Accordians, Glam Rock and Death

This past Saturday Rudyard’s Pub was the place to be for live music … The night began with a one-man band known as Benjamin Wesley whose MySpace page states he’s located in Baytown, TX. Hmmm, David Beebe once said “Baytown is so uncool, it’s cool” … Maybe, but if Mr. Wesley does indeed reside there it just got a lot cooler.

This guy is incredible to say the least starting his set playing bass and electric guitar, working his synths and drum machines and singing. Makes you wonder where he goes from here showing us he has no need for band mates. Actually he has quite the advantage there … No internal band drama, he only performs what he wants and how he wants it, a surefire way to have 100% control over the creative. His talent seems to go on-and-on switching between various string instruments, he’ll even throw in some accordion. A show worth seeing if he were the only one on the bill, Benjamin Wesley is no stranger to the Houston music scene; he’s played the Houston Press Awards Showcase, the Continental Club and has appeared at Cactus as well

Next in the line-up was a band one would’ve thought was going to bring out the New York Dolls as a headliner, the band … Roky Moon and BOLT. Full of ’70s glam rock sound and attitude this band will make you want to grab your best gal or guy and shake up the dance floor. Strangely enough they also pulled out an accordion … Not a repeating theme though. The frontman, Roky Moon has a great rock-n-roll voice that fits almost too perfectly to the bands sound, he’s fun to watch and listen to as he takes control of the stage and audience. Then there’s the guitar behind the music, Aaron Echegaray leads the charge with his white Les Paul. Echegaray has perfected the craft of his sound and will show you why Gibson ever created such a killing machine. Catch these guys at the Mink on March 5th before they hit the road traveling from New Orleans to New York City then back to Texas performing in Austin at SXSW.

Headlining the evening was a guy with a past worthy of a movie deal with tales of a broken childhood, moving across the country and dropping out of school to live in Florida with his girlfriend before he realized that his destiny was making music.

The man … Dax Riggs. His turn started with an acoustic set and brought the audience to their feet as they witnessed a great artist with a message for the masses. His songs filled with lyrics about his take on personal experiences soon led into a full plugged-in show that rocked the audience until the early morn. Though his words can be dark his music has power behind it and his followers are completely taken in. An incredibly bluesy voice that hits deep tones and has enormous hang time, this guy was born to sing. Not much is listed for future shows on his websites but know that you should certainly keep an eye out for when he appears again.

Rock on!

Henry von Wolffe

vonwolffe@vonwolffe.com

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