise between acts.

Face the Sunshine was probably the heaviest of the four bands. The singer was really getting the crowd into it and soon you had what's in the next picture.

The mosh pit broke out once Face the Sunshine came out, as their singer wanted people to leave a circle for it. The security staff at the Civic Center weren't too overjoyed at the idea though so this scene didn't last too long.

While a lot of people were there to see headliners Amen the Animal I actually liked Buried in Vegas a little better. They have an EP they're releasing later this month.

You can tell the more veteran bands from the rookies because the more established ones come prepared with stuff to sell.

Here was the band everyone came to see, Amen the Animal. They played a pretty good set and there were a few in the crowd right up front who were helping on some of the lyrics. In terms of putting on a show, these guys obviously earned the status of headliners.

Somehow, my ears aren’t still ringing after all that but boy was I tired and sore from a lot of standing. It’s not every weekend I can get a treat like this though so it might be a couple weeks before I have volume number 13. It actually depends where I decide to go for the 4-20 parties as to who you’ll see next in the series.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer. View all posts by Michael

Author: Michael

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