Staci McBeth makes it her own

NOTE: This blog was published on the date shown at www.TriadLiveMusic.com and is reposted here for archival purposes.  

Staci McBeth

Sat-May15-2010

    I had been planning on going to see the Winston-Salem based group Kitty Hawk all week long but when Friday came I wasn't sure I'd make it because I was physically exhausted from going out every night to listen to music. But I managed to get in a couple of naps during the day and felt good enough to head out to Plum Krazy's to listen to a song or two and call it an early night. Right.
    I wanted to hear Kitty Hawk again because the first time they were in an outdoor venue and the sound was not very good but they were good enough that I wanted to give them a second shot. Thankfully I did. Not only did I listen to a couple of songs but I ended up staying the entire show. It was a good night for music.
    Each member of KittyHawk - Hal Martin (Bass), Tommy Arrington (Drums), Wayne Arrington (Lead Guitar), and Daniel Forrest (Guitar/Keyboards) are seasoned musicians and bring extraordinary talent to the performance. It is, however, lead singer Staci McBeth that creates and provides the dynamic force which the band and audience feeds off of. McBeth's vocals are a powerful instrument that she wields with authority. Most rock and pop songs are written to be sung by men and I don't mean the lyrics so much as I mean the vocal range and styling. Because of this it is difficult at best for a woman to front a rock band singing cover songs and keep it from being distracting. Let's face it - when you hear a band cover a popular tune you want and expect it to be what you hear on the radio and when it's not it just isn't very good - unless the performers make the song "their own." This is exactly why Staci is so good - she is able to make the songs normally sung by men "her own." Take for example the Tom Petty song "Refugee" which KittyHawk covers, a song sung and written to be sung by a males range. Yet when KittyHawk laid into "Refugee" it instantly became "their" song behind Staci's vocals.
    Of course it takes the band to enable her to do that but she is the one out front so if the song fails she is the one that takes the heat for it and on this night the only heat involved was what she was giving in her performance, a performance of covers that she "made her own."

Troy Jordan - a pure musician

NOTE: This blog was published on the date shown at www.TriadLiveMusic.com and is reposted here for archival purposes.  

Troy Jordan

Sun-May02-2010

     The first time I had the pleasure of experiencing Troy Jordan perform was as the bass player for the rock cover group Magazyne. Now I've seen a lot of good bass players and a few great ones, but I don't believe I've ever come across a bass player who so successfully combines a great skill on his instrument while simultaneously displaying such pure joy while doing it. To watch Troy perform is just as entertaining as it is listening to his musicianship.
    Since I first discovered him I have learned that he not only is the bass player for Magazyne but also puts in appearances with several different groups from time to time, most recently as part of the trio Still 3 that performed at this year's Spring Fling at Plum Krazy's. With whatever incarnation of a group Troy performs with he plays with the same joy for each. His exuberance exhausts you because being in the audience you can't help but to move your head, shake your butt or stomp your feet along with him.
    I was nearby the stage this weekend as Troy, Brian and Wayne performed and then broke down their equipment and hauled it out and each time he passed by, drenched in sweat, he had the most childlike expressions of joy on his face, as though he had just completed a personal tour of Santa's workshop and was so thrilled he wanted to turn around and do it all again. Now that's not to say that Brian and Wayne's performance were lacking, they definitely were not, it is just that Troy takes his performance to another level entirely.
    So if you look on TriadLiveMusic.com's calendar and see Magazyne, Still 3 or any of the other incarnations that include Troy Jordan, be sure to mark it down and go. Thank you Troy for another inspirational performance.

Vocals vs. Instruments

NOTE: This blog was published on the date shown at www.TriadLiveMusic.com and is reposted here for archival purposes.  

Chad Kroeger of Nickelback

Mon-Apr20-2010

  Maybe it is because I speak from ignorance since I am not a musician - just a music fan, but I don't understand why groups have to perform their music so loud that it drowns out the vocals and makes the words unintelligible. Now before you go and start saying I'm just an old fart let me just say that I love my music to be loud, but I also like the equilibrium of both the vocals and the instrumentation. Recently I was at the Greene Street Club and heard Chris Stanfield and the Naturals - an energetic show to be sure, but the instrument sound excelled the vocal sound too much and forced me to have to try and lip read the lyrics as he sang.
  Even more recently - last weekend as a matter of fact - I was at the Greensboro Coliseum for the Nickelback show. Both the Sick Puppies and Breaking Benjamin opened for Nickelback. The music was excellent but the vocals were drowned out by the instruments for both opening acts, yet when Nickelback came on stage the balance between instruments and vocals was perfect. I could hear every word of every song as clearly as if he were speaking them and the music was just as clear and pristine and powerful.
  So what exactly is it about performers that they so often way overdo the sound to drown out the vocals? Is it the fault of the personnel working the sound? Do the performers just feel that the instrumentation is so much more important than the vocals? I don't know the answer but I'm thankful that for the butt-load of money I shelled out for Nickelback tickets that they at least had fantastic sound.

Open Mic Nights in the Triad

NOTE: This blog was published on the date shown at www.TriadLiveMusic.com and is reposted here for archival purposes.  

Open mic night at
the Blind Tiger

Thu-Mar26-2010

  If you are just an ordinary top 40 kind of a music lover then Open Mic nights at local clubs and bars are probably not going to get you excited. However, if you are a true music devotee then Open Mic nights are the real meat and potatoes of live music. It is where performers get to iron out the wrinkles in their act, or test out a new song on an audience, or experiment with new musical ideas or better yet, get to just jam with other musicians that they may not normally associate with. I've been to several open mic nights locally and I've seen and heard a wealth of musical styles and talent. The Blind Tiger in Greensboro probably has the most diverse open mic night, likely due to it's proximity to the area universities, and is able to reap the benefits of young artists as they grow, mature in their musical journeys. The key word with open mic nights is diversity. Where you are apt to experience a kaleidoscope of musical genres, other venues are more likely to have a narrower scope. Plum Krazy's open mic night, while diverse, is not so eclectic yet every bit as entertaining as the Tiger lineups. If you've never been to an open mic night, take some time and get out and experience it - a true music lover wouldn't miss it.

Chris Stanfield & the Naturals

NOTE: This blog was published on the date shown at www.TriadLiveMusic.com and is reposted here for archival purposes.

Chris Stanfield

Mon-Mar29-2010

  When Chris Stanfield and the Naturals took the stage Saturday night at Greene Street Club to open for Unknown Hinson I was cautiously optimistic, as I am about any performer I've never seen or heard before. The Rockingham County raised Stanfield and ensemble are guttural and raw, just the kind of sound and performance that you imagine the early rock and rollers delivered. Stanfield's voice certainly won't ever find an audience with the "American Idol" crowd who likes their music clean and syrupy, but he will find a following in the hard-core rock and roll groupies who thrive on raw, forceful and edgy performances which Stanfield delivers in spades. His screaming style of singing is only enhanced by the way in which he delivers each song - with vein-bulging force that you feel the need to call the paramedics just in case he forces and aneurism. It was a performance that left me exhausted just watching and when it was over I figured he had to have burned off more calories than I do on a treadmill in a week!