Jump to content
Hamer Fan Club Message Center

Saw Beasto Blanco Last Night


Recommended Posts

Since princeofdarkness56 asked me to write about seeing Beasto Blanco, here goes. 

This summer Alice Cooper has been doing shows with his other band, the Hollywood Vampires.  Alice's drummer, Glen Sobel, and one of his guitar players, Tommy Henriksen, were recruited to play in that band.  So, some of the other band members got in some mini-tours.  Ryan Roxie has done his Planet Axe Tour.  Chuck Garric got his band together for a quick tour. 

Beasto Blanco has been Chuck Garric's side band for the past five years or more.  His partner in creating the band and music has been a guitar player named Brother Latham.  Chuck has been Alice Cooper bass player, but in Beasto Blanco he plays guitar and sings most of the vocals.  For this tour the band has bass player Jan LeGrow and drummer Sean Sellers.  Calico Cooper is part of the band, too, singing and being overtly menacing during the show. 

Beasto Blanco played The Hideaway in Johnson City, Tennessee last night. 

There were two local opening acts.  American Dropouts were young guys with Marshall half stacks.  They played originals and one cover.  Next up was The Buddz with Marshall and Mesa half stacks, and the bass player had an Orange head on top of a Marshall cabinet that must have been an 8x10.  They played originals and two covers.  Both opening acts had big rock and roll amps on stage.  The stage was small and the amps for each band looked like a wall. 

Beasto Blanco had Kempers on stage.  The cabinet underneath one of them was not that big.  The other Kemper was on a Marshall 4x12" cabinet, but it might have been one of the more compact cabs.  The bass amp cabinet was a small 4x10" Hartke cabinet.  So, the local guys went big.  The band with a lot of touring experience went compact.  There were pedal boards, but I did not get a good look or photo of them even though I was close to the stage.  There was a long ride home, so there was no time spent on inventorying all the stage gear. 

I did the meet and greet partly for the early entry, but not more than 60 - 70 people were at the club.  When I got to approach the band I mentioned having seen Ryan Roxie six days earlier.  Chuck asked how was the show, and before answering I hesitated then said, "It was not as good as what I expect your show to be."  His reaction was curious.  A little later when Chuck was doing a little bit more show prep on the stage I elaborated and told him that Ryan's show was tight and professional.  It was just that the band did not have the feel of a band that had been playing together for a long time.  He understood. 

Beasto Blanco hits a groove.  They sound like a unit.  There is a lot of personality in the overall band, not just the individual players.  If something happens to Alice Cooper, Chuck Garric could build this band into something major. 

The songs are more important than the guitar solos.  Some of the solo parts are simple with more emphasis on the effect, but when it is time to let go Brother Latham plays solos that are interesting.  Every song is well constructed and fairly short.  The get in, make your point, and get out approach makes the music work. 

Beasto Blanco setlist

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the review. Love Beasto Blanco. A real tight band that delivers what they promise. Straight up hard and heavy rock. I like Chuck’s vocals. With Alice he usually gets to sing something. I’ve seen him do Devils Food while the band does it’s jam while Alice does a costume change and catches his breath. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...