|
The Fucking Champs with Zombi and Boy
Jazz
The Beachland Ballroom
05-27-05
The only band on this bill I was familiar with was
Zombi. I knew the Fucking Champs played instrumental hard rock of some
sort, but had never heard them. As for Boy Jazz, I had no idea what to
expect. Turns out they’re pretty good.
Boy Jazz sounds like Judas Priest crossed with AC/DC,
minus the guitar solos, and with an ironic “ain’t this metal stuff cheesy?”
sense of humor. Not an easy trick to pull off. Spinal Tap managed it
because, even though they poked fun at metal, it was obvious they liked it
on some level. I’m still not sure about Boy Jazz. Regardless, the band had
some good riffs, played with a lot of energy, and had a vocalist who could
give Rob Halford a run for his money.
The instrumental prog rock duo from Pittsburgh, Zombi,
was up next. No one can accuse these guys of being trendy. If you’re into
Tangerine Dream, Goblin, and other synth heavy seventies instrumentalists,
though, you’ll love this band. Zombi played a short 4 song set that
included only one track (“Orion”) from their ‘Cosmos’ album. Two songs were
new, and one was from an out of print self released disc. A good light show
or even some simple video projections would probably benefit these guys in a
live setting, but even without such bells and whistles Zombi was amazing.
I didn’t get to see much of the Fucking Champs since I
was doing an interview with the Zombi guys as their set started. What I did
get to catch of their instrumental hard rock sounded good, though. No bass
player, but two six strings and an excellent drummer made for a full enough
sound. I’ll have to check these guys out. (Bob Ignizio)
For pictures click
here.
 |
