Week 3 (June 8)

[Author's Note: [Author’s note: If this is your first time visiting the UMC blog, you might want to check out the INTRODUCTION first.]

And the winner is…

6one9!

Congratulations.

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Thanks to all the bands who played and all the people who ventured out. It was another great turnout for the Ultimate Music Challenge at DreamCatcher lounge in Viejas. Props to all the bands for bringing their people.

The judges had an extremely difficult time selecting a winner this week. And the reason is because there weren’t any tribute bands to whom we could just hand over the victory. Our only choices were boring old variety cover bands and we judges just didn’t know what to do.

HA! But I kid the TCBT’s

All joking aside, I have to say, the caliber of bands to this point has been truly impressive, and last night was no exception. It actually kind of sucks for the judges because we don’t have anyone to bag on, which is, to be totally honest, the best part about being a judge.

The night began with this week’s champs, 6ONE9 who won despite the fact that 6ONE9 is yet another example of an exquisitely awful band name. This whole area code trend you see on T-shirts and hats and band flyers is just a little too gangster for my liking. But hey, at least they’re not called 8FIVE8, which is clearly the red-headed step bastard of band name area codes.

All of this ceased to matter the minute they burst into song, opening with “My Own Worst Enemy,” and instantly waking the entire room up with a splash of vibrant, raw rock and roll. Even more impressive was the rush to the dance floor, which instantly filled with mostly young hot party girls – which is unheard of in the rock club circuit, where the only person who dares mount a dance floor before the booze starts kicking in is that creepy, ancient hippy gal with the flowing gypsy garb and suede fringes who dances with her eyes closed to a totally different band that only she can hear in her mind.

Second song was “Beautiful Girls” (Van Halen) which rocked quite well but it wasn’t until they kicked into “Metal Health” (Quiet Riot) – when we all knew for sure that rock and roll was truly happening here. Man they nailed that song, vocally and musically. After that, it was “Dead or Alive” (Bon Jovi) and “Round and Round” (Ratt) and the night was off and running. For the judge’s comments, I told them they were going to be a tough act to follow - which, as it turned out, was entirely true

Next band was Jump Start – which was your classic, classic-rock cover band. They were pretty flawless as far as harmonies and musicianship goes and as Jaime Valle (Judge #1) said, “They had the best dynamics of everybody.” (Jaime’s big on dynamics). The singer, who was a stylistic cross between Janis Joplin and Joe Cocker, had a strong vocal showing. I also loved the lead guitarist, who blistered the solos and who probably got the best tone of all the guitars of the night, but they just didn’t have the energy level of 6ONE9, or the audience participation, which probably was the difference between winning and losing.

I mostly dug their set list. They opened with the harmony-heavy “When Will I Be Loved” (Linda Rondstadt) and banged out the harmonies flawlessly. The vibe was really hot at that moment but then, for some reason, instead of capitalizing on the momentum, they played a slow tempo song (which I didn’t recognize) that just knocked the crowd right out of it. It took them a song and half to bring the crowd back. (“Me and Bobby McGee” and “All Day and All of the Night”). To close the night they took a risk with an almost-acappela version Janis Joplin’s “Mercede’s Benz.”

I say almost-acappela because the drummer used his kick drum (technically speaking acappela is 100 percent vocal) but it was still acappela-style and a big gamble on which to end the set (due to the down tempo nature) but it fully paid off because, again, the harmonies and lead vocals were beautiful and went a long way to bring home the dynamic range that Jaime is always looking for. In short, it was fantastic cover of a song I don’t even like. In fact, I can say it was the best version I have ever heard. Seriously.

Next came Inside Out – a10ish piece band with full horn section.

They played last year and did a whole bunch of Journey covers, probably because the male singer’s voice sounds a lot like Steve Perry’s. They had a rough start last night though. Especially the two female vocalists, who — while they did look quite scrump-delickety-licious — were just not competent singers. They were all over the place pitch-wise, their high notes were too thin and tinny and a couple of times there I thought the sustains were going to strip the lacquer off the dance floor.

We all thought they were a little too “wedding band” for our liking and one person in the audience told me she was waiting for the moment when they were going to throw the bouquet.

Ouch girl. That’s cold.

Speaking of cold, the next band was Cold Shower. I don’t know how the other judges ranked them, but they were a close, close second by my tally. The only reason they didn’t come out on top was because it took a little too long to amp up the set. They started with “King Contrary Man” (The Cult), then “Cracker Man” (Stone Temple Pilots) and then an oldie by Fleetwood Mac called “Oh Well” from their blues era when they were lead by guitarist Peter Green.

Not to say any of this was bad, it’s just, when they got to the middle of the set, and played “Have a Cigar” (Pink Floyd) well, as I said before, that was when we all knew rock and roll was happening. After that was “Paranoid” (Black Sabbath), and “Bulls on Parade” (Rage Against the Machine) which brought the set to a stunning and intense conclusion and had, again, brought the room back to life.

During the performance, the singer kept sticking his tongue out, taking different rock star poses, and bulging his eyeballs. During the judge’s comments I said, “I thought you guys were really really good but I could do without the tongue exercises, and the slightly excessive rock posturing, and the bulging Ozzie eyes were a bit over the top. But I dig the fact that you rock hard and worship Satan.

The singer didn’t seem to like the Satan comment, but they did cover the Black Sabbath tune and “King Contrary Man” is a song about selling your soul to the devil so, what’s a brutha to think?

Last up was Five Miles High. There was really nothing wrong with these guys except that they were going against some stiff competition. They just didn’t bring it quite as much as 6ONE9, Jump Start, and Cold Shower did. Their set list was, “Superstition” (Stevie Wonder), “Play That Funky Music” (Wild Cherry) “Word Up” (Cameo), “Can’t Get Enough,” (Bad Company), “All the Small Things” (Blink 182) and the intro to “Rocky Mountain Way” (Joe Walsh).

Ok, “Superstition,” is a great song but man I gotta tell you, between DJ Mac playing Vanilla Ice every week, and the amount of times we judges are no doubt going to hear, “Play that Funky Music” – I might just lose my mind.

As for “Word Up,” well that song is just silly.

“Wave your hands in the air like you don’t care,
glide by the People as they start to look and stare.
Do you dance, do your dance quick
Mama, come on baby,

tell me what’s the Word, ah – word up…

Word up, it’s the code word,
No matter where you say it,
You’ll know that you’ll be heard.”

(I wonder which Starbucks the songwriter was sitting in when he wrote those lyrics)

Normally, with cover bands, I enjoy eclectic set lists, but when they were playing the funk and soul, it wasn’t quite jibing with their vibe. It wasn’t until they got into the straight rock and roll that they started pumping on all pistons. The Bad Company and Blink songs were great, and Rocky Mountain Way was on its way to being a fantastic jam. Alas, they ran out of time so they only played the intro.

Overall, a better than average set, just not quite as good as some of the others.

So that’s it for Week 3 of the Ultimate Music Challenge, except to shout out a quick bollocks to DJ Mac – who refuses to stop playing Vanilla Ice, despite the damage he knows it inflicts on my psyche. If he keeps it up, I’m going to bring in my copy of the Vanilla Ice Autobiography, Ice by Ice and read passages of it during the set breaks.

Don’t tempt me pal!

Edwin Decker
Judge #3
www.edwindecker.com