Finding a bar/venue that has a great atmosphere and doesn’t cost you your life savings to gain entry into is a hard thing to do in recent times. Many bars have a cover that starts at 10 dollars and then a beer will take an additional 5 bucks out of your wallet that you worked all week to fill. But one of the bars that have separated themselves from all the other live venue bars is Yucca Tap Room. Voted Best Local Venue for live musicians and Best Dive bar by the Phoenix New times. There is no cover and the cost of alcohol is reasonable (with a large selection of micro brewed beers). The music ranges from hardcore punk bands to country music. They always have the best local artists perform there and this weekend was no exception.
On Friday October the 29th, local band POEM performed in front of a mixed crowd of costume wearing red riding hoods and witches.The crowd looking to get their ears filled with melodies and beats that would allow them to dance faster than a kid running around town attempting to fill their bag full of king size candy bars on Halloween, came to the right place. POEM consists of Matthew Gilbert (vocals, guitars) Austin Owen (guitar vocals), Bradley Cluff (Keys, Vocals) Mike Spero (bass, vocals), and Rodney Mitchell (drums, vocals). Their music transitions from The Strokes -like rock and roll to down and dirty boot stomping country grooves.
One of the most impressive elements of this band is the harmonies that they add behind the lead singer Matthew Gilbert. They had moments where the band would stop playing and just have an a capella break down with all of them singing a five part harmony and clapping their hands to get the crowd involved. Spero and Mitchell were really the driving force of the band, hammering out the rhythms with a Bonham/ Paul Jones type of chemistry. But Matthew on lead vocals carried the band’s entertainment value as much as Mic Jagger did in the early days of the Stones. He really did a great job of hitting the notes in an effortless way and his energy level was very contagious.
With so many bands trying to bring back the classic 60’s and 70’s look and tone, I would say this local Arizona band really has a great thing going on and for such a young band, they have a promising future. What Laura Says performed after them and they have been playing shows around the area for quite some time and have gathered an impressive fan base. But this night really belonged to the up and coming band POEM and the Yucca Tap room is the perfect atmosphere for a group of this caliber and style.
Comments