Jean Marx-Santel and Rozz Nash!!!
At 9:10pm, I arrived late to check out Red Lotus doing a mid-tempo song with a hardcore rock flair to it. (Actually, I missed their electrifying performance of "Runnin' " and the incredible "Superwoman"...DAMN!) They performed another 6 songs, including the slower "Unmerciful"...well, it wasn't exactly a slow song as the band went into some serious hardcore jamming in the middle of the song...Gavin Glenn is a serious monster on drums while Jean-Marx Santel was a lead guitar powerhouse! Rozz Nash packed a good bit of power on lead vocals, and even played rhythm guitar on a couple of songs!! The band performed a high-powered rock blast (I think it's called "Deep Red") before doing the slower "Firecracker"...of course, the band ended the song with a "big bang" (not a quiet whimper)...RED LOTUS is a band whose energy rivals intense black-rock bands like Corey Glover & VICE. The Red Lotus show ended around 9:45pm.
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Lead guitarist Dan Chavitz!
At 10:15pm, Apollo Heights was onstage for a late start and a very short show. All of those songs featured some samples playing in the background, but the guys had a real drummer at this show. The best song that I have heard from this set was "Dakim", which featured some very hot lead guitar riffing by Dan Chavitz. Twin brother Daniel Chavitz threw down well on the lead vocals. The show was over quickly around 10:45pm.
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Jimi "Sepia XL" Hazel!
Around 11:15pm, 24-7 Spyz started with a speech from Jimi Hazel, talking about the reason behind having the Black Rock Coalition (BRC) put this event
together (he wanted to create more of a buzz in NYC, bridging the gap between the newer and older black rock artists). After the speech, it was on to the
electrifying, hardcore rock music of "Face The Day", featuring the crunching bass riffs & good backing vocals of Rick Skatore, screeching guitar
riffs & good lead vocals of Jimi Hazel and the
powerful drumbeats of Tobias Ralph!! "Love 4 Sale" was followed by the punkish "Yeah x3"...a lot of the fans were head-banging to this one! "Burned"
was good, but better was the powerful rock blasts "Waiting for the Sun" and "Soulsucker"!! "The Saturday Song" featured the hellified, too-unbelievable-for-words,
rock drumming solo of Tobias!!!!
Rick Skatore, OG Spyz bassist!
"If I Could" was good, but better was the much-anticipated, crowd-pleasing, punk-rock stylings of "Spill My Guts" and "Grandma
Dynamite"...stuff so potent that many of the 24-7 fans began moshing (towards the front of the room), all to Jimi's delight! "JC's Theory" (the hard rock
firebomb, tainted with the burning guitarisms of Mr. Hazel!) and "New Superhero Worship". Afterwards, it was to a rock jam incorporated some recognizable guitar riffs
from the song "Bad Reputation" (off the new album, FACE THE DAY). I remembered the Spyz performing a very short punk song that had many fans moshing
like crazy (including one people who twice attempted to crowd-surf)...I don't know if it was just before "Stuntman", but the fellas did perform "Heaven & Hell" and
"Break the Chains"! "Stuntman" was the last song...another serious crowd-pleaser that incorporated the Kool & the Gang song "Jungle Boogie"! The 24-7 Spyz set
came to a close around 12:35am.
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