The Scene – May 22nd, Start of the Night at The Blackstone

The Blackstone

The Blackstone

Friday May 22nd I waited after work to persuade my brother into tagging along for an ambitious night on the town. Tim begrudgingly agreed and gave the Friday zombie groan and said he’d be down if he had time to take a nap. Sounded fair to me, so I hopped on line trying to figure out the full bills for the evening, to no avail. Over the course of the night I caught a bit of five acts: Sex Slaves and For the Love of Sloane at The Blackstone and Jose Docen, Zig Zag and Kyle Nicholas at The City Cafe. Tim got his beauty rest, and we started out towards the Providence/Pawtucket line for the opening acts at The Blackstone.   Having been there once before, Tim claimed he could easily navigate me back once again.  I knew the general vicinity but was unsure of the ins and outs of that would lead us there, we came to a fork in the road, and apparently I took the path less traveled as we ended up a ways down the road at Tim’s urging before I stopped at a gas station for directions.  As it turns out we weren’t too far off, we were on a parallel road about an eight of a mile from where we needed to be, after a quick U-Turn and left, we arrived at our destination in no time flat.


J Bomb

J Bomb

We strolled in while the Sex Slaves were mid set, a nationally touring act from New York City, they had quite an impressive stack of equipment and gear on stage, as well as a custom drum head, which I always think are cool. Coming in mid song I’d guess the title was “I Want to Fuck You All Night Long.” I noticed instantly that it had a good guitar rhythm and was loud, punk-rock, quite a bit louder and angrier a band than I’d seek out to attend, but they were doing it well. Personally, I prefer lyrics of a bit more poetic fashion, but there is something to say about being straight and to the point. Tim and I moseyed on over to the bar to grab some beers, and much to my pleasant surprise I was greeted by Ruth from SEXCoffee who happened to be behind the bar for the night. She and I chatted about her set I’d just seen and written up as she poured us some brews. Tim later asked if I knew everyone in the state, I assured him not, but between the two of us we certainly can cover about 50%. We returned towards the stage and grabbed a high top table, I had to chance to record their next number, an original “Cheap Imitation:”
05.22.09 The Sex Slaves “Cheap Imitation”

Eric 13

Eric 13

Comprised of Eric 13 on guitar and lead vocals, Del Cheetah on bass and vocals and J Bomb on drums, the Sex Slaves were out to impress. They reminded me of a darker, angrier Green Day. Extremely tight musically with well coordinated stage presence I caught myself smirking at the humorously pissed off motif of the song, and realized for three musicians they provided a gargantuan wall of sound thrust at the audience. Who hasn’t been jealous of an ex’s new man, though classically, my anger has resulted in self loathing rather than outward fury. Really by the end of the song I kind of just wanted to give Eric 13 a hug and let him know that unless she had some proprietary pulsating power pussy, there were plenty of other ladies that may well take her place once his heart had mended. They announced their thanks to the Blackstone and the other acts affording them the opportunity to play, and broke into a rocking cover of Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades:”
05.22.09 The Sex Slaves “Ace of Spades”

Del Cheetah

Del Cheetah

Del Cheetah took over lead vocals for their final number, and the band nailed it. It was the hard fast and raucous rock and roll even I could recognize. While I didn’t particularly care for their style, I do not want to take away from their talent. They were VERY good at what they do, each musician impressed me instrumentally. If you dig hard rock, punky heavy metal, this is a band you will really enjoy, check their myspace, they are currently on a US tour through the summer, and start a European tour in the fall. Tim and I made our way out back so I could have a butt while For the Love of Sloane prepared the stage. Last time I had the chance to catch them perform I had friends in from out of town, and admittedly paid more attention to conversation than performance. I did however, enjoy their set, so much so I started listening to their selections on myspace to be prepared if the opportunity afforded itself to catch them again. Consisting of Elese on vocals, Stephen on lead guitar, Nick on bass and Jay on drums, FtLoS have been causing quite a stir locally. Opening their set with a melodic rock number they chose “Dig Deeper:”
05.22.09 For The Love of Sloane “Dig Deeper”

Elese

Elese

Stephen

Stephen

Elese sang with great range and passion, pulling the audience in farther with her animated hand gestures and body language. Stephen provided a great choppy guitar riff while Nick thumped out a good bass groove. Jay was pounding the drums so hard at points I thought he would pierce through with his sticks. I noticed they also had a cool custom drum head, while more subdued than the Sex Slaves’ it featured For the Love of Sloane’s stylized heart logo, I see frequently strewn about town, in clubs, on fliers, stickers and T-shirts. Recently participating in a number of battle of the band competitions and being included local music polls helped provide a great secondary meaning to the lyrics “You’re very exposed,” though in a much more positive light. Following a bit of an introduction they chose another original with which I was familiar, “Bitter:”
05.22.09 For the Love of Sloane “Bitter”

Staring out slow to emphasize the lyrics, it picked up pace and rocked out a bit. Similar in theme to Sex Slaves’“Cheap Imitation,” it was a more positive spin on an angering situation. My personal favorite of FtLoS’s was performed next “Ghost:”
05.22.09 For the Love of Sloane “Ghost”

Nick

Nick

Jay

Jay

Stephen started the song out with an appropriately haunting guitar riff he carried for the duration, Nick laid out a steady and driving bass line, Jay slammed the skins with precision and passion, all the while Elese gave further power to the song matching her vocal intonation with the rhythm of the music. Noticing the time I suggested Tim make quick work of his Bass (the beer, not guitar) if we were to catch some of the opener at The City Café. I went out back to have another cigarette attempting to limit smoking in my car, and accosted some strangers with conversation. Ten or so minutes later Tim came wandering to the smoker’s patio in search of me asking “Why did I chug my beer if you were just going to babble on forever?” “Touché bro, touché.” Returning to the bar I thanked Ruth for her hospitality and assured her I’d be back soon to see another show, then as FtLoS finished their set, I thanked the performers I could find from both acts and we made our way down to The City Café. For the Love of Sloane has been generating quite a buzz, and is fun live act to see, check their myspace for information on upcoming shows around the Providence and Boston area.

…Still To Come, Finish the Night Right at The City Café

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