Out third post from the Vanity Theft show at The Milestone Club in Charlotte. This show was part of the Lady Killers Tour with Sick of Sarah and Hunter Valentine.
Here's a little more Vanity theft from their Milestone Club appearance on August 22nd. This show was part of the Lady Killers Tour with Sick of Sarah and Hunter Valentine.
We discovered Hunter Valentine because of The Dollyrots who recommend them highly. August was our second time seeing these ladies and they rocked just as hard as they did the first time. For those that aren't familar with them, I'm not sure how to classify them other than to say take a dash of blues, punk, and rock, mix it up, shake the hell of it, and then add some tabasco sauce. Yeah, that'll do it.
If you get a chance, go see these women and say hi, we know from personal experience they give great hugs.
Hunter Valentine at The Milestone Club - Lady Killer Tour - August 22, 2011
Kiyomi McCloskey - Hunter Valentine at The Milestone Club - Lady Killer Tour - August 22, 2011
Laura Petracca - Hunter Valentine at The Milestone Club - Lady Killer Tour - August 22, 2011
Veronica Sanchez - Hunter Valentine at The Milestone Club - Lady Killer Tour - August 22, 2011
Hunter Valentine - A Youthful Existence - The World Famous Milestone Club - Lady Killer Tour
For those that are familiar with Hunter Valentine, it was announced shortly after this show that Adrienne Lloyd was in fact no longer in the band, and had been replaced by Veronica.
Sick of Sarah (Abish Uhl, Jamie Holm, Katie Murphy, Jessie Farmer and Jessica Forsythe) returned to The Milestone Club on August 22nd not long after their stint on Warped Tour.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, these ladies remind me of The Bangles. If you've heard their records you might expect a pretty normal concert experience, but the reality is much different. These ladies are intense and play with tons of energy. You could feel it in the room the minute they took the stage and the audience could feel it too. These ladies ROCK.
Sick of Sarah is a very fan friendly band and Abisha Uhl knows how to work a crowd. It's almost a shame if you've only seen them at Warped. Abisha really shines when she can get out among the crowd and include the fans. Check out our video of Sick of Sarah's Autograph from back in March to see what I mean.
It's clear from the Sick of Sarah tour videos that a lot of the stage presence you see is a carryover from their everyday personalities. They clearly love what they do, and it shows in their performances.
For some reason radio ignores the all-female bands. If they spent a few hours with these ladies I think that might change. Here's hoping it does.
Sick of Sarah (Jamie, Abisha, Jessie, Jessica) set up at The Milestone Club. Kiyomi from Hunter Valentine is in the background.
Katie and Jamie of Sick of Sarah setting up at The Milestone Club
Katie Murphy stringing her guitar pre-show at The Milestone Club
Katie Murphy playing at The Milestone Club
Jamie Holm of Sick of Sarah playing at The Milestone Club
Sick of Sarah perform Simple Parts at The Milestone Club
The Lady Killers tour stopped at The Milestone on August 22nd. Vanity Theft played the Ghetto Fortress along with Hunter Valentine and Sick of Sarah.
The core trio of Vanity Theft consists of Alicia Grodecki (Lead Vocals, Keyboards), Brittany Hill (Lead Guitar) and Elyse Driskill (drums). For this tour they've added Allison Kelly on bass and she seems a perfect fit with the band.
Vanity Theft are an entertaining and energetic live band and I really enjoyed their use of keyboards during the show. Most of the bands I see at the Milestone are guitar driven Punk, so it was nice to see a little more of a New Wave vibe. They have a lot of confidence on stage and it's obvious they've spent a lot of time honing their chops on the road. If radio discovers these ladies I see really big things ahead.
If you get a chance check 'em out. You can grab their CD Get What You Came For at iTunes.
Alicia Grodecki of Vanity Theft at The Milestone
Vanity Theft (Allison, Alicia, Brittany, Elyse) play The Milestone on The Lady Killers Tour
Allison Kelly and Alicia Grodecki of Vanity Theft at The Milestone
This is another example of me taking way too long to post about something. When I saw The Dollyrots back in March I was blown away by one of the bands that opened for them. Dirtbag Love Affair is the real deal. Great musicians, great performers, and a killer set list of hard-rocking, hook-filled songs. There are way too many bands in our area that can't write songs, but Dirtbag Love Affair shows them how it's done.
They are currently in fund raising mode for a new album. Help them out and contribute via Kickstarter, we're looking forward to another record from these guys.
Another video from Sick of Sarah of their performance at The World Famous Milestone on March 27th, 2011.
This video features "Autograph" and includes a lot of interaction with fans at the show. I think it gives you a great idea of what a show at The Milestone is like.
It begins with Jamie Holm introducing the Milestone to her parents. That clip first appeared in Sick of Sarah On Tour March 2011 Part 16. I encourage to watch that video and all of the "On Tour" clips. They are very entertaining.
Another iPhone photo from the Milestone show on March 27th. Though it's just a "phone" I've been pleased with the photos, and not terribly disturbed I didn't use a real camera. I can see the real photographers cringe as I type this!
I have to thank The Dollyrots for my discovery of Hunter Valentine.
Kelly, Chris and Luis of The Dollyrots are clearly fans, and because of that, I decided to check Hunter Valentine out when they came to town.
Hunter Valentine
I wasn't disappointed, these ladies can rock. They put on an amazing show, and they are highly personable, so not only is the music aspect there, they are just plain fun to watch. This has always been important to me, I've never cared much for live acts that don't interact with the audience. To me a concert is an interactive experience for both parties, and if that isn't there, it just doesn't work.
To see an example of how a band can totally ignore an audience, pull up an 80's era Cars show. I've always said Ric and the boys could have placed cardboard cutouts on the stage and played a tape. No one would've noticed the difference.
Back to Hunter Valentine. I picked up their new CD at the show and it rocks just as hard as they do live. Clearly they've gone to great effort to record the energy they have while performing.
Below is a clip I shot at The Milestone. This is Hunter Valentine performing a cover of the Outfield's "Your Love". I'm still editing footage, so look for more Hunter Valentine at The Milestone in the coming days.
Sick of Sarah remind me of the early Bangles. They record great melodic pop songs, but without the overly glossy production you hear in most of what passes as pop-rock today. Live, they kick ass. You have to go to a show to see how hard they really rock.
This was another great show at The Milestone which also featured Hunter Valentine and Lucas of The Cliks. More video from the 27th coming up.
Kick Back is from the new album 2205. Great record, I highly recommend you picking this one up.
Bubblegum Punk's leading band, The Dollyrots, came to Charlotte last weekend and rocked The World Famous Milestone. The Milestone is a venue that literally oozes rock history from its walls, and The Dollyrots showed us why they are one of the coolest bands to ever grace the graffiti covered stage.
Playing songs from all three of their albums including, "Because I'm Awesome", "New College", "California Beach Boy" and a kick-ass version of "Jackie Chan", The Dollyrots showed the Friday night crowd why their music continually gets chosen to be featured in television shows and feature films. They know how to rock, but they do it with an incredibly catchy list of sing-along songs even the "I don't like Punk" crowd will love.
If you have the opportunity to see this band, buy a ticket and get out to the club. You won't regret it.
The Dollyrots kick off the show with "Some Girls" from their new album, "A Little Messed Up."
