Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009
rock and comedy at the clubhouse myrtle beach
By Michael Wood
For Weekly Surge
Saturday night (Jan. 17) the guys from The Izm threw a party at the Clubhouse Myrtle Beach with four bands and a comedian. I was familiar with all the bands, but with the comedian thrown into the mix, I was interested to check this show out. When I got there, it turned out that their door guy was in the hospital for reasons unknown, and they asked me to take money at the door. Since that was basically the best seat in the house, this seemed fine to me (the free beer that was thrown in helped, too!).
The first thing I noticed about this show was that at 10 p.m. there was no sign of a band on stage. With five acts on the bill, I was wondering how they were going to squeeze it all together before 2 a.m. There was already a packed house, consisting of the usual suspects and a few newbies.
Shortly after 10, the first band, Tortion, hit the stage. Tortion is from Johnsonville, N.C. They started their set with a song called “The Nasty” and that pretty much set the tone of the next 45 minutes. They played grunge-y rock ‘n’ roll with a Southern attitude (and plenty of Southern banter between songs). However, they did have their share of power ballads, too. They had a sound that threw heavy nods to bands such as Fuel, Breaking Benjamin, Staind, etc. Probably the most interesting part of the set was their cover of Seven Mary Three’s “Cumbersome.” Nice guys, good players, but nothing that sets them apart from every other band you might hear on modern rock radio.
After Tortion played, The Izm’s Jaeson Moore got up to emcee the night, throwing shout outs and introducing the acts.
Before the second band, local comedian Suicide Jimmy (originally from Boston) came up to give us a few jokes. He talked about living in S.C., cops, strip clubs, and Justin Timberlake. He suggested that listening to JT is like “being last in line at a gang bang, and cuddling afterwards.” It was a nice change from the normal rock show scenario to see a comedian, and he was pretty funny too.
The Izm came up next and rocked the eff out. They take the regular old hard rock formula and add some odd time signatures, thought-provoking lyrics, and do it at a high energy level. The highlight of the band is the singer, the aforementioned Jaeson Moore. He has a soulful voice that sticks out over heavy guitars well, and he is so animated that it's nearly impossible to ignore. It's so refreshing to see a band that just puts themselves completely into the music and obviously just enjoys what they are doing. The Izm's energy is infectious. I recommend seeing these guys ASAP. They threw in a cover of Tool's “Stinkfist,” and System of a Down's “Chop Suey.” Those two songs are perfect cover choices for them, considering their sound lands somewhere right between those two bands. The only thing I'd like to see change with these guys is I’d love to see them get a second guitarist. I think it would thicken up their sound nicely. Probably the funniest thing I heard all night was hearing a girl in the crowd; referring to Moore, say, “I love a black guy who doesn't rap!”
Local metal/punk rockers The Shark Legs were up next. They played their set of Iron Maiden-meets-Misfits material, and did it well. They seemed somewhat sober that night, so it was pretty tight. Singer Ed Tanner, heckled the crowd between songs, and got them going. Everyone was especially fired up during the song “Devil in my Bed.” The Shark Legs are always fun to see. They were on their A game that night and threw in a cover of “Dig up Her Bones” by The Misfits.
By this time it was getting late, but everyone had a fair amount of booze in them and was not ready to go, so at 1 a.m. Zero Motivation hit the stage. They have managed to mix angry, aggressive songs and add catchy, melodic bass-lines that keep it from being too meathead. They take old school thrash, mix it with punk rock, and throw in an occasional ska part. They had a bunch of drunken people up front dancing around and rocking out, and they even had a couple of girls doing some booty dancing. Nice!
The show ended around 1:45, just in time to get everyone out by 2. It was a long, but satisfying night of rock n' roll.
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