Entertaining rock outfits team up at the Make-Out Room in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO -- Long-running hard rock and metal cover band Thunderbleed AKA Blind Vengeance are joined by visiting LA-based outfit Power Falcon for this two-fisted celebration of heavy sounds at the Make-Out Room Saturday.
A tribute act so good it requires two names, Thunderbleed AKA Blind Vengeance has a history going back to the late '90s when it would occasionally hit San Francisco clubs when not playing house parties and backyard barbecues, though a fan-run website presents an elaborate band mythology that dates back even further. Fronted by consummate bar-boogie-ing showman Arnold "Action" Jackson (also known as Ajax Green, who played in '90s SF alt-country band Granfaloon Bus and more recently with garage power-pop trio the Wrong Words), the group powered by the massive drum kit of band engine Doug Pooch (aka Russ Blackmar) -- who has blown-up photos of himself on his double-bass heads.
While the line-up has changed since the early days, the current version of the band has included guitarist Brian Mello (formerly with the Morning Line, The Bellyachers and currently a member of Harold Ray and East Side Dynamite) for a number of years. Thunderbleed shows are an unrepentant celebration of rock, being a rocker and liking to rock. Fans can expect well-executed takes on radio hits and deep cuts from the likes of UFO, AC/DC, April Wine, Blue Öyster Cult, Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy when the band takes the stage.
Opening the show is Los Angeles crew Power Falcon. While the quintet is making its first ever trek to San Francisco, several members of the band have roots in the Bay Area dating back to the '90s. Lead singer Pete Nash was in Vancouver-based punk/metal freaks the Muscle Bitches before relocating to the Bay Area to work as an animator for Pixar. Here he would front his own short-lived punk group Retardo Montalban featuring Power Falcon guitarist Matt Lake (who played in his own late '90s punk power trio, 440 Six Pack) that put out a demo and an EP before splitting up.
Meanwhile, second guitarist Dan Cobbett was also a longtime San Francisco resident decades ago. He played bass in Devo-esque mid-1990s metal outfit Thunderchimp and bears an uncanny resemblance to Dancyr Wylde, the lead singer to late lamented Bay Area hair-metal legends Pantz Noyzee who stormed San Francisco stages two decades ago. The three friends had all relocated to Southern California for jobs -- Lake is a music educator in addition to playing in a number of combos, while Nash and Cobbett both work in the film industry -- and decided two years ago to start a new project.
Rounded out by the rhythm section of S. Scott 'Thunder Kegs' Aguero (Ford Madox Ford, the Violet Hour) on drums and bassist Chip Wilson (Blasphemy, Destroyinator Music Collective), Power Falcon has been dealing out its furious, metallic style of high-energy rock at venues across Southern California in addition to releasing two digital singles on its Bandcamp page. DJ Sasquatch Borracho plays appropriately loud punk and metal records before and between bands.
Thunderbleed AKA Blind Vengeance and Power Falcon
Saturday, July 22, 6 p.m. $12
The Make-Out Room
