Show Review
Mindset Defect
Brotherhood of Fury (formerly UncleaN)
After Elvis
Usually, when you think of Cinco De Mayo, you think of sombreros, tequila bars, and the neat little umbrella drinks on the beach in Mexico. The last thing most people would think of when you mention this mucho grande drinking holiday would be heavy metal music……or so I thought. I was pleased when I arrived at The Rutledge last Saturday to see a mostly full house of metal-heads with drinks in hand. With so many other bars/clubs in the area celebrating Cinco, I half expected this show to suffer the fate of an empty house. I’m glad I was wrong.
The evening started with After Elvis, a group out of Knoxville playing their first Music City show. I’m a metal listener at heart so I was a bit apprehensive when I was told by a few concert-goers before their set that they were an “emo” band. While I’d tend to agree that vocally, they have some of the tried and true traits of this style (i.e. one guy singing; one guy screaming), their music was very well structured and they had some very ballsy riffs and a great drummer. They actually won over a tough crowd and had everyone cheering by the end of the second song. The only real criticism that I have is once I’d heard about 5 songs, everything started to sort of blend together. I had to head to the smokers area outside for a bit due to feeling a bit melancholy toward the end of their set. Overall, they definitely left an impression on a new crowd and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them playing Nashville again in the future.
Between the first and second set, I almost spewed my beer all over the table when the cringe-worthy sounds of Winger started blasting through the p.a. system. While I’d like to deduct some “cool points” from The Rutledge, I can’t really pin the blame on them since the house sound system was simply tuned into XM Radio (or some other satellite radio feed). Of course, the minute “Easy Come, Easy Go” starts blaring out of my speakers, I’ll be sure to scramble to find a suitable CD.
The next act of the night was Brotherhood of Fury. This is the band formerly known as UncleaN. I heard through the grapevine that the band parted ways with guitarist K Bar Newman and had to change the name due to him owning the naming rights to the band. Going from a twin guitar attack to a one guitar band provided a crisper (although thinner) sound to their music. The music has changed a bit as well. The last time I saw this group was at the first Sinful Saturday show at Fuel. At that show, they had a very well defined, heavy sound with a bit of melodic vocals thrown in to keep things interesting. The new music they debuted at The Rutledge was more of a hodgepodge of hard stuff and melody. While I give them credit for trying to expand that sound, I miss the straight-ahead, overall punishing stuff that they were doing before. Of course, this is their first show with a new lineup and sound so I expect things will tighten up for them in the future.
Brotherhood of Fury
For the third course of this Cinco De Mayo smorgasbord, Mindset Defect took to the stage. From the first note to the last, this band was all over the place and played with sheer precision through every song. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I see a band promote the hell out of their show, build up lots of hype, and then sound unprepared when it’s time to deliver. I certainly didn’t get that impression from Mindset Defect. They were ready to come out swinging and did a great job interacting with the crowd. There were even a few mini mosh pits in the crowd during their set. Earlier, I mentioned the “emo” style of vocals with one guy singing and one guy screaming. Mindset Defect had the same type of structure to a lot of their songs but the vocals were much harder edged and in-pitch which resulted in a very well-crafted sound. The band also didn’t stare at their shoes during their set (something I’ve grown tired of seeing at shows); they played with a load of enthusiasm and really got into their songs. I’ve been hearing good things about this band for the past year and had to break plans to see them a number of times. I wish I could have seen them sooner, but with what I witnessed last Saturday, I’m sure I’ll have plenty more chances to see them. If you like metal and haven’t checked out Mindset Defect, you can feel comfortable that you will get your money’s worth.
I had a great time at the show and it was really great to see a number of familiar faces in the crowd (Deadsun, Voodoo Prophet, the guys from Wet Tv, and Redhead Theresa and Potter). My hat’s off to Andy and The Rutledge for putting on a great 3-band bill that was entertaining and a lot of fun. Mas tequila!
That’ll do it for this time.
Until Next Time, I’m out like music on MTV.
Chris “Uncle Daddy” Czynszak
To reach Chris Czynszak, e-mail at cczynszak@nashvillerock.net