Words and Photos: DJ
Seems like these days everywhere you look we have more music pumping through the channels and even more live music hitting all corners of the earth. The bands sure are making up for lost time, and that’s not a bad thing. On this prime Wednesday evening, the Alt Rock LA group Badflower brings their headline tour Ask For A Friend, to Mars Music Hall in Huntsville, AL. With them, they bring openers Blood Red Shoes and Des Rocs.
Having not been familiar with the Brighton England group Blood Red Shoes before, I was curious to hear their sound as the two members of the band singer/guitarist Laura-Mary Carter and Drummer Steven Ansell are a tight duo. The sound is raw and zany and enjoyed the distortion and rhythms they brought forward. A nice opener for folks not familiar too much with the alternative genre. Check them out I thought they put on a nice set.
Next up is New York Rocker Des Rocs. If you want to base a performance solely based on energy, then Des (birth name Daniel Rocco) brought it to live. This man has some serious energy live and it was obvious from the onset. With a mix of Elvis meets The Struts, he sure has a flare to his performance and songs. Some of the top cuts that stood out to me were “Used to the Darkness” and “Let Me Live/Let Me Die”. Wearing a classic doo-wop jacket has never been this cool, his on-stage persona and energy made this set lively. Check him out cause the man is on a mission to bring RocknRoll to the masses. Left me impress and will check out his back catalog for certain.
The Badflower guys are next and we come to find out before the set that singer Josh Katz has an ankle injury and the crew brings out a chair for him to perform. Talk about nitty and gritty and toughing it out, the epidemy of what the band and their music are, Katz comes out and puts the stool aside and decides to play without it, kicking ass on one ankle never felt this good. Badflower’s beginnings can be traced back as far back as 2008, and talk about building yourself from the ground up, these guys certainly know the definition of grinding. Some of the most personal lyrics have set the tone for some of their biggest successes the likes of “Ghost”, and “Heroin”, all get played live with immense intensity and flawed kinship.
The guys are all about just playing, not really into the dramatics and flare, they just bring it to live without any compromises. All business as they carry other top cuts with “The Jester” which has a killer vibe and sounds even better live and later “Xanax” with it’s subliminal and abstract video graphics in the background. The set ends with “30” and the mid-week crowd whets their appetite and they want more.
I have to give big credit to Katz for coming up and still toughing out with a bum ankle. The whole band sounded great live and when the smoke clears, they leave it all on stage, how it should be. What a great set!!!
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