For my lady friend's birthday the 18th, and mine the 24th, we decided to hit this show up as a present for both of us. Great way to close out another year with some hard hitting locals, a reinvigorated Sixty Watt Shaman, and Wino capping the evening.
Chimpgrinder got things off to a sludgy start. Very down-tuned, but they have a groove happening. Would see again.
The Company Corvette, no strangers to us, had some fresh tunes to play. This band gets tighter every time I see them. The guitarist gets really into the riff in a Matt Pike kind of way, and each time I see them the hesher riffs just get a little sharper. Great to see them again and I'm really glad they got added to the bill at the last minute.
Skeleton Hands were up next, and brought some standard, mid-to-faster-paced stoner/doom with them. The singer has a John Garcia sound about him, and it fit the faster material very well. Kind of a like southern friend Unida. Would love to catch them again doing a longer set.
Wizard Eye were next, and they are a very good band right now. The dual voclas threw me for a moment, but they made them work. I felt unfortunately that some of the momentum was lost during a guitar solo break, but the riffs brought it all back home. They mix equal parts southern sludge and stoner/doom, making for a very interesting mix. That guitarist has the longest dreads I have ever seen. If Electric Wizard and COC had a baby, Wizard Eye would be on that baby's ipod.
Sixty Watt Shaman took a while getting started, but once they did, it was on. Hearing Red Colony and all those old songs did my heart good. In 2001, I missed out on catching 60 Watt due to life, and now, all these years later, I finally got to see them live. Their drummer has that jazz swing, but a huge, Bonham-like upper body strength for pounding away on the toms or bassdrum when necessary. Probably, my favourite drum performance I've seen this year. No offense intended to Jason Roeder at Sleep last August.
I was spent after 60 Watt, but Wino came out and capped the evening acoustically, also playing some fresh material. Forever Gone, a new track from the upcoming second Conny Ochs collaboration, sounded stark without Conny, who I thought was going to join Wino but alas, never showed. Wino did take a woman on another acoustic up, and that sounded beautiful. Who is she?
I was sad to see the poor turnout for the Philly festivities and the 60 Watt comeback, but I'm betting they have better luck in New York. Most bands do, I suppose. I'm glad they came, and grateful I got to sneak in a gig before 2014 closes up shop and gives way to what's next.
Hello/cheers to Wino, Frank/Bang!, Pellet, and all those stoner rock faces I know so well.
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful new year. Musically speaking, 2015 looks to be quite special. See you there!
Words: Sabbath Jeff