Red States

Red States Band Review at Phat Headz in Green Bay, WI

By TJ
August 20, 2010
It was a Saturday night and with the Packers family night event going on the traffic downtown was a little scarce. It was almost an eerie feeling and it takes a few years of living in this town to realize that when the Packers are playing, this town shuts down. Tonight I was headed to a bar called Phat Headz, which I had only heard about but hadn't been to. The local Green Bay band The Red States were scheduled to play an original set. Just a few feet away from Main Street Phat Headz is tucked away almost to the point that you have to be looking for it, in order to find it. I was expecting it to be a little dingy, dark, and possibly with a rough metal bar. When I walked in I was surprised to find that I couldn't have been more mistaken. Phat Headz is dedicated to all things Rock and Roll right down to the walls. It was clean with a very open lay out and the likenesses of all the great rock artists were hovering above as they have been airbrushed over every inch of the walls. This place was actually pretty cool and judging by the enormous size of the sound system and stage I didn't think that I would have any problem hearing and seeing every nuance of the band.

The Red States is a three piece post grunge rock and roll band that is fairly new to the Green Bay music scene. So new that they have yet to get up a myspace or facebook page, but I have seen them before opening for the band Numbers Don't Lie earlier this year and I wanted to check them out again. The Red States opened their set with some pretty intense rock and roll. Little Joe who belts out the vocals is a great match for his extremely loud Dr. Z all tube guitar amp. He plays a custom Fender Strat guitar that has a great fuzzy and over driven tone that can melt a stick of butter when he is taking a solo lead that wanders on a blues scale. Big Joe's bass is punchy and on point. It locks into Mike's dynamic rhythms on the five piece Pearl drum kit. The Red States hit me with some guitar driven solid tunes with varied tempos but for the most part it is loud, in your face rock with emotionally driven lyrics and at times soulful vocals. The Red States played for about an hour and a half and kept the show's high energy with the exception of a few slower tempo rock songs that still held onto the loud distorted guitar foundation. The songs are dynamic with stops and starts that demand the musicians play with the tightness needed to hold them together. Seeing this band on this kind of stage was a little over the top with a laser light show and smoke machine going nuts throughout the entire set and the sound was cranked up to the point that you could feel the kick drum practically hit your chest. There were few patrons there because of the Packer mania that has taken over Green Bay tonight, but the ones that were there seemed to enjoy it.

Phat Headz seems to cater to the all out cover band rock and roll crowd and it was nice to see that they do host some local original artists. In all it was a good show but the large stage and sound production almost gave The Red States performance an isolated feel as if I was watching a band in a display case. But I'm sure when the place is jam packed the stage and the sounds are perfect to the effect that everyone can enjoy the music to the fullest extent especially if you're out to see some in your face loud ass rock and roll like The Red States were tonight.

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