Don't you hate it when the big local rock station holds their huge Chili Cook-Off on the same day that you are coming to town to play a concert? Well, even though the crowd was dissipated, those who showed up had a killer time.

Upon arrival I went into the bar and took a seat to chill before Seemless came on. I ended up talking to a dude for about 1/2 an hour and when the local opener ended their set the dude said, "We're on! I gotta split!". I had no idea it was the drummer from Seemless. The band was also about to give me a surprise as well...

Seemless is comprised of four dudes. One of which is the ex-drummer from Shadows Fall and the singer is the ex-vocalist of Killswitch Engage. Little did I know that the music performed by Seemless was NOTHING like either of those two bands. Seemless turned out to be a band in the vain of C.O.C., Down, and Clutch. Boy was I surprised! The band looked like a band of blue-collar guys. The bass player slung his bass way-low and thumped it in a pair of workboots and a truckers hat. The singer sported porkchop sideburns and a downtrodden look. The guitarist was playing a kick-ass custom B.C. Rich Mockingbird, and the drummer was laid back with inscence burning around him. They laid on a thick helping of metal style blues which was incredibly tasty. The singer sang with his soul and the guitarist played the same way. The guitarist even had a song in which he ripped out a solo with a glass slide. The drummer was a master with his cymbals and spit out heavy, solid beats. The bass player was the headbanger of the crew and was the most animated of the bunch, with the exception of the times when the vocalist felt the need to groove out. The best part of the gig was these two dudes at the front of the stage who went completely out of their minds. They were freaking out so much that the singer felt it necessary to spend a whole song with them and let them sing along. I wasn't expecting anything special from this band to tell you the truth, but they dropped the collective club-goers jaws. I rate em 10 out of 10. I hope they catch on out in the metal world, 'cause they got the job done.

The headliner for the night was Soil. They were a very crowd friendly group. When a band member would see a camera pointed at them, they would strike a pose, which made it fun for me to shoot photos. The singer would also screw with the people too. He would lean on em, bonk 'em on the head, fist bang em, and other silly shit like that. He was really having a good time. His signature move was to creep up on the mic as if to comfort it before he sang. I found it odd that he seemed to lack vocal power though. He sounded strained and would occasionally go out of tune. More on that later... Four of the five guys had the looks that would draw chicks to the shows and then they had a little guitarist guy who was the clown of the bunch. His head was face to face with the crowd when he stood on the two foot tall stage, but he was as confident as the rest of the band. He was actually the most agile of the guys. The other guitarist was the "rocker" of the bunch and looked like he would have done well in the 80's. The bass player was a super-tall fucker, playing a kick-ass Thunderbird, which he whipped around in the air like a sword. The drummer kinda just chilled in the back and didn't stand out, but considering how large and awesome looking his set was, that was fine with me. Of all the shows I have been to lately, this was the one which had the most drunk people I have seen in a while. There were these people from Baltimore who were leading the drunkfest. They kept yelling, "Baltimore is in the house!". After about the tenth time the singer started getting annoyed and dared the leader of the drunkards to punch his fist. The drunk guy did. "Cmon, do it hard!", said the vocalist. Whack, Whack, Whack went the drunk guy... The singer finally said, "You are too drunk son." and laughed at him. Funny thing about all that is that the drunk guy waited around after the show and bought everyone in the place round, after round, after round of Jagerbombs. His tab had to be fucked when it was all over. Another funny event that happened during Soil was that the drummer from Seemless was throwing paper airplanes from the merch stand about eighty feet away from the stage. They were actually going all the way to the stage and over the speaker stacks. You could see the people at the back rolling with laughter. As far as the singer sounding weak, heres the story on that. After the show I was chillin' with the merch chick and asked why the singer hadn't come out to party. She told me that he was already asleep on the bus and that he had been sick for days. So there was my answer about the vocals! Anyway, I score Soil as a 7 out of 10. They were fun but didn't stand out too far above lots of other nu-metal bands.

In my next report I hope to give you the scoop on the hed(PE) show TONIGHT! Stay tuned.

Go to the BGR gallery (CLICK HERE) and check out my pics from last night's the show.

BE SURE to check out our friends at JAXX NIGHTCLUB! www.jaxxroxx.com

If you would like to attend a Jaxx show please let me know. I might be able to drag you along with me.

Comments Questions or Concerns? Hit me up! berube@braingell.com

And oh yeah...

Peace and Metal Grease!

berube