w/Twisted Roots, Hour Past, and Heart-Shaped Rock

On fairly short notice the Twisted Roots guys asked us to play a benefit for one of their sons, who needs an operation. An old friend of mine from back in NJ is in a similar situation with his young daughter, so I know something about how the poor guy must feel. Needless to say, we agreed as long as we could go on first, as Jack goes to bed early on Sunday nights (work for him on Mondays starts at 2:30am.) So, we went on at 9 and played a half hour set, five songs that are not recorded yet but will be on the full-length that is coming out in 2007. It sort of felt like a showcase and truth be told we played great despite the small crowd (since it was 9pm on a Sunday night this wasn’t all that surprising.) Those who were there loved it. Heart-Shaped Rock came on next and played very early 90’s alterna-guitar pop, a sort of a Liz Phair meets Belly thing (and their guitar player really smoked.) I only caught a couple of Twisted Roots numbers but now that I have finally heard them I can say that they remind me a lot of the Screaming Trees. The two songs I heard were great. Hour Past went on long after we left but I”ve seen them before. While I don’t care for the TYPE of music they play (generic radio-rock), truth be told they play it so well I don’t object to them. Their vocalist is very talented. Plus my pal, former Hushed bassist Nick is playing with them now, and if Nick sees fit to play with them they must have something going for them.