Showing posts with label Stoner Rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stoner Rock. Show all posts

3.23.2015

GO WEST: BONEHAWK & BLUE SNAGGLETOOTH

BoneHawk

Saturday night I drove out to Kalamazoo to check out the BoneHawk show, featuring Ann Arbor Rockers Blue Snaggletooth.  They played an incredible show at Bell's Eccentric CafĂ©!

Evil Deauxerz
I won’t lie, I made the drive for BoneHawk, and left a fan of the female fronted Evil Deauxerz.
I was not expecting to see a hard-edged melodic punk band open for a these fuzzy fellas, but the Evil Deauxerz more than held their own.  

Singer/bassist Janel Evil has a deep, sexy voice steeped in the tradition of Nina Simone. No big surprise to learn that her influences include L7, Seven Year Bitch, Mike Hard, just to name a few.  The band kicked through their set pretty quickly, I loved their song "Runnin'" best.  I hope to see them out in SE Michigan more; they’d be a great fit with Detroit’s Circus Boy.

Blue Snaggletooth

Next up was Blue Snaggletooth from Ann Arbor.  These guys always put on a great show.  They have stacks of gear and a solid, linear wall of sound.  Singer/guitarist Chris Taylor has a great vocal range from the melodic “Sleeping Mountain” to the wild ride “Transmutation.”  

Taylor and lead guitarist Casey O’Ryan have superb chemistry and keep the show alive with flying guitars and down-on-your-knees grooves. They ended the set with two songs from their first album Dimension Thule, “Star Flight” and “Fireball Island.”  It was nice to see the crowd sing along with the rock anthem “Star Flight,” as these guys are out of town and a lot of the kids knew that tune word for word.

BoneHawk

By the time BoneHawk hit the stage, the cafe seemed to be at capacity. I have been listening to their record for some time and checking out their videos online (Tonight We Ride), but this was my first time seeing BoneHawk live. Too many times bands put out a great record but just can't seem to deliver live. 

Not in this case, these fellas are absolute SLAYERS on stage. Guitarist Chad Houts and Singer/Guitarist Matt Helt are tight dueling guitarists, throwing down simple heavy riffs with great hooks.  It comes as no surprise that they've been playing together for well over two decades. Bassist Chris Voss offers a deep tone and has great stage presence while Jay Rylander holds it all down like a sacred anchor in the storm.  He is an excellent drummer, and kicks down some wicked backing vocals.  

BoneHawk
The crowd was way into these guys. It was an absolute thrill to see the ladies rule the first few rows in the front, as there was little to no sign of the XL dudes that generally saturate the genre.  I was trying to get a decent photo of Hout's impressive pedal board, but the hyper territorial cutie pies would not let me near him.

I had to slide a bit on stage in front of Helt in order to get a shot of Chad working his magic. At one point, I leaned over to touch one of his pedals (what can I say, I've got a thing for pedal boards) and Houts as my witness, I thought I was going to get torn limb from limb by the insatiable mob of Maenads at his feet - and hey man, that's alright! These ladies were fucking MAD for BoneHawk! Check out their Official Video “Hot Mary.”
BoneHawk

BoneHawk and Blue Snaggletooth were recently picked up by west coast Stoner Rock label Ripple Music, and plan to put out a split LP later this year. Thanks to the Internet, the world is flat. Both bands have quite a global reach, sending records to nearly every continent. Snaggletooth alone has been keeping a steady pace in Europe, with vinyl going out on a weekly basis. It's going to be really cool to watch both bands over the next 12 months. They complement one another in terms of sound and songwriting.

Author: Theresa Kiefer
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