Battle
Of The Bands 2004 @ Sherlocks
Battle
1 - 01.29.04
1.
Burning Horizon
Crunching
guitar and tight rhythms opened up this year’s
edition of the Battle of the Bands. Burning Horizon were
in the difficult position to be the first band and establish
how high the bar should or could go (not how high you
should get at the bar) and they certainly didn’t
fail to deliver. Mixing elements of hardcore (particularly
evident in the vocal delivery), hard rock and metal,
with some interesting feedback breaks Burning Horizon
successfully pulled off a nice opening set for the contest.
Although the crowd seemed smaller than in previous years, many folks
were into this four-piece. They certainly were a sincere bunch, not pandering
to the crowd but more playing, drinking and smoking no different then
they would at a basement party, which gave them a likable quality. That
plus some strong songs give this Erie band a bright future. - photo
by Rick DiBello review by John
Johnston
2.
Waiting For Never
A
metal band from Meadville looking like hipsters with
attitude? I’m thinking, yeah, well they’re
cute in that rock boy sort of way, but can they deliver
the goods, bring da’ pain, break the law…Ummmm
sorry about that; ya’ know, it’s Meadville,
they’re down on the pecking order from Erie…Crawford
County for God’s sake. They got a fair with pigs
and horses and goats that featured Reo Speedwagon a couple
of years ago…
Well apparently these folks are transplants or avoided the fair opting
for REO Speeddealer (not a drug reference…Google them) and learned
the lessons well. These folks raised the roof, taking the completely
different approach than Burning Horizon.
Their set was tight as Jacko’s face around a 10 year old and geared
towards the BOTB format. Lots of "hey drink beer", "we
love Sherlock’s", before smashing your fucking brains with
some insane metal assault…culminating into the climatic, show-stopping
Fuck You Buddy…where they somehow got the crowd to sing, and started
playing and the singer started talking and the next thing you know they
were playing and they hit all the cues. I thought that was cool…and
for those band-folk, well you know, it’s kind of hard to plan something
like that cause it can fall flat really easily. So good job guys…or
Fuck You or whatever metal greeting you’d like, but keep on rocking! - photo
by Rick DiBello review by John
Johnston
3.
Ron Yaroz & The Vehicle
Ron
and his crack band made major waves in last year’s
festival and even if they don’t have the same success
this year, I can guarantee you that there is not a better
bunch of musicians, pure players in the whole competition.
First off, kudos to Ron for a couple of things…
1. Lugging that huge organ out for each gig!
2. Continuing to assemble a crack band of guys that differs from gig
to gig.
Now about the set. Certainly a departure from the ‘eavy stuff played
earlier, but no less rocking. I particularly loved the opening number,
just Ron and his acoustic guitar and some drum loops and synth stuff,
singing…a big, change of pace, but really cutting edge, like the
blues meets Duran Duran or something, or like that R.L Burnside looped
stuff from a couple of years ago (but not near as rough).
Transitioning perfectly into One Ton Bomb (which appeared on the most
excellent PlayErie.com CD) where the musicians seemed to appear out of
nowhere (well I was standing near the back so that’s my story!)
and seamlessly playing through a set of southern rock boogie blues. Some
highlights for me, the awesome distorted raw harmonic playing, Scotty
K.’s amazing slide guitar and the buttery Hammond/leslie sound.
Plus it’s kind of cool and different to see the crowd morph from
a testosterone filled mosh pit to this groove hippy swing thing…still
plenty of energy in the music, but rather than anger and aggression,
there’s heartbreak and misunderstandin’. Know what I mean? - photo
by Rick DiBello review by John
Johnston
The
standings after week 1 of Battle of the Bands are:
1st
Place - Ron
Yarosz
2nd - Waiting For Never
3rd - Burning Horizons
Battle
2 - 02.05.04
Battle
3 - 02.12.04
Battle
4 - 02.19.04
Battle
5 - 02.26.04
Battle
6 - 03.04.04
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