It was my first time going to Key Club. For some reason it doesn't seem like many bands play there even though I've heard of it, and it seems like a major place to perform at. Perhaps it's because it's a smaller venue and seems to cater more to older audiences (there's a restaurant on the balcony. What kid would ever want to eat up there?). The place was much nicer than I thought it would be. So, there was some sort of showcase going on that night for some major record labels. I went to see W's friend's band, Random Ninjas. I didn't realize there was a showcase until I got inside, so I didn't bother to record the names of the other bands that were on that night. Maybe it's better for those other bands that I don't know their names because I must admit that most of them were pretty bad. We got there around 9pm. We saw 5 bands perform before Random Ninjas got on stage.
Band #1 (The Worms?):
I just don't understand why people insist on playing mid-90s rock. I hate that 30 Seconds to Mars brought that fad back. I admit to listening to it back in the day, but back then it was new! Now, it's just getting tired. And 30 Seconds to Mars isn't even THAT good. I'm sure they got on the radio because they have a pretty frontman, ahem Jared Leto. Anyways, all I have to say about the first band we saw is "Fuel called and they want their songs back".
Band #2 (Laz something):
It was this this band who's named after a person, probably the lead singer. Admittedly, he wasn't THAT bad. His music was kind of funk/jazz/pop. Sort of Maroon5, Jamie Cullum type stuff. It could be radio friendly. The only thing holding them back would probably be the lead singer. He was a keyboardist who also seemed to think he was Elton John. He threw on a silly hat, Slash style, and proceeded to play and dance around.
He was entertaining, but not the best looking guy and he had some really scary wide-eyed facial expressions when he got really into his singing. It made him look kind of creepy or like he was possessed. I think that band would have a better chance of getting signed if they had a more attractive singer...who didn't look like the devil...in a silly hat... Also, they apparently are so bad that they need a gimmick like 3 half naked girls in sequined bikinis, dancing with angel wings and later (after they put on some clothes) stripping and handing out merch.
Band #3:
Were these poor, slightly overweight, high school brothers. They were pretty young and obviously inexperienced. It was as if they were in the garage playing air guitar, it was so bad. The singer looked really nervous, couldn't sing loud enough (or the mic was too low), paced back and forth, and kept almost tripping over the wires. I have to give one of the brothers (the one with the shortest emo cut) some credit for getting really into the music and jumping around. But the rest of it looked kind of rehearsed, especially at this one moment where all 3 of them converged. Also, their lyrics were really unoriginal and so was the singing style. Well, the style was typical of mid-90s rock, but his voice definitely wasn't strong enough. It was like he thought he was just singing along with the radio in his room, what Simon Cowell calls a "bedroom voice". They were so bad that I really couldn't stop laughing at them at certain points. At one point, W said "Didn't P.O.D. already write this song?" I had to turn away from the stage towards the rail because I would've keeled over from laughing so hard because it was so true. They were so bad I almost felt embarrassed for them. It probably didn't help that we were standing in the back cracking up at the awfulness of it all. Also, he probably had the smallest crowd on the floor. Seemed like it was 5 members of his family cheering them on. The only good thing about them was that they probably made the next band sound really really good. It really made me question how bands got into this showcase.
Lady Fox:
Ok, the previous bands didn't advertise their band names that well or they didn't mention it enough or it sounded really weird, so I couldn't really understand what they said, but this band mentioned their name and website over and over again. So, the lead singer was attractive at least. She was dressed in few clothing (daisy dukes, knee high boots, lowcut tank, at least she wore a long sleeve shirt over it, but unbuttoned very low), so she came off as a late 20something-year-old, but I couldn't really tell because of the lighting. I'm hoping she was that age because she was dancing like Fergie. It was pretty R-rated and there was a lot of booty-shivering. But she had a pretty good voice (or maybe it sounded really good because the previous act was SO bad), a bit Joss Stone like and her music was catchy enough. Sort of R&B-ish soul. I also found one of her dancers pretty entertaining, he was so flaming. She really knew how to work the audience and was definitely much more professional than the previous band. I felt kind of bad or her though because she was about to start her last song and she did her intro for it and then some other band's music came on and it was just like the Oscar's. Everyone looked a bit confused and they packed up and left without a word. I guess they were running a bit late with the schedule.
Band #5:
So, these hardcore death metal looking guys (wearing Dickies, black shirts, one guy had a long goatee, another guy looked like a greaser, they were all big tough looking guys) come out on stage to set up. I was thinking "Oh gawd, not another mid-90s rock band." We joked about how funny it would be if all of a sudden they broke out into acoustic folk rock. As soon as they started playing, we were amazed because they started out on acoustic electric and they were playing FRIGGIN COUNTRY. You could see the look of shock on everyone's faces, but I thought it was so punk rock that they defied convention like that. They weren't bad as a country group, and it was kind of cool that they looked so mean that no one could really make fun of them anyways because they could totally kick your ass in a second.
Random Ninjas:
The only band to proudly display their name on a giant banner above the stage. They definitely brought the most energy (and people) to the floor. They worked the crowd pretty well. Got them to participate in the songs. The last time I heard their stuff, they sounded more like anime music, but this time around, I thought they sounded much better. They're starting to lean more towards a kind of rap rock style with Japanese female vocals. The sound on the mics was really bad, but otherwise, they put on a good energetic performance.
Such an accurate write up - we were there. We actually went for Random Ninja's too.
ReplyDeleteThe thing we learned about Key Club is don't even think about going over your time because they will cut you off.
Lantz Lazwell was a bit hilarious