Hey, I know it's a bit late, but last Friday my band played a local showcase at Reggie's Rock Club. I'm gonna tell you all a bit about what we saw.
First off, Reggie's is a cool place. I have no problems with the club, except for they dicked us around about our set time a few times. We were supposed to headline, and have 45 minutes, but about three days before the show they put us on earlier and bumped us down to 30. Oh well, it happens.
We played with three other bands: Letters From Us, a two-piece pop/punk band featuring two Columbia students, Panther Style, a hard rock type band that stole the entire show, and Papa Jupiter. At the beginning of the show, I was most excited to see Papa Jupiter, mostly based on what music of theirs I had heard on their myspace, and a very promising soundcheck. More on that in a minute.
The night started off well in terms of load-in and sound-check. All of the other bands were friendly enough, but Panther Style get their first honrable mention of this article for being the friendliest. :D
At 9:00 PM, Letters From Us took the stage. Honestly, I felt bad for the guys. Also, to be perfectly honest, I thought they were going to suck. I'm not a big fan of that type of music, and two-piece bands really bug me. However, I was pleasantly surprised by them. Unlike most similar acts, their singer could actually sing, and wasn't a half-bad guitar player, either. Their drummer was also very skilled, and they played enough original material to satisfy me, ending it with a decent cover of Jimmy Eat World's "A Praise Chorus." However, there was virtually nobody there to see their set except for the bands, and the few people that my band managed to bring out that early.
Letters From Us didn't truly stand out as "great artists," in my opinion, but they showed talent and potential, which are the two most important traits. I give their overall performance, all things considered, a B.
My band, The Shakedown, played next. We pleasantly had enough time to add an extra unplanned song to our set, which was good. In the beginning, we only had a few people there to see us, but as the set went on, more people started coming in, and I think we played a decent show, minus one or two fuckups.
For their second honorable mention, Panther Style took the stage at around 10:30, and boy, did they ever kick ass. The female-fronted rock band bashed their way through quite an energetic 45 minute set, and I really wish I'd taken notes. One thing I do have to mention is that their lead guitarist is a brave enough soul to play a Flying V. Kudos!
Their songs were good, the performace was fully charged, and they even shouted-out to my band. I am proud to give Panther Style a near-perfect A grade, and to add them to our "Bands to Watch For" list.
Papa Jupiter was a slight disappointment. Granted, Panther Style is probably a very hard act to follow, and Papa Jupiter played their instruments great. The problem I had was that during their sound-check, they played as a 4-piece, but when it was time to play, some guy who I'd assumed was a spectator jumped onstage as their lead vocalist. He just plain wasn't as good as the guitarist, who sang backup, harmonies, and secondary lead vocals on some songs. Their "lead" vocalist was more of a screamer than a singer, so maybe I'm biased, but after being built up as this great new talent, it was disappointing to see that Papa Jupiter is just another semi-progressive hard rock act. I give them a B. Their performance was top-notch musically, but they had nothing new to offer.
Also, this is a warning to any bands who want to play at Reggie's. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES PAY TO HAVE THEM RECORD YOUR SHOW. They amped up their new "studio" and all of its technical effects, lauding it as the best live recording in Chicago. They wanted to charge us $100, even though the website says $40. I refused to go above 40, and what they gave us was an unmixed piece of garbage on a CD with only one track, no equalization, and terrible quality. Do not pay them $100, they are pirates.
That's all I have to say for now about the subject.
www.myspace.com/theshakedown0
www.myspace.com/pantherstylemusic
http://www.myspace.com/papajupiter1
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