Backstage Bombshells
Saturday, May 19, 2007 at 05:05PM 
Last night, the glam mistress went in search of some rock n’ roll fun to see a show featuring the legendary C.C. DeVille and a lot of great 80s cover bands.
As always, Eric the glam rock husband, and Heather, co-conspirator in bringing back glam were down for the adventure.
Oh, what an adventure it was.
I don’t know what it is with Cincinnati and rock shows, but they all seem to be disorganized. This morning, my husband suggested that I become a promoter to make sure bands get paid and get to play on time. I think he’s on to something here.
The show started around 9 and after getting lost along the Ohio River, the crew and I finally found Whiskey Dicks. Thank goodness for satellite navigation and Eric because there is no way either Heather or myself could have found the club. It’s in a very odd location and website directions are painfully unclear.
Late add to the bill, Danger Angel is an 80s cover band. They played some Warrant and Poison and a whole lot more. Sadly, I couldn’t locate a website for this band, so I just don’t have any more information to add about them except I thought they sounded pretty good. At the time of their set, there were very few people in the club save for me, other musicians and a handful of people wearing Poison shirts, obviously excited to meet C.C. DeVille.
Next up, local boys Drugstore Valentine. Dedicated readers may be familiar with the name since I’ve mentioned them in other posts (see ((Eat)) The Crow and Hell on High Heels). The last time I saw DSV was the Vains of Jenna/Wednesday 13 show several months back when I thought they were trying too hard to fit into someone else’s element.
Last night, Drugstore Valentine proved to be a true glam band, and I think this illustrates that the correct pairing of bands can produce great live music. This doesn’t mean that Drugstore’s set was without problems. The band was cheated out of stage time, and forced to cut songs. Bassist “Curly” popped a string, which ate up more of the bands time, but this also gave lead singer Kenny Ozz a chance to vamp - er, tap dance - on the fly. During the bass crisis, Kenny mentioned that DSV is recording an album, but didn’t make any promises to the release date. As of this report, DSV remains an unsigned band. The band opened with, naturally, “Welcome to the Show,” and also performed the originals “Lies” and “Backstage Bombshell.” Both songs are pretty good, and the DSV loyalists got a kick out of it. Kenny gave Bring Back Glam a little shout out before singing the Poison/C.C. DeVille song “I Hate Every Bone In Your Body (But Mine)” and closed with “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)” During the set, Heather mentioned that the drummer is, quote, “amazing.” For stage presence, Kenny kept up with his glam roots, sporting a Tuff shirt (available on Metal Sludge!) and his famous fur coat.
Guns n’ Roses tribute band GnR played next, and they were good but the set was long. I think they played every song on Appetite for Destruction, including “Mr. Brownstone,” “Paradise City,” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” I really liked their version of “Nightrain” and the way Randy Trask emulated the stage moves of Axl Rose, right down to the kilt and crazy leg kicks. Trask can scream too, which went a long way to make the performance seem “real” and not hokey.
Hair band tribute Poser took the stage next and joining them mid-set, none other than Poison guitarist C.C. DeVille. He seemed jolly enough, even if he only played two songs: “Nothin’ But A Good Time” and “Tush” by ZZ Top. Heather and I got very close to C.C. while he played and he’s quite impressive to watch. After his short performance, C.C. mingled with the crowd, and posed for pictures. Yes, Heather and I each have a picture with the man himself! Plus, C.C. kissed Heather. She was very excited and I’m happy for her. Poison to her is like Motley Crue to me. While C.C. spoke with fans, Poser continued their set, playing “Metal Health” and a few other classics, but glaringly left Motley Crue out of their list. How an 80s tribute band leaves out Motley Crue, I’ll never know.
Now by this time it’s late, and this is where things get interesting. Cock Fight was scheduled to end the night. This band is the side project of Bang Tango lead singer Joe Leste and also features guitarist Michael Thomas (Faster Pussycat), bassist Dave Weeks (Ron Keel Band) and drummer Ryche Green (Ron Keel Band/Bulletboys). While sitting around waiting for Cock Fight, management came to our table and told us to leave and that the show was over. Myself otherwise engaged at the moment, Heather immediately went to the management to question the fate of Cock Fight. No matter what management told Heather, I assure you it was a load of nonsense. Joe Leste himself told me the deal. Poser took off with their gear (Cock Fight was to share equipment) and their money, thus leaving Cock Fight high n’ dry, so to speak.
Obviously, Cock Fight wasn’t going to play for free (but Drugstore Valentine did), and Joe was quite upset. He told me that in his 21 years as a performer, he’d never experienced something as unprofessional or ludicrous as another band making off with his share of the cash. All he wanted to do was perform, after all, the band paid for their flights to get to the show, and it was the second stop in an eight city mini-tour.
After commiseration and a picture with Joe, that was my night.
Obviously, the entire show was mismanaged because the event had zero promotion, except for Myspace alerts from the performing bands, mostly from Drugstore Valentine. People were coming in the back door, and I was one of them. This wasn’t a big deal because I’d paid in advance and eventually got my wrist band, but just how many people stayed and watched for free? Why did management ignore customer complaints, considering people paid good money for the show? Every single Cincinnati show I’ve attended this year, something lame has happened to put a damper on the whole evening. Is the mismanagement an industry-wide problem, or is it just my bad luck?
The world may never know.
As a very exciting and important side note, I finally met Rob of the Hard Rock Hideout! Rob’s a great guy, and it was fun listening to bands and talking shop. Hopefully, we’ll get to chat at another show very soon.
