Driven Mad

Elbow Room in Manhattan. June 10. It's a Thursday night and I have work the next day. Do I really have go out and socialize and hear pounding music and be exhausted for work on Friday? But, alas, this band has been after us to go see them. We might as well get them out of the way and off our backs.

We pay our cover charge, find a seat at the bar and watch some other band finish their set. Driven Mad thankfully sets up quickly after the first band finishes. By the time they start playing, we've finished our first beer, have picked out seats closer to the stage and I have my pen out ready to take notes and go the hell home.

The lights go down and all of a sudden there's a goddam light show. Hmm. My attention perks up. I'm suddenly interested.

The lights start swinging slowly and smoke pours out of a smoke machine and the drums start beating a hollow slow latin/Brazilian beat. The keyboard joins in with long, drawn-out notes and the guitars are slow and clear. The beginning of the show had an almost spiritual sound, reminding me of the feeling I get when I listen to Enigma turned up loud on my headphones, but with a more world music twist to it. Then the singer begins...

The singer's voice is strong and crystal clear. His singing reminds me of something from the 80's, although I can't quite place it. His voice, and the lyrics, give me the feeling that I'm yearning for something and can't be satisfied, but at the same time, I want to yearn, I would be disappointed by a satisfaction. His singing is complimented by the guitarists back-up vocals - also smooth and sweet and adds the exact amount of melody to make the vocals sound as if there were a slight and higher echo.

A few songs into it and the tempo picks up. All of a sudden, the singer merengues and rolls his tongue, plays a bit on his congas and sings in Spanish. It's still rock, but with a definite Latin influence. Meanwhile, the bassist is tired of being hidden behind the guitarist and singer - he begins to inch is way up front. The keyboardist is banging his head and really getting into the music. The drummer has a smile on his face from ear to ear, he's in ecstacy. Now and then he half winces/ half grins from the difficulty of the rythm and tempo he's keeping up. Throughout this part of the show, my x-drummer partner kept elbowing me in the ribs to call my attention to him, although I certainly didn't need her to tell me that the boy was good.

The highlight of the show for me was their remake of Eleanor Rigby (to be included in their upcoming CD). I was impressed first of all at their courage in doing a song that has been done a million times over, and second of all that they did it well while not sounding like any other version I've heard. This is the song where the keyboards stood out for me. They actually repeating the words through sound. The singer does his sexy merengue moves and the song ends with hard, heavy-metal beat. How unique.

I walked into the show tired and cranky and I walked out determined to promote this band.

Rating: Enigma and Erasure with a latin flavor and heavy metal base. What a show!

John:	Vocals, Percussion. An Adam Pascal look-alike.
Walter:	Guitar, Vocals. He says he dreamt the lyrics to their CD The Storms.
Simon:	Drums. Huge smile. Mouths the words.
Ralph:	Keyboards. The first keyboardist that I was impressed with enough to comment about in the body of the review.
Eric:	Bass. The youngest bassist I've reviewed - he's 18!

Driven Mad tip of the month: Watch the keyboardist. He bangs his head to the music and his hair was flying all over the place. He really gets into it.