Dimestock...Saturday Night!

Saturday night at Dimestock was also wonderful. We were unfortunately kind of hung over and couldn't make it down to Dimestock until around 7.... So our night started with Hangtime!

Hangtime...aka My Name is Josh (?)...
These kids improve every time we see them. We were tipped off on Friday night and informed that the guys would all be playing with their shirts off. I think the band decided that the sexiness would be far too distracting and take away from their music, so instead they all wore sunglasses and hats with an "E" on them.....Clever.
Q: So, what's the E stand for?
A: Ummmm....Excellent?



Anyway, They generally start off the show pretty low key, creeping up with higher energy in each song, and then BAM, they're totally musically fused. You feel it as they're all feelin' it. Hangtime is pretty fun to watch on stage. You can catch them dancing all silly and fun-like, it adds to their character.
The singer blended with their style much better this time around, he follows the crests and falls of the music well, and they totally redeemed themselves with a full out cover of Fire on the Mountain. Their originals were great, a bit jammy with some funk and grit (Frit?). They've got some free-form structural style going on that is quite enjoyable....the music seems to come in waves at times. Influences include Lotus, Phish, MGMT, and the Chili Peppers.
Our favorite song of the evening: Surprise Reggae. This song is on their myspace page, Check it:
http://www.myspace.com/hangtime44

You can catch these guys next at the area's local festival...


The Running Gags are always super fun to see. They put on a hell of a performance, playing a mix of originals and covers. Seriously, who does covers of 'Sweet Dreams' and Bloodhound Gang's 'Bad Touch'? These guys.
The sax and drums keep you grounded with continuity of sound, while the guitar shreds and the bass slaps with ridiculous flamboyant banter-filled shenanigans.They can easily rock out with raunchy power chords and heavy bass lines, and then switch it up with some funk and down right pretty riffs, even a touch of jazz when the sax really gets going. They wail, they rap, they funk, and can even be lyrically vindictive. Whatever they're doing, it seems they have the ability to summon and build a crowd.
The highlight of the show for us was seeing the sax player (the drummer's father, I believe!) put down his sax and get up on the mic to sing 'Roadhouse Blues' by The Doors. He really belted that song out, and honestly it was rather unexpected!
The Running Gags have been playing together for about two years, and a few of their influences include Tool, Primus, Chili Peppers, Jim Morrison, and Tom Scott. They generally play in the Portland area.




Smells Like the 90's


Oh, the 90's.....there were so many ups and downs. Which is basically how I feel about these guys. I didn't get to see their whole show, but I'm pretty sure they were playing some Cake, and then some other decent covers, having fun and playing well....Then I went downstairs again and they were playing Godsmack and maybe even Bush (Breathe in, breathe out....Gavin Rossdale shut the fuck up!) I would say the 90's couldn't have stooped lower than Godsmack and Bush if they tried. (Maybe Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit though?) 90's covers...I guess someone has to do it...?


Bootiddy may have the capability to guide me during a temporary loss of my mind….but drunk at the bar..errrrmmmm.
I think I like what these guys are doing individually…but I don’t see the chemistry coming together properly on stage.
Hangtime joined Bootiddy on stage for the last few minutes of the show. I liked this. Hangtiddy=rad.


Chaos Sauce Owns. I don't know where these guys have been hiding, but this is the first time I'd seen them and I wasn't even prepared for the insanity that is Chaos Sauce. They are tenacious. I think you seriously missed out if you were located upstairs for the duration of their performance.

Chaos Sauce, even though playing for very few people towards the end of the evening, raged with raw energy and incredible talent. They even managed to drown out the horrible sound of the fire alarm. A fair amount of originals were played, and they did some epic covers too. Tenacious D, a couple RHCP tunes, a couple Rage tunes, and even a great Biggie song.
Anyone that is on stage contributing to the musical insanity that is Chaos Sauce are wildly active, headbanging, banging on cowbells...and ready to fuck shit up (...mostly musically). I look for this in a band. I'm pretty sure they could play anywhere and be ready to annihilate. The lead guitarist has the capability of jumping probably clear over my head while shredding an insane guitar solo, and the drums are phenomenal! The drums seem to heavily steer the band in many of their songs, switching up tempos a bit and exaggerating off beats.
This is not music for the weak of heart, or those that like to bumpngrind. You need to be ready to rock the fuck out and have your face melted.
Come support Chaos Sauce at The Dime Friday, April 23rd. Do it!


Overall, we feel that more people should have been out for Dimestock. Many of the people in attendance were band members, supporting other band members. This is awesome, but it made me sad that a 10$ cover charge is something that people are bitching about. Suck it up. Ok, maybe The Dime could do something like 5 bucks to get in after 10PM? Whatever, we’re looking forward to next year already.


Again...All photos were not taken by us and are being used without permission.
Thanks!

Collaborative Review written by Kim Morrison and Heather Omand