In Da Dawg House
In Da Dawg House
Ok, so we head up to The Dawg House this past Saturday night to help the Soul Circus clan celebrate Kelly’s 40th birthday. Kind of figured it would be one of those typical, crazy-ass Soul Circus parties that they are so well known to throw. Guess what? It was! A packed diggity, lots of suds flowing, and a band, we here at Dr2, had yet to see before. As usual, Soul Circus hit the Dawg House stage with a ton of energy, literally kickin’ all present in the ass. Rachael May even joined the guys on stage for a couple of tunes (who else could get her to sing back up for them), and did an awesome
(again) rendition of the Aretha Franklin mega hit Chain of Fools. Dr2 is getting excited for the release of their new CD they have in the works, as they previewed a handful of the “new” stuff that was off the hook. No birthday party is complete without a cake, and Soul Circus came through as the outrageous “Monkay” finally appeared front and center to deliver Kelly her Birthday Cake, complete with shots! Soul Circus even brought in Broke to close out the night, which gave Dr2 an opportunity to catch up with Laura (Vox) & Doug (drums) of Broke who we had not had a chance to see since we caught them way back in the summer. A great band that can really kick it. They did not let us down, delivering a strong set and, new to us, featuring a fifth member, a new guitar player, Shawn O’Neal, has joined the band since we last saw them and really helps fill out the sound. 
But, the big surprise tonight was the opening set from Ballz Deluxe, a new group we hadn’t seen before. These guys have been around for a while, playing in and out of a variety of groups, but it wasn’t until late 2005 when things came together for the Ballz project. Born out of a desire to rock it harder, these guys do exactly that. Obviously, being first up is a hard spot to play, since many in the early crowd might not know your band and often will spend more time talking than listening. This does not hold true for us here at Dr2, since we thrive on looking for “That” band, the one we had never seen, maybe never even heard of that jumps out and grabs your attention. They were “it”, it took exactly two songs before they had our heads bobbing and fists raised to their jams, and it was still early on in the night! That song, It’s Going Down Now, a beat-down anthem, just blew us away! Working through a 10 song set, 
Ballz Deluxe delivered nothing short of an energetic, “ballz-out” frickin’ rock & roll frenzy! Consisting of Rick on vocals, Scott and Chuck on guitars, and includes Zuby on bass with Justin hammering out the back beat, Ballz Deluxe set the Dawg House on fire with Shake That Thing and Don’t Wait For Me before bringing down the house with Fall Down On Me. Gonna have to keep an eye on these guys as they wind their way through the Detroit Rock Jungle, so keep it tuned to DetroitRockReview as I’m sure we’ll be begging for more. Or go ahead and check them out for yourself by heading on over to the Dr2 Links where you can find a link to their site or check out our MySpace page where you’ll find them in our “Top Friends”. They’ll be playing the WRIF World Bar Tour over at the Bullfrog in Redford along with Soul Circus this Friday night (you might even see DR2 there), or catch them up in Fenton with UGLY as they invade MO Doggies. Either way, go out and Support Local Music before it’s too late! Rock On!
M: