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Red Giant, Abdullah,
and PB Army
The Hi Fi Club
08-09-04
Monday at the Hi Fi club means 50 cent drafts, so that
would be reason enough to drag my ass down to Lakewood. On top of that,
92.3 Extreme Radio was presenting a show of bands they would never play in
regular rotation if they were held at gunpoint. Of course, the guys from
Sunday night’s Metal Show have considerably better taste than the rest of
their station, and not surprisingly they were the ones responsible for
sponsoring this shin dig. They were also taping it for future broadcast.
First up was PB Army from Toledo. The 3 piece band
played a nice set of seventies influenced heaviness. The drummer was also
the lead vocalist, which can sometimes be boring. In this case, it wasn’t.
First, the drummer was actually a good singer, as well. Second, the guitar
player and bassist were smart enough to realize they had to move around and
be interesting to compensate for the absence of a front person. Most
importantly, though, the band had some good material.
Once again I find myself reviewing an Abdullah
performance. I’ve said plenty of good things about these guys in the past,
and on rare occasions when they’ve put on a sub par show I’ve been honest
about that, too. The last few times I’ve seen them, though, have been
consistently impressive. Tonight was no exception. The band was rewarded
with a decent sized (for a Monday night, especially) and enthusiastic crowd
for their efforts.
I’ve tried and tried, but I just can’t get into Red
Giant. The guys are good musicians and have been playing together long
enough that they can go off on free form jams for however long they want,
and know that when it’s time to pull it all back together everyone will be
there. They have a good sound and write some cool riffs, but I often find
their songs unfocused and self indulgent, and the monotone vocals don’t help
matters. Clearly, most of the audience liked ‘em more than I did. (Bob
Ignizio)
For pictures, click
here.
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