Get Your Junk In Gear With Junkomoto

Originally Published Here: http://shutter16.com/wp/2011/05/24/reviewget-your-junk-in-gear-with-junkomoto/

Published Tuesday, May 24, 2011 By amanda_caines. Catergories: Editor : Amanda Caines, Notes from the underground, Show Review, The Money, Writer: Amanda Caines Tags: Amanda Caines, Charlotte Music, junkomoto, The Money

WWeeknight shows are always tough because a lot of people have to work early in the morning and clubs like not to start the bands until 10:00pm so people will stay until they close at 2:00am. Unfortunately, for this day-job, overtime-workin’ girl, that means I only get to see the first band play. The band I had intended to see was Another Lost Year, but I will have to catch them at their show May 25th at Whisky River in the Epicentre instead when they play before I’m falling-asleep-at-the-wheel tired. However I actually did see the opening band Junkomoto. I had never heard of this band before, but I hung out with two the three of them–Tia, bass/vox and Tony, drums– and they were incredibly cool . I recognized Tony from his old band, The Stiltskins, and chick bassists are always cool from my observation. I hoped desperately that their band didn’t suck. While they certainly didn’t suck, I can’t say that I found them particularly impressive—they reminded me a lot of Incubus, but without the catchy hooks. They can all play their instruments well, especially Tony on drums, but there just wasn’t a whole lot of magic to it. Granted, it wasn’t exactly a packed house, throwing back energy, either. They played a couple of cover songs, one of which was a Candlebox song–not a radio single– I hadn’t heard since middle school, which they nailed, but I think I was the only one singing along. The other song I recognized was Heart’s “Barracuda,” sung by bassist Tia. She’s a decent singer, and I was impressed by her ability to harmonize on their original material, but she lacks the vocal power and flexibility necessary to successfully reproduce a Heart song. She had her moments of brilliance, though, so she has potential if she keeps at it. Junkomoto’s originals had some interesting time signatures and rhythm patterns to them, so the tunes were interesting enough to be entertaining. You can usually tell when a guitarist has studied percussion, and band founder Elliot Mitchell (vocals/guitar) started out his music endeavors on drums according to the band’s Facebook bio. I enjoyed the vocal harmonies and the interplay of the bass and guitar, and Eliot has a very strong and interesting tone to his voice. It seems he may be falling into the guitarist/vocalist trap of focusing more on the guitar writing than the vocal writing such that the vocal lines end up a bit dry in comparison. They really were obviously talented players, though, which mostly made up for it. Though they were lacking a bit in stage presence as far as movement on stage, they did have a playful chatty repartee with the modest crowd and the bartenders, making wisecracks about their band name and suggesting beers off The Money’s newly refurbished draft wall. Tia had the quotation that made my night—a comment in reference to their band name’s meaning: “I always love the idea of junk in motion.” Despite my being underwhelmed by their performance, their personalities both onstage and off deem them worthy of another listen. (read the full article at shutter16.com)