Jim Price
Moderator
Joined: 07 Dec 2002
Posts: 4817
Location: Altoona, PA
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 Posted: Wednesday Mar 10, 2004 |
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WEEKEND RECAP 2/2/04
ROCKPAGE BENEFIT JAM @ PETER C’S, ALTOONA 1/29/04
If you haven’t already read them…
http://www.rockpage.nearhoof.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=2375&sid=503b5fe700e96cec12e670d46495b726
http://www.rockpage.nearhoof.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=2678&sid=eb628b12d6242652e61c4255b2d9f72d
OUT OF NOWHERE/HAIR FORCE ONE @ PETER C’S, ALTOONA 1/30/04
First off, my apologies to the band Roadkill. I had fully intended on catching Roadkill’s show this night at the Victory Lane Saloon in Altoona, and had planned on catching it most of the week. However, I learned late in the week that the band Out Of Nowhere – featuring bassist Bob Lowe, a musician friend I hadn’t touched base with in a while – was opening for Hair Force One at Peter C’s. I adjusted my game plan, with the intention of catching Out Of Nowhere’s set and part of Hair Force One’s show at Peter C’s, and then swinging over to Victory Lane at around midnight to catch the latter part of Roadkill’s show. This plan looked do-able, but went awry when free brews kept arriving in my hands at Peter C’s courtesy of friends and those darn Hair Force One fans! Bottom line, I never escaped the evil clutches of Hair Force One or Peter C’s this night, and after the excellent party that ensued, I can’t say that I regret it!
Out Of Nowhere was under way as I arrived at Peter C’s, and a good-sized crowd was already present. Singer Mike Yosko, guitarist Sean Padelsky, bassist Bob Lowe and drummer Russ Earnest were firing off a version of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” Then, one of several highlights of their set, as Hair Force One frontman Victor Synn joined the group onstage to sing lead on Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper.” The band’s execution was crisp, and Victor nailed the Bruce vox dead on! Out Of Nowhere then continued with Alice In Chains’ “Man In The Box,” before Peter C’s witnessed Mike’s voice range credentials on Skid Row’s “18 and Life.” Then it was guitarist Sean’s turn to shine, as he executed a stunning version of Edward’s “Eruption,” which triggered Out Of Nowhere’s take on “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love.” The group entered the homestretch of their set, finishing with Metallica’s “Fade to Black” and Quiet Riot’s “Metal Health,” which prompted the night’s first dance floor action.
Out Of Nowhere was clearly a hit with the Peter C’s/Hair Force One crowd; enough so that many folks yelled for an encore. Out Of Nowhere graciously thanked the audience, but passed on doing the encore to allow Hair Force One enough time to set up and get both of their sets in.
This group demonstrated they had all the ingredients – solid, high-ranging lead vocalist; precise, razor-sharp guitarist; and strong and steady rhythm section. I enjoyed their setlist as well, as Out Of Nowhere peppered their predominant 70’s/80’s metal mix with the occasional 90’s or newer number, and also veered in darker and heavier side journeys. Out Of Nowhere connected with this crowd, and hopefully will be back up this way soon.
After a relatively short changeover and intermission, Hair Force One jumpstarted the party, exploding out the opening gates with Guns’n’Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle.” The Peter C’s crowd was quickly into it, with the dance floor getting busy. The group shifted directly into Slade/Quiet Riot’s “Cum On Feel the Noize,” complete with back-of-room audience gang-shout accompaniment. The party continued to escalate with Motley Crue’s “Girls Girls Girls,” Poison’s “Nothin’ But A Good Time” and Guns’n’Roses’ “Sweet Child O’Mine.” Hair Force One slowed the tempo to accommodate the slow dancers on Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.” The party quickly jumped back to speed with Poison’s “Talk Dirty To Me” and Ugly Kid Joe’s “Everything About You” to end the set.
As I watched Hair Force One during this first set, I gained some new perspective on this band’s appeal, and what they bring to the table. The perspective struck me during “Cum On Feel the Noize.” I saw the band, with their glam-styled big hair attire, particularly Victor Synn, decked out in white jacket, shiny black pants and black top hat. I also saw the rowdy fans in the back of the room, shouting along the choruses to the song, gang-shout style, and headbanging in unison with the beat. For me, this scene didn’t resemble the 80’s Quiet Riot version of “Cum On Feel The Noize” – but the mood and atmosphere of the original 70’s Slade version. It reminded me of a scene from one of Slade’s appearances from Twiggy’s Jukebox, a syndicated Brit TV show that aired in the late 70’s on late night television. Victor Synn with his tophat looked more like Slade frontman Noddy Holder, and the rowdy fans in the back of the room were like the ‘punters’ who headbanged at stagefront during that Slade performance. It then dawned on me that not only was Hair Force One capturing the decadence of 80’s rock, but also the spirit of 70’s glam rock, which inspired much of the big-hair 80’s! Hair Force One wasn’t capturing just the look of this era, but also the rowdiness and good-time spirit as well.
Hair Force One’s nightcap set kicked off with Skid Row’s “I Remember You,” with Victor Synn flexing his pipes and range. New keyboardist addition Peter Stiffens had been relatively quiet up to this point, serving more as onstage cheerleader, without his keyboard presence being felt on the guitar-driven material performed thus far. That would change on the next two songs. Peter’s keys made their presence quite prominently on Hair Force One’s versions of Van Halen’s “Jump” and Europe’s “The Final Countdown.” The group continued with Great White/Ian Hunter’s “Once Bitten Twice Shy.” Returning the favor of Victor Synn’s guest appearance during Out Of Nowhere’s set, Out Of Nowhere frontman Mike Yosko was invited onstage to front Hair Force One on Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name.” With female audience members now dancing alongside the band onstage, Hair Force One rocked this party home with Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train;” and by audience demand, encored with AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.”
Hair Force One indeed brought the party this night, in the process recreating the “Decade of Decadence,” complete with some female nudity! The group maintained a steady, uptempo pace that kept fans headbanging and Peter C’s dance floor busy. Jimi Hatt again fired off crisp, precise guitar leads, and Peter Stiffens’ keyboards added a new dimension to the group’s sound.
Most of all, it was a party; the atmosphere was continuously charged, the vibe was happy and positive, and both bands and the crowd combined to make it a memorable night of rocking fun.
Out Of Nowhere, kicking off the evening at Peter C’s.
Mike Yosko of Out Of Nowhere.
Bob Lowe of Out Of Nowhere.
Sean Padelsky of Out Of Nowhere.
Hair Force One picks up the party and runs with it.
Headbanging fun abounds with Hair Force One.
Victor Synn of Hair Force One.
Michael J. Cox of Hair Force One enjoys a little onstage company.
Hair Force One keeps the crowd happy.
Out Of Nowhere frontman Mike Yosko takes over lead mic for a song.
Hair Force One and more happy fans.
Hugh G. Rection of Hair Force One.
Michael J. Cox continues to enjoy his onstage company.
And Iva Biggin enjoys some company of his own.
NUM/SUICIDE SWITCH/ELYSION FIELDS @ PETER C’S, ALTOONA 1/31/04
I went for the Peter C’s hat trick this night, taking in the heavy-rocking triple band bill of Num, Suicide Switch and Elysion Fields.
Although I had hoped Peter C’s would have a large crowd three nights in a row, only a light crowd of metal enthusiasts was on hand as I arrived. Num was in the midst of their set; and I was curious to witness how this metallic Harrisburg foursome had progressed since their last visit. Playing an all-original set, singer Randy Hykes, guitarist Shawn Smith, bassist Jim Smith and drummer Paul Cochran Jr. introduced the song “Disconnect,” showing one of several new twists on Num’s sound we would hear this night. This song took on a more aggressive flavor, and Randy’s voice exuded several psychotic personas, resulting in a theatric brand of metal suggestive of Mushroomhead. The group then introduced an aggressive stomp called “Dead,” and continued with another new tune, “Child of Burden.” The next song, “The One,” took on a darker flavor with a full-out heavy chorus. This was followed by “DDM” and another new song, the midtempo “Breakaway.” Num then tapped two songs from their debut EP, Neglect; “Broke Down God” and the title song “Neglect.” The group then concluded their set with an audience request, doing their popular aggressive original, “Shocker.”
Num demonstrated some interesting new twists and turns during this set, taking their sound into eerier and darker places. The new songs showed more mood swings than the straight-ahead, basic power-metal flavor of their earlier material on Neglect. Singer Randy explored different terrain and personalities with his voice, resulting in an often unpredictable, less stable, and ultimately more intriguing persona. With more chord and tempo changes and unexpected side journeys into the dark cracks and crevices, Num showed Peter C’s that they are evolving into a more dangerous band. And that’s not a bad thing.
After a brief changeover intermission, it was soon Suicide Switch’s turn. Ready to ream Peter C’s out with the aural equivalent of a pound of Dave’s Insanity Sauce-flavored Ex-Lax, this fivesome immediately powered it up to maximum overdrive, wasting no time launching their brand of full-throttled metalcore. Frontman Cheeze was quickly bristling, with veins threatening to erupt out of his head as he poured all-out intensity into his full-vent snarl. Guitarists Tom Noel and Shawn Barr levied jagged chainsaw chords atop the torrid bass lines of Dan Mort and machine-gun drum thunder of Jay Mosey. Suicide Switch’s assault was punishing and nonstop through such barrages as “Say Goodbye,” “Bitch,” “Truth,” an untitled new tantrum (jokingly entitled “New S**t” by Cheeze), their popular tension-and-release closer “In The Wake” and more. Although by no means packed, a number of Peter C’s audience members gravitated towards stagefront to take the full frontal impact of Suicide Switch’s attack. Suicide Switch’s scorched-earth set burned the oxides off the eardrums inside Peter C’s, nicely setting things up for the third band of the night, Elysion Fields.
I was very impressed with my first look at Elysion Fields last year, and was eager to witness this Lancaster-based metal force again. The group changed guitarists since the last time I had seen them, with former Bullet axe Jason Bullet replacing Kile Ulmer. Craig A. Hickle remains the group’s bassist and caustic-voiced frontman, while Paul Stuckey mans the drum kit.
Elysion Fields proceeded to scald the remaining oxides off Peter C’s innards with their savage brand of apocalyptic thrashcore. If you can imagine Kill ‘Em All-era Metallica becoming even more raw, savage, sinister and intense; you’d have a general picture of the style of vicious ferocity Elysion Fields brought to the table this night. This trio blazed off a set of torrid original songs, including older and newer material. The group unveiled new assaults such as “In Vain” and “Darkness Prevails;” tracks from their 3-song EP Plan for Pain Control such as “Sucking Me Dry” and “Flirting with Morphine;” other original onslaughts such as “Blood Rank” and “Dungeon” (Craig’s bass sound on this one was one of the rawest I’ve heard!); and to end their set, the night’s only cover tune, a torrid rendition of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk The Line.” Elysion Fields’ presentation was over-the-top and merciless, and Craig’s performance was terse and scathing. New guitarist Jason Bullet fit into the Elysion Fields setting well; but referenced his previous band, Bullet, once – during the song “Revolution,” when he described the tune as being about “how f**ked up the world is” – a phrase Bullet frequently used to describe their songs.
All three bands represented well this night, and gave the small Peter C’s audience three unique and distinct flavors of metal savagery. It was too bad more fans and the local metal community didn’t show more support and attendance this night. However, all three bands will return to Peter C’s soon. So if you like your metal heavy and extreme, watch for their return and be sure to check them out.
Randy Hykes of Num.
Num kicks off the evening’s metal onslaught at Peter C’s.
Suicide Switch steps up the intensity.
Dan Mort of Suicide Switch.
Cheeze of Suicide Switch.
Jay Mosey of Suicide Switch.
Again, Cheeze of Suicide Switch.
Dan Mort and Cheeze of Suicide Switch.
Shawn Barr of Suicide Switch.
Paul Stuckey of Elysion Fields.
Craig A. Hickle of Elysion Fields.
Again, Paul Stuckey of Elysion Fields.
Jason Bullet of Elysion Fields.
Elysion Fields lays down the apocalypse at Peter C’s.
Once again, Jason Bullet of Elysion Fields.
BANDITOS @ THE HITCHING POST, ALTOONA 2/1/04
Super Bowl Sunday. Patriots. Panthers. No Steelers. Janet and Justin. Funny commercials.
Since the Steelers’ season had ended long ago, I really didn’t care who won the Super Bowl. I just wanted to see a good game. And the commercials. And indulge at least one Super Bowl party. With the latter in mind, I took in the game at Peter C’s, who hosted a small and quaint Super Bowl viewing party for their regular customers and friends. Good game. Good commercials – my favorites were the Bud Light horse flatulence commercial and the Pepsi Jimi Hendrix commercial. (Those AOL supercharged search engine commercials were good, too.) And for the record – for all the hoopla and controversy caused by the Justin and Janet shenanigans during the halftime show – I actually missed it the first time around. I was watching the halftime but not paying close attention to it, so I missed the breast-baring incident and was unaware of it until it was all over the news headlines the next day. Hopefully it was the nail in the coffin of what has become an increasingly overblown and irritating cavalcade of lip-synching pop stars posing as a halftime show every year. Good riddance. Bring back the marching bands.
After the game, my ‘game’ plan was to motor over to Pellegrine’s for the post-Super Bowl party with the Poptart Monkeys. But upon arriving at Pelly’s, I was informed that the Poptarts had cancelled the show because their van broke down outside of State College. Pellegrine’s brought in their Tuesday night deejay to provide the entertainment instead. And out the door I went!
I knew that Felix & the Hurricanes played at the Hitching Post every Sunday night. But lead Hurricane Felix Kos was still vacationing in Jamaica, so the Hurricanes wouldn’t be there this week. But I then remembered hearing that Banditos would be filling in for the ‘Canes during Felix’ absence, so I headed to the ‘Post for some weekend-ending Bandito-ing…
The mood at The Hitching Post was festive as I arrived, for several reasons. First, Hitching Post main man Butch and his kitchen staff had a complimentary Super Bowl food spread set out, and a lot of food was still hot and available for the post-game party. In addition, Banditos singer and guitarist Wally Archer is a native of Maine, so his favorite NFL team is the team that took all the marbles in the big game earlier in the evening, the New England Patriots.
Banditos were midway through their opening set as I arrived, and were proceeding through a version of the Eagles’ “Hotel California.” Bassman Bill Nusom fronted the group on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “I Know A Little;” and strumming his acoustic, Wally then led the group on John Mellencamp’s “Pink Houses” and the Bon Jovi double-shot of “Living On a Prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive” to close the set.
A few more patrons proceeded to arrive during the intermission, including a few Pellegrine’s Sunday regulars who – like me – weren’t into ending their weekend with a deejay. At least a few people were sampling the Hitching Post food spread of meatball sandwiches and chili.
Soon Banditos resumed the musical action, starting their second set with Buckcherry’s “Lit Up.” The group mixed current and classic rock favorites, doing songs from Styx, Stone Temple Pilots, Nickelback, Creed, Puddle Of Mudd, Godsmack and more. The group honored an audience request for Hootie & the Blowfish’s “Let Her Cry,” before ending their second set with Wilson Pickett’s ever-popular “Mustang Sally.”
The atmosphere stayed friendly and upbeat as the group reached the second intermission. Fans and band members talked about the football game (although nobody I heard or spoke with mentioned anything about halftime female frontal nudity) and continued to sample the food spread. It was a laid-back evening of good friends and good rock’n’roll.
Banditos’ third set kicked off in an acoustic vein, as Wally sang and strummed out the 1974 Sammy Johns chestnut “Chevy Van.” The group then stepped up the tempo with Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music” and Black Crowes’ “Hard to Handle.” At this point, a few fans and Hitching Post bar staff could be seen dancing and grooving along. The party continued with favorites from Violent Femmes, Steppenwolf, ZZ Top, Weezer, and Neil Young’s “Rocking in the Free World;” before Banditos brought the set to a close with Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.” The Hitching Post wasn’t yet ready to call it a night, though – and promptly demanded two encores out of Banditos; “Whiskey in the Jar” and the group’s theme song, the Refreshments’ “Banditos.”
Having eaten well earlier at the Peter C’s Super Bowl gathering, I held off partaking in the Hitching Post food spread cuisine until the end of the night, when Hitching Post main man Butch finally persuaded me to do a bowl of the chili. After Banditos kicked my butt with some quality meat-and-potatoes rock’n’roll, Butch’s chili sealed the deal with an edible butt-kicking…DAMN good chili!
It wasn’t the ending to the Super Bowl weekend I had originally anticipated; but Banditos and the Hitching Post combined to make the conclusion of my Super Bowl 2004 experience a memorable one.
Darrell Ruzzi of Banditos.
Wally Archer and Billy Nusom of Banditos.
Banditos, providing post-Super Bowl rock’n’roll at The Hitching Post.
Hitching Post resident wildman Dennis has his hands full with Michelle, while his better half, Kelli, looks on.
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