Shelter Red and The Days The Nights

I had the pleasure of seeing two great local bands this past weekend. The first was Shelter Red. Shelter Red really wowed me with their instrumentation and their musicianship, however there was one drawback, the fact that their guitar tracks are prerecorded by the drummer and played through the PA system; of course the guy must be amazingly skilled to write such intricate parts for guitar and play the drums as well but these guys should really bring somebody on to learn the parts and play them to increase their stage presence.  Another problem with the performance which was completely out of their hands was the fact that the fuses to the venue blew out whenever they would turn on their stage lights, even without the light show these guys were a treat to listen to.  Also this band does not have any lyrics or a singer, their songs are completely instrumental. However I think that this actually drives them to write more interesting time changes, breakdowns, and more intricate riffs to keep your attention on the music. Give them a listen on myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/shelterrock

The Days the Nights played after Shelter Red. These guys had some serious energy and well written post-punk hard rock songs.  If you listen to the songs on their myspace you may not get the entire experience however.  They sound good of course; but live they sounded great.  These guys really brought their A game to the stage and despite it being in a small venue with faulty fuses serviced by a frozen outhouse on one of the coldest damn days of the year I had more fun at this concert than I can remember having for a long time.

http://www.myspace.com/thedaysthenights