Matthew Smith from Vexel, Remedy X, Love In War and Sunshine & Bullets
Typical Friday night…right!!?? WRONG!!! It was a completely OFF THE CHAIN Friday night!!
What do you get when you put Matthew Smith from Vexel, Remedy X, Love In War and Sunshine and Bullets together for an all out melt your face off rocking night? Then add a pinch of Nine Mile Drive in the house announcing the addition of their new drummer Paul Gaeta previously from Before The Fire? You get an incredible recipe full of great friends, great times, the biggest most awesome local musicians, tasty cocktails and a very happy venue owner with a packed house! Normally I review each band singly but for this review I think it was one of the biggest “Family Of Musicians Party” you could possibly have so I’m going to tell you all about the events surrounding the night of August 22nd, 2014.
First off I took the day off of my regular day job to prepare for the nights festivities, which included the birthdays of three prominent guys in our Local Music Scene. Aaron Eichbauer from One Love Music, Todd Snow from Live Rock In The Cape and Matthew Smith from the band Vexel. All were very appreciative of my efforts and if not for the help of my good friend Jenna…the decorations would have been a complete disaster! We went all out for this “Star-Studded Event” as I had so eloquently put it on Facebook and the night just flowed perfectly.
The night started out with an outstanding acoustic set from Matthew Smith leading right into a powerful performance by Remedy X. Remedy X was called in at the last of minutes and came through like champs for us and put on one of the most amazing shows I’ve seen from them. Josh, Patrick and Sean were displaying the most intense energy I have seen from this band in recent shows. They are one of my all time favorites not just because they are incredible musicians with all the right chemistry, but off-stage they bring that chemistry to the crowd when they are just hanging out. They are 3 of the most respectful guys you ever want to meet.
After Remedy X I took the stage to invite Nine Mile drive up to make a special announcement. Their Lead Vocalist and Front man “JC” took control of the mic and proceeded to apologize for the abrupt cancellation of their band playing this show. Without further adieu he also announced the fact that NMD was to be taking a break from live shows until October 3rd to bring their new drummer up to speed. With all this excitement Paul Gaeta, previously from Before The Fire came up on stage and stood proudly with his new band members in Nine Mile Drive. The crowd was shocked at the same time everyone in the room knew this was the perfect fit and what is needed to take NMD to the next level of showmanship and sound. Congratulations were in order as Mr. Gaeta along with his new “Band Family” descended the stage with ear-to-ear smiles that lit up Rack’ems like a ballroom!
Next… enter stage right… Kate Flanigan and her Love In War guys. Not enough can be said for this band. With the soulful and sultriness of Kate’s vocals paired with 3 of the most talented musicians backing her up leads to the perfect combination of poise, stage presence, composition and melody. You can’t help but be completely lost in the perfection of Love In War. They have every element nailed down to the point that when they take the stage you are propelled to a new dimension of musical awareness. With songs like Your Gravity, Stray Bullets, It All Means Nothing and many more the electronic rock sound that Love In War produces just makes you want to bang your head and dance uncontrollably at the same time. Love In War always gets 5 stars from The SoundCheck…They never fail to impress.
Another surprise announcement was made next as Stevon Gardner announced his retirement from local promotions of our music scene. The honor was handed down to Aaron Eichbauer of One Love Music to continue the empire of promoting that Stevon spent years building. With the award of a drum cymbal signed by all of us, the demanding task of this coveted position is now Aaron’s. This could not have been a more perfect decision and fit for the legacy of local promotions to continue. The SoundCheck wishes Aaron all the best and congratulations in fulfilling this position.
To close out the night with a hard hitting set it was St. Petersburg favorites (and ours as well), Sunshine & Bullets. I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again. The sound that Rich Keane can produce from his axe is always a crowd pleaser and is one of the most exquisite displays of stage persona I’ve seen. It’s always exciting to watch this band play. With the lovely Amanda Hammers on 7-string rhythm guitar and Sam brown on bass just fills this band out perfectly. Kyle Wolfram always nails it to perfection on drums with perfect technique and meter. There’s never a dull moment with Sunshine & Bullets as they called “JC” and Josh Ballor up from Nine Mile Drive as well as Stevon Gardner from Sinister Guitar Picks for an off the chain rendition of their song Feel Good. Another 5 star band from The SoundCheck…Sunshine & Bullets simply rocked!!
So in closing this edition of “The Weekend In Rock” I would like to say that this was one of the most awesome shows. With a consistently packed house at Rack’ems and our online viewers topping out at 746 it was definitely a night to remember. There was a slight hic-cup in our online transmission towards the end of the show and The SoundCheck sincerely apologizes for the technical difficulties. But you can be rest assured that The SoundCheck is in full swing more now than ever and we will be back at Rack’ems this Friday night rocking it out with two great touring bands…Stitched Up Heart and City Of The Weak with our own Local Original Music openers Fort Knights!! …And we’ll be broadcasting LIVE!!!
Until Next weekend peeps…Peace, Love and Rock & Roll,
~Christina