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| GLASS
PACK
Room 710, September 7, 2003
Glass Pack (from Kentucky) took the stage at 710 and somehow
turned a commonly lame Sunday night into the drunken rock
rage of a Friday or Saturday night. Their sound is what I
classify as 'Southern fried rock with a punch" was ever
powerful even though most of their set was instrumental. Usually
I do not posses a wide enough attention span to continually
rock out and slam vodka during a predominantly vocal -free
show, however, Glass Pack proved that to be wrong. I never
on a Sunday am drunk and banging my head to music. Glass Pack's
sound is strangely intoxicating with it's battling mixture
of passion and anger. I hold high respect for music that evokes
such emotions, and especially the ability to do so with out
words.
This is a good band. The musicianship was exemplary and each
band-mate played his instrument to it's full potential meshing
together their sounds into an amazing outcome. From Nugent
and Kyuss- influenced instrumentals, to Sabbath-like darkness
accompanied with screaming vocals Glass Pack had it going
on. Slamming guitars and chunky bass teamed nicely "explicitly
so"
with the phenomenal - drumming. I was personally mesmerized
by the force of this drummer who played with his entire body;
he alone was a show in itself. The full performance was fantastic.
The vocals "when used", were raw and effective spicing
up the mood when necessary. I really enjoyed their sound and
the Easy-rider cross-country vibe it produced. My Sunday was
defiantly made worthwhile and the others at 710 are sure to
agree. You can check them out at Glasspackmusic
@yahoo.com. Look for their new album Bridgeburner
out in late October.
-Erin Muscato |
| REAL
HEROES / BLACK EARTH
Room 710, September 12, 2003
Black Earth has finally returned to the Austin scene inviting
the entire city to bask in the sonic glory of their sacred
union. Rock on Austin to Black Earth's immaculately talented
members whose sound reverberates throughout Red River. Ving
Ra's vocals holds a supreme style that's unmatchable and long
been admired in the music scene. These southern California
guys came in pimped out and ready to pump 710 full of their
sound. Their talent blared through each and every speaker
capturing the full attention of all of the 710 patrons with
richly woven pattern changes and mind-blowing fullness. The
tight low end exuded excruciating smoothness. The drummer
expressed the solidity and brutality all drummers strive to
achieve. In your
face guitar riffs and enigmatic solos completed the sound
perfectly. These styling guys rocked the house. The bar was
packed and everyone was into the groove. Black Earth is definitely
up and coming, mark my words. With a motto like "we're
here to dampen all the lovely ladies panties" how could
you deny them?
Real Heroes brought me back to when rock and roll was rock
and roll. Their sound emanated excellent influences like The
Rolling Stones, Talking Heads and Beck. These guys are definitely
a well-put together band with quite a following. 710 remained
packed and many on the bar side migrated to the
music side to check out the band. This band sounds great and
their stage presence was equally so. The singer crooned and
sang his fabulously coordinated heart out. His dancing ability
was astounding, I mean this guy shook his ass like Mick Jagger
and broke it down like James Brown.
I was severely impressed by both sound and stage erformance
of Real Heroes. With heavy funky bass lines and bluesy pop
rock riffs, real Heroes pulled out all the stops. Fluid drumming
and well-controlled bottom end is what makes this band superb.
The grooving yet progressive sound had many fans dancing along.
Their song styles ranged from slow and edgy to smoothly rocking
with blues undertones. I enjoyed this show immensely and they
wrapped it all up by covering "Hot Legs" by Rod
Stewart. Great shit in my book. Everyone in attendance thoroughly
enjoyed themselves and I suspect that they'll be back for
more.
-Erin Muscato
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CHARTER
BULLDOGS
Room 710, September 12, 2003
Charter Bulldogs are a band that let you know right from the
start that they're a rock and roll band, and they're not here
to fuck around. The singer has a really great rock voice and
is not afraid to belt it out like you were at the local arena
seeing a show in the 70's. The guitar and vocals in this band
reminded
me of the band Tight Brothers from Way Back (for those of
you that remember them.) There is a heavy Southern Rock influence
prevalent that is a plus for any band as far as I'm concerned,
but they don't rely on it to make their sound. I don't think
they could be classified as Southern Rock, but can
definitely hold their own in this genre.
Even though this has nothing to do with the band, one of the
things I remember is that there was a guy making out with
his dog over by the pool table. The sad thing was that the
dog was not even that cute to be deserving of so much attention.
I don't know if the dog was enjoying it, but the guy certainly
was. Hey man, if you're reading this: you made me want to
puke. Plus, I think your girlfriend was jealous. The best
part of the show was when they covered Ted Nugent's song 'Storm
Trooping' which everyone recognized, but didn't know the title
of. I saw this band once before at Emo's and loved every minute
of it. This night at 710, they were almost headlining and
someday soon these guys will be the main act. They blow doors
on every band they have played with, and deserve top billing.
-Corri Mava
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SQUAT
THRUST
Room 710, September 19, 2003
Why did I take this assignment? Am I a fool? A Madman? A compulsive
drooler, or even worse, a Squat Thrust fan? You bet your sweet
Jehovah I am goddammit! Truth be known, we drew straws and
I got the short one, again. Nobody had the balls (or teets)
to sacrifice an evening of Squat Thrust's
musical tyranny. Well fuck that, "I aint't scared of
no hurricane and am not boarding up my windows and I am especially
not afraid of a vomiting pencil neck geek, some Jesus looking
motherfucker with a fart cloud tattooed above his anus and
a fat guy wearing paisties. Yeah! dammit I said it, and now
I'm gonna go for one more spoiler and reveal Squat Thrust's
secret ingredient, Retardation. I mean you'd have to be retarded
to stay together for almost seventeen years and be on drummer
number twenty five plus one, minus one. This band also used
to play inside a plastic bubble and are the morons who put
on Loser Fest. Yeah they're morons, but they're rockin' morons.
It
has been almost four years since I've been to a Squat Thrust
show and I have to say since then, they've only written two
new songs, or was it one and a half. Wade didn't wear his
paistes this time, which is fine by me because I'm more of
a propeller man myself.
The
set was pretty dead on and rockin' and everybody seemed to
have a great time. It's great seeing them play live too 'cause
you never know what tricks they might have up their sleeves.
I saw these guys bring a tub of lard onstage years ago and
throw it on each other and at the audience. I hoped and I
prayed for some of this kinda drunken buffoonery but all I
got was just lousy retard jokes and a fifty minute set of
kick ass rock n' roll. The drunken crowd of unusual suspects
all got pretty riled up during some of their anthem-like rock
n roll stylings (it's almost impossible not to sing along
to some of these tunes). They even churned out some arena
rock style audience articipation. The showmanship that Jimmy
Bradshaw can dish out never ceases to amaze me. All in all,
I give this show the finger along with a hell yeah and a you
must me be this tall to blow me before I'll let you ride this
ride again. Yes this is the bohemian queefin stinkfest known
as the almighty Squat Thrust.
-Slander Bob
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