Myspace Mixer #6
The Roast of Aljon
Gibson Showcase – Opry Mills
9/22/2006
Last month I attended the Local Buzz Myspace Mixer 6 at the Gibson Showcase at Opry Mills. It was my first “Mixer” experience and I think I picked a good night to be initiated. This show served a number of purposes, most notably being a fundraiser for the National Kidney Foundation, a charity near and dear to my heart due to my own history of kidney trouble. It was also a chance to honor 102.9 The Buzz deejay, Aljon Go. This event was billed as the “Roast of Aljon” and there were plenty of barbs and witty asides to go around (and not only at Aljon’s expense!).
SPOUT
Hosted by Jimmy Chandler of The Beauty School Dropouts and Jaux King, formerly of The Everafters, the show began with an acoustic set by Spout. With pretty strong songwriting, the Spout set was entertaining. While all the songs sounded good, I think they peeked on the first one, “Dead or Dying”. This is a very radio friendly song that I’ve been familiar with for a while thanks to Grimey’s Record Shop selling me a compilation cd of local bands from 2003. I’ve wanted to see these guys since hearing that song. While I enjoyed seeing them live, it would have been better to hear them plugged in. Maybe next time.
Sans Seraph was next on the bill. This is another group that I hadn’t seen before (well, let’s be honest, I’ve never seen any of these groups before). I’ve heard that these guys have a style all their own. I’ll admit that’s true, but in an acoustic setting I must say that I was rather bored with the material. Let me be fair and say that if I saw these guys at a coffee house or more intimate venue, I probably would have enjoyed it more. In this instance, it was the second acoustic set to open a show that had plenty of hype surrounding it. I was hyped to come down to the Gibson for this show but under whelmed at first due to such a quiet beginning to the night. I think it would have been better judgment to open the show with a plugged in band ready to grab the audience by the balls, but that’s just my opinion. I think the slow start to the evening really affected the crowd.
After the set changeover, I got what I wanted. Nashville funk-rock band The Jones came on the stage with the energy of a lightning rod. Led by sultry-voiced Cleopatra and the high hair and shades of guitarist Toddzilla, the Jones perked up a very subdued audience. Tearing through a tawdry set that fused funk and rock music together, I loved every minute of their set. Their most impressive number, ‘Stomp’ reminded me of seeing Parliament Funkadelic raise the roof at 328 Performance Hall many moons ago. The band ended their set on fire joined by the rest of the Jones World clan and loudly proclaiming, “Rock n Roll ain’t died, it’s just been Funkdified!.....indeed.
During the Jones set, a large number of teenagers were congregating around the stage. While The Jones seemed to win them over, they took any open space to let everyone know who they were there to see, Falling for Yesterday. The way the kids seemed to be hyping these guys, I thought I was about to see the next revolution in music. Did I? Well, that question goes unanswered. In the only big technical snafu of the night, Falling for Yesterday’s set was plagued microphone feedback and a bad onstage sound mix. So, for all intents and purposes, I really can’t give a fair review since I don’t think I got the full version of the band. Plus, this was another acoustic set, which doesn’t provide the full experience. They definitely win the award for most high schoolers in the crowd.
Once the kiddies were gone, I noticed that Jimmy and Jaux’s onstage banter was certainly ramped up more. The profanities were starting to make their way to the stage but our subject, Aljon, was not receiving much roasting. I sat back for the next group and waited for the real roast to begin.
P. Jones is a group of guys from the Clarksville area. While I’ve worked on a couple of projects including a book I’m working on, the only previous time that I’ve seen them live was my wedding night. Yes folks, my wife and I saw this group play covers at a bar in Clarksville on our wedding night. Sounds romantic huh? Anyway, this would be my first chance to see P. Jones perform all original material and they didn’t disappoint. Banging out songs that carry a melodic rock vibe, I was impressed with the passion that these guys put into their songs. Singer/guitarist, Wes Newborn, sounds as good live as he does on their new cd, The Lucky Ones as well as bassist Jason Yates and rhythm guitarist Jerry Allen. The real motor behind P. Jones, in my opinion, is drummer Ney Gore. Gore was technically proficient behind his kit as well as multitalented by providing solid backing vocals. No complaints here.
After P. Jones was done with their set, Former came on. Many people had recommended this group to me and Ernie Ayres’ recent review of their demo piqued my interest. While their material was strong in and of itself, it was their energy that bowled me over. Singer/guitarist Denny Smith has built a solid reputation around this town and he lived up to his hype; delivering the vocal and musical goods consistently throughout the performance. It’s hard to believe that drummer Billy Baker wound up in the hospital within weeks of this performance due to the fact that he was an absolute monster behind his drum kit. Get well soon Billy. The true star of this performance, though, was Henry Go, brother of our guest of honor Aljon Go. Henry has some serious stage presence. He also has quite a local band resume as was pointed out by Jimmy Chandler during his portion of the Roast. Exhibiting an up-tempo performance, Former definitely made me a fan. I look forward to seeing them again.
Headliners Beauty School Dropouts took the stage around midnight and showed me what all the buzz was about. While I’m not typically into this type of band, they were very convincing in their genre. I could easily hear this group getting mainstream radio airplay. Vocalist Jimmy Chandler owns all of the qualities of today’s rock star in the looks and talent department. Their music was extremely tight and I could tell that this group must rehearse like crazy people. You don’t get that cohesive practicing for 30 minutes and huffing paint for 3 hours (I should know lol). Drummer Indy Campbell and bassist Jagger Colman provided a good bass heavy rhythm section that sets a strong foundation for guitarists Joey Danels and Josh Baker’s riffing. These guys have really garnered a lot of attention and while they are not my typical favorite old-school style (yeah, I know, I’m getting old), I wouldn’t be surprised if they are the next rock group getting signed out of Nashville. Just remember us little people when you get there guys!
The Roast went full steam ahead after the Dropouts set. While I’d love to divulge all the great jokes and cut-downs that I enjoyed throughout the evening, I’m not going to. While all of these bands are consistently playing gigs around town, the roast was a one shot deal and I’d like to keep the fun details to myself and everyone else that showed up and donated money for such a great cause. Those of you who were there will remember some of the funny things that were said. That’s enough for me.
While I’m sure that Aljon had a ball having the piss taken out of him between every band for four hours, his true moment in the sun came next with the one night only reformation of the men of Mink. For those that don’t know, Mink was a great group of musicians that hailed from Nashville but played all over creation, even overseas. While I’m not privileged to say that I saw Mink back in the day (I was either not living in Nashville, or on the other end of a bong), I had heard good things about this power pop group that was ahead of their time. This time, Mink hit the stage with guest vocalist Kirsten Davies on the microphone. The boys blasted through a fantastic set of songs that made me really regret not seeing them years ago. You could see the adulation in Aljon’s eyes as he played with fervor; running around and jumping on top of speakers. Plus, he played a really sweet Flying V guitar that gets points from me. Bassist Henry Go, showing no signs of fatigue from his earlier set with Former teamed up with guitarist Andy Aquino, showing strong playing as well as stage presence. Drummer Johannes, now known for playing with recently-signed Ligion, bashed his drums as hard as ever even without his weird looking contact lenses. Sorry Jo, you freak me out when you wear those things. Guest vocalist Davies had the audience eating out of her hand with some great vocals and looked like she had been in the band all along. It was a great ending for the men of Mink but kind of sad knowing that this would be there last night on stage together.
By this point of the night, I was pretty exhausted. Working a day job and raising three children do that to you. I know, how un-rock-n-roll of me. But, I was entertained by Hallowed Grounds, a ragtag combination of different members of the previous groups playing a set of 90’s covers with Aljon on guitar. Guest vocalists included Jaux King, Jimmy Chandler, Wes Newborn, and Nixon from Embers Fade bringing down the house with a strong performance of Creed by Radiohead (Lukas Rossi can kiss my ass!). Overall, it was a fun night of music and while I was knocked out by every group on the bill, my hat’s off to them for showing strong support to Aljon for his 10 years of hard work supporting our local scene and most importantly for helping out The National Kidney Foundation. Let’s do it again sometime!
That’ll do it for this time.
Until Next Time, I’m out like Mark Foley at a NMBLA meeting.
Chris “Uncle Daddy Longlegs” Czynszak
To reach Chris Czynszak, e-mail cczynszak@nashvillerock.net