Live Show Review: Speed-X w/ Asphalt Valentine, Ledfoot Messiah and Branded with Fear at the Hard Rock Café / Velvet Underground.

My note for the show is that I hate reviewing a show that I don’t know any of the music being played. Ledfoot Messiah was the only band that I had heard anything from other than a snippet off Speed-X’s Myspace. So, I am going to keep each of the opening bands review to a minimal and will catch up with them in upcoming local headlining shows.

I noticed that there was a very diverse crowd at the show, some hardcore Black Label fans along with a younger crowd which surprised me.

Branded with Fear opened the show. They pulled the younger crowd to the front with their modern rock sound. Their sound was somewhere in between Norma Jean and Breaking Benjamin with a heavy guitar sound .They’re a good upcoming band and a great way to open show.

The second band to play was Ledfoot Messiah. I have been trying to see this band play for months but because of other commitments I kept missing them.

They did not disappoint me or the others around me. I overheard the group next to me say, as the sludgy, dirty, Les Paul rifts of Cotton and Tommy drove their heads into a Constant motion, “they kick ass”. That’s what I was thinking.

Next up was Asphalt Valentine. It was their release party for their new album “Strip Rock Roll”. They had an old sleazy but commercial L.A. rock sound. And the lead singer commanded the stage. He reminded of Josh Todd of Buckcherry. They are not my style but they pull off what they came to do and rocked their fans.

The main event of the night was the next hard rock Supergroup in the making, Speed-X. This was only the third time that Speed X had played together due to time constraints and their committments to other projects.

Speed-X is made up of Nick Catanese of Black Label Society, Mike Stone Ex-Queensryche, Joshua Sattler and Mike Froedge from Double Drive and new lead singer Jason Fowler. I talked to Mike Froedge before the show and he said that this was Jason first show. In fact, the week leading up to the show was the first time that all five men had been in the same room and able to rehearse as a unit.

As soon as Speed X hit the stage they drove up the volume in the venue and it was loud! But I knew it was coming. We had the opportunity to sit in on the sound check and they almost shattered the windows at the Hard Rock.

I liked the songs “Feel” and “Fired up”. They where straight up rockers with Mike Stone and Nick Catanese providing great driving rifts and Joshua Sattler and Mike Froedge low end pounding. My chest cavity was vibrating as I was stood back near the sound board. Did I mention it was LOUD!

They performed several new songs but the one song that really that stood out was their cover of “Let’s Go All the Way”, a song by American dance/New Wave group Sly Fox. Their heavy rifting, with the lyrics “zhum zhum zinny zinny Let’s Go All the Way”, made a very crunchy cover.

Frontman Jason fowler came out delivered a very charismatic performance. It can’t be easy being the new kid in town especially when you’re working with such a group of established artist but he did a good job.  He has good stage presence and more than that he has a good set of pipes and remarkable range.

So what’s next for Speed X? The new album should be dropping sometime this fall and they’ll have more shows lined up late this year. Nick Catanese will be heading out on tour with Black Label Society. Mike Froedge is currently working on music with his band Open Sky Separators and running Open Sky Studios. Sattler, Fowler and Stone are off doing what they do best, making music and we’ll make sure to keep you guys updated.

S.E. -Hard Rock and Metal Contributor

Powered by ShareThis

Check out the review that The Silver Tongue gave us and the show overall. http://thesilvertongueonline.com