Weekend of local rock volume 31

Apr 19, 2010

Damn, this is a post I've been meaning to get to for about 3 weeks now but I've had all kinds of other things take precedence. This concert happened way back on March 26th (I even put some of these pictures on my Facebook page 3 weeks ago and one video's already been on FNV) but these local bands deserve their due and by golly I'm going to give it to them!

For the last 8 years, local promoter Skip Dixxon has put together a concert he dubbed the Spring Luau and 2010 was no exception. Nine bands took the stage and Pickles Pub in Ocean City even reopened a few weeks early to host the event.

Skip Dixxon has played host to this event for the last eight years as part of his promotion of the local music scene. Photo by Kimberley Corkran.

Here's a handy guide to the lineup. Unfortunately Kim and I were a little late and missed the Aaron Howell Band.

The nine bands participating in this annual event.

So we'll start with the Electric Company, who played a mix of their stuff and others. Between them, these guys are in several other bands and solo acts so they have a pretty good list to choose from.

The guy in the back was fixing sound as The Electric Company played. This was an issue at times early on but seemed to get better as the night progressed. Photo by Kimberley Corkran.

Next came the Joey Saah Band. This was the only one of the nine I'd not heard, and I was impressed.

The guys who make up the Joey Saah Band ripped it up, and you can tell they were into jamming too. Photo by Kimberley Corkran.

Bet most of you wannabe guitar players can't do this.

Playing guitar well is one thing. Playing it behind your neck like this is another.

Next came the brightly clad and original playing (for the most part) Crookedfinger.

These guys stood out both in attire and musically. Crookedfinger put on a nice show, I like them better each time I see them. Photo by Kimberley Corkran.

Agent 99 doesn't have to be brightly clad to stand out among bands. This was one of their first efforts as a four-piece band.

Marla and Agent 99 were slimmed down to a quartet from their previous five-piece composition and it affected their playing a little bit. Photo by Kimberley Corkran.

I think Marla was a tad dismayed with how they played but the crowd still liked how it came out.

Another female-fronted band, Witches Brew, came next. They did a number of hard-rock covers in perhaps the heaviest set of the nine bands.

This lady seems to sing the heavy stuff, and people seem to like to take snapshots of Witches Brew.

Gravy brought things back a little more to the mainstream but didn't lose any of the energy.

One of the better cover bands around, Gravy takes an interesting set list and makes them all sound really good.

An interesting and somewhat quirky trio is Phantom Limbs. They sound like a melding of surf rock with more modern stuff, with a dash of punk thrown in - not many bands cover the Dead Kennedys but these guys did.

The two guitarists of Phantom Limbs have a great way of playing off each other.

The final band on the bill was my friends in Semiblind. If you pay attention to FNV you'd know they played here and they were the headliners.

One thing I can say about Semiblind is they constantly expand their playlist, so I heard a song or two I hadn't heard from them before.

But the rock wasn't done yet, even though we were at closing time. Ryan of Lower Class Citizens wanted to belt out a couple Led Zeppelin tunes so the musicians who knew the parts to "Rock n' Roll" and "The Immigrant Song" jumped right in to play.

This was a fun little jam session between musicians who just wanted to bash out a couple Zeppelin classics.

Yeah, that's how we roll. This was a good show in one of the rare places hereabouts I hadn't seen one. Next up in the near-term future is another edition of Weekend of Local Rock covering this past weekend.

Weekend of local rock volume 31

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