More Witches, same bikinis...

Written by myself and my freind the honorable Reverand Patrick Salomon (Pictured Below)

One year ago, you would have been hard pressed to find one person in the south central Pennsylvania musical know that knew of a little band called Witches in Bikinis. However, this year at the Millennium, the ratio of in-the-loop to out-of-the-loop had almost flipped. With a handful of people forgoing Sofari So Good’s set to camp out at the front of the stages that Witches in Bikinis would soon perform on, the returning rockers had carved a niche out in Harrisburg.
The group’s chromatic count was reduced by one as the orange bikini clad Joanna Walchuck a.k.a. JoJo—the first witch in the band—could not attend the show because of prior commitments. However, their energy and entertainment level did not falter.
Delighting fans, new and old, with their particular brand of theatrical based, b-movie themed catchy, lively, and bouncy rock, WIB got the crowd moving like no other band on Friday or Saturday night.
It goes without saying that the Witches themselves are a tour de force on the stage. Singers Karen Weatherwax and Carolyn Demisch, aqua and pink respectively, grace the audience at MMC12 with their sexy vocal talents while dancing along with Julie Betts, Emily Reiter, and Elizabeth Ellis—purple, green, and blue respectively. The choreography is stellar, and the band behind the ladies is comprised of nothing but talented musicians.Dance routines for the older songs from their first, self titled, album were created by two official choreographers. For the newer tunes, the ladies themselves design the routines. WIB is in the process of recording a new album, title TBA. At the Raddison they showcased several new tunes, including Freak Show and Jen of the Jungle.
But how did this phenomenon get started? Who’s idea was it to have a bunch of good looking girls, with great pipes and theatrical talent to boot, on stage backed by a handful of proficient musicians that play campy, horror style, non-offensive fun schlock rock? And, more importantly, why didn’t anyone have it sooner?
WIB is the brainchild of lead guitarist, Bill Rozar. With a degree in piano composition from Rutgers, and an appreciation for 70's rock and horror movies, Rozar created the concept of WIB."I wrote some songs, recorded some songs with friends," says Rozar after performing at the Raddison on February 16. "Eventually we had a whole album's worth of songs."On Halloween of 2005, Rozar held a CD release party at The Slipper Room in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. For the first year, gigs consisted of two "Witches" dancing to prerecorded background tracks. In September of 2006, a live band was added to the mix consisting of Rozar on guitar and keyboard, drums, and bass. More dancers were added to the mix as well as a rhythm guitar to make up the theatrical rock show that we see today.Rozar draws influence from growing up with old 60's rock, 70's surf rock, and B horror flicks. He watched The Ed Sullivan Show as the British Invasion hit our side of the pond and grew up listening Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, and Alice Cooper. His love of rock and roll permeates throughout the entire WIB experience, giving the edge to what some would consider a campy gimmick show.Rozar explains that WIB was originally more of a theatrical production, but he wanted to add more music."A lot of people on Broadway tried bringing the rock stage to the theater," explains Rozar. I'll be honest, I don't like Broadway tunes that much... I wanted to bring the theater to the rock stage."WIB certainly brings theater to the rock stage, with an undeniably original edge, while still staying true to the creator's rock roots.

But what about the nay-sayers? Surely, there are people who say that the band is just a gimmick, and a bad one at that. However, the WIB haven’t encountered any of those haters.
“[if they think that] they haven’t said it to my face,” said Reiter. “Generally we get very positive feedback. I think they know that it’s a fun show, that we’re not taking ourselves too seriously. I mean we are, but in a very light-hearted way.”
Their work has paid off in the sense that WIB is slowly but surely building a grassroots fan base that is as committed as they are loyal.
One of the chimpanzees that were called up on stage during “Party like a Chimpanzee” was Tamara Heagy, a devoted fan to the WIB cause. Heagy, a 28-year old District Attorney Association employee from Lemoyne, first heard of the band through an ad for Millennium last year. She had one thought after seeing the ad…this is odd.
It was the band’s theatrical style attracted her to WIB at first.
“We sat down and watched them, and it’s like watching a show. There’s singing and dancing, they’re very engaging. Since I do theatre as well, it’s like they speak to me completely.”
Heagy performed in shows such as Guys and Dolls and Pippin’ while attending Lebanon Valley College, studying music recording technology.
Since last year’s performance at the Radisson, Heagy, whose musical tastes range from 1930’s swing bands to Hoobastank, has traveled to every show in PA, sans one, to watch her favorite band. Because of her hardcore commitment to the group, she’s become a friend of manager Julie Rozar, and has even been invited to stay at their house up in New York.
However, it was WIB that has actually come to Heagy’s residence.
Before a show at Gulifty’s in Harrisburg, the band was invited to come and change into their costumes at Heagy’s house, located only a couple blocks away.
“Usually they just change backstage at the show…and you don’t want to do that,” explained the superfan, clad in her own dark purple wig, “so we said, ‘hey guys, why don’t you just come on over, relax a little bit, and get your costumes on.’ So we just basically hosted them for the evening.”One thing is for sure, WIB is quickly finding a home in south central Pennsylvania.

Buhwawwk!

Saturday night at the Radisson kicked off with two bands that will make any Dutchman proud. Lebanon Valley College’s own Folk Chicken and the Shakedown each played an energetic set to the small amount of people that attended the all night concert series.
First up was Folk Chicken, a fourteen piece genre defying collaboration of music lovers and eccentric minds.
Even the 105.7 the X’s Nixon was taken aback by the band. “Let’s see how this works out.”
Backhanded introductions aside, the ginormous band was as gifted as they were unconventional. One of the more subtle aspects of the band was the extra percussion. During one of the songs, Joe Stolarick played the beer bottle. And I’m not talking about playing it like a flute or a jug, he played it with thimbles on his fingers, lightly tapping the glass.
The thing about this slight touch is that it went unnoticed until I saw it. I could hear a clicking that went along with the song but I couldn’t tell it was being made by the beer bottle. However, as soon as I saw the “folk instrument” I realized its brilliance and that the song really wouldn’t be complete without it.
Folk Chicken played a brilliant mix of indefinable music that included great vocal work by both Dan Anderson and Justin Lutz. Other stand outs in the group included the horn work of Adam Brashear, the mandolin management of Josh Batista, the jaunty banjo of Mike Greinke, the saucy strings of Mary Auker and the colorful clarinet of Kristi Jacobsen.
When the quirky hijinks of LVC’s indie best were over, it was time for something a little more mainstream.
The Shakedown took the stage with considerably less members but with the same amount of energy and excitement.
Led by Ryan Cagno, an LVC freshman, the quintet played a powerful mix of pop sensible vocals with rocking guitars and pounding drums. Dave Daniel, master of the skins, also chimed in quite often with his own brand of screams. The dichotomy worked for the band, adding aggressive chaos to well crafted calmness.
Two songs stood out above the rest, however, to the band’s dismay, they were covers.
“We keep playing these shows,” Cagno explained, “and saying we’re not going to play covers, but they end up loving it.”
None-the-less, the band’s rendition of American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone” was enough to make the crowd go wild. Even Folk Chicken, fresh off the stage from their own set, could be seen dancing and singing around. Any band that can get 14 indie kids to sing a long with Kelly Clarkson is worth their weight in cover gold. They proved that point later in the set as they played a song by Justin Timberlake.
Though there’s room for improvement, the Shakedown is a fun band to watch and a good show to catch.

Witches in Bikinis...

Yeah. It's pretty awesome. I feel as though for this post, pictures speak louder than words. So here's what you all want to see.

It's all about the Rock pt. 5

And now for something completely different.
While I had never seen the Underwater in concert before, or ever really heard more than two of their songs for that matter, I had known their bassist for a while.
Derek Euston, an alumnus of our fair LVC, is remembered by the few people on my campus that were here four years ago, as the guitarist for the Dutchmen based band Locrian.
Gone are the days of Locrian however. Euston has now taken the plunge with an established area rock band.
Though not taking the stage until after midnight, the Underwater played to the biggest crowd of the evening—or morning at that point. Bringing with them a crowd of slightly rowdy, but loyal followers, the band had come straight from a gig at the World Café on the University of Pennsylvania campus.
Their travels were finished but their work had just begun as the members of the Underwater took the stage, sans their lead singer. An instrumental introduction proved their proficiency and enticed listeners, new and old, with a taste of what was to come.
Playing to a crowd half the size of the room but proving they could have rocked a room that was twice as big, the band played with energy passion and a lot of fun. Headlining the later part of that was their lead singer, Dan Thomas, who handled the in-between-song-awkwardness with aplomb.
“You gotta help me out guys,” he said to the audience, “you guys are just standing there crossing your arms.” Thomas went on to make a general announcement to the entire audience. “Don’t cross your arms. As a matter of fact, if the person next to you is crossing their arms, punch them in the face. If they give you any crap about it, tell them I said to do it. It will be ok.”
Inciting violence aside, Thomas was almost stoic while performing, a huge shift from many vocalists of his kind. While cliché rock moves and cool microphone poses usually tend to litter the floor of such rock shows, the Underwater’s set was devoid of classic rock stances. His stillness does not come from concentration, as his vocal duties are performed effortlessly, its more of a sense that he knows he does not have to go crazy to captivate.
There’s really no questions as to why the Underwater has such a big following. Every piece of their band is as tight as possible and can rock other bands below sea level.

It's all about the Rock pt. 4

After a quick jaunt over to the Bridges lounge it was back to the rock. For the second time in two years it was time to see the Drama Club at the MMC.
Their set was the same kind of energetic emo-infused, classic rock influenced heavy hitting sound that I, and other fans, have come to crave. Nick Coyle took to the mic with confidence after last year’s performance. The crowd had doubled since the first band of the evening and was more than ready to rock.
The room tingled with excitement and energy and the Drama Club wrapped up their set with the ‘out there’ track “Man From Outer Space.” After tearing down their equipment, I was able to catch a quick word with frontman Coyle.
I asked him about the dichotomy of their music. While the guitars pound and the bass booms, the vocals and lyrics dance around gracefully with almost happy tones. To some this seems a bit odd, to Coyle it’s nothing special.
“Country music can be about death metal stuff if they wanted to. It’s not that heavy. We could make it heavier. It’s no Slayer song.”
Coyle also spoke about his vocal influences and the progression of his voice from screamer heavy Lifer to the more melodic tones of the Drama Club.
“In Lifer, the screaming thing, was something I did that wasn’t my norm. Every band I had been in before Lifer was more along the lines of sining that was heavily influenced by big rock songs—Journey, you know stuff like that where it’s just big hang out and rock it kind of things.”
He went on to say that Lifer was something that was attempting to be trendy. I got the sense that Coyle feels way more at home with the Drama Club and it shows on stage.
However, while Coyle feels more at home, their guitarist, a founding member, has flown the coup. The line-up that played the MMC had only practiced together twice but was still as tight as any other band that played.
“Last week we just decided to ****ing rock it,” explained Coyle. “We weren’t going to cancel any shows.”
I, for one, am glad they didn’t.

A break from the rock

A brilliant change of pace, located only a brisk (and I do mean brisk as I left the comfort of the Radisson in only a t-shirt and jeans) walk away, the Bridges lounge at the hotel provided a more subdued tone for the nigh hard of hearing rockers next door.
Kicking off the entertainment at the lounge was youngster singer/songwriter Chelsea Lee. She proved that big things can come in small packages as her frame betrayed her pipes. A voice like that of a 10-year veteran of the pop game came bounding out of a body that has yet to see college. Even the cantankerous bartender and middle-aged scotch drinker that conversed between songs mentioned how surprised they were with her vocal abilities.
Looking slightly sheepish this songstress sang of the sensitive struggles of smitten singles. (I guess the coffee shop atmosphere really brought the literary language out of me. Even in asides I can’t stop alliterating.) While her sound was that of a straight down the middle chick with guitar, her voice perfected the genre.
However, the act to follow was not so special. Ryan Swink, though talented and proficient, had the typical coffee shop strummer style and sound. I was pleasantly surprised that the young man did not play “Hey Delilah,” even when his voice would have been perfect for it.
Though once when I got distracted I was treated to the sight of Celine Dion singing on some prime-time special. It’s always good when Celine is seen and not heard. Even better when her mouth sinks up to the words and vocals of a 20-something man.

Its all about the rock pt. 3

Eye C Snakes (I don’t know why they choose to spell their name thusly, trust me though, they are cooler than it makes them sound) was the one band I hadn’t heard of before that I wanted to see during Friday night’s festivities at the Radisson. Today, while I should have been working on essays and/or answering phones at work, I chose instead to sneak a peek at various MySpace pages of bands that were playing tonight.
This band caught my ear automatically. A heavy sound, ripe with distortion and disturbing sound waves, toped with a light and airy vocal of an aesthetically pleasing woman. I won’t pass that up any day of the week.
The siren took to the mic surrounded by her Y-chromosomed accomplices in rock. While there were many elements of metal, the band blended a solid old-school rock sound to create a low end driven riff-tastic noise that was delightfully distorted. All of this laid underneath vocals that could not have been more organic, presenting the yin to the music’s proverbial yang.
Visually Eye C Snakes was a treat. Showing that maybe their name is choice of on ocular theme over an individual theme, the band moved rhythmically around their highly-animated drummer. The vocalist danced and seduced through every motion, propelled by her bandmates beats and riffs. One thing is for sure, all eyes were glued to the lady in black.
It is only so often that a band can pull of such a heavy sound with a woman’s touch for vocals. Specifically, Eye C Snakes does it very well. The dichotomy of their music is complex but not fabricated. Definitely a band worth checking out.

It's all about the rock pt. 2

You may be able to find this in the GO! section of pennlive.com

Lately I’ve come to know many, many bands that have taken a page from the script of the Badlees or Sister Hazel. That kind of down-home, grassroots rock n’ roll runs rampant, I’ve found, through south central Pennsylvania.
Ledbetter Heights is one of the better bands that bring this particular genre of rock to light. The band opened up the scheduled events for the night, playing to a far-less-than packed house. Their tone was subtle and their presence a bit subdued.
However, with very strong vocal quality and a very tight sound, Ledbetter Heights presented a chilled-out atmosphere that still managed to raise spirits invigorate the small crowd.
Watching these guys play I realized how much I missed the small-venue rock show, or the large-venue small-time band rock show. All too many times in the recent months I have found myself at large venues watching very trendy bands. When I shell out $30-40 on a band, I want to enjoy myself. However, at these shows, it seems I am more pissed off about the people that seem to think an aisle forms off my right shoulder and the trendy kids that sing along at the top of their lungs because maybe, just maybe, the lead singer can hear them and think they are good.
Millennium provides a large enough venue to have space to your self yet feel intimate with the band. It really just doesn’t get better than standing in a crowd of less than 200 people watching a band that rocks and loves to do so. It’s what rock is all about, what music should be about.

Its all about the Rock pt. 1

You might be able to find the following in the GO! Section of pennlive.com

Here I am again, one year later, back at the Radisson in Camp Hill. It’s Millenium time again and I can almost smell the rock in the air. Well maybe that’s not rock but that sure as shootin’ smell like something. While me and my partner in crime, Patrick, arrived an hour early to the festivities, we were treated to an set by a band that was left off the online schedule.
The CCL, which we would come to learn stood for Codorus Cruise Line, opened the night up to a pretty empty ballroom. After the run-of-the-mill sound check shenanigans, the trio was ready to rock. The lead singer told us so by taking off his shirt, international symbol for “get the heck up and bang your head.”
Though their look and feel was just a tad cliché, it all seemed to work and energize the handful of people that showed up to watch them. CCL played a set full of open road songs that are played best while blairing out of the stereo of a Trans Am while blazing a path on the highway during a mid-summer cross country extravaganza.
Just goes to show that not everything that has been done before has been done well. Sounding a bit like the flash-in-the-pan that was Buckcherry, CCL was high-energy and definitely enjoyed what they did. And that was enough to start the night off on the right foot.

Brand Spankin'...

NEW!
Isn't it weird how newness and fresh goodies can get us so excited? Well, not really, once you think about it I guess. Nevermind then.

Just kidding. But (honest to blog) I do get really excited when I find something hear or see something new. There are different kinds of new though--let me show you what I mean through three examples I've recently found.

New Twists- Flogging Molly

I've been a fan of this particular celtic punk band since their use on the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 sound track circa 2002. I've seen them in shows, picked up all of their live albums and claimed death to anyone who says that the Dropkick Murphys are better. (One of those isn't true, you guess which) Recently I flipped to their MySpace page and lo and behold, a new song!

"Requiem for a Dying Song" is by far the most accessable that FM has ever sounded. However, their new, polished and dance-able-not-jig-able style is refreshing and vibrant. It's got everything that old FM fans rejoice over and yet is an easy jumping-on point for any new fans of the band or genre in general. Even my girlfriend, who was less than enthused about their previous work, said that the song was pretty sweet.

New Style- The Hush Sound

One of my favorite bands over the past two years or so, The Hush Sound has been my little-band-that-could since I first heard "Wine Red" in the summer of '06. Again, perusing the MySpace I came accross two of their new offerings from the eagerly anticipated, at least by me, Goodbye Blues. The first song released, "Medicine Man" blew me away. First of all, Gretta, who on their previous two albums has been a shy-sounding songstress has blossomed into a full-grown syren with a set of pipes that could sink even the most seasoned sailor. The new sound echoes on blusey (hence the title) rock that displays Gretta's full power, instead of masking her uncultivated potential. Despite that last sentance, the band's first two albums are possible the best freshman and sophomore efforts in recent history and it's truly amazing to see the young band reach their potential. If these two songs are any indication of how good this next album will be, the Hush Sound will take off this winter, exploding onto the mainstream.

New Edition- Wolverine and the X-Men

Nothing in this world--nothing--gets me excited like new geek news and this takes the cake! It's new, it's animated and it's the X-Men! One of my favorite websites http://www.comicbookmovie.com/ (yes, I plug this website because it's my #1 source for geek news regarding screens big and small) has posted a trailer for a brand new cartoon staring everyone's favorite mutants.(or second favorite depending how you rank the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) I was so stoked to see new images of my favorite characters, Beast and Angel (though not my two most favorite, they are some of my top five and were pictured). Though it looks a lot like X-Men Evolution, which I never got into because my VCR was broken and I don't like waking up early on Saturdays, the cartoon looks to be a strong combination of the usual animated style with the core characters and characteristics of the X-Men from the comics. I cannot wait til this airs...if it ever does. We all know too many ill-fated cartoons that were leaked before there time. Let us hope that this one does not join their ranks.