Rocking The Dr2 Music Showcase

Dr2 Music Showcase @ The Hayloft

What a great night of music last Saturday night over at the Hayloft where Dr2 held it's first "Dr2 Music Showcase" with Lies Unknown, Herd, Beggars, and The Vamps along with a very special guest, Atlantic Recording Artist Ty Stone who rocked the stage with Lies Unknown! From the beautiful weather outdoors to the smoking hot bands indoors, Dr2 was ready to throw down to some Michigan Made Music, and throw down we did! Opening up the night was the Feme-Powered Blues of The Vamps, a trio of fine ladies featuring Rebecca Lynn (vox), Molly Jean (bass,vox), Robin (guitar,vox) and backed by Mike on the drums, that delivered a mesmerizing set that had even Justin Alexander of Lies Unknown glued to the stage! Bringing The D to Da Clem, The Vamps brought a 10 song set list that had The Hayloft on its feet, opening up with Trouble, a hard edged blues rocker that brought all the stragglers out of the front bar. Definitely an all out thrown down, Rebecca Lynn delivers high energy vocals that were spot on, showing of her ability on, and at one point off the stage during what we thought was a gem of a tune called All U Got, which hopefully will be on the upcoming disc the announced they were working on!

 

The Beggars have been a staple on the Detroit/Hamtramck scene for a few years now, having toured across the country, hitting up small college towns from coast to coast, but tonight was their first night on the stage of The Hayloft. Fronted by the acrobatic Steven Tuthil, and backed by one of the most diverse rhythm sections in town, featuring Jeremy "Face Frehley" (bass), Rod "Pool Party" Jones (sax), Johnny "Hair" (guitar), as well as the beat miester himself Jo-Jo Bangs (drums), the Beggars had everyone singing along even though we know most of you had never heard the songs before! In Fact, Dr2 seen a whole bunch of ya throwing out the chop, chop, chop during the fun inspiring Sleepaway Camp! Tuthil spent much of his time frolicking across the stage, rolling and throwing himself, as well as his mic, to the stage, much to the delight of the crowd who by now were all up front to see the mad antics first hand. Dropping a 40 minute set, the Beggars rolled through all of Dr2's favorites including Thieves, Same Costume as Me, and even brought down the house with the over the top, Stop, Drop, Rock & Roll! Fabulous, amazing and definitely one hell of an entertaining rock & roll group! Check these guys out this weekend down in Hamtramck's legendary Belmont!

 

The third band we brought in for this Showcase didn't come from The D, Da Clem, or Southeast Michigan at all; instead, this band of brothers hopped in their wheels and drove nearly 200 miles one way from Houghton Lake, MI just to perform in the Dr2 Showcase! Kick starting their set with the title track off their Debut EP Obscenery, Dr2's favorite, Herd delivered another great set of their unique blend of rock & roll that blows us away every time we see them. Lead by the charismatic Jeremiah Cooley (vox), Herd keeps it "All in the Family" with Mike Cooley (guitar, keys. vox), Josh Cooley (drummist), Jason Cooley (guitar), and the lone non "blood" brother Scott Kraig on bass. Playing The Hayloft for the first time also, Herd took the opportunity to debut a few new songs for us here at Dr2 with Last Breakfast, and the incredibly infectious Siamese Centipede, can't wait to hear these tracks laid down in the studio! Catch them next week up at the Leelanau Sands Casino where they'll be playing in the finals of the "Rock Your Way To The Top" contest where the winner will receive recording time plus $2,000 in cash!

 

Finishing out the night was Lies Unknown, the band Metro Times recently dubbed "the best new rock band in Detroit". A four piece power, punk, pop band lead by the vocally brilliant Justin Alexander, Lies Unknown has one of thee best rhythm sections around with Jamie Allen on guitar, Sidney on bass and Enrique "Rico" on the kit. Their live show has become quite the event around town lately and tonight they thrilled us all once again with their distinctive blend of goodtime rock & roll, leading off with Go, Go, You Know before bringing out that infamous "street sign" signaling they're about to take us all for a ride down historic Woodward Avenue! Thee highlight of the night was at about the halfway point of the set when Dr2 Don jumped up on stage to introduce our very special guest, Atlantic Recording Artist, Ty Stone, who had graciously agreed to join Lies Unknown during their cover of Mitch Ryder's Rock & Roll! Wow! Unbelievable as Ty just ripped it up in front of a whole new fan base that was just blown away by what they were witnessing, a legitimate major label artist from Detroit rocking it out with their still developing young idols Lies Unknown, got to love it! Catch Ty Stone next month when On The Rocks-Detroit presents ShipRocked, an unprecedented show aboard the

Atlantic Recording artist joined Lies for a Mitch Ryder cover

Detroit River Princess when Stone releases his Debut Atlantic Records (Top Dog Records) EP on May 16^th while we cruise the straits of Detroit! Picking up the pace, Lies Unknown continued the onslaught of the Hayloft with a bevy of their hits, had the Hayloft singing along to Whoa It's Me, even debuting some new material playing well into the night, pushing that 2am closing time! We "Herd" there was even a late night "Dance Party" that went well into the wee hours of Sunday morning......ah, to be young again! Catch these guys tonight down at The Hard Rock Café-Detroit where they're in the Finals of the Ambassadors of Rock contest with the winner moving onto the Nation Wide contest to win a trip across the pond to help open the London Calling, Hard Rock's newest venture, with the likes of Springsteen, The Killers, and more!

 

Dr2 wants to give a great big shout out to all our friends that made it out to the Hayloft for our first of hopefully many Dr2 Music Showcases, you all know who you are and we really appreciate the support you've shown us, we love ya! For some ultra hip shots from the event, be sure to stop on over to Detroit's Numero Uno Rock & Roll Photographer, Michael Spleet, where he has some awesome shots on his 2SnapsUp.com site, Thanks Mike! And for all those "lesser" quality shots (hey we never claimed to be photographers!), stop by the Dr2 Photo Gallery where you'll at least find some great Dr2 In The Crowd shots! Remember, you can find all these bands in the Dr2 Links, or just jump on over to the Dr2 MySpace Page where you'll find all of the bands from tonight's event listed in "Top Friends"!! DetroitRockReview.com - The Only Place For Local Music News, & Reviews!