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Live from Cincinnati, it's...a page of local show reviews |
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| Close the Door CD Release Party at Bogarts - 5.18.01
Reviewed by jeans Going into the night I had not heard any of the four bands perform or heard any of their music at all. Two pleasantly surprised me, one blew me away, and one just blew. The line-up was He's Down, Dead Inside, 8C8, and the band of the night, Close the Door. Getting there on time in order to give each band a chance to win me over, I noticed the fact that not many people were there. This is another topic entirely, one that will be covered in the future I'm sure, but what is up with attendance at local shows? Surely not the number of people. When you've got a local line-up such as this one, you had better make an effort to get the hell out there, give a few bucks, and support these people! And we're not just talking the headliners. I'm talking get there, see some new band that you haven't heard of, not just your friend's/cousin's band, and make the world go round. Soap box away... He's Down kicked off the night's festivities. Overall, this band was pretty decent. The music was not too terribly original, but it definitely showed some genuine musical talent on their part. Vocals sounded very alt-rockish with a bit of a punk influence and the music was alt-rock all the way. Aside from the vocals being a bit whiney, and that's just a personal distaste of mine, He's Down performed an enjoyable set. With a little bit of fine tuning this band should be headlining shows at a venue near you. Next was Dead Inside. Remember how I said one of the bands just blew? This would be that band. Now before I totally turn you off to these guys, let me just say that they did have some redeeming qualities...which I'll touch on later, but for now I have to get out some thoughts about their vocalist. The vocals did have their moments of tolerable hard-rock edginess, but for the most part they went from screamingly horrible to just plain painful. I assume some people dig that kind of stuff, but not me. I guess the vocals do go with the band's name...though I wouldn't say he sounded dead inside, he just sounded like he was dying. The complimentary part comes next... the music was good with hard-hitting beats and guitar work. Had the crowd been livelier and well, had there been a crowd, I would think that this music would have been perfect for a nice pit. Kudos to the drummer for quick, sharp work. He kept the music pumping at a swift pace. Overall a good metal-punk hybrid. Would have been a lot better with less full-out guttural screaming. 8C8 was up next. This had to be my favorite band on the line-up that night. First off, the vocals were great. Some scattered moments of soft alt-rock crooning but mostly an array of angry, throaty, metal rage set to different tempos and keys. Not to mention that their front man seemed very comfortable talking to the crowd (which at this point had grown into a decent sized group that 8C8 actually enthralled enough to get some people to gyrate at the base of the stage) and kept the breaks in between songs from being dead air. The music alternately changed from alt-rock with biting guitar work to heavy rock with a raging edge. They changed up the tempo a few times during the set and performed a nice overall mix of song stylings. One song in particular had a very powerful metal influence to it. Very nice stuff. Highly recommend you check out their live show. You won't be disappointed. Finally, the band of the night, Close the Door, rounded out the show with a great set. Despite my first impression of them (which was based on the appearance of only three men on stage) CTD produced quite a full sound, showing that each one of them works quite hard in the performance of the music. There were moments where the guitar work was simple, but that quickly led into sections of frenzied jamming. Admirable drumming and some talented bass work got the crowd worked up and instigated a momentary pit. Backing vocals (done by the bassist) were good, strong screams that added some edgy depth to the otherwise straightforward guitar rock. Overall they had good stage presence and put on a very entertaining show. I recommend you check them out some time. This show was definitely worth the measly 6 dollars I paid for admission. I recommend this to everyone who's reading this, all two of you (hi mom and dad): Go out some random Friday night and pop into a club where a local act is playing and check out a new line-up. So what if you catch a dud or two; the few diamonds in the rough that you'll find are well worth the effort. Overall rating:  
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