Nick Oliveri - Ambition Burning -- Velvet Lounge - Jan 25 2010

Ambition Burning - Last minute addition to the bill when the original opener was too ill to work. I had seen them recently and thought there was potential amidst the rough spots. Since then, they have been rehearsing acoustically only, so they were happy to get a chance to cut loose with the volume. All in all, not much has changed. There was some good basic thrash that was mostly hardcore with metallic touches. Nice call and response vocals between two different voices. The bass player had to tune a bit much for a bass player, but the guitarist did well aside from a brief unplugging or switch off or whatever. Nice chaotic Who style ending with drums toppling over and axes swung around (but smartly not smashed as they weren't getting a lot of funds from the 12 people in attendance).  The headliner applauded them and the small crowd enjoyed the effort as did I.

Nick Oliveri - This is not exactly someone I would expect doing a solo acoustic show. However, the former bass player for Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age did a very nice job playing his brand of Acoustic Death. There were covers from his former bands, an amusing take on Dee Dee Ramone's "Endless Vacation" (as if there is any other way to play that other than amusing) and lots of power strumming and hard-edged vocals. He had his girlfriend sing on a couple of numbers which gave a little variety (and proved what his road manager said that Nick at 6'2" is the shortest person in the tour car). He even did a Roky Erickson cover, so he gets extra credit points from me. I enjoyed his good natured attitude about just having fun with the not quite 20 people that were in the room. He said somthing about a band he was joining that just finished recording in Norway. That may be a better way to go long-term, but I enjoyed this between band solo outing just fine.

Quote of the Night: "I was really bummed that I missed seeing Tad when they opened for Primus in 1991". That was from the road manager at the merch table. And when I overheard that, I had to go over and chat as I was at that tour in Denver and was amazed that he remembered the year. I may have gotten the decade wrong if pressed. Anyway, it was a nice chat with a guy who works in the business but is a fan at heart which is always nice to hear.