Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "alt rock"

Welcome back, Papa Roach

2011-02-28T06:01:35Z

Vacaville natives Papa Roach certainly know how to make an entrance.

Friday night at Ace of Spades opening bands Track Fighter and Will Haven had just finished their sets. As Queens of the Stone Age's "No One Knows" played on the PA during the set change before Papa Roach came out, something on stage (a light?) blew with a loud pop, giving off small plumes of smoke and triggering the fire alarm. Cue the firefighters walking through the sold-out crowd a few minutes later, but there was no indication that it was anything more than a precaution.

Thankfully it turned out to be a non-issue. The show went on as planned, and guy-linered frontman Jacoby Shaddix and company came out to much love from the international crowd (Shaddix said he recognized people from New York, London and Texas) and kicked things off with "Kick in the Teeth" from their latest album, "Time for Annihilation: On the Record & On the Road."

Years of touring and performing have not slowed down Shaddix. Whether he was revitalized by Sacramento or not, he made his presence felt — fingers pointing, wild eyes, jumping on speakers — as the band tore through energetic versions of "Lifeline," "Blood Brothers" and "Burn."

"Is Sacramento in this motherfucker?" he shouted, egging on the crowd. "Is Vacaville in this motherfucker?”

They were, and they were loving it.

Up next was radio-friendly "Hollywood Whore," and then banger "Broken Home," with its nasty, catchy guitar riffs. Shaddix's voice sounded a little hoarse, but the guys were still setting them up and knocking them down.

"It's great to be here in Sac! NorCal!" Shaddix said. "I've been tripping around the world for the last 10 years, and it's been a long time — a few years — since we've played a club show in Sac. I want to say thanks to Bret Bair and Eric Rushing for buying this venue so there's a proper place to see rock ‘n’ roll here. It's up to you to keep this place open by coming to see shows here!"

The alt-rock onslaught continued with "The Enemy," "Scars," "Getting Away with Murder," "Forever" and "Between Angels and Insects," a well-rounded set with radio singles balanced evenly with those cuts lesser known to the casual fan (who were probably few and far between at this show).

It's always interesting to see a successful band play a homecoming show. There was definitely a heavy sense of electric connection between band and audience in the air, and based on conversation I overheard, the VIP section was filled with family and friends. (I understand Shaddix lives in El Dorado Hills with his family, and guitarist Jerry Horton and family live in the Sacramento area as well.)

The cash-cow of the Papa Roach catalog, "Last Resort," was saved for the last song of the encore, ending a fun night and bringing it all back full circle, as Shaddix announced:

"We're gonna take it back to the fucker that started it all!"

Filter: Welcome back to the fold

2010-11-24T01:03:09Z

The extensive gear set up inside Harlow's Monday night foreshadowed a serious rock show taking place for the gathered crowd of 200. Drum kit and amp stacks on the stage covered in black cloth, two extra soundboards at the back of the house and side-stage, multiple guitar road cases – this band was here for here for some in-your-face rock.

In a performance promoting its new record “The Trouble with Angels,” Filter returned to the "Short Bus”-era formula that worked so well the first time around in the mid-’90s and gave fans the hard-charging riffs they expected to hear from the former alt-rock chart toppers.

Taking the stage dressed as the Unabomber, the former Nine Inch Nails guitarist Richard Patrick dove right into material from the new record, "The Trouble with Angels."

The riff-heavy new songs (“Drug Boy,” “No Love” and “The Inevitable Relapse”) detail Patrick's hedonistic past with drugs and alcohol (he's been sober for several years now).

The setlist was well-rounded, striking a neat balance between new material, a couple of lesser-known songs from recent Filter records ("The Take" and "So I Quit") and the tracks that made it easy for Patrick to draw on past experiences with the rock lifestyle's excesses.

Tracks that are more suited for the studio, like “Jurassitol” from “The Crow: City of Angels” soundtrack and “(Can’t You) Trip Like I Do” from the “Spawn” soundtrack took on a different iteration as they were played with live drums.

Fans expected and received the two biggest Filter hits.

“This is one of our fucking mega-hits. I hear this song in grocery stores,” said Patrick as he introduced “Take a Picture” from 1999’s “Title of Record,” sharing the example of hearing the track while shopping for diapers (Patrick has two young children).

The last song of the night was “Hey Man, Nice Shot” from 1995's "Short Bus." Sometimes misinterpreted as being about the suicide of Kurt Cobain, but actually about the public suicide of Pennsylvania state Treasurer Budd Dwyer, the song was an obvious crowd-pleaser, and Patrick screamed the chorus as if it were '95 and the song was just being released.

Patrick catered heavily to the Sacramento crowd. At times it seemed forced (repeated proclamations of “Sacramento rocks!”), but Patrick’s desire to connect with fans was endearing. He proclaimed his love for the Deftones, said the band would be hanging around afterward to take pictures and sign autographs ("We want to meet you guys!"), and several times during the show used fans' iPhones to take pictures and videos of the band performing before handing the phones back to their thrilled owners.

As Patrick himself told the crowd, "It's been like 10 years since the last decent Filter record came out, right?"

To his credit, it doesn’t seem like this tour is about riding on the coattails of past fame to make a quick buck. The new record is a return to form, and Patrick was turned up to 11 and completely engaging the entire show.

The enthusiasm for the band is still there from hardcore fans – Patrick succeeded in inciting a circle pit during the song "Dose," which I haven't seen done in Harlow's before. Will the group reach the heights of past alt-rock radio glory? Probably not – the success the band achieved the first time out is hard to replicate. But as one black T-shirt-clad fan said after the show, “That was the best ... rock show I’ve seen in a really long time.”

Photos: Steven Chea

New Heights for Jackson Road With Their Sophomore Album, 'Take Flight.'

2009-12-20T17:56:00Z

Jackson Road, an indie alt-rock band that originated in Sacramento, has taken a leap of faith. Their sophomore album, 'Take Flight,' was released late this year amidst the bandmates' sprawling personal ventures. You may even question whether divinity had a hand in the matter when you consider that the album took shape while Lead guitarist Ted Weldon began a bold and ambitious new series of artwork, drummer Christian Peters embarked to Southern California to begin an intensive music study, and Singer/Guitarist Nate Weldon re-teamed with the Tahoe Hotshots - an elite group of wilderness firefighters. While many of the songs on 'Take Flight' do reflect the feel and rhythm of the bands' first self-titled album (with more than a handful of catchy singles), the leap in their second endeavor is that they have boldly embraced that which makes them DIFFERENT. A risk few bands are willing to take in the current music industry climate.

'Take Flight' opens with the song 'Airliner,' which draws the listener in with drifting electric guitar, dreamlike echoing vocals, and just enough electricity to make your heart take the up beat. The mature sound leaves you feeling just a bit concerned that perhaps this isn't the band you thought it was. No worries. Their next song 'Californian' picks up right where the first album left off - with a jam you can sink your skateboard into, or jam to on your iPod while striding down the boardwalk along sunny beaches. Nothing keeps this band too moody for long. Though there is, overall, more recognition of strife, effort, and good old-fashioned grit in this album. While the mood of 'Take Flight' left me curious as to where this band is going next (a question, it seems, the band might be asking themselves in the song "Human Maze"), this album more than hints to the fact this band is ready to reach new heights.

Jackson Road is performing at Harlow's in Sacramento on Saturday, January 16th, 2010. Their album 'Take Flight' is available now on iTunes and Amazon.

http://jacksonroad.com

LA Band Red Cortez: Iconic Magic

2009-06-19T19:52:40Z

A week ago, I fell in love with new music for the first time since I stole my brother’s worn copy of Led Zeppelin’s Song Remains the Same album. I was fourteen and was smitten. Recently, a friend who road manages (I love his life), texted me, said he’d be in town with a new project at Marilyn’s on K Street, said he’d put me on the list—Tracy plus one. Normally, I avoid club bands I’ve never heard of, because they’re a dime a dozen and the best you can hope for is good in a sea of mediocre. But my LA pal is cool and has good taste, so I said why not. I wasn’t there five minutes, settling into a cush-backed chair, sipping refreshing water with bubbles, when they began to wail, and I felt that in-your-gut recognition of being in the presence of iconic brilliance. I know this makes me sound like a Fangirl, but I don’t care.

Red Cortez, formally The Weather Underground, not to be confused with the radical group from the 1970’s who started street riots, escalating to bombing federal targets as a means of confronting their failing U.S. government—although one can’t help but wonder at the intellectual, aesthetic choice of the former band name—stole my rock and roll heart. They opened my eyes to the fact: there is indeed life beyond big hair and lighter ballads. You just have to be willing to let go.

They blew my mind with their wholly inventive and totally unique, urban, melodic folk-like lyrics and generation-marking mix of beats and composition infused with Latin, alt rock, punk, blues, country, Mariachi, jazz, and R&B sounds. At once, Red Cortez is hard to define, impossible to peg them into any particular musical corner. But they’re also achingly familiar. I was poignantly attracted to their, melodic storytelling lyrics and their cosmically spiritual, sometimes whimsical arrangements. It’s something when you can forget you’re in space and time and music lifts you into its power and flow, the way history-making bands always do. This is Red Cortez.

I could go on about Diego Guerrero’s percussion, a skin hitter who seems to understand rhythm as if it were in his DNA, or Harley Prechtel – Cortez, whose voice, keyboard fingers, and lips around the harmonica are pure sex and every girl’s night in shining armor without alienating his male fans because he sings like his testicles are titanium. I could wax forever about Ryan Kirkpatrick’ bass lines, that seem betrothed to the cores of his brother’s souls, and I could ramble ions over Calvin J. Love’s guitar, which reminded me of The Edge in U2 who has a unique guitar delay which Love seems to channel, but whose virtuoso, commanding control of tempo and emotion oozes from his strings in a way that he can call his own. I could go on, but I won’t.

I’ll just predict these guys will become a Grammy-winning, iconic cornerstone of this generation’s musical lore, if they don’t screw it up. Mark my words: Red Cortez will make their nut in the emotional angst of this generation’s raw truth, and they will continue to ingratiate young and oldish alike to their stylings every time they grace us with their presence. You watch. They will.

It’s good to be in love again.