It wasn’t too long ago that I first heard the name of the band Otherwise and they had recently performed as the direct support for Lacuna Coil when that band was doing some off nights from the Megadeth tour. Sadly I would not catch them for that show but I did find myself being the only music press person at the bands up close and personal acoustic presentation for the staff at the EMI Music Offices the day after the show which was a real treat to be a part of. I like their tunes immediately and made sure to check out the rest of their Century Media Records debut “True Love Never Dies” and had hoped to be able to catch what they can do in the electric sense soon enough. As luck would have it a run of dates would come up and find the guys returning to NYC for a gig at The Studio below Webster Hall with both Janus and Red Line Chemistry in tow. Here is how the night went down for those who didn’t manage to get themselves to the gig.

Red Line Chemistry: If you have read any of my concert reviews about The Studio, then you already know that the performances there tend to start on the early side. This is because the entire building becomes a dance hall on the midnight hour so the Rock and Roll stuff needs to finish by around 11pm the latest. If you are hitting a five band show at The Studio, you best be on point shortly after 6pm so you don’t miss anything and get your money’s worth. With that being said I would miss the openers of Cruz and local favorites Metric Halo but perhaps another time we shall meet. The first band for me would be Red Line Chemistry and I had wanted to see them for a while now since I’ve had their CD “Dying For A Living” since late last year. Fronting the band is singer Brett Ditgen and clearly they are a hard punching outfit that wears some of their influences on their musical sleeves. As I watched them I felt quite a bit of Tool and Alice In Chains resonance hitting me but that is not a bad thing considering just how influential those two groups were. The early performance time found only a few handfuls of fans in the room but all were surely enjoying what was being delivered. The guys were into it and you felt that from the front of the room. As I only had the full length album I was happy to find them delivering three songs from it during their all too short a set. Sadly they were done before you knew it but they really received some praise from those who had luckily caught their set. The band is not yet signed to any kind of major deal and that is a shame since this stuff is solid. Hopefully someone will decide to take a chance on them soon and I know for sure that I will catch them in concert again if the chance arises. Now it was onto Janus.

Janus: Before tonight I had only heard the name of Janus and as result could not consider myself a study in their music. That’s okay because no one out there is an absolute expert on every band that comes to be. Remember that if you hear it because their obviously full of shit. Anyways, the crowd was at the ready for Janus and it was impressive to see and initially there was confusion as to who was headlining this particular show. First I heard that Janus was, then Otherwise, then Janus and well, here we are. The band is best described as an Alternative Metal band and they’ve been at this since 1998. Their latest release is called “Nox Aeris” and it only came out a few months ago.

Otherwise: The band Otherwise has really been making a lot of noise for themselves after their signing to Century Media Records and as I was told not too long ago were climbing the “Active Rock” charts and that is pretty awesome to find being the case. We don’t seem to have any real Rock or Metal stations here in my region outside of the occasional focus by Eddie Trunk or what you find regularly on satellite radio and on the college circuit like WSOU and that’s a shame given all the Metal and Heavy Rock fans over here. Oh well, there is nothing I can do about that. For those who don’t know much about them, the band Otherwise hails from Las Vegas and features two brothers in Adrian and Ryan Patrick. Adrian sings while Ryan plays lead guitar. Rounding out the group are “V” (currently on bass) and Corey Gainsford (known as “Gunz” to his friends) on the drums. The last time I saw them they had Flavio Ivan on bass but he has since left the group which is why V was handling this detail for the tour. They hit the ground running with “Die For You” and I just love this tune as it’s got a great power and drive to it along with a solid chorus that just asks you to sing along with them. Adrian proved to be a great front man by using the close quarters of the stage to the fans to engage them in eye to eye contact and with his mannerisms. I’ve mentioned before how The Studio stage is “right there” in front of you and it’s easy to get up nice and close to the bands you are seeing. “Vegas Girl” was up shortly and speaks to an obvious nasty type the band must have dealt with on numerous occasions back home. One of the things that I was enjoying most was how all the members were adding more power to the chorus parts by singing along. It made them sound very full and they were getting an excellent sound tonight (but this is often the case at The Studio). “I Don’t Apologize (1000 Pictures) is another favorite of mine and one that works well in the acoustic sense as I learned a couple of months ago. This song needs to be on my area stations, even if their prime focus is not dedicated to Hard Rock. The tune works and speaks on so many levels about relationships. I didn’t know “Stop Drop and Roll” coming in as this is not on the debut album but when it all came down to it, the guys would do eight of the eleven songs that are found on “True Love Never Dies”. That was great if you were just walking into the band tonight because there were plenty of CD’s at the merchandise table to get your hands on. There were no solos to contend with this evening and they would close out with another winner “Soldiers”. They were personable and thanked the fans on a number of occasions and it all seemed very genuine to me.

If there was a downside to the night it would be based on the fact that the show was not packed to the doors as it should have been. This is not the fault of the bands at all but more based on three other events taking place at the same time. Coney Island had a free Joan Jett concert while down at Santo’s we had Gojira performing. Each of these kind of messed up people’s itinerary by working against each other but I wanted to check this one out since I was so curious. I liked everyone that I saw and in my humble opinion had to say that Otherwise sounded fine as a four piece so perhaps they don’t need to fill the void left by the previous dude. I guess this all depends on whether or not V wants to stick with the bass going forward. After the set the guys were at the merchandise table signing albums and photos and just chit chatting with fans. Make sure you get that album and try to catch them the next time around.

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Official Web Site: www.weareotherwise.com
Official Web Site: www.redlinechemistry.com
Official Web Site: www.janusmusic.com