Saturday night February 4th featured lots of great shows at many different venues featuring upcoming bands from the IE. I chose to catch the A.M. or Above, I, Omega, Assuming We Survive, and Brothers Grim show at Pomona’s Friar Tucks because it was an evening of firsts for me. My first show at this venue, my first time seeing I, Omega live, my first Brothers Grim experience of any kind, and my first time seeing Assuming We Survive and A.M. or Above with their new lineups (I know A.M. or Above got a new bass player several months ago, but it had been a year since I had seen them live).
First up was the venue itself. Friar Tucks isn’t going to win many beauty contests or any awards for best sound system. House of Blues it is not, but I’m certain they are okay with that and I’m sure they are not aspiring to be such an opulent place. For upcoming bands who need to play without the pressure of selling hundreds of tickets, this is the perfect down and dirty, intimate venue. In those terms I highly recommend it for both upcoming bands and their fans who can see their new favorite local band up close and free. Lastly, although I am not paid to be a food critic, I will say the beef fajita quesadilla is off the hook - only $6.50 and I couldn’t even finish the deliciously decadent giant portion of yumness.
The opening band for the evening was A.M. or Above from Brea, CA. It was obvious that singer “Metal Michelle Muniz” was under the weather, being a victim of that nasty cold that seems to be affecting everyone (including my wife). Cold aside, that did not noticeably affect her onstage performance. The entire band blistered through their hardcore metal set with plenty of aggression to spare and delivered another great performance for their hardcore fans.
I, Omega, hailing from Upland, was up next. This was my first I, Omega live experience. After a couple songs I could easily see, based on stage presence and delivery, the Assuming We Survive lineage, albeit quite harder in sound. I also noticed the crowd grew noticeably louder and larger. Lead singer Clay Nevels was very engaging with the fans and the fans were very engaging with him and the rest of the band. Overall a great performance and I’m sure I’ll catch up with them again in the near future. They can be seen tonight at the Slidebar in Pomona and the Whiskey tomorrow night, Tuesday Feb. 7th.
Assuming We Survive, the headliner for the evening, played the 3rd slot of the night. Unlike I, Omega who I was seeing for the first time, I’ve seen numerous Assuming We Survive shows. However, this was my first experience seeing them with new bassist and former lead singer of Hyla Brook Joe Lawson, plus former member guitarist Manny Molina who recently re-joined the band. Bass cab/guitar technical difficulties aside, AWS seemed to be at their best. The crowd swelled to what I would gauge as capacity for the venue and both the band and their fans engaged each other in a way that could only happen in a smaller, up close and personal venue. Lead singer Adrian Estrella, also suffering from a cold, pulled it together to give the fans his usual frenetic, all out performance he’s known for. In total, the band gave a great performance and haven’t slowed down since the line-up changes and if anything the have added a little more harmony and melody to their punk/pop/rock sound.
Closing the night was Rancho Cucamonga area “Progressive Melodic Brutal Metal” 3 piece band The Brothers Grim. I must admit I had not heard or seen them before. My only intel I had on the band was given to me that evening just prior to their performance. The most interesting tidbit I learned was, as I was told, was that they usually perform in monk robes. That information, although maybe generally true, was not pertinent this evening. To my surprise, and delight, all three members came out dressed as Mormon Missionaries, complete with white button up dress shirts, ties, black pants, bike helmets, and back packs - but it gets better. Prior to jumping on stage, The Brothers Grim guitarist and lead vocalist passed out free demo’s and incense that he lit and placed on and around the stage. Bravo gents - love the originality and it was a great ice breaker for those who are not/were not familiar with your band. As for the music - loved it! Unfortunately, their set began well after midnight and many of the fans had departed before they came on stage. I’ll give The Brothers Grim props for not letting this deter them and instead they focused on those who were left and gave a balls to the wall performance for those who stuck around.
I also must give a shout out to Joshua Weins who performed his one man acoustical jam between sets. Not an easy thing to do at such a show that this was, but entertaining and engaging he was.
Overall it was a great night at a great venue, featuring 4 bands who each gave stellar performances. My only negative for the evening, which is/was not unique to this evening, was the bands support for each other. I’ve owned my own venue in another state and have covered bands and venues in Madison, WI, Milwaukee, Chicago, Florida, Las Vegas, and all of Southern CA. One of the biggest faux pas I have seen in every single local music scene is local, upcoming bands not supporting each other. All of the bands did support some of the bands at this show and I’m not going to point fingers and boo hiss anyone in particular. I am not an advice column writer so take this for what it is worth - to all local and or upcoming bands, you all work very hard and if you want to break out of the small scene your in, helping each other rise above it is a much quicker ticket to the big time. If you play music because it’s in your heart and soul, honor and recognize it in your fellow musicians and bands. With that I am officially stepping down from the soap box…
To all the bands performing this night…magnificent job and keep on keeping Rock (in all its forms) alive!
Written by: Wes Anderson
Photography by Rockwell Anderson Media (Melissa and Wes Anderson)
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