Doin'
It for the "Maple Leaf"
Two Canadian
Bands Support Sevendust
AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES IN HOLLYWOOD
/ MONDAY FEBRUARY 21ST, 2000
By Caren Spitler
Heavy rockers, Sevendust have surrounded
themselves with some really cool opening bands on their current tour.
Canadian girl rockers Kittie have been along for the road trip, and our
temporary LA residents (also Canadian rockers) Slaves on Dope had the
honor of opening for them here at the House of Blues.
SLAVES ON DOPE
Having the opening slot on a bill is more often a curse than a blessing, since the band usually plays to a smaller crowd; but the early turnout for this show was larger than anticipated. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that the first band on stage has a very big following here in LA. Slaves on Dope are easily one of the best bands on the local scene today.
The Slaves, Kevin (guitar), Rob (drums), Frank (bass), and Jason (vocals) played a seamless and positively perfect set beginning to end. They brought their performance to a new level that night. The band was on! They guys played the songs to a perfection of mathematical proportions. Jason's vocals were as passionate as they could ever be, and you could clearly hear every word of his lyrical assault. The biggest problem this band had that night was that their set was just a bit too short, they managed to get in only 5 songs. Just a taste of what these guys can do. Slaves took the HOB stage with all the command and power of legendary rock-stars.
It looked and felt right, they worked the stage like they owned it. By the end of the first song the room was starting to feel them. At the end of "I Can't Die," the chorus slows as Jason's highly intense vocals are punctuated by the wrath of Rob's weighty drumbeats, I could see the crowd was beginning to get their vibe, There were some Slaves on Dope fans there, and I am willing to bet more than a few new fans left the House of blues that evening. They threw down "Bitch Slap," this song is so "in your face" and real you'll realize these boys aren't playing around. Before they were forced to give up the stage, they gave us a new song, "Brett Michaels" I have only heard this song twice, but it's bad ass! It offers you all of what Slaves has to offer. The new tune summed up Slaves at their best it's super-dynamic with wicked nasty melody and cutting guitar riffs. This was a great song to end the set with even if they did not plan it that way.
To quote the previous article, "if you don’t know them, then maybe you should!" It looks like those of you who don't know this band will soon get your chance. Look for lots of great things to happen for this band
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Slaves Set List I Can't Die Pushing Me Bitch Slap Tremolo Brett Micheals
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KITTIE
These four girls are fresh out of a small town in Canada and ready to start something. If the name brings visions of sweet, cute, and cuddly guess again. Spit and fire would be closer. Hellcats. This girl band is on their way to the top and I pity the fool who tries to stop them. With their recently released debut album Spit (on Artemis Records) and being confirmed to play Ozzfest later this year, every one is buzzing about Kittie. The four girls Morgan, Fallon, Talena, and Mercedes are, respectively, singer, guitar, bass, and drums. And if you are wondering, yes, they can play! How do you think they landed a spot on tour with one of the biggest names in heavy music?
Kittie came on and showed all, yeah, girls can rock! Starting the set with the title track from the album "Spit." The opening guitar riffs of the song are just begging for the mosh pit to get started, as Megan begins to spew out the angry lyrics in a scream laced with venom. Other than the fact that the singer screams out lyrics a bit more than she does on the recording, the songs translate well in a live performance. The room was starting to feel their vibe right away, when they played the first single "Brackish." That song is catchy (not in a pop way) it's tough, raw, crunchy, and just sexy enough to slap you around a bit. They all weilded their chosen musical weapons with the same skill as on the aforementioned CD. By the third song, "Charlotte" Morgan's started to use her voice more, and it was sooo nice. Just when the girls were really going the set was almost over. They gave us with "Jonny," and Mercedes hit us with her awesome drum technique, she is formidable! I know we will be hearing a lot about these four. I anticipate only great things to come from Kittie in the future.
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Kittie's set list Spit Brackish Charlotte Suck Jonny Run (cover tune) |
Check out more pix of these and other great bands in our PHOTOPAGES
