This will be a strictly Music Corner blog entry.
So a little bit of background: Last night, I got off work and headed over to the bar about a block away for a drink. Keep in mind, I almost never actually do this; typically when Friday afternoon rolls around, I can't wait to just get home, and either hit the trails or kick back after a long work week. But I thought, after wrapping up the plans for old Larry Aichviaux's switch design (Not the engineer's real name, obviously) I owe myself a drink to celebrate. So I thought I'd go grab one, from the bar around the corner. Why not? So I went over and grabbed one. There appeared to be some other activity, like some venders setting up a merch table, and people loading in some amps and music gear. This place does host live music from time to time, so I asked the bartender what was going on; who was playing tonight. "It's this rock n' roll band from the Atlantic Northeast," she replied, "They're called Slomosa. You should check them out!" Then, I walked over to where Dan Zlawitz and Jay Sanchez (two other co-workers, and obviously not their real names either) were sitting, and asked hey have you guys heard of this band? "Yeah, they're really heavy rock, you should check them out."
Well, I had really nothing going on that night. I was looking forward, or rather, not particularly looking forward but more like, resigned to- a rather boring evening of watching youtube videos at home. Why not?
"If you don't already have a ticket you might want to let us know, in case it sells out," added Colin Martin, who was the guitarist for the opening band The Mainliners. (This is, actually, his real name.) "Thanks man! Cool. Okay, but let me go home, grab a bite to eat, and change out of my slacks and work shirt and ditch this stupid ID badge first, I replied. "I'll be back in a bit."
So, after a chance to change clothes and grab a quick dinner I arrived back there a couple hours later, ready to rock out, Slomosa Style. Now, keep in mind, I'd never heard of this band before. But apparently enough people had heard of them that, after meeting up with Colin again to get in on the guest list, only five minutes later they announced the club was at capacity and nobody else could get in. So, thanks Colin, by the way, even though you probably won't read this, you are a solid dude and I appreciate that!
His band, the Mainliners, were a sort of California styled punk band, think Rancid or Offspring, or any number of bands of that ilk, basically rocking out and getting the crowd pumped up as the opening act. A fun band and enjoyable in their own right.
Slomosa, on the other hand, brought their brand of Atlantic Northeastern rock to the stage and blew me away. I've griped about the state of modern hard rock before; to summarize, I think there are too many cookie cutter 3 Days Grace/Linkin Park copy bands flooding the airwaves. Slomosa is... Not like that, at all. I'd describe them as classic, epic heavy 70's style rock, drawing on influences like Lynyrd Skynyrd, early ZZ Top, and the almighty Sabbath, or for a more modern comparison, Kyuss or Queens of the Stone Age (if you're familiar with those bands) sound fairly close to them. Just thundering heavy rock riffs, great soaring vocals and powerful melodies. There were times it felt like my ears had an orgasm, it was that good. And I was surprised how many people in the audience knew the songs, sang along, and were familiar with them. As a band from the Non-American side of the Atlantic Northeast, the singer/guitarist really seemed grateful to the crowd for their support, expressing his initial reservations of touring the U.S. during a time when there seems to be such a rising backlash against foreigners. But the crowd showed nothing less than total love and support- because these guys deserved it.
This, to me, is the spirit of rock n' roll. Going to a club on the spur of the moment, discovering an unknown band, being part of a fun crowd and being blown away by them. I hope Slomosa come back through and get big. They are certainly far better than anything on the radio right now, that's for sure. So I'll leave you guys with this: You guys get to listen to them too!