First, Fink's Constant from Harrisburg, doing ska and reggae rooted sounds. Tight grooves, a horn section that kicked ass, and interesting songs, a few even with political lyrics that would put a grin on Imgrimm's mug!
Too bad there wasn't more crowd early to see these guys (the risk of going first sometimes), but the people who were there cheered. Hope to see this band back up this way sometime soon!Then The Nightcrawlers, with their melting pot of sounds. Rising over early feedback problems and a drunk trying to crawl on stage, the 'Crawlers bounced between rock, blues, rockabilly, jazz and country textures and flavors, with a large contingent of fans to cheer them on. Noah Figlin's guitarwork was amazing, and Aeb Byrne's flute solos had the house going wild! The climax of their set was when The Nightcrawlers launched into their 'hit,' "African Echo," and the crowd instantly started clapping along - I can't wait to see the video footage of this on The Underground! If you haven't seen The Nightcrawlers yet, plan a roadtrip to the Phyrst in State College on any Thursday night to discover what these guys and gal are about; you'll not be disappointed!
Then Flord, closing out the night in a metal vein. A new drummer, and a bunch of new songs that totally crushed! Singer Butch Woodward is more enraged than ever; Phil Keith's guitar solos were blistering, and bassist Tom Yannitelli was a freaking wildman! The new tunes were in-your-face and bone-jarring; "Get Up" with its rowdy chorus rant, "Why You Hate Me," "Sublime," and the finisher "Outside" with its funky riff all made memorable impressions. Although the crowd thinned a bit, the hardcore metalheads stuck around and howled approval. Flord is reason number 3 (after the returns of Dragon Fire and Choking Faith already this year) why area metal is coming on strong in 2005!
Lastly, big props to Chris, Kathy, Bud and The Underground TV for staging these original showcase events. I'm hearing from more and more people who are discovering the TV show on Saturday evenings; and if you haven't yet noticed, each Underground live music event so far has seen a brisk crowd! (Even though Crowbar wasn't packed for this show, it was still a decent turnout for The Underground's first State College show.) Bands, continue to get behind this show and support it, and fans, keep supporting Underground live show events like this!
This show made trekking to State College through some wet roads and spitting snow showers worth it!
