06 Jul 11

Hey, blogspot readers, it's a busy 4-day "work" week for SouthSide! She's spending her long summer nights covering 4 different hot spots for local music around town. Tonight, she's on her native Southside land to rock out Reggie's with her good friends, the staff and cheerleaders of The Prep School Tragedy and Cyanotic. Included on this lineup of hardcore industrial/electronic performances were local rockers The Dead Room and Polyfuse with Celldweller (MI) headlining.

Opening with a sultry yet steamy example of kinky fetish foreplay, The Dead Room totally brought everyone's sexual fantasies to life with three female performers gyrating to the music. The music itself was only thing that SouthSide enjoyed, blogspot readers ...she'll get to the part about why she didn't like the "tease" performance in a minute. This reviewer liked how Dead's vibrant rhythm of the electronica and industrial combined provided the right atmosphere for tonight's lineup. It was deliciously wicked hearing (and feeling) the music flowing in her veins however it didn't do anything to arouse her kinky fantasies with the female performers acting out pseudo-bondage/S&M scenes. That's where Dead's opening set fail hopelessly flat. After "nailing" the victim to the cross (actually she was tied at the wrists to simulate Christ hanging on the cross), the other two female had paddle and flogger in hand for some pretending of light punishment. It would have been better for SouthSide (a well as most of the audience polled after the set) to see them actually perform the spanking and flogging instead of teasing the audience with such deviant acts. If teasing was all it was designed to be for The Dead Room's opening set, then they highly succeeded on that part alone but arousing the mind and sense with their rhythmic gyrating to the music while doing pseudo-spanking ...well, they failed in SouthSide's book. For more information about The Dead Room, visit http://www.reverbnation.com/thedeadroom.

Being amidst the glow of the neon lighting does something wonderful for this reviewer, blogspot readers, especially when it's vibranting pulsating to the music. Plus said neon glow was also in sync with the visuals displayed on the screen during Polyfuse's performance. With the elaborate setup of complicated wires, tables, digital mixers and more, this trio of local electronic rockers instantly had this crowd moving to the electric rhtythms and sound. SouthSide enjoyed the intensity as well as the fierceness of the vigorous Polyfuse's electronic vibe while being mesmerized at the same time by the lights and images. A simple change of tempo or sound of an instrumental piece (for example - Falling, Failing, Flying, Dying) also changed the way the lights pulsated to the new beat as the images randomly bombarding your mind. There's plenty of head banging industrial ...high energy to get you moving (at times) to the super hyprfast or the dizzying space effect sounds by Polyfuse. This reviewer highly suggests getting lost in the neon glow and music of this local band whenever they're performing next. Visit http://www.polyfuse.net or http://www.polyfuse.bandcamp.com for more information.

Have you taken your meds today, blogspot readers? It's okay if you haven't ...SouthSide's good friends, Cyanotic, will leave with that feeling after you've seen and heard their rockin' performance. Coming off a long tour, these local rockers rocked out the hometown crowd with their metal-tastic combination of electronic/industrial/punk rock music in which the entire main floor lit up with life. SouthSide recently saw Cyanotic at The Abbey where they performed with Front Line Assembly (Canada) however compared to that show, she enjoyed their Reggie's set better. For example when performing SouthSide's favorite Cyanotic song, an extended version of alt_machines, the main floor went into wild mosh dancing throughout the song. Plus Reggie's sound wonderfully captured the aggressiveness heard within Sean's deep falsetto/screamo voice. There was also more (Order out of) Chaos (which is a good thing) happening during Cyanotic's homage to old school industrial/electronic music that had mostly everyone relishing within its intense raw sound. Also performing other songs such as Fashion Victims (another one of SouthSide's favorites) and Sensory Overload, SouthSide was happy to see Cyanotic finally releasing their inner rock demons during this show ...nothing was held back for this crowd. It was one of their best performances to date. Though they didn't perform it, SouthSide highly recommends listening to another one of her favorite Cyanotic songs, Comadose, for its calming yet soothing "meds have taken over your mind and body" loopy side effect. For more information about Cyanotic and when they're performing again, visit http://www.cyanotic-online.com.

Grab a seat, blogspot reades, because school's about to begin especially if you're attending this rockin' prep school. It was great to be back in class with the faculty and cheerleaders of The Prep School Tragedy in which included a hot new looks for the band. These local rockers combined the fierce energy of lyrical verse/rap with the aggressivenes of electronic/industrial rock thus creating one exciting yet intense performance for this crowd of Prep students. SouthSide liked how the band retained the zombified clown makeup (including loveable Wolfie on hype and megaphone) and the sexy squad (in new uniforms) while boosting its front men image, Tran Q and Ignited - made them look more professional without the makeup. Opening with Tragedy Is Born, TPST wasted in no time generating such high intense energy with other songs like Seduqtion and Thought I Toldja (SouthSide's personal favorites) as well as new songs off their It's A Show album - Hate Everything I Do, Phoenix in the Sky and Whatchu Wanna Do. They kept the classroom (crowd) hyped from start to finish though inserting some "saddness" with a slight downtempo rhythm for song, Tearing Me Apart featuring plenty of energetic momentum flowing across the stage. Overall, blogspot readers, being back in school with The Prep School Tragedy gang was exceptionally wonderful. She truly liked the new look and feel of the band compared to watch she saw last year at Bottom Lounge when they performed with Kung Fu Vampire (CA). This reviewer highly recommends attending class with her good friends by visiting http://www.myspace.com/theprepschooltragedy or on Facebook for details when and where they're holding sessions again. And remember, cutting class is not allowed.

SouthSide, when receiving the press release, was told that this band puts on an electrifying energetic intense performance, blogspot readers. Of course, this reviewer had her doubts but loves a good challenge when a publicist hypes a band coming to town as a way to entice her to attend the show. And after seeing Celldweller, what does SouthSide think about this band? Two words - AWESOMELY AMAZING! It actually goes beyond those two words yet it's how she could describe such intensity wafting throughout Reggie's Rock Club amongst Cell's fans without giving too much away. How the energy felt from this band that was totally phenomanal ...the way this duo certainly not only electrified the stage with their rockin' combination of electronic/industrial rock but also the main floor into wild dance movements. She thought of them as the indie version of Daft Punk and "TRON" amidst the neon glow of their instruments and pulsating videos running on the screens around the stage. The lively rhythms of heart-pounding sound would automatically have you showing off your best industrial moves on the dance floor which was happening on the main floor, blogspot readers. With music so contagious and intense like Celldweller's how could one not feel the urge to move along with the band? There was so much to see and hear that SouthSide might have missed a few things while writing but she did stop when Cell performed against Hans Zimmer's theme to The Dark Knight that included video and soundbites from the movie. Another key moment of the performance came when they did electrifying cover of Queen's We Will Rock You featuring vintage Queen video footage and electro/industrial wizardry. Yet, what really caught her attention was the emotionally charged vocals and energetic charisma by Klayton ...amidst the electric glow of Celldweller, he did bring some drama to the show. During one point of the performance, he had her entranced by his vocal aria amongst the electro intro as well as when he pumped some aggressive screamo that had the crowd responding along with him especially during the song Actions Speak Louder Than Words. SouthSide has never attended a show like this before and judging by the way her heart was beating when it was all over, she was left wanting more by Celldweller as many of the fans were. This reviewer knows she didn't fully capture the entire Celldweller performance in this review however it wouldn't be fair to reveall all of the magic experienced and witnessed during their Chicago show. She highly recommends attending their next show to garner your own memorable Celldwellwer experience by visiting http://www.celldweller.com or http://www.myspace.com/celldweller for details when they'll be performing again.


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide