The Catch - Duke O'Brien's 4.4.08

I entered in http://www.catchsublime.com/ and got the Joey Derus site for The Catch. I've blogged about Joey Derus before in this Blog ... quite a while back.

I go into Duke's at 10PM and they're still sound checking. They didn't start until 10:30. Then, they started out with a 10 minute jam on 2 chords that was OK but not musically stimulating. I hung out for about a half an hour and honestly left because I was getting bored. NOT that they're a bad band. They just didn't do it for me. The room was pretty quiet with maybe 15 people seated in the "band" room and maybe 15 people at the bar.

The Catch is a drummer, a bassist, a keyboardist and a guitarist. The vocals were OK and the harmonies were OK, too. The bass player was freaking me out a bit as he was playing a lot with his thumb, which is something you don't see a lot. All the players were technically good.

They played a "The Band" song, a Beatles song on a couple other covers besides Sublime material but there is just something about jamming on two or three chords that doesn't keep me interested very long. That's just me. The audience was kind of into it but they weren't foaming at the mouth. They obviously were not real into it either.

As I said, I stayed for only a half an hour. Bands should realize that no matter how few people may be there, you just don't know who is in those few people in your audience. I've said it before but, there could be people sent by other bar owners to see you that night. I really think you need to sell yourself fast to get the interest happening. Now, I'm not a huge Sublime fan and that's probably my problem. But it can also be the band's problem if I'm not the only one there who feels the way I do about Sublime. I absolutely applaud The Catch for trying to create a new tribute band but the same beat continually with solos over 2 or 3 chords is just not that engrossing .... to me and maybe only me.

Again, I like the band. They're OK players. I just was not that turned on by what I heard for the first half hour and they lost me.

Worth checking out, though. See http://www.catchsublime.com/

Joey Derus Band - Broken Oar - 4.14.07

I went to the Broken Oar to check out Joey Derus thinking I was seeing the solo act. I saw the three-piece band. Let me first say that I've always had a thing about bands that go by the name of the one star performer. I don't think I could be a member of a band that goes by the name of one of the other members unless that guy (or woman) is one hell of a great player/singer/performer.

Joey Derus is OK. Just OK. He sings alright and is a good guitar player. The drummer I thought was just as proficient on his instrument as Derus was on his and the bass player was good. Harmonies were not all that strong. There was a wait in between each song. There was two-way banter in between songs where each participant was stepping on the other to such a degree that you really didn't know what anyone was talking about. There was no real "show".

Don't get me wrong. They were entertaining but in that "roadhouse band" kind-of way. The song selection was eclectic and I think, could have been better. Some bands are content with playing smaller venues and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, some bands just aren't going to get beyond that ... and don't especially plan on getting beyond that. I think this outfit is a small venue kind of a band and again, more power to them. I was not real impressed .. they were entertaining ... but as for myself, I won't make huge efforts to see them again although, if I happen to stop in a place to see a band and they're there, I'll hang out for a while. http://www.allloopedup.com/JDB/index.html