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MADLIN 7/17 COFFEE HOUSE SHOW


NIGHT OF MUSIC, MAGIC, AND MAYHEM BREWS AT THE COFFEE SHOP

On a moonless but otherwise pleasant Southern California night, I settled in for what would be called 'the best concert show that nobody saw'. That statement isn't entirely accurate but, well, let me start at the beginning.
On July 17th, MADLIN'S COFFEE HOUSE in the strip mall at Overland and Jefferson Streets became the first California stop on the UTTERPUNK.COM INVASION TOUR, which began on June 23rd and ends on July 31st. The tour started in Massachusetts, wound down the east coast then snaked along the bottom of the country through Texas to Southern California then back through the Midwest to end up back 'home' in western Massachusetts.
The UTTERPUNK TOUR features headliners THE MODERN DAY SAINT and AMBRY, with MALACHI CONSTANT, MY AMERICAN HEART, DOOZER, and FOR FELIX on selected dates. Although tonight's show featured only the headliners, the good folks at Full Value Entertainment rounded out the evening's venue by adding the bands SUMMERS WASTED, CURSER, MACKENSIE LEE and GEISERT 8 BAND. For those keeping score, that's three bands from out of state, two bands from out of town and one local group. It certainly seemed to be simple enough and a routine night for the FVE crew who had added extra security. But it was something about seeing no moon on such a balmy night, if you know what I mean.
It was to be truly a night of band drama brewing at the Madlin's Coffee House and it started with the first sip as the singer for MACKENSIE LEE, out of Huntington Beach, CA asked to be bumped back as the other boys in the band hadn't quite arrived yet. OK by Bill.
The opening act then became AMBRY and they set up quickly with nary a cross word. Although the crowd wasn't as large as some previous shows, the tried and true young punks and punkettes were out and a FINCH T was spotted in amongst the eager fans, as the all eyes watched AMBRY tear into their set list. The five piece consisting of frontman Chris Thibeault, two guitars that shared either double lead licks or lead/vocals/Geof Gagnon and rythum/ Brian Ball, drummer justin Mcpherson with an 'odd man out' snare, and bass player Aaron Bernard, sporting a large right arm tat/small left arm tat and the biggest blond frizz since Farrah Fawcett.
By the third song of some really good original punk rock, the drummer had shed his shirt, which is why people go to see live music. Any musician can 'git it right' in the studio, no matter how many 'takes' it takes. The real fun is watching them sweat, jugulars bulging, as they pound out their tunes to the music hungray fans, along with the little things, like watching a good frontman shepard his band members by being a 'roadie' to them when they need it, to keep the music flowing, as was the case tonight. In an intimate venue like MADLIN'S where the music is up close to blow your face off, the 'magic' of live music comes through as your best entertainment value. And though punk fans don't bounce to a beat, the ample applause at the end of the set showed
AMBRY their first time in So Cali was well appreciated. www.

But speaking of 'magic', it was their travelling companions, THE MODERN DAY SAINT, and their frontman, another sheppard for his boys, who really mesmerized the crowd. The five piece, made up of frontman Dan Lang-Gunn, Matt Dufresne on drums, Joe Urban on guitar lead/rythum, all wearing black T's, Adam Dimuzio on rythum/lead guitar and vocals in a loud soccer shirt, and Chad Jay in a polo shirt playing 'lead' bass a notch up from bassman Timmy in Spaceman Jack. The cohesiveness of the group, both collectively and as individuals, all just out of high school/communtiy college, reminded me of, dare I say it, yes I dare, of The Stones in '81, because they all have personallity. Example, after the very first song, which flattened the front row punks' spikes and generated rousing applause, the drummer Matt tapped his highhat in appreciation of the crowd's response. Now that's what I'm talking about Sports Fans, an intuitiveness with the audeince that you rarely see. I'd like to say that it's the frontman, who though his artfull dodger squirming, unique vocal antics, and tight band control are the reason this band's hot, but this is truly a group experience as Adam's raw vocal solo showed in the last song, bringing one new fan, fist pumped in the air, to yell, "You F**king Rocked! as the applause died down. Not too shabby for a band only rehershing for about a year, as Little Dot would say.
There are bands that are must see and then there are bands that, if discovered by the masses, you will be able to tell your grandson one day, 'I saw them before they were famous'. This is one of those bands. See CD review by PT ROTHSCHILD.

As the smoke cleared and the crowd caught its collective breath, the band set up. From the Midwest, Peoria, Illinois in fact came GEISERT 8 BAND. Pronounced guy-sert, the name comes from the Bradley University (Peoria) dorm hall they all stayed in on the 8th floor. "We hate the band name but now that we're getting radio play under that name we're kind of stuck with it," one member was heard to say. PT is reviewing their CD called BLOAM! What's in a name, what's in a name?
Well, for one thing, two of the band members, Kevin/bass and Mike/guitar/vocals share the same last name of Moritz, because they are twins. Jeff Jaramillo/saxaphone, Tony Heredia/drums, and frontman Dan McCollister, rounding out this five piece have all been together for about 4 college years but starting touring only a year ago. The boys play melodicore and the fisrt two songs were in that vein which iddn't hold the crowd's attention, but from the third song on they reached back to some funkier, more traditional beat rock and the crowd drifted back inside. They finished thier animated set just as the night's band drama began outside. The last good thing of the night was that G8B lived up to their legend of being able to teardown and loadout in 3 minutes or less.

Outside it seems a quirky fan, well, quirky for this side of Hollywood anyway, had started a little rubarb with Big Joe over 'getting in' and before you know it, fans and parents of the next band, SUMMERS WASTED, rolled into the ruckus and pulled their kids living up to the band's monicker. They were the only local band scheduled.

CURSER, from SD (San Diego for you tourist readers), another five piece but with a sixth man, roadie? keeping the bass drum from moving by ahving his feet propped against it, played two songs, rather well actually, before blowing out their bass amp. "That what we get for using a Big Lots amp," grumbled a band member as they all huffed off stage.

Well you can see where this is going, can't you? MACKENSIE LEE, the band from just 'up the street' over at Huntington Beach, CA, and bumped to last due to late arriving members, alas went on with just the singer doing the set but after just two songs, he packed it in. The state bands fizzled and the out-of -state bands sizzled. That's it my nizzles for this trizzle from Madizzle, er MADLIN'S.
---- MR. PETE

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