On April 5, 2016, I was present at the
One-Eyed Doll show at
Webster Hall in NYC to cover it as press. This was yet another amazing show from one of the most fun live bands that you will ever experience. Along the ride were some other very awesome bands adding to the fun of night.
Over at the One-Eyed Doll merch booth, the lovely Melinda was taking care of business. We actually met her when
I was covering the band, at the exact same venue back in Oct. of last year. Melinda is a really cutie and a total sweetheart. She was drawing a freaking Snork on a fan's t-shirt! Below, you'll see her showing her fun and super cool bit of art.
The first band that I got to catch was
Open Your Eyes. This alt-rock band from Chicago have a really good sound to them with some awesomely catchy hooks, while still managing to throw in some good heavy riffs and sounds. Their vocalist and lead guitarist Justin King has a good voice with an almost pop punk like sensibility to it. On stage, they are always moving around, headbanging, and just rocking out. It proved to be fun and energetic set.
Next up was one of my favorite bands in the world:
Eyes Set to Kill. This marks the fourth time that I have seen them live! Which means that they are my most seen live band. And, I am very happy with that. As always the band played a great set, including a couple of songs off of their last album,
Masks, like "Little Liar", "Infected", and a some older tunes, as well. They also played some really awesome and kick ass new songs, including the rocking and immediately catchy "Guilty Pleasure". ESTK always give their all in their live performances. They are really so talented and deserve to be bigger than they are. I never blow smoke up anyone's asses, so if I state this, it is cause it's the honest to God fucking truth.
For the last song of their set, the aforementioned "Infected", lovely lead signer and guitarist
Alexia Rodriguez, put down the guitar and just took to the mic. It was a pretty cool little moment and a nice way to end a spectacular set.
As always, ESTK are very fan friendly and after their set was done, they headed to their merch table to meet and greet fans. Every band member is so sweet and down to earth, that it is always a pleasure to go up to them.
Drummer and all around cool dude Caleb
Soon it was time for the headliners, One-Eyed Doll. I absolutely love this band! They are just such an impossibly fun act to catch live. From the opening track to the last, they just kicked ass! Kimberly Freeman is not only breathtakingly beautiful, but she's really one of the best front-women in all of rock. Her interaction with the crowd is priceless.
At one point, early on in the set, she got off the stage and went into the crowd (right). We, of course,
went wild for her. She really fucking shreds on guitar, while Jason pounds away on drums. At one point they were joined by a second guitarist for a couple of ass kicking songs. On this night, they played various songs from their discography, including classics like the slow and crunching "Fight", the fun as hell "Nudie Bar", and the classic "Be My Friend". Of course, they also played songs from their most recent release
Witches, which might just be my favorite album of theirs. Those songs included the fucking awesome "Black in the Rye" and "More Weight".
Adding to the fun is Kimberly's use of
props and various headgear. After the show was done; they immediately headed over to their merch table to meet and greet fans with much gratitude and humility. Quite frankly, there is no band like OED. I had an
amazing time at this show. And, I implore you catch them live and
experience them for yourself. And, if you have, then you need to do so
again. Once is never enough with One-Eyed Doll!
On August 8, 2017, I was present for the final metal shows to be held at the legendary Webster Hall in New York City, before it undergoes renovation (it closes tomorrow, Thurs. the 10th). One of the performers, I had the pleasure to catch and report on also happens to be one of my favorites acts: Eyes Set To Kill (ESTK).
I have watched ESTK perform here on two other occasions so it felt fitting that I would catch them on one of the venue's final shows. Led by the always beautiful and extremely talented Alexia Rodriguez, they are always a fun, energetic, and kick ass live band. This night was no different. As they always do, ESTK gave us one hell of a fucking performance!
ESTK began the set with their most recent single the catchy ''Break''. They played a good mix of different eras in the band's history. The set consisted of two songs came from their excellent last album Masks: ''Infected'' and ''Little Liar''. They also played one more new track in the form of the ass kicking ''Survive''. To close off the set, they played two older releases, the classic tracks ''Broken Frames'' and the crushing fan favorite ''Darling''.
Throughout their set the band had the crowd rocking, signing, jumping, and plain rocking out to their kick ass brand of hard rock/ metal/ post-hardcore. I was completely caught up in the moment as I always tend to be at their shows.
Webster Hall will be missed. While, we don't know what the venue will be like when it returns, there is no doubt that we were part of history on this night. And, I am very happy that it involved one of my favorite bands of all time, and that I was there to experience and capture it for all of you.
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