"Downtown The World" Detonates TnT’s!
Downtown The World Detonates TnT’s!
Saturday night not only brought us winter’s first storm, but also marked Critical Bill’s return “home” from a 3 month tour that crisscrossed the United States where they finally 
“blew” back home into TnT’s and literally detonated the place. With the snow falling, Dr2 loaded up the bus and headed on over to TnT’s to catch this “End Of Tour” party that included some of the area’s “Hottest Bands” - 2 Days Out, Facture, Hatch, Zug Izland, & of course the stars of the night, Mt Clemens’ own Critical Bill. “Sliding” into the parking lot, (literally and nearly getting squashed by a not to be named member of one of the bands-LOL) Dr2 unloaded the Dr2 Crew at the door and proceeded to find a parking spot, not an easy task on this big night, but eventually was able to get the bus docked! Luckily, with some pre-planning, Dr2 & Crew were shuttled right on in to a table, Thanks to Mark from MAJ & Mike from CB, we really appreciate it! Looking around, it would appear that the weather outside tonight didn’t do much to detour the crowd, as TNT’s was filling up quickly. 2 Days Out hit the stage when we were walking in, but boy did they grab our attention! Having a drummer (Todd) that wears a “Hannibal” type of mask, A lead guitarist (Mark) that is like the energizer bunny, a 5 string bass player (Vinnie Detroit), and being fronted with an ever so calm lead singer/guitarist (Chuck Runyon), no wonder 2 Days Out tends to turn heads! You can catch these guys over at The Dawg House in Clinton Township on December 15th before they head out to West Virginia & Ohio early next month, or better yet, stop by their MySpace page listed in the Dr2 Links and check them out for yourself!
The next band up is one that one of our Crew informed us of after she heard one of their sets over at The Dawg House a couple of months ago. Well after a few missed opportunities, and a whole lot of “when you gonna check’em out”, we finally had our chance tonight to see Facture in action. One thing is for sure, like father like daughter? Yep, I’ll be damned if these guys didn’t knock our socks off! With their opener, Across The Line, Facture came out hitting hard as they ran the fuse line for the night, even kicking out the Title track of their latest CD, Life’s A Bitch, before they hit up on the set ending Personal Anthem. The delivery of their music was quite phenomenal as Joe Serra (lead vox) has a way of getting everybody up and into his bands performance. Of course, with lead guitarist Chris Hatty kranking out the riffs, and the heavy hitting rhythm section of Dave Boddington (rhythm guitar, vox), Matt Hellebuyck (bass) and Tim Boddington (drums) backing you up, its apparent why these guys can bring down the house! Fresh off a “Bodog Battle Of The Bands” win down at Saint Andrews, Facture will now travel to Cleveland to Rep Detroit in the Semi-Regional Finals of that contest. Go ahead and check these guys out, their in our “Top Friends” on our myspace page!
Detroit Hip Hop artist Hatch was on next. Not sure what to make of this guy, AKA “Wise Guy”, but the crowd in attendance tonight sure did. With teeth shattering rhymes and moves that would make one ache, these 2 guys come out and can really ignite a party as the front of the stage became one big sea of moving bodies! Trading off rhymes, Hatch hit on a 30 minute set that was a true testament of lung capacity! I mean how many words can this guy get out in one breathe; I know I couldn’t count them without taking one myself! He has a new CD coming out in Feburary called “LikeWise”, Catch him on his MySpace page here- Hatch "Wise Guy".
Well you know there’s definitely a Critical Bill celebration going on when Zug Izland shows up. Wow! What a spectacular set by these veterans of the Detroit scene, as they took that fuse that Facture had laid down earlier and connected it right to the detonator! Once connected, Syn (lead vox) proceeded to tighten down them “Zug Lugs” to the delight of all the Zuggalos in the house. Blasting through a 45 minute set, Zug Izland worked the the crowd into a frenzy, unleashing their popular songs Suicide, Chemical Girl and even threw in their awesome cover of the Pink Floyd classic, Another Brick in The Wall. 2Phat (drums) absolutely rocked the beat while Joey V (guitar) and the “Volume 4” clad Dave V (bass) dropped the enormous back beat down everyone’s throat, causing all to scream for more! Amazingly, Syn even picked up an acoustic guitar and slowed things down, for about a minute! A great set by one of Detroit’s best Rock bands, Zug Izland graciously set the stage for the remainder of the night, and by the way, they too have a new album in the works. Keep your eyes on these guys as they continuously tour not only locally, but also get their fair share of gigs across the US too, you can find them in our Dr2 Links here.
What do you get after 2 ½ + months on the road touring across the US? How’s about a gigantic party back in your hometown, in the same club “Where it all began”! Hey while you’re at it, throw in a few hundred people that are as eager as you are to celebrate the success of such a feat. Riding the release of their latest effort, “Downtown The World”, Critical Bill “stormed” into T.N.T’s to finish off what those before them tonight had set in place. Opening with their trademark, This Is Critical, Powerdise (lead vox) literally clawed his way through the rabid crowd looking for that damn detonator, finding it sitting squarely in front of C-Bass’s (drums) ginormous drum kit! Holding back nothing, Mike Scott (guitar), shredded the stage with his
ferocious licks, stopping only long enough to slam a beer with his fans, and at one point, a shot with Powerdise. Running through a “Greatest Hits” type of set, (believe me they can) DJ Tome Sawyer (beats, scratches, etc.) set the beat while Critical Phil (bass) supplied the thumps, as Critical Bill gave up Suffa, Get High, Downtown The World, Like That leading Powerdise to throw himself on that detonator to completely blow TNT’s apart. Climbing above all the rubble, Powerdise gave us a few that weren’t even on the list like Jump and then wowed us all with their take of Sweet Home Alabama! Pure mayhem best describes this amazing set from Da Cleme’s favorite party boys! Just take a look at the pic’s over at our MySpace page to get a glimpse of the raucous night of Rock & Roll that played out inside of what is left of TNT’s. The Critical Bill machine is not quite down yet as they are lining up another tour of major proportions for the early part of 2008, so keep your eyes peeled here for all the latest announcements as they unfold. And remember you can find Critical Bill’s “Downtown The World at all the major stores around town (how cool is that!) or order it up over here at Amazom.com. And don’t forget, you can find Critical Bill in our “Top Friends” on our MySpace page or in the Dr2 Links too! Can’t wait for the next Critical Bill Party………!
This Is Critical!
Over M: