13 Jan 11

Hey, blogspot readers, SouthSide's back on the beat ...and her latest adventure took her to the ever popular Elbo Room. There, she's rockin' with new friends, Skytown Riot (TN), and their melodic guitar riffs found in its euroamerican rock. Euroamerican rock is where Euro meets American ...basically defined by having Euro music influences yet it's more melodic within the guitars under an American hardcore rock edge.

This type of rock sound certainly wowed and dazzled the audience's ears as well as blew the roof with its thunderous crescendos and explosive guitar energy. Skytown Riot's Chicago debut had distinct euro influences which could be prominently heard inside the poetic floetry of the chords and socio-political tone of the lyrics. Yet this unique sound was coupled with a vibrant hardcore American rock edge. To say SouthSide was impressed by this band would be an understatement. She was totally feeling each momentous burst vibin' in each song introduction - not long or overdone with unnecessary riffs ...just enough to grab your attention. Most of the energy in Skytown's music was generally reserved for the instrumental bridge or for that triumphant song ending. This rock sound also spotlighted the dynamic power heard in Van's(guitar) vocals. Since some of the songs have strong political tones, he's able to vent his truest sentiments in which the band had no trouble matching with plenty of heart pounding crescendos and head banging rock riff. However when performing a ballad, the emotion was vibrantly heard in the vocals amidst the few heartfelt falsettos.

Skytown wasn't so "serious" about its music during the majority of their performance. There was a moment when they playfully added some rhythmic funk sound in the bass to give one particular a touch of soul while in another, there was wild guitar action. And with Pep working the lights, he definitely captured the essence and energetic vibe of Skytown's sound thus creating a spectacular light show for the band's music. SouthSide highly suggests listening to Thunda (plenty of thundering guitar riffs ...breathtaking instrumental jam before ending with a thunderous bang) and The Feast (a lighter pace in tempo yet retaining that energetic floetry-hardcore edge combination). This was one exciting show, blogspot readers, and hopefully this band will make a return appearance again. This reviewer highly recommends rockin' to the vibrant sounds of euroamerican rock by Skytown Riot. Fans will enjoy the melodic poetry off the guitars and the socio-political lyrics defined by dynamic vocal energy. The guys will be back on stage Friday, Jan 14 in Bloomington, IL at Coconut Louies. Or catch them in Knoxville and Greenville, NC in February. For more information, visit http://www.myspace.com/skytownriot or find them on Facebook.


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide