Something To Do/The Servos/The Apparati
Main Stage

Waukesha, WI
October 15, 2004

Who could turn down an opportunity to see two bands that you knew were good and one you didn't know for $5?  Now throw in all the beer I can drink and the fact that it's a CD release show and I'm in heaven!  That's what this show was.  The venue was an old bowling center that was converted into a bar and concert facility.  The floor was made of the old bowling lanes which was pretty slick.  In addition, they had nice couches and chairs along the edge of the floor that you could sit and watch the show from.

The first band on was The Servos.  I had heard a lot of good things about them over the past couple of years but had never seen the band play live.  I just knew that they always seemed to be on the bill for some kick ass local shows.  While they were a little harder edged than I anticipated, they were every bit as good as I heard they were.  They had a sweet ass kick drum that had the State of Wisconsin on it with a star over Milwaukee to show they were representing Brew City or somewhere close by.  They lost one of their guitarist's two songs into the set but continued to play.  While Chad was trying to solve his problem, the lead singer effectively and professionally killed time by telling the audience how ironic it is that Chad was having instrument problems.  Chad works at a large local music store and always has the best equipment.  It just goes to show that you never know what might go wrong at a live show.  The band covered well, though, and Chad was up in a matter of a couple of minutes and you hardly noticed it due to the great interaction that Brandon, the lead singer, had with the audience.  The other thing that impressed me about The Servos is that everyone particpates in the vocals.  All five guys play a role.  If you're a fan of Sparta or Thrice, you'd probably enjoy The Servos.

Something To Do, while paying for the beer that night and releasing their new CD, 13 Steps To A New You, went on second.  I talked Kenny, the guitarist and writer of our Becoming Up and Coming column on XROXX, into whoring himself out and wearing an XROXX shirt while performing.  The crowd took awhile to come to life, but eventually did so during the third song of the set, "Mandy."  "Mandy" is by far one of the crowd favorites at a Something To Do show.  It's also one of the most requested songs on XROXX Radio.  With the crowd alive with enthusiasm, Kenny had an individual who came all the way from Valparaiso demonstrate the fine art of skanking.  This got several people to the front of the stage participating in their own slightly twisted versions of skanking.  As a large individual, I think I have every right to say that fat people probably shouldn't skank.  I think this one individual realized that and then began doing all sorts of corny dance moves to save face.

Towards the middle of their set, Something To Do broke into an awesome cover of The Cars hit, "Just What I Needed."  A couple of songs later, the band played the song that got them some national exposure in newspapers and CNN, "Duct Tape."  The crowd went nuts and they even put the microphone out in the crowd for everyone to sing along.  For those that don't know, the band won a songwriting  competition sponsored by a duct tape company and received mega exposure, including being named the XROXX Band of the Month back in January of this year.  Just a few songs after that, they announced that they were going to turn the concert into a karaoke concert and asked for anyone who knew the lyrics to Weezer's "The Sweater Song."  The band had recently learned it, except their lead singer.  One of the members of The Servos came on stage and they told him to be careful because they played it a little faster.  He did a great job with it and even had a couple other members of The Servos on stage behind him, with one riding on the others shoulders.  The crowd interaction and stage presence that Something To Do has is tremendous.  It doesn't hurt that much of their audience is hot women.  It's fun watching women skank.  Guys will know why, just ask one.

The Apparati was the third and final band to perform.  They took forever to set up, including taking about ten minutes to set up a video camera to tape the show.  At some point you have to ask yourself what's more important, your audience or taping your damn show.  They apparently chose taping their show.  Once they were done setting everything up, the entire band ran for the back of the venue.  A guy named Spiro came on stage and talked about the lead singer of the band being killed.  At that point, the band comes in carrying the lead singer in makeshift gurney.  They bring her on stage.  The band is decked out in yellow rain ponchos and black gaffer's tape.  One has a poncho made into a tie, another with them alternating on his leagues and a third just covering him.  I was getting freaked.  Then I saw one had a black and white mask on and they started chanting to bring her to life.  It 'miraculously' works and the show goes on.  This was some messed up stuff.  We stuck around for a while and I found out that the venue recommended these guys so the other bands went with it.  The only redeeming value to The Apparati was the female lead vocalist.  She had an Avril Lavigne look to her, except a little older and hotter.  I just saw an ad for a drummer for this band on a local music site in the Milwaukee area and I think she needs to follow suit and drop these losers and continue on her own way.  The one prop I will give them is that they brought current events into their show, which was cool.  However, the rest of the stuff sucked.   We left about five songs into their set to go to George Webb's and never looked back.

If this show would have ended after Something To Do, it would have gotten five stars, no doubt about it.  The Servos and Something To Do rocked, no doubt about it.  The third band was just so far out there, all I can do is give them credit for having a female lead singer that's nice to look at.  I heard the show drew over 200 through the door, about a dozen of which were there for The Apparati, and we went through ten kegs of beer.  Not a bad party for $5.

XROXX CONCERT RATING:  XXXX (4 X's out of a possible 5)

Dick Sycamore
dick.sycamore@XROXX.com