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BY TOM LOUNGES
Times Correspondent | Monday, July 17, 2006 | (No comments posted.)
With the hoopla over Nicole Jamrose subsiding now that she has taken to the road with the national "Nashville Star Summer Tour," attention has been shifted to The Crawpuppies.
For weeks the group -- vocalist/acoustic guitarist Chad Clifford, bassist Aaron Hedges, guitarist Mike Curtis and drummer Chris Karp -- have been banging through a series of elimination gigs in Chicago, hoping to win a spot on Germany's prestigious "Emergenza Festival."
"We got fifth place out of the remaining 16 bands last Sunday (July 9) at the finals held at The Metro," Hedges said. "Mike got voted 'Best Guitar Player.' ... We were the only pop rock band left in the whole competition."
The Crawpuppies (www.crawpuppies.com) stepped out of one battle arena and into another one this weekend.
"We submitted an MP3 of our original song, 'Out Of My Head' (from their 2005 "Peaceful Amnesty" CD) in the 'Have A Nice Gig' contest sponsored by The Mix 101.9FM. The winner gets to open for Bon Jovi and Nickelback at Soldier Field on Friday, July 21," continued Hedges. "We've made it into the Top 5 by people voting online for us on the Mix radio station Web site, www.wtmx.com."
The final five square off live onstage Sunday, July 16, at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom at Lawrence and Broadway avenues. There is no cover charge to attend this all-ages event.
Also representing the Calumet Region in Sunday's battle is local jam band Stellar Road (www.stellar-road.com).
Stellar Road have drawn favorable comparisons to the Dave Matthews Band and Counting Crows, and won the Midwest round of "Rolling Rock's Battle of The Bands" at Chicago's Hard Rock Cafe.
"We're playing 'The 10,000 Lakes Festival' in Detroit Lakes, Minn. (July 20) with Umphrey's McGee, Medeski Martin & Wood, Trey Anastasio from Phish and (the Grateful Dead's) Phil Lesh," reported drummer Jeff Gargas.
Co-founded five years ago by acoustic guitarist/vocalist Jack Daley and his likewise guitar-strumming younger brother Mike Daley, Stellar Road's line-up includes Gargas, guitarist Justin Griffin and bassist, Adrian Pacheco.
Another of the five finalists is Chicago native Sherrie Adams, who I met in the early-1990s while she was selling roses at area nightclubs. It was at Club Dimension that I persuaded her to step up to the microphone during a jam night.
Adams knocked out the crowd with her powerful voice and charismatic presence and has since gone on to do jingles for clients ranging from McDonald's and Coors, to State Farm Insurance and Windex.
She has toured Europe and recorded demos with a variety of notable Chicagoland names, including bassist Jon Brandt (ex-Cheap Trick), keyboardist John Soroka (ex-Ministry) and drummer Steve Gillis (ex-Filter).
Adams' original song, "Sweet Nicole," was one of six finalists chosen out of thousands of tunes submitted for a recent national songwriting contest sponsored by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (the Grammy Awards organization).
"This Aragon Show is very important," stressed Adams. "Each of the five bands will play for 20 minutes. Judges will base 50 percent of the score on audience participation. They also will have fans vote by text message so people really need to bring their cell phones to the show!"
The other two finalists hail from Chicago and are singer/songwriter Seth Bradley and rock band Broken Vegas.
Music notes ...
* "I wrote a song on my new 'Metal Bands Only' debut CD called 'Win or Die Trying' for the White Sox," explained vocalist Bob Fedderson of the region hard rock group, Metalhead.
"Well, (Chicago disc jockey) Steve Dahl is now getting behind it and wants to produce it with legendary producer, Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, etc.) and pitch it to the White Sox for their theme song," continued Fedderson, one-time frontman for hard rock band Loudmouth.
"Dahl and the band will be going in Albini's Electric Audio Studio this Saturday (July 15) and finishing up on the 19th."
Fedderson recently appeared on the WGN morning news playing an acoustic version of "Win or Die Trying" live on the air.
The opinions expressed solely are those of the writer. Reach him at beatboss@aol.com.
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