By Lisa DiCarlucci
Tucked away on Lafayette St. in downtown Manhattan is Santos Party House, an intimate venue owned by Andrew W.K. Though small in size and unassuming in decor, this place packed them in and truly rocked out last Friday when Kittens Ablaze, TAB the band, and Bang Camaro took the stage. The show gave hope to sufferers of pathetic punked-out-emo that real rock and roll is not dead, but alive and well with these three bands.
The opening band, Kittens Ablaze, gave a high powered performance that not only combined electric and acoustic guitar simultaneously, but also had two female members that played the cello and violin, respectively.
What can be assumed to be a heavy metal band by the name alone is far from screaming, dark lyrics. Kittens Ablaze not only gives an engaging performance but gives an impression that the band is more of a collaborative music making experience.
While strange lighting effects during the set could have sent anyone into epileptic shock, the members feed off each other’s energy and the audience easily did the same.
Following Kittens Ablaze was TAB the band, a talented young band whose diction could be better, but who prove that words don’t matter that much when you’re rocking out. Their sound is refreshing and evokes an older, more classic rock sound. In a modern sense, they might remind listeners of bands like The Hives or Jet.
These guys have the potential to be the best thing to come out of rock and roll in a long time and are already making their claim to fame, having “a whole 5 seconds” from their song, “Looking Pretty” featured on HBO’s hit show, “Entourage,” recalled lead singer, Adrian Perry.
Perry’s vocals are rough and kind of grungy, similar to his look, but the entire band’s clean instrumental talent and energy create a perfect balance and a sick sound. Their two albums are available on iTunes and are highly recommended.
The headliner, Bang Camaro, is best known for having a track on iTunes, but what makes this band really stand out is the number of members. An intimidating nine microphones were set up behind the three instrumentalists and were soon filled with men of all sizes and styles ready to rock out. And rock out, they did.
Fist-pumps, head-bangs and all, Bang Camaro provided the highest energy, communal rock experience to hit such a small venue in a long time. The energy was electric throughout the audience and the show was genuinely just a lot of fun. Not many bands can have such a high powered set but still create such a sense of intense joint effort of crowd and band. Their lyrics are simple and hardly audible most of the time, but no one seems to care, and sings along anyways.
Bang Camaro makes you want to be a part of the performance and by having the stage just as full as the floor, it’s hard not to be. “Guitar Hero” is fun and all, but this is definitely a band worth getting off your couch and seeing live.