ARTSETC.
Seeing Red
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by Alex Larson:
- 'Tis the season for Sevendust (October 23, 2003)
- A trip into metal's 'Underworld' (October 2, 2003)
- Lack of 'Presence' (August 29, 2003)
- The evolution of a metal band (September 4, 2003)
- Rob Dougan gets 'Furious' with his music (September 16, 2003)
Related Stories:
- Stressed? Try some 'Noise Therapy' (February 27, 2003)
- Soulfly wings its way to the Annex (April 24, 2003)
- 'Detached' from a genre (February 7, 2002)
- 'The Hustle' marks new high (October 11, 2004)
- Andrew W.K. invades Barrymore (April 19, 2005)
by Alex Larson
Thursday, October 24, 2002
If you’re looking to attend a hard-rock/nu-metal show this weekend complete with bands jumping around on stage in weird costumes, “singing” lyrics with an incomprehensible primal growl, and hours of two-and-a-half-minute songs based on variations of distorted guitar noise and sixteenth-note blast beats, you’ll want to stay away from Club Raven in Edgerton this Saturday night.
3rd Strike, Flaw and The Color Red come to light up the stage with the only gimmick that real bands need: musicianship.
Hailing from the hard-rock breeding grounds of southern California, the members of The Color Red are ready to demonstrate the stage presence that they’ve been practicing for over seven years. With its major-label debut album, Clear, TCR has proven that powerful music doesn’t always require equally powerful amps.
Of course, these seasoned rockers do know how to get the mosh pit going with songs like “The Other One” and “Cleansing,” but they also know how to evoke a wide variety of emotions through lead singer Jon Zamora’s songwriting capabilities and vocal diversity in songs like “Season” and the band’s first single (and after-show tribute), “Sore Throat.”
Indeed, a hard-rock band with a lead singer that can write lyrics beyond the realm of anger and alienation is definitely a rare commodity today.
Although the guitar duo of Billy Meyer and Adrian Verloop offers nothing new to the world of the six-string, the pair does stray from the current musical trends by offering a control of dynamics that demonstrates a level of musical intelligence only earned through years of experience.
With sounds ranging from power-chord thrashing to mind-numbing arpeggio picking to even the endangered guitar solo, these musicians help to gracefully complement the various emotions produced by Zamora. Although it does represent the mellowest band in the lineup, TCR will nonetheless prove that it has what it takes to play on the same stage as the big dogs.
The band to follow TCR should shatter stereotypes one may have of music from Louisville, Kentucky. The members of Flaw, also flaunting a major-label debut (titled Through the Eyes), have put in their practice time and are not afraid to show off the experimental sounds they have stumbled upon along the way.
Possessing a keen ear for the Eastern culture polyrhythms made popular by bands like Tool, Flaw will land the listener in an alternate consciousness through the use of repeating, hypnotic guitar phrases, off-beat rhythm changes and flowing lyrics evident in the nu-metal masterpiece “What I Have to Do” and the band’s first single “Whole.”
The intelligent use of guitar effects and layering created by the team of Lance Arny and recently departed Jason Daunt help to create a seamless auditory atmosphere that takes listeners to another place, while the rhythm section of bassist Ryan Juhns and drummer Chris Ballinger help to keep them there.
As demonstrated in “My Letter,” the mellow vocal work of lead singer Chris Volz contributes both to the atmosphere and rhythm created by the band while simultaneously forcing the listener to explore a variety of emotions from happiness to sadness and everything in between. Because it is hard to pigeonhole a band as diverse and talented as Flaw, one would most easily describe its music as intense.
If its debut album “Lost Angel” is any indication, 3rd Strike holds the greatest potential of getting the mosh pit started and maintained throughout its set. Like both its southern-Cali brethren TCR and Ozzfest stage mates Flaw, 3rd Strike uses musical dynamics to evoke emotion from its listeners, but to greater extremes.
As displayed in its first single “No Light” and latest release “Redemption,” the members of 3rd Strike are capable of juxtaposing beauty and melody with aggression and noise, sometimes all in the same song. Lead singer Jim Korthe is also unashamed of weaving the elements of rap, hip-hop and reggae that he was exposed to during his urban Los Angeles childhood into 3rd Strike’s more emotional songs.
On “Hang On” Korthe combines the vocal style of reggae with the social commentary approach of rap, while guitarists Todd Deguchi and Erik Carlsson create a disturbing atmosphere all over a steady groove laid down by bassist Gabe Hammersmith and drummer PJ McMullan. 3rd Strike keeps true to the heavy nature of nu-metal while avoiding the monotonous detuned power-chord chugging of its fellow Ozzfest counterparts. 3rd Strike is nu-metal with soul.
Get out to Club Raven this Saturday, and give all three of these new pioneers of heavy music your support, for these bands represent the new breed of beneficiaries for all things rock.
The Color Red, 3rd Strike and Flaw play at Club Raven, 723 E. Ellendale Rd., Edgerton, Wis., this Sunday at 9:30 p.m.
