The Whiskey, Hollywood - February 17, 1999
| Okay, Godsmack to me seems to have a split personality. Sometimes, they can sound exactly like every other hard rock Korn-tones wannabe band out there, with every standing band member just doing that "pump-your-body-forward-on-every-beat" thing. However, sometimes, their other personality can show up and they can be really, REALLY creative. During their 45-minute set at the Whisky, they had at least TWO little 5-minute jam sessions, which were the highlight of their set. Surprisingly enough, they are the first hardcore band I have ever seen to do this (and believe me, I've seen tons of local bands who must pray every night to their gods Chino Moreno and Jonathan Davis). A note to all bands who rely on a really loud PA system and nothing else: YOU SUCK! MIX IT UP A LITTLE BIT! JAM!! A LOT!! During one of these jam sessions, the singer (who, by the way, would probably get fingered in a police lineup if Ed, the singer from Live ever committed a crime) had a little drum/cymbal/latin percussion setup (with one of those cowbells that can make anyone sound like a percussionist for Santana) brought out on stage and played along with the drummer. There should be more of this! When they were jamming, they were better than nearly every other hard band I've ever seen. Not to say that their songs weren't good. They were. I just wouldn't be able to tell them from anyone else. Grinspoon was well...good, for lack of a better word. They were loud and heavy. Musical yes, but mainly loud and heavy. They're Australian and the singer took time between nearly every song to say "Cheers!" and take a swig from the beer bottle that never left his side (until he shook it up and splattered it all over himself). It was clear that he was very drunk but thankfully not enough to cause him to screw things up. They were good, not really my thing (god, that sounds stupid and overused), but good. If you're into loud, heavy, pissed off Australian rock, then you're not gonna find a better band, but then again, how would I know? Out of the three bands, I would have to say that Pushmonkey, the opener, was the best. They were by far the most melodic of the three (having all of the five band members singing will do that). They had the catchiest songs. There wasn't one song that they played that I couldn't hear being played on one of those hard rock radio stations that worship Korn as much as local L.A. bands. All five of the band members had their own distinct personality and stage presence. You could spot any one of them in the club later and say, "hey, aren't you the _____ player from Pushmonkey? DUDE!!!!" The singer was a good performer. You could clearly tell that he loves to play live. However, the only problem was that you could tell that he was trying to perform, kind of overdoing it. But he WAS entertaining. He didn't just stand in one place (like the guy from Grinspoon, no offense). He was all over, jumping around, bear hugging one of the guitarists from behind while he was still playing. He even brought out this crappy old bass drum and was standing on it and jumping off it. Near the end, he (or someone else) put a whole bunch of water (I hope it was water) on it and then he pounded it, sending a whole mess of wetness out into the crowd. So, even if the music sucked, they still would have been at least entertaining (for a couple of minutes anyway). However, as I said before, musically, they were the best band on the bill. I would go see any of these bands again. I recommend them to any fan of even semi-hard rock music, even if they're not into the whole Ozzfest-metal scene. Too bad, next time they come around to L.A. they will all probably be a lot bigger... |
Review By:
-Nick Schutz
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