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Adam Evil & the Outside Royalty
Saturday · alchemize
Before the year is out, Pittsburgh’s Adam Evil & the Outside Royalty will have gigged in Cincinnati more than a lot of local bands. In addition to other shows around town, they performed at the MidPoint Music Festival for the third year running and are treasured ChicksRock Fest alums. Evil is a Cincinnati native, so that explains the soft spot, but lest you take his frequent visits for granted, remember that he’s hauling seven musicians from city to city! And there are no extraneous members in this outfit. In addition to the typical Rock machinery (guitars, bass, drums), Evil adds a healthy dose of analog synth and strings galore. More than a few bands have added cello and/or violin with mixed results, but AETOR’s Kat Agres and Echo are an integral part of the band’s evolved Glam Rock sound as well as their full-throttle stage show. Their live set evokes images of pegged VU-meters and various knickknacks vibrating off of speakers. Most of their songs are full-on Rock, but they’re equally adept at power balladry, really giving the strings a chance to shine. And although the Glam tag is frequently associated with heavy makeup, costumes and gender benders, occasionally donning a top hat is usually about as far as Evil pushes the fashion envelope, wisely choosing to let the music be the spectacle. The Royalty sports quite a pile of accolades for a band that’s been together only since 2003, making the Zippo Hot Tour finals last year, winning the WCVS (California, Pa.) band battle and getting featured on NPR’s Open Mic.
They also released their debut full-length in September. The self-titled disc is very dramatic, almost campy and doesn’t quite capture the kinetic qualities of their performance, but it’s a good enough surrogate to get you by until their next visit. (Ezra Waller)
Allister with Fenix, TX, Houston Calls and Day at the Fair
Tuesday · Top Cat’s
For an indie Punk Rock outfit, Chicago’s Allister have had a bit of an odd career trajectory. Formed in 1997 and originally called Phineas Gage, the quartet soon adopted their current moniker to pay homage to Alasdair Gillis from Nickelodeon’s old You Can’t Do That On Television kids show. Changes have ensued along the way, and only guitarist/lead singer Tim Rogner remains from the original lineup. They might have been just another set of suburban kids with angst had they not caught the ear of California’s Drive Thru Records, which recently release the band’s Before the Blackout. Rubbing shoulders with similar bands on that label’s roster opened the door to a wider audience via the movie Sleepover.
“It was kind of just by chance,” Rogner explains over the phone from the House of Blues in Anaheim. “Our record label was contacted by the producers of Sleepover, and they said, ‘We really like a lot of your bands; are any of them available to do this movie?’ It was between us and another band, and they ended up liking us and figured we would fit better for the part.”
Allister call themselves a Punk band, but that description somewhat understates their talent. Back in the day, Punk bands wrapped their angst around a lot of screaming, yelling and chanting. They didn’t craft songs so much as create mini-anthems. On their third album, the band continues to evolve and seem to be the best equipped among their peers to challenge Green Day for Pop Punk supremacy. A lofty goal, to be sure, but Before the Blackout demonstrates a real understanding of modern-day Pop Rock music and, more importantly, songwriting. Equally comfortable with straight ahead Rock like “Waiting,” Allister can shift gears and offer the poppier “A Study in Economics,” while still maintaining a consistent sound. “A Lotta Nerve” leans more to the rapid-fire construction of suburban Punk but has the hooks to keep it focused.
But can you make an appearance in Hollywood film and still maintain indie cred, or is there such thing anymore? “I don’t know these days,” Rogner says. “I don’t think there is such a thing as indie cred. Back when we first started as a band, I think there was. There was the whole issue, growing up on Punk Rock, the issue of selling out, not going to major labels, keeping it real and doing the whole thing, but now ‘Punk Rock’ is so commercial and accessible I really don’t think that that’s an issue.” (P.F. Wilson)
Vader with Decapitated and Dew-Scented
Tuesday · Elbo’s (Dayton)
The words “Polish Death Metal” might seem as mutually exclusive as “military intelligence” and “winnable war,” but Poland’s Vader has been waging a hugely successful worldwide campaign within the Extreme Metal community for nearly 20 years. They formed in 1986 while Poland was still under Communist rule, spending their first few years touring as much as possible and earning a solid reputation within the Metal tape-trading network with a series of brutal independent home recordings. As a result, the band’s 1990 demo, Morbid Reich, is still recognized as the best-selling demo tape in the history of Death Metal. Morbid Reich led to another first for Vader when they signed with Earache, becoming the first band from behind the Iron Curtain to ink a deal with a Western label; their label debut, 1993’s The Ultimate Incantation, is considered one of the landmark recordings of European Death Metal. But the album came at a time when Death Metal was declining and Vader was ultimately dropped from their label.
For a band that had been formed in an atmosphere of total oppression, this was a minor setback. Vader toured relentlessly and signed with Impact in Germany, resulting in three wildly successful albums in as many years. In 1998, Vader opened for Slayer in Poland, which ultimately led to their signing with Metal Blade. Over the past five years, Vader has gone through numerous lineup and label changes, but the constant for the band has been their desire to succeed against all possible odds. Their grueling tour schedule continues apace as they hit the road to support their latest EP, The Art of War. Like another similarly named entity, Vader is dark, menacing and ready to take over the universe. (Brian Baker)
This article appears in Nov 23-29, 2005.
