Uli's Haus of Rock, June 12th

ULI ULI ULI. OI OI OI! A night at Uli's Haus of Rock in Lansing is a great place to spend a night with friends and listen to some great local bands play. Or just listen to the jukebox that plays Metallica more than any Top 40 stuff. Uli's is decked out in Harley Davidson signs, "Bikes, Broads and Beer" signs, and even has a pool table, if you need to occupy yourself with some other activity besides 7and7s. The only downside is the fake smoke machine, which would be cool except the vents aren't set up correctly, if at all, and the place kind of fills up with it, but they use it sparingly.

Blacktooth Brigade started off the night, which was weird for me considering I've seen 8 of their shows and have talked about the shows I haven't seen, and they always go last. Them playing first gave the crowd time to enjoy the set, instead of the mostly empty floor when they start at 1 am. They guys of BTB rocked out in their usual style with heavy metal music and beer on stage. People were jumping and headbanging along with the whole set and even shouting out requests. They never did play my request for "Freebird" though. They started the set with their newer songs and ended it with "Hate Red." BTB started the night on a good foot, but it may have been too good. None of the other bands were really on the same level- talent wise yes, crowd reaction/involvement, no.

Next on stage was Carpal Tunnel and to be honest I spent more time outside and talking to people, but I didn't feel like I missed anything. The musicianship of the band was good, the lyrics hit hard, but I just didn't have that connection with them. One thing I did enjoy, and enjoy with any band, is that the sound of the singer's voice does not match his appearance. I was surprised when I saw that the deep growling was coming from a 5'5/6" guy dressed in a wife-beater and shorts. People were into it the band but didn't have that level of intensity with it as they did with BTB, but it's not like they sucked or anything.

Purgatory grove followed up with a crowd that definitely had some die hard fans in it- and I'm assuming they are all close friends, which most of the crowd was to at least one of the bands. This band won points with me because they had song that was a tribute to Dio, who was a huge influence to the singer growing up, as he said during the show. "The Last Goodbye" had some Dio influenced lyrics and lyrical melodies that accompanied the metal music very well. Another point was added when they played "In Gods We Trust," which was preceded by "everyone thinks their religion is right. And we can't tell them otherwise until it's too late. During their last song Entertainment Tonight, or some show like that, was playing a piece on Gary Coleman- which was just really weird to look up and see his face, then his wife who looks like she's 15, and then his parents crying, and I'm glad I couldn't hear it.

Last but certainly not least in the stage presence category was a World on Strike. Bass, guitar, drums, and a turntable equipped with vocal effects was this bands m.o. And the miners' lights they wore on their heads was definitely something I didn't expect to see. In fact Eric Wolfe of BTB said that he was going to go mine with them after the show. The whole set was very trippy, and I was very glad I wasn't under the influence of any hallucinogens. The singer looked like bme.com's mod blog logo (look it up) and the vocal effects were a weird twist to this metal band. The crowd had cleared out a little bit, being that they were last some people had left, some had gone to roll a joint, and many were just sitting outside- the whole set up seemed to be a little much for most of the people, who are more "let's just play/listen" rather than make this a production.

Overall Uli's Haus of Rock Saturday night was full of bikers, broads and beer... and everyone was lovin it. To prove how good the night was I now sound like an 80-year-old man because I lost my voice... and I may have broken my finger but that wasn't related to the show, it just happened later in the night/morning.