SHOW REVIEW: Shallow Palace/Death On Two Wheels/Alexander and the Grapes at The Radio Room

I was more than excited to go to the Radio Room on Friday night to see Shallow Palace, because I’ve been listening to those boys for going on 4 years now and they never disappoint. I had heard so many great things about Atlanta, Georgia’s Death On Two Wheels especially how crazy lead singer, Trae Vedder, is on stage. I knew that no matter what this was going to be a night filled with some great rock ’n’ roll and let me tell you it exceeded all expectations. With a mixture of badass music, PBR, Fireball shots, and all those crazy boys it was impossible to have a bad time.

Alexander And The Grapes started out the night. The band is made up of four guys from St. Petersburg, Florida. After the first couple songs they reminded me of Co. and I have to agree with Wes when he said they sounded like early Death Cab For Cutie. The drummer had so much energy it was hard to not watch him the entire time. When the lead guitarist pulled out the, (I’m going to go with) Lap Steel, I was captivated by the sound. Its nice to see bands play an instrument that is not so frequently used. The lead singer has a soothing and easy going voice. Alexander And The Grapes new album Hemispheres is a perfect album for sitting by the beach sipping on a mimosa.

Death On Two Wheels was pure gritty rock ‘n’ roll. Trae Vedder’s voice is rough and raw like John Myers of Black Diamond Heavies. This band is not afraid to get right in your face and shove their music into your skull leaving you begging for more. The only song I had heard previously by DOTW was “Calling Us All Back Home” and I was really hoping they would play it. Sure enough it was on the set list. Hearing it live was even better than the recording. Trae is all over the stage and Paul Doss tears up the guitar and even plays some slide (which I am a huge fan of). Daniel Gleason adds lush texture with his organ and keys, Greg Neel makes sure to play those drums for all they are worth, and J Betts brings it all together with heavy and smooth bass lines. Each and every one of these musicians knows their instruments well and gives it their all on stage. Every song is filled to the brim but never cluttered. After watching the set it was clear I had just found a new band to fall in love with.

I always enjoy watching Shallow Palace perform and Friday night was no different. This is another band that is all about rock ‘n’ roll, but they add a little southern twang and also some psychedelic guitar riffs. On stage everyone of them seems to lose themselves in the music and let go completely to deliver one hell of a show. SP started out with an old classic of theirs “Bear Bear Shark Attack”. The song has hard hitting bass played by Brett Kent (bass, vocals) and Greg Slattery’s (guitar vocals) screaming voice makes you want to get right up in the mosh pit. The Michael Spawn led “No Lip”, kept the energy high with a “take no shit” attitude. George Fish (lead guitar, vocals, keys) and Josh Bumgarner (lead guitar, keys) utilized all three keyboards on stage and as always played those 70’s style guitar riffs. To end the show, Shallow Palace got everyone from Death On Two Wheels on stage to help cover the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins classic “I Put A Spell On You” and that is exactly what they did, by playing an extended version (over ten minutes long) with guitar-solo’s a plenty. I could try to put that performance into words but I’ll just let you watch the video of it and see for yourself.

The only bad thing about the night was that I unfortunately did not bring enough money to buy Alexander And The Grapes or Death On Two Wheels albums. Luckily I can order both of those albums online and I recommend you do the same. It’s rare to find not only one but two bands that entertain me enough to instantly buy their albums. I hope only the best for all three of these bands and can not wait to go to the next show.