Domeshots (whose moniker is East Coast slang for oral sex) marked a first for me: They're the only band I've ever seen where the guitar was NOT the driving force -- and that's not a bad thing! Instead, their heavy rhythm dominated: Eric Tamo's thick bass and Mike Reed's tight drums mixed to form an unstoppable percussive force. This precise groove flowed well alongside Jim Seishas' guitar, and singer Danner Fissuremanner's vocals brought it all together. Danner alternated between rapidfire bursts and long wails equally well, oozing power. This band really gave it their all. I heard elements of everything from System of a Down to early Faith No More in their set. In truth, Domeshots defies classification; they have no specific genre -- and that's also not a bad thing. The only unpleasant surprise of the evening was Danner's announcement to the crowd that he was single, despite the immediate presence of his hottie girlfriend (who even took it upon herself to wear a black lace-up top for the show -- not that I noticed or anything). If Danner wasn't such a musclebound (and genuinely nice) guy, I might've fantasized about kicking his arse straight back to the Bay Area.

Psoma, Viper Room's Tuesday night "house band," belted out standard pop-punk with good-natured glee. Imagine Foo Fighters doing the Banana Splits Show theme song. Or, more accurately, if The Strokes were held at gunpoint and forced to cover Sum 41 tunes, they would be called Psoma. Although they were fairly pleasant to hear and pretty fun to watch, I had forgotten my earplugs, and I came to the decision midway through their show that if I'm to eventually lose my hearing to the miracle of rock, I'd rather not have it culminate with Psoma. (Sorry, fellas.) I cut their set short and wandered outside to converse with a mustachioed homeless vet in full fatigues. After telling me I looked like Vince Gill, the camouflaged bard spun his tales of ribaldry. He's allegedly fathered five separate sets of twins with various Hollywood street women; in his most recent tryst he "...put her head in the bushes and throwed up her skirt." When asked how he managed to eat steak with only one upper tooth, he daftly replied: "I poke a few holes in it and I swaller it!" Ah, if only life were as easy.