On a Tuesday night in Las Vegas, Powerman 5000 dropped in and packed the house wall-to-wall at Count's Vamp'd, bringing with them frequent touring mates Knee High Fox for support, with local rockers Bad Little Sister opening up the show.
Bad Little Sister took the stage as the venue began to fill up quickly. This band has a lot of local support and for good reason - they are fronted by female vocalist Megan Ruger, who can absolutely wail - she was actually a contestant on Season 6 of The Voice, getting a two chair turn in the blind auditions. The band's usual lineup includes Lez Warner on drums (formerly with The Cult) but Corky Gainsford (Code Red Riot and Blue Man Group) filled in on this performance. They play a solid mix of both original and cover songs, and everything they do is top-notch. Their song "Devil's Daughter" has been getting into regular rotation on KOMP 92.3's Homegrown Show, hosted by Laurie Steele, and it absolutely kicks ass! This was my first time seeing them live and I'm really glad I finally got to check them out. They are phenomenal and Megan is a serious talent!
Knee High Fox is a rock band based out of LA, fronted by the very talented and charismatic Krsy Fox, whose vocals range from soft and sweet (sounding a lot like Gwen Stefani), to screaming angst, with rapping mixed in
on occasion. Their stage performance included black lights, with their faces and clothing marked with neon paints, an interesting visual to accompany their interesting style of music. Krsy isn't just a talented singer, she is also a prolific songwriter, having co-written music with bands including Theory of a Deadman. She co-wrote several of their more notable songs, including one of their biggest hits, "Bad Girlfriend". In contrast to Krsy's sweet sounding vocals, Knee High Fox's lyrics are very racy with dark and sinister overtones. It's an intriguing combination, to say the least. I deifnitely like their style and would recommend them to anyone who likes industrial sounding rock with a creepy vibe.
Industrial metal band Powerman 5000 was the headliner, and the reason this place was packed on a Tuesday night. Originally formed in 1991 in Boston, they hit their highest level of commercial success
in 1999 with the release of their studio album Tonight The Stars Revolt! The album produced two hit singles, "When Worlds Collide" and "Nobody's Real", and achieved platinum status. They are fronted by Spider One (Michael David Cummings), younger brother of Rob Zombie. They kick off their set with the audio track "An Eye Is Upon You" as the curtain was pulls back, then flows into the familiar synth intro for "Nobody's Real", and immediately, the crowd is into it and singing along. PM5K is a high-energy performance and Spider is a great front man. The whole band is bouncing, but bass player Murv gets props for the highest jumps and lowest dips. All of the band's guitars are equipped with green laser lights, as well a both hands of drummer DJ Rattan, making for a wild light show. At one point the three guitarists kneel down behind Spider and point their lasers at his spikey, white hair, lighting him up. They keep the crowd going all night long, playing hits like "Supervillain", "Bombshell", "Supernova Goes Pop", "Tonight The Stars Revolt", and finishing it off with "When World's Collide".
With Tonight The Stars Revolt! turning 20 years old this year you would expect PM5K's following to be mostly an older crowd, but that was not the case at this showing. While there were plenty of "grey beards" in attendance (myself included), there were fans of all ages amongst the crowd. Regardless of age the crowd was enthusiastic and the band gave back what it got, and more! It was another incredible night of music at one of the best live music venues in town.
Powerman5000 photos from Randy Udell / R U Rockin' Photos
Knee High Fox photos from Randy Udell / R U Rockin' Photos
Bad Little Sister photos from Randy Udell / R U Rockin' Photos