The Next Great American Band

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everybody! My Christmas gift to you is that you can now leave your house on a Friday night. Just kidding. I’m looking forward to going out to eat with my wife again, but at the same time I’m really going to miss this show. Admittedly the show was not progressing very well near the end, but it was still entertaining.

I guess could talk about the cheesy Christmas medley featuring many of bands that got cut this season or I could talk about how the other band members in Northmont must feel to once again essentially be told, “you suck” while the singer gets praised. Then again, I could talk about The Likes of You opening the show with the best song I’ve heard in the past three weeks or the weird editing that put Sheila E. saying “Thank you, goodnight” in the middle of the show. Maybe even the fact that Jesus got a heck of a lot of props from Ashley’s wife or the awkward way of telling Denver and the Mile High Orchestra they were cut. But I won’t.

Instead, I just want to talk about the fact that for the first time in the entire run of this show, I finally predicted something right! No, no. Let’s instead give it up to The Clark Brothers. Of the three remaining bands, I’m happy they took the title and the guaranteed record deal (though you can assume Sixwire will get a deal as well). They were not my favorite of the bands, but you definitely can see how much better they are than most of them. It’s funny how I never noticed it more than during the medley at the end, where the only part that made me stop taking notes and look at the screen was their performance of “Last Christmas”.

I’ll be very curious to follow these guys now and see what kind of album they make and if they actually sell any copies. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I have a feeling this will be a one-and-done deal, but who knows. Strange things happen in music these days and there have been a lot of comments over the weeks from many of you that are completely gung-ho over these guys. So maybe they’ll sell a couple million and go on to be superstars. Or will they go the reality route of Flickerstick. I guess only time will tell now.

Thanks to all of you that commented on the blog this season. Give me one last comment to tell me what you thought about The Clark Brothers winning it all and let’s also dig way deeper into Dominic’s “until next year” comment than we need to.

Take care, friends.

We’re almost there friends! Next week is the finale and we now have three bands to choose from. I believe Dominic Bowden said that there were 3,000,000 votes last week. At least I think that’s what he said. I had to go get some Q-tips and clean out my ears after that, as I swore he said that a show that averages less than 3 million viewers each week got more votes than people watching. I suppose it’s possible, but if he’s telling the truth I will um…I will buy the Dot Dot Dot CD when it comes out.

This week we have to do some serious predicting as well. The website I visit to follow the off-season baseball moves, always gives predictions on where a player will sign, how much money they will get and what their chances are to be worth the money. So I thought it might be fun to do something like that this week.

Denver and The Mile High Orchestra

“September” by Earth, Wind & Fire should have been perfect for them to showcase their exciting side and instead the vocals were kind of average and the keyboards sounded cheesy. While the world class horns were their usual selves, Denver had the typical moves down like he has rocks in his shorts. Dicko says he doesn’t like them playing disco. And this is the guy these bands are supposed to take advice from?

Their best performance of the entire competition was the “we” pick (who exactly is “we” anyway). The Ides of March’s “Vehicle” was a great song for them. Denver even tried to show some personality in this one. Dicko asks them what kind of album they want to make and they cop out by saying something about joy and love. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Isn’t that what every band says? Okay, so Slayer doesn’t really say that, but you get my point.

“The Way You Move Me” was an original they wrote and while it was a solid song, the stage presence for all of them wasn’t good. And what was that leg kick by Denver? It looked like he was 80’s and had arthritic knees.

Predictions:
Finish: 3rd.
Max People at any given Denver show in 2008: 250
Number of those people who are annoyed they have to scream to their friend over “some band that just happen to be here while we were trying to drink”: 246
Number of years until they do nothing but covers: 5
Chances of American Band 2 if they win: No way Jose.


The Clark Brothers

What the heck was the first song they sang? That wasn’t “Change The World” by Eric Clapton. That was another one of those unrecognizable arrangements of a classic song that only work about 25% of the time. This was not one of those times. It wasn’t as bad as Light of Doom with “We Will Rock You” but it was pretty odd. Tough to put my finger on what exactly I didn’t like, but it felt like change for the sake of change and that’s never been a favorite of mine.

The “we” pick was a terrible choice. The judges were right, Lonestar’s “Amazing” was a song suited for Sixwire. The Clark Brothers need upbeat tracks that can have that off the wall slide guitar hitting you across the face. That really is a great tune to begin with so it’s a shame that The Clark Brothers couldn’t do it justice. Not bad, but nothing spectacular.

And tell me if you could have predicted that a group up for Next Great American Band would close out their performances for your votes, with “This Little Light Of Mine”? Best one they did this night but that ain’t going to make me buy the CD.

Predictions:
Finish: 1st
First week sales of their debut CD: 35, 500 ranking them #91 on the Billboard Album Chart.
Number of Drugs Ashley does while they are on their big US tour in 2008: Zero. God wouldn’t approve.
What 2009 looks like: Dropped by label. Records Gospel CD. Is known only by those that listen to radio on Sunday morning.
Chances of American Band 2 if they win: Well, the writers are still on strike…

Sixwire

I think Steely Dan’s “Reeling in the Years” was a decent choice for them, though I would have liked to have seen “Heartache Tonight” by the Eagles instead. I mean, every time I see the four up front in a line I think of Don, Glenn, Timothy etc…just like I did tonight when the did the foursome of guitar heroics at the end and every single time they sang harmonies.

The “we” choice was interesting only because when was the last time you heard anyone mention England Dan & John Ford Coley? The original version of “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight” is a pretty boring song and so was this. And how could this possibly be a “we”. There’s no way that multiple people said “oh yeah dude, England Dan is the bomb.” There had to be one producer that had a hankerin’ to hear this for some reason.

Then they played the song that got them on the show in the first place, “Good To Be Back.” Well, I mean got them on the show if you don’t believe the Randy Jackson through the back door story. Either way, this is the first single should they get to put one out. And it might even be a minor country hit too.

Predictions:
Finish: 2nd.
Number of US pop stations to play their first single: 3
World Tour in 2009? You betcha. Opening up for Big & Rich’s opening band.
Number of interviews where they talk about getting the shaft from major labels years ago: 2
Number of interviews after this show is over. 2
Chances of American Band 2 if they win it: Very slim.

Can you believe it too? Light of Doom is gone! About 5 weeks too late, but better than nothing. Personally, I’d be shocked if we heard from them within 5 years and if we do, it will be kind of a joke.

Final prediction of the night:
Chances of me buying the winning band’s CD? Aw, hell no. I have Rockstar Supernova. That’s taking up enough space as it is.

Gimme your thoughts and tell me who you think is going to win it!

Until next week, friends.

Check out our Online Video Guide for some cool music clips. You might even stumble across some England Dan & John Ford Coley!

So how many of you were like me tonight and turned on the TV at the normal time, only to see Wayne Brady instead of kids playing metal? OK, so I admit it’s a little sad that I work at TV Guide and I didn’t know the timeslot moved, but I think it’s understandable that I was a little thrown off. I mean, sure, I suppose Fox thinks moving it to 9 pm near the end of the show will get more viewers — but on a Friday? Actually, I expect the ratings to be lower. The later you move it on a Friday night, the more people have already went out to start their weekend.

That doesn’t really matter though. What matters is this question I’m about to pose to you. What the heck show am I watching? Seriously, am I watching a different show than the voting public? A different show than the judges? I watch American Idol every season and I can usually predict that pretty well. I’ve watched and blogged Rockstar and was able to do a pretty good job figuring out who was going home there as well. This show, I have no clue. I mean, I said just last week that Dot Dot Dot was going to win it and they got eliminated this week. And frankly, I can’t imagine who’s actually watching this show that Denver or Light of Doom made it this far. I’m baffled.

Unfortunately, pretty much every performance baffled me as well. I watch this show with my wife — she’s usually the barometer to know if I’m just in a cranky mood and not being objective at all — and she didn’t like most of these performances either.

I was happy to hear the bands were going to perform a cover and an original but the end results really disappointed me. I think one of the reasons this show isn’t working as well as it could be is how they do the covers. They either need to go the Rockstar route and pick the hits out for the bands, just letting them choose the ones they want or they need to start doing things like making the theme No. 1 songs from the '80s or something like that. Whatever is going to generate actual hits being performed because performing an album track and a song from Queen’s final album when you could have chosen from dozens of hits is preposterous.

On to the music, starting with The Clark Brothers. I can’t stress enough how much I hate that they were able to bring in some "friends from Nashville" to play along with them. So are they a three-piece or a five-piece now? It’s pretty lame to change up your band with only three weeks left, and to be honest, I thought they took a major step backwards with it. First they performed "These Are the Days of Our Lives" from Queen’s final record in 1991, which to me is silly to begin with, but what was the drummer really needed for in this? For 75 percent of the song, he was completely invisible. I thought this was their most generic performance in weeks. And again, the craziest thing happened with their original — the drummer actually made them sound worse. Nothing you could have told me would have helped me predict that, but they were better without the backbeat. The original was sloppy and really looked just like they pulled in a drummer for the first time.

Then there was Sixwire. Those guys are creative, aren’t they? Three words to describe yourself — "guitars, vocals, more guitars." Sigh. But, "Fat-Bottomed Girls" is a song you choose when covering Queen. One of my personal favorites from the catalog, it’s such a fun song that I wish the guys had shown more energy on stage but this was probably the best performance of the night. Fortunately for me, the judges don’t program what gets played on the radio though as the original "Go On" didn’t even remotely sound like a hit to me like it did to them. It got better as it moved into rock territory but still sounded a bit jumbled.

Light of Doom was an absolute train wreck. I can’t say one nice thing about them this week. Well okay, I did like the way they began “We Will Rock You” with the drums but every note after that was brutal starting with a very strange transition to metal. I don’t understand why they had to go metal with Queen. Queen rocks hard enough and brutalizing a classic like this was one of the worst things they could have done. As for the original, I actually can’t say it better than John did — “all of your influences and none of you.” Well, not all of their influences because what started out as metal quickly turned into a chorus I would have expected from Kip Winger circa 1989. And these guys were not influenced by Winger. Jani Lane, maybe.

Finally, there was Usher doing “Singing in the Rain” and Fergie wearing leather while writhing around like Axl Rose. What? That wasn’t American Band? Oh, sorry. I guess I flipped to that CBS tribute to music in movies and heard Usher, one of the best voices in music today.

Denver and the Mile High Orchestra was actually the last band to perform this week. Anyone else think “DMHO” sounds pretty lame? I go with initials if they spell COOL or POOP. Maybe just COOL. Anyway, I suppose choosing “Sleeping on the Sidewalk” was a decent choice for them but an album cut? I’m sure a lot of you have heard this song before since it’s from the same album as “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions” but it wasn’t a hit for them and I think at this point you need to perform songs that everyone will know, not just fans of the band. At least Denver himself had some energy this week. Unfortunately, their original didn’t blow me away, but even so it was the best original song of the night.

So bye bye bye to Dot Dot Dot. For some reason, I’m going to miss this band that I absolutely hated at the beginning.

I was so unimpressed this week that I’m not voting for anyone. So there. And my futile projections about who’s going home are done. I hope the final two shows are better than this one. I certainly want to end this show on a positive note. Disagree with me this week? Let me know. I love reading your comments.

Until next week, friends.

Check out some music from Freddy Mercury and the guys in Queen over in our online video guide.

A long, long week has taken its toll on me. The long weeks usually mean that I can’t sit at work with my iPod on listening to my favorite (and some not so favorite) songs to get me through the day. So naturally I was looking forward to this week’s American Band to get my musical fix.

Apart from his hits, I didn’t know Rod Stewart before the 80s. I don’t think I ever listened to him growing up, but I’ve learned to enjoy a lot of his 80’s hits through my collection of tunes. And the one thing you really can’t forget about Rod Stewart is that voice of his. Very unique and very recognizable. So I was looking forward to hearing what these bands would pick.

I honestly thought Dot Dot Dot would pick “Do You Think I’m Sexy?” but when I think back, I can’t picture Adam singing that. I think musically though it would have been an awesome choice. But “Young Turks” was a better call. Just like Sheila, I thought it was a little fast on the tempo, but also probably their best performance to date.

Denver took the classic “Baby Jane” and worked it well. The performance was very solid with that nice sax solo in there. While I liked it, I absolutely didn’t see them push their limits like the judges thought they did. To me, these guys and Sixwire haven’t progressed from the beginning of the show. They are both talented bands, but both could get better my fixing little flaws here and there.

And as I write that, of course I know that Sixwire changed it up a bit this week by going full blown electric on us. I thought it was their best performance yet which is funny because it seems to be the furthest away from their sound too. Though, not to far because I could certainly hear some Eagles in there and when they were soloing I thought I heard some good old .38 Special. It’s kind of funny how everyone made such a big deal about the bass solo. I don’t like bass solos as a rule, but this wasn’t bad. Maybe in a weird spot, but not bad.

“You’re In My Heart” was another good choice for The Clark Brothers. What an intriguing arrangement, wouldn’t you say? Now, I certainly wasn’t crying like Sheila (oh c’mon Sheila, it wasn’t that good) but it was unique and that’s one thing I like in my music. Earth shattering? No. But certainly one of the Top 5 performances of the whole season.

Finally, Light of Doom hang around for one more week and chose “Infatuation”, This is the only one of the night that I wasn’t thrilled with. I’m kind of in the middle though. There were points where I thought the kids were creative. But there were points where I just thought they tried too hard to mix the catchy cords with the metal riffs. At times, it sounded like they were fighting whether to go more metal or more pop.

Too bad for Tres Bien. Personally, I don’t think these guys will make it big as Dicko said. Their time was three or four years ago when bands like The Strokes were at their peak. That retro power-pop sound just doesn’t have the same radio impact now as it did before. Now maybe they should just hire Timbaland to do one of their tracks and I’d take it all back.

Two interesting things to note;

I didn’t know the bands were allowed to bring other people in to play with them. Apparently, neither did any member of The Clark Brothers who seemed genuinely shocked when Dicko pointed this out. I bet you someone goes back and reads a contract again and finds out they really aren’t allowed to do that. If they are, then let’s start bringing in celebrities. Can you picture Denver up there playing a song next week and saying ‘give it up for our friend Mr. Tom Jones! Or Dot Dot Dot paying Nick Taylor from Duran Duran to come up on stage and play with them. That would be awesome!

And, Dominic didn’t say who the covers would be from next week. Dicko had to be joking when he told Denver it was Pussycat Dolls week, right? I mean, that’s a bit of a stretch. Though Light of Doom singing ‘Loosen up my buttons, baby” would be priceless.

My vote goes to The Clark Brothers this week. Clearly I don’t represent the views of America as I haven’t yet got one right on who’s going home. So instead, I think it’s time for me to switch it up and finally predict a winner. Here it folks…The Clark Brothers have to be the favorites at this point in the show but they aren’t going to win. Dot Dot Dot is. It’s funny how far I’ve come around with them. I don’t think they are the best band up there, but they are the band that will sell the most records a year from now and since the public votes, those record buyers will make them the champs. Stamp it in ink. It’s a done deal! (I sound so certain of myself for always being wrong, don’t I?)

Until next week, friends.

Why don't you head on over to our Online Video Guide and check some clips from Rod Stewart or The Pussycat Dolls while you're at it.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all decided not to take a vacation this week simply because chatting with me is way too important to miss. No, no, no. Instead I’m hoping that Sunday night you’ll pull it off the DVR and comment Monday morning.

The first thing I must say is holy cleavage batman! Sheila E. got them out and up to the chin this week. It was even the first thing my wife noticed.

Apart from Sheila, this was an odd week for me. For the first time this season, I thought the overall show was pretty boring. As a rock fan, I have loads of respect for The Rolling Stones (I guess I should say “Mick Jagger and Keith Richards” since that’s how the show labeled every song). I understand how talented they are, but overall they never really excited me. But that’s not at all why I thought this was boring because aside from “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” I enjoy all the originals. In fact, I simply thought it was dull because no one chose “One Hit (To The Body)”! [wink, wink]

Tres Bien: Cody and his invincible titanium jaw chose a good song in “Get Off My Cloud”. The singer was more dynamic than usual and lost the guitar this week. But the judges were right on with the issues. The key change was poor and the riff of “Satisfaction” in the middle didn’t really work.

Denver: Hearing Denver do his Aaron Neville impersonation was the highlight of the show for me. I’m a huge Aaron Neville fan. Not because of his music, but because of the huge Milk Dud on his face. In this superficial world where you have to look good to be a star, I’ve always been fascinated that a man that walks around with a donut attached to his mug could have had such a fine career. Anyway, their cover of “I’m Free” was not good at all. I had the same problem with Denver as I have had in the past few weeks; He’s just an average frontman. He's got a good voice but lacks the persona. Dicko and I were really on the same page for a change because I agreed that this was out of their genre. They played this in a rock style and they aren’t a rock band. It didn’t fit them well and in turn they were kind of weak.

Sixwire: Their drummer Chuck played with Engelbert Humperdinck! Engelbert friggin’ Humperdinck. I’d like to say that’s cool, but I’m not sure. It’s not like playing with Tom Jones which is undoubtedly cool. It’s not like playing with Avril Lavigne which would be like totally not cool. I suppose it’s somewhere in the middle, but closer to Mr. Jones.

Tonight, for the first time, Sixwire had a ton of energy. It was nice to see that side of them, but at the same time it really showed me how generic they are. There’s nothing unique about any of their performances. Really, nothing. Still, I can’t say they were that bad.

Light of Doom: I always get a kick out of their videos. Statements like “when he was younger he used to race motorbikes” are just laughable. Younger! Like what, 9?
And that one kid is a “freestyle walker.” Oh c’mon, that just can’t be real. I fart a whole bunch of ways too, so I guess that makes me a freestyle farter? Don’t try stealing that one, I’m copyrighting it.

The performance was a mess. The kid couldn’t sing in that key and he even admitted it. So why chose that song? It’s not like there aren’t hundreds of other Stones songs that they could have done. I know I’ve been saying their style isn’t very original, but when they take the metal out of the song and perform just rock music, they sound even more generic. I admit that I hate “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by itself, so that adds to my distaste for this, but the performance of it wasn’t good either.

Clark Brothers: This is the most baffling band for me personally. I’ve listened to this performance four times now. The thing I noticed in all four is that I loved the slide guitar using the flying V. Very cool. Listening to it live, I thought “Gimme Shelter” really needed drums to get the full impact. But then the second time, I really took to Ashley’s vocals and by the fourth time I’m just sitting there marveling at the overall musicianship of these guys without giving one thought to the missing backbeat. I still don’t think they will win it, but I am starting to come around to where most of you guys are in thinking they certainly have the most talent of any of the bands still left.

Dot Dot Dot: Man, the one dude puts the dots on his face with a Sharpie. C’mon, show some dedication and tattoo those suckers there. I mean, that’s like a dollar store inking. Three sticks and you’re done.

One thing Dot Dot Dot does well, is picking a good cover to do. “Let’s Spend the Night Together” was a really solid choice, but as Dicko pointed out, the keys were very cheesy so the song didn’t come off with as much power as it should have. They had a chance to be the best of the night and didn’t quite make it this week. I’m not sure I agree with Dicko though that Adam should present himself like he commands attention not like he’s desperate for it. Maybe Dicko should listen to and watch some of the bands in Dot Dot Dot’s genres first. The desperate vibe is given off by 90% of the successful bands in emocore, screamo and retro new wave scenes.

Unfortunately, my favorite group on the show, Cliff Wagner & The Old #7 go home this week. They all seemed quite grateful for the opportunity at least, but I can’t picture this will expand their sound like they claim. And are they really friends with all the other bands? Will it be weird when one of the Light of Doom moms come home and find their son in the basement playing PS3 with Cliff Wagner? Oh yes, it will.

Despite it being an unspectacular week for me, I still have a vote to cast and thanks to the fourth listen, it will be for The Clark Brothers. And again, I say Denver is next to go home.

Until next week, friends.

Rock out to the Clark Brothers and the rest of the bands in our online video guide.

This is a week that I have a tough time relating to. Born in ’76, I never really got the full impact of '60s music and never heard enough that excited me to make me want to go back and visit it. I know this sounds strange coming from a guy that found enough stuff exciting to own 4,000+ pieces of audio from the '80s, which is arguably the worst decade for music. (At least I know El DeBarge and Taco would be on my side of the debate). So a song like "Some Other Guy" is almost like listening to an original for me. Fortunately though, Leiber and Stoller wrote a lot of great tunes that were covered by a mess of bands, so I’m sure I can say I’ve heard most.

Side note: Many of the artists I will type as the performer of the songs really aren’t the original performers and I know that. But the artists I type are the versions that I remember as the hits. In a lot of cases, the original Leiber and Stoller song was performed by a soul group to little fanfare and then turned into a massive hit a few years later by a pop group (and those are the ones we know).

So... I’m not completely shocked Franklin Bridge went home. I mentioned last week how I thought they would be in trouble, but I expected their style to push them through a little bit longer. I’d really like to see the demographic watching this show. I’ve searched for the lowdown, but I guess when your ratings are so low, it’s hard to really break down who’s watching. But I’d like to see if it’s 30-year-old women from Nashville or 17 year-old-kids from NYC. That, to me, would give great insight as to who’s going to win this show. I do wonder, too, how much of a stretch Dominic Bowden was making when he talked about millions of votes. Millions over the course of the entire season? That I can see. But if he’s talking millions just last week, then I have to think he’s lying. Or Light of Doom’s parents are really pounding those phone lines. If anyone has seen some kind of official demographic of viewership for this, please post it.

Personally, I was hoping I would never have to hear Light of Doom again, but instead I get them opening the show. I don’t blame them for picking something very generic like Elvis’ "Jailhouse Rock." It’s tough for me at 31 to relate to many of these songs, so what must it feel like to be 12 and have to choose one of these? Now, if they don’t know Rolling Stones songs next week, then we have a problem. But even with song choices far out of their realm, I thought these guys were good. The guitar solo actually kind of rocked and they did pick an easy enough song that the entire world can sing along to. Safe choice but that will pay off this week. You know, I haven’t said anything up until this point, but I can’t let it go any longer: Can some stylist please get rid of Lucas’ unibrow? Sheila E. said something about the singer being a role model and not cursing. When did he curse? In the video or the song? Either way, I was paying attention and still missed it. Help me on this one.

When the Clark Brothers first started with "Saved," I wasn’t that excited with watching what seemed like unstructured, chaotic playing, but about halfway through I couldn’t help but love what I saw. This was the first time I’ve really seen a lot of energy from the singer and that did it for me. I’m trying to picture this performance in my head right now and I just can’t see anything but the vocals. He carried this one tonight and that’s perfectly fine. That’s what a lead is supposed to do.

Is it me or did John sound like a total idiot on this one when he asked them, "why do you hate drummers?" I mean, I’ve said before that I think I would like them more with a drummer, but John’s statement sounds like he’s saying, "why does your drummer always sit backstage playing Guitar Hero instead of performing." Buddy, listen. They can’t just bring a drummer out when there’s no drummer in the band. Logically, the comment made no sense. And then he had to backtrack so he didn’t offend Sheila E., then said she was the only singing drummer. Somewhere Phil Collins is returning his Goo Goo Dolls greatest-hits disc for that insult. Phew.

For the first time I'm not surprised Dot Dot Dot is performing again. I still think there are at least three bands in this competition more talented than them, but I’m starting to get the feeling that they will be one of the last two standing. They are one of the reasons I’d like to see the audience that’s watching. If they are in the 17-24 range, then Dot Dot Dot is really the only band right up their alley. I definitely am changing my tune about these guys a bit. The Searchers' "Love Potion #9" was a good choice of songs. Lighthearted and kind of silly, like these guys. Dicko was right that they have had two really good weeks in a row. I am, however, getting sick and tired of how John and Sheila feel the need to point out how the women are "real artists." Of course they’re real artists. Why does it always have to be a male/female thing? I never hear Sheila telling the third horn player in Denver that he’s a real artist.

The video that was shot for Cliff Wagner and the Old #7 was pretty funny. Apparently it’s Cliffy and those other guys (but in a friendly sort of way). I didn’t quite get the judges again tonight on a lot of things they said — especially with these guys. I thought their cover of The Coasters' "Poison Ivy" was remarkable. I loved that they stayed within their genre but still took a bit of the bluegrass out of this one. The tones were incredible and Dicko must be blind/deaf if he thought that was a lazy performance. I’m making it official tonight: Cliff Wagner and the Old #7 are my favorite band on this show!

I also love Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, but in this case I actually wholeheartedly agree with the judges. Everyone in the band has so much energy, except for Denver. It’s actually been like this for the entire show. The horns rock the joint and Denver just sort of stands there and sings. The frontman for this type of band needs to really move around, get animated, or really needs to pick up a horn and play with his band when he’s not singing. I, too, am a white boy who loves funk music and the horn section really takes me back to the early '80s funk that I love. I know after they played funk in Week 2, I said they needed to pick a genre and stay there — but not if they play like this. Apart from Denver, the rest of the band and their performance was awesome. This past week, I went to iTunes and listened to snippets of every song from their two albums and frankly, both of those albums sound very flat to me. This is a live band, not studio musicians, and I really think they would make a great living performing cover songs in swanky Vegas hotels.

Right after these two great performances, we get a stinker in Sixwire. Michael McDonald is certainly one of my 10 favorite vocalists of all time, and "I Keep Forgettin'" is a favorite of mine. Maybe that’s why I hated the bad harmonies and the poor guitar tone so much. Michael just has so much soul in his voice and Sixwire is not a soulful group. They could have gone back to the original from the '60s and tried that if they really wanted to do this song, but both the Chuck Jackson and Checkmates Ltd. versions are way different than Michael’s.

Finally, we have Tres Bien performing "Some Other Guy." Help me out with who did the popular version of this one as I'd like to hear it, and according to my research, it could be any number of bands. Doesn’t matter what I know, though, as this is about Tres Bien. The Leiber and Stoller sound plays right into their look and their style so they should have blown this right out of the water. Well, they didn’t. There was nothing wrong per se, but nothing that stands out either. Kind of a ho-hum performance in my eyes.

One final note before I go. I still like the format of this show, but the end is getting a little weird now. It’s pretty awkward to announce the last band to come up to the stage and then just watch the other dejected band. But the worst part is that it takes a lot of steam out of the sails of the band that did make it. It’s like "oh, Franklin Bridge was great but right now here’s that other band that took your spot." That’s not really right to do to Tres Bien.

Once again, I'm going to cast my vote for the band I thought was the best of the night, so for the second time now it's Cliff Wagner for me. If it were my choice, I'd send Sixwire home. I haven't quite predicted one correctly yet, but mark my words this time! Next week Denver goes home.

As usual, let me know what you thought about the bands and check out clips in our Online Video Guide.

Until next week, friends....

Down to one hour this week, we lose the original performance from these bands, which of course brings the show closer to home and follows the proven cover-song format. I have to admit, hearing only covers changed my thoughts of some of these acts. And hearing right up front that one of the artist’s first CD purchase was Billy Joel’s River of Dreams also changed my thoughts that I might still actually be young. His first album was River of Dreams? Wow. My second album was Billy’s An Innocent Man purchased in 1983. As a Billy Joel fan I just can’t imagine that the first purchase of his music was his 15th and final pop release. Crazy, but that’s OK. Gotta start somewhere, right?

Anyway, on to the bands.

Franklin Bridge: “Big Shot”
I can’t believe none of the judges commented on how they flubbed half the lyrics. And this clearly was not them being artistic. This was a singer not remembering what was written on the paper. It’s a shame, too, because I thought the arrangement was pretty good. I was not impressed when the singer started his soloing, though. That sounded very jumbled to me. Not impressed this week, so that makes two weeks in a row of disappointment after a very strong beginning for these guys.

Cliff Wagner & The Old #7: “You May Be Right”
If I didn’t know the song I would have sworn it was a bluegrass original. Great choice of songs and awesome arrangement made it fit right into their style. Not only that, but these guys seem to be having a lot of fun with this. Every week they make it through here on out, I’ll be shocked. But they deserve it, totally.

Denver & the Mile High Orchestra: “Tell Her About It”
Another perfect song choice and an obvious one since there are a lot of horns in the original and they wouldn’t have to mess with the basic rhythm too much. I’m not really arguing here, but why did they get almost triple the time Cliff Wagner did? They got a very good chance to showcase themselves this week and probably turned in their best performance.

Dot Dot Dot: “Pressure”
For the past two weeks I’ve been saying that if Dot Dot Dot were any good, I’d be sure to give them props. Well, here it is. This week they were awesome! “Pressure” suited their retro, new-wave style very well, and the singer sounded really good for a change. This is the first week I’ve actually enjoyed them. I’m not ready to jump on their boat just yet, but this week at least proved to me they have some talent.

Sixwire: “She’s Always a Woman”
This sounded dreadful to me. I thought it was a bad arrangement with way too much going on in the song. I wonder if Dicko has ever listened to the song, though. Sixwire’s interpretation of the lyrics was right on the mark and I thought it made Dicko look kind of silly.

Tres Bien: “Movin’ Out”
Actually, I’m still not sure about this one. I was a little thrown off by the slowed-down tempo at first. Then I went back and listened to it and I kind of dug it. But it wasn’t anything special. The change in pace of the whole thing is really confusing my brain. It doesn’t take much, I know.

The Clark Brothers: “She’s Got a Way”
This is the first week I’ve really liked these guys. This was a good song choice for them. I don’t necessarily agree with the judges' comment that they were the first ones of the night to totally own the song, but I agree that they were very good. I liked seeing their slower side, rather than the crazy pace they usually play. As a general rule I love the sound of the slide guitar, and this really showcased that.

Light of Doom: “The Stranger”
Totally unrecognizable. I was looking forward to see what they would do with Billy Joel and it turned out interesting. I think they did the right thing. The only person who really had to learn the song was the singer. The rest of the band came up with their own music for it. And what’s weird about that is that this sounded the most modern of anything they’ve done so far. Though I really wish the guitarist would quit the leg kick and the tossing of the guitar — it’s just so clichéd. I wish they would all just stand still, play their music and maybe do a little headbanging if they need to. Just stop trying to be everything that’s cheesy about classic metal. The singer did sound OK this week, though, so it was better than previous weeks, but still not the best.

The Muggs and Rocket are out. Did you see the Muggs backstage at the end? Clearly they knew they weren’t making it and didn’t really care. But it still must be so humiliating for both of them to be in a room with 10 year olds and lose to them. It’s cruel for the show to leave the kids in the room to the end. If I were Rocket, I’d quit right now. Sexy ladies can’t beat six kids. That’s a big flashing neon sign saying, “Quit.” I guess the show learned from the debacle of last week and didn’t let the exiting bands say anything.

So tonight my vote goes to the Clark Brothers with Dot Dot Dot and Cliff Wagner tied for a close second. Tough call on who goes home because none were clearly made to leave. I think Franklin Bridge could be in trouble, but I don’t think they will go yet. I have to think this will be Light of Doom’s last week on this show.

Until next week, friends.

Check out clips from American Band in our Online Video Guide.

Hey now rockers! It's Elton John and Bernie "Poppin" (whoops, I mean Taupin) week on The Search For the Next Great American Band. Elton is a bit more my speed than Dylan so this week excited me more than last. Whether you like Elton John's songs or not, you have to admit that the guy can write a heck of a pop tune. Obviously Bernie's no slouch either. The combo works so great together.

As usual, before we get into the bands, let's talk atmosphere a minute.

I love this elimination format. I wasn't quite sure how they were going to pull it off, but having all the bands sit back stage and one by one get plucked out to perform, worked really well. Well, except for the very end where the two eliminations seemed a bit awkward, but at least the bands that went home didn't have to perform again like the contestants do on Idol.

I also wanted to bring up John Rzeznik for a bit. For some reason tonight he seemed to take his angry pills before showing up and I have to say, if this is what he's going to be like week after week, he's going to grow old very quick. He's taking way, way too much offense to the boos in the audience and I hope going forward he's not going to stop for every one and yell at the crowd. Nothing like tearing down the people that were dragged in off the street to cheer for music they couldn't care less about.

Moving on to the music, I have to say I'm a bit shocked by the first vote. I really dug The Likes of You last week and didn't expect them to be anywhere near the bottom. The Hatch were less than memorable anyway, so that's no big loss. However, I take offense to their bitter comment at the end. Their assessment that America didn't really vote them off is probably pretty accurate, but to say that only 300 people in Nebraska voted is really quite insulting. I mean, c'mon guys. I voted! So that's at least 301 people and I've never stepped foot in Nebraska. Note to The Hatch: [Flipping The Bird]. No, I'm just kidding. I actually thought the awkward silence from everyone was quite priceless when The Hatch essentially said, "Hey, we just got voted off a show with worse ratings than whatever's on the CW."

For the bands that did make it through, we'll talk about them in order of performance. I have to say, that I disagreed with the judges a lot this week and of course that means jds1162 will once again tell me I know nothing about music, but that’s okay. I've shed all the tears from that comment that I'm going to shed (sob, sob) and have donned the music geek cap proudly once again.

Sixwire — These guys were good once again. Their original, "Gotta Get Away" was decent and I thought they made a perfect choice of cover with "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me." However, I think this week is a perfect example of why they didn't succeed in the past. What radio format will play that original? I know there's a lot of country music these days that is more pop, but almost all of them still have an underlying feel of country music. I think the new Carrie Underwood CD is quite good and very much a pop record, but her songs all have a sense of being rooted in country music. Sixwire's song this week didn't have that. It sounded strictly like a pop song to me. So then of course you have to ask what pop station would play that? The answer to that is obvious — none. I think they would have a decent shot at airplay on the AAA/Adult charts, but that's about it with this particular song. I can picture a Lonestar-ish type album but even that's pushing it a bit. I'm not saying these guys aren't good, but I just think I see why they might be hard to market.

Tres Bien! — The song, the lighting, man ‐ I just kept waiting for Austin Powers to pop in. Groovy baby, yeah! I really liked their original, especially the tone of the guitar. I wasn't that keen on Elton's "Love Lies Bleeding" I'm never going to hear that again anyway.

Franklin Bridge — Last week of course I couldn't say enough good things about these guys but they absolutely brought themselves back to the pack this week. The beginning of the original, "Love's Fool" was really missing something. It got better as it went along, but by the time it kicked in, I was a little bored. "Philadelphia Freedom" was a completely obvious choice for their cover but I actually agreed with Dicko on this one. It sounded like you were right on that airwave border where one station playing Godsmack and another playing Common bleed together. The keyboard sounds were very cheesy. This week I did get that gospel feel because those keys were tuned to "organ" but I also got the Prince vibe again. Prince is my favorite artist ever but even so, I will fully admit that some of the keys he plays can sound very dated at times (check his album Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic for good proof of that). The funky bassline reminded me of the purple one, but the keys also reminded me that while I might look past the cheesiness when it comes to Prince but I can't do it for these guys. Not very good this week.

The Clark Brothers — I don't know what to say about these guys. I like excitement and these guys just don't scream out funtime at the Clark House. I'm totally digging the slide guitar but the cover of "Country Comfort" was just average. Johnny seemed to think this was a challenging song, but to my ears this is one of the more basic songs in the EJ catalog.

Light of Doom — Okay, so I've officially taken the Light of Doom bandwagon, flipped it over, pushed it off a cliff and watched it burst into flames upon impact with the ground. I am not a fan at all. I disagreed with all three judges on this one. John and Sheila thought they were excellent and Dicko thought they just seem like a gimmick. I think Dicko really needs to move past that one and the other two must not have been paying attention. I am a true metal head at heart (horns high!) and again, I know they are kids, but they bring nothing new to the genre. Everything they play is completely retread 80's riffs and the singer just can't sing. And c'mon — the only reason no one mentioned that they said "Bernie Poppin" was because they were 12. Don't disrespect the theme of the show. While I don't like the originals either, I think it's the covers that will do them in. Elton doesn't translate to metal and next week, Billy Joel certainly doesn't either.

Dot Dot Dot — Frankly, I'm shocked they made it through to this round. Clearly the judges were as well. "Your Song" was a good choice for them and it was certainly the best thing they have performed so far. The original, "Stay" was better than last week, but it was still a pretty poorly written song. Just a weak, weak hook in this one. An upgrade from last week, but still teetering the line of awful.

Cliff Wagner & The Old #7 — Again, shocked they made it though it's certainly not for lack of talent. I love how they tried to relate to the crowd by dedicating "Little White Chapel" to Britney Spears. Their cover of Elton's "Honky Cat" was the single finest moment of the week. A brilliant arrangement and the only song tonight that I was groovin' to. Excellent. Side note: Weird comments from the judges on this one. John says it reminded him of a time when he was almost beaten to death in a bar with Honky Cat on in the background. Then Sheila E. says she was going to say the same thing as John. Who the heck would try to kill Sheila E. at a bar and why didn't Prince stop them?

The Muggs — Cliff Wagner gave me my favorite moment of the week, then five minutes later, The Muggs presented me with the most awful, mind-numbing performance of the entire season so far. God, "That's Why They Call It The Blues" was brutal! Just plain, downright, ginormously terrible. Everything about it, from the poor arrangement to ridiculously poor vocals made me want to hit mute. Dicko was 100% on the mark when he told them to become a 4-piece and get a singer. I love the singer — as a guitar player. I'm sorry, but I don't care if they are all friends. Someone needs to make the call to be an instrumental group for a while.

Rocket — The Likes of You still hasn't been called and yet Rocket gets to go back out on stage. You want to know why? Thighs you could eat dinner off of. The jiggle of Lauren's thighs are making 18-year old boys reach for the tissues. Oh, I know I'll take the wrath for that statement as I'm just playing into the whole reason ladies have to be better than guys but they can't be there because of their music. Lauren claims "I'm not trying to be the best singer." That just sounds stupid to me. Why bother then? In my mind that translates to "I know I'm bad but who cares, I'm marketable!" The fact they have a poor singer and no rhythm is completely hidden in back of a sheer dress and leather boots. Go ahead and call me a pig, but know for an absolute fact that if I thought these girls were even remotely good, I would give them their props.

Denver & The Mile High Orchestra — It must have been nice at this point just to have enough couch room for all of them to sit down. Although hearing their name means The Likes of You goes home, I'm happy these guys made it through. The horn section with these guys is awesome. They are so tight and honestly, what they really should be doing is performing in a swanky hotel bar covering Elton John songs. "I'm Still Standing" was awesome. But their original "All Night" was absolutely not awesome. One week they are Big Band, the next week they are KC & The Sunshine Band. The original lyrics were anything but original and while the song itself wasn't the worst thing in the world, just the fact they pulled out an original disco tune was a shock to the system.

So that means this week my vote goes to — Cliff Wagner! And yes, I do really vote.

I was wrong on both accounts last week in my prediction of who was going home but I'm going to keep trying. Once again, I think Dot Dot Dot packs their bags. I'd like to say Rocket for the second band but again, a spoonful of Lauren makes the medicine go down, medicine go down, medicine go down. So it has to be The Muggs.

Let me know what you thought of the bands.

Until next week, friends.

Check out clips from American Band in our Online Video Guide.

Wow, how much did this improve from last week? I have to admit that my hopes were not high after that mediocre debut, but now that the bands are inside and I saw the format, I was quite impressed.

The set looks quite sharp, Dominic Bowden is actually a pretty decent host and Sheila E. looked mighty different than she did last week. But what impressed me the most was the format. The bands get to play one song with a theme and then one original. The original performances are what’s going to make or break this show. I’m curious to see what viewers will think of originals. It can be tough to listen to songs you don’t know. Personally, I like new music and I like hearing things I haven’t heard before. But I also know the feeling standing at a concert listening to music you aren’t familiar with. I can’t sing along and I really don’t know how to react. People can relate to covers. It’s harder to relate to the originals.

The other thing with the originals is that if these bands are going to get to perform an original every week, will some of them even have enough material to not duplicate their efforts? I’m sure Sixwire has plenty to carry them through, but how about Light of Doom? If these guys make it to the end, do they have eight to 10 originals they can do? I’ll be curious to see that.

I’m also shocked to see that Sheila E. is quite critical. It’s not that I wasn’t expecting that from her, but when you’re used to Paula Abdul showering nothing but praise, you can’t help but expect the woman sitting in her position to do the same. I’m excited Sheila’s being critical of the bands. John Rzeznik is the one who seems to be almost all sunshine and roses, but even he had a few critical comments as the show went on.

And finally, before we get to the bands, I’m very impressed they get to perform for a long time and do the cover and original back-to-back!

Tonight the bands get to start off with a Dylan cover and follow it right up with an original. So it’s time for me to be judge No. 4. In this blog, you’re not going to get a line-by-line recap of what the judges say because, well, in the end the opinion that matters is mine (and yours). I’m the one with the vote. You’ll get my honest thoughts on the bands and then please tell me if you agree or if you think I’m tone-deaf. So here we go:

The Poor:

Light of Doom — Well, I think I will take some heat for this one, but I didn’t like these boys much at all. “All Along the Watchtower” seemed very hurried to me, and the guitarist just wasn’t very good. These guys actually impressed me more last week, and frankly I wasn’t that impressed then. I love me some metal. I toss the horns up in completely inappropriate places all the time because I have metal oozing in my veins, but this is just tired. “Eye of the Storm” was nothing remotely unique. And they want to be a metal band, but the singer was slapping hands during the song and the guitarist was jumping up and down like he was in Third Eye Blind. Not metal.

Rocket — First off, I hate to constantly hear things like, “We’re just as good as the boys.” I know there aren’t that many female bands out there, but there are plenty of female solo artists and many of them sell millions more records than male artists. What’d I’d really like to see is an all-female group that conveys that message through the music because these ladies were not even remotely close to 90 percent of the bands making music today. I dislike the vocalist a lot and I think it was the worst rhythm guitar of the night. The guitarist was completely flat in both songs. Actually no, flat in the original and ugly in the cover.

Dot Dot Dot — Their singer Adam looks like a fool. Kind of a mix of Jared Leto and Bert McCracken from The Used. I look at the image and see emocore and I got Duran Duran. Either way, they sucked. I kind of enjoyed the arrangement on “Like a Rolling Stone” but none of the judges did, so I guess my tastes are a bit unique sometimes. Whatever I did like from them, though, ended with their original “Another Stupid Love Song.” The title itself just seems very clichéd to begin with, and there wasn’t one part to this, musically or vocally, that I liked. It was the only song of the night that I never want to hear again. The singer is the type of artist I make fun of, so these guys will never be a favorite of mine if they make it through, but looking past that, they just either aren’t that talented, or need to pick better songs. (But click on the link above and listen to their MP3. Whipped through a processor, these aren't that bad.)

The Average:

The Hatch — The band seemed to slip up in the middle on the Dylan song, and for the original it just seemed like they had a ton of energy on stage but for some reason the energy wasn’t coming out of the instruments. John was correct too, but there was no hook in their original. That’s OK if you’re a prog-rock band, but pop bands need hooks. These guys will probably stick around for a bit, but they need to improve.

Cliff Wagner & the Old #7 — Bob Dylan is a really good fit for these guys to start with. I truly like these guys, but this bluegrass just seems so out of place here. I give the judges credit for having the balls to pass this band through, but I just don’t think bluegrass fans are part of the 2.0 rating right now. It was kind of a weird and abrupt twist in the mood of the show. Overall, though, I thought they were solid. Not great, but decent. I just can’t even remotely imagine how these guys are going to get any votes.

The Muggs — Musically, I think these guys are decent. They are much more rock ‘n roll than I would have ever expected from ugly old men. But personally, I have to have the vocals and the guy can’t sing. He even admitted that at the end. So to keep my interest they are going to have to blow me away musically.

The Clark Brothers — I almost put these guys in the cool category but there was just something missing from “Maggie’s Farm” for me. Maybe it’s the lack of a drummer that’s throwing me off. I would really like to hear what they’d sound like with a nice subtle beat behind them. The cover just didn’t have the right vibe. Their song “Billy the Kid" was good, though. Again, a beat would have been nice, but it was a catchy tune with a catchy chorus. These guys will be around a while.

The Cool:

Denver and the Mile High Orchestra — I thought starting off the show with a super upbeat take on Dylan’s “Freight Train Blues” was awesome. I love how tight this band is. I enjoyed the original track, too. “One Time Show” was good, but I did think that the vocalist lost a bit of energy. The band seemed a bit more upbeat than him, but they were still quite solid. It hasn’t been long enough since this big-band style died out for it to come back in style again, so these guys are past their time, or before their time. They're just never going to be present time.

The Likes of You — I love this guy’s falsetto. John says there’s too much of it and you can hear that a bit in their original, but I can deal. The twists they put on Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” were great and you can see exactly why the singer opened for Hall & Oates. Their original, “Love and Gravity,” had a classic Daryl Hall & John Oates feel to it.

Tres Bien! — I don’t think the singer quite captured the vocal Olympics in “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” but he made a valiant effort. It was a good take on a classic and fit their style very well. Or I thought it was their style, because they surprised me a bit on the second track. Again, I was picturing The Strokes, The Vines, The Hives etc… and I got more Marty McFly/Back to the Future. Their original, “Easy to Love Me,” was right out of a malt shop. I expected more edge, but at the same time, they were quite good.

Sixwire — How fitting that the major-label act closes the show. All right, that’s the last time I’m going to pick on them for that, because they really are good. Unique, no. But I don’t see unique necessarily selling country records these days. Their straight-up version of “Mr. Tambourine Man” was excellent and showed me they might have a slight crossover feel as that reminded me of the Gin Blossoms. Gin Blossoms and Goo Goo Dolls sort of blend in the same era for me, so this should be a band that John Rzeznik likes. Their original was great as well. These guys are really on point as a band. Again, if I hadn’t seen the band and this song popped on the radio I would have probably thought that Rascal Flatts had a new one out, though. That’s something that will sell.

Too good to lump in with the rest:

Franklin Bridge — Sick. Just ridiculously sick how good this was. I flipped over their smoothed-up version of “Tangled Up in Blue” despite Dicko saying it was just too much in the arrangement. And their song “Incredible” was just that. I love their style and the singer has the most stage presence of anyone on the show. The singer looks and reminds me a bit of Prince Paul, who dabbles outside the urban music box just like these guys. Easily my favorite of them all.

So, the first performances are done and this week my vote goes to Franklin Bridge hands down. I would expect to see Dot Dot Dot and Cliff Wagner and the Old #7 going home next week. Cliff deserves to stay at least over Rocket, but I just can’t imagine them getting any votes no matter how good they are.

My apologies for the length, but I’m sure this will get shorter as we lose some bands. Let me know what you thought of it this week!

Until next week, friends.

Check out clips from The Next Great American Band in our Online Video Guide.

I have to tell you right up front that I’ve been totally stoked for this show for months now. If you know nothing about me or my blogs, I’ll simply tell you that I’m a music geek. At any given point you can hear Culture Club, Slayer, Tim McGraw and yes, Sheila E. and the Goo Goo Dolls on my iPod. My favorite artist is Prince and I think Nickelback is the anti-Christ. That should give you a good enough look into why this show is my cup of tea.

So without Rock Star to fall back on, this is the next best thing. I mean, it’s tough for me to throw the metal horns high for Next Great American Band, but hey, it’s not always about rockin’ the joint. Sometimes it’s about throwing them into a bluegrass frenzy as well.

Before we even talk about the music, my first question is this: Why do they get a foreign host to find the next American band? Nothing against this Dominic Bowden guy, but wouldn’t an American host have been nice? Then again, the McGrathbot hosting PCD didn’t exactly make me tingle with excitement, so maybe we have Seacrest and nothing else here in the good old U.S. of A. But at least he could have pronounced John Rzeznik’s name correctly. I really wonder how Johnny feels when he hears the host call him “REES Nick.” You’d think they would have edited that until they got it right.

I am very happy that the start of this season was much better than the first season of American Idol. Years of practice helps, of course, because as I go back and watch the rewind shows of AI, I realize just how bad they were until they got Dunklebutt out of there and figured out a good format. This was much better, although I think we are probably all questioning the logic behind having everyone in the 107-degree Las Vegas desert heat.

I still have to get used to the judges together. It’s very difficult to not hear “dawg pound” over and over again or to actually see a coherent woman in the middle, but I’m sure they will all grow on me over time. And I do admit that I didn’t laugh as I much as I do during the AI audition shows, but fewer people are trying out, so they can’t all be William Hung.

Let’s take a look at some of the bands. There were just too many to talk about them all, but we’ll break them into categories and discuss some.

Rejected:

Big Toe: I felt like it was dollar-draft night at the corner bar. These guys looked like the bands I make fun of all the time. Well, I try not to make fun of the armless, but these were mostly just old men playing old music and thinking they relate to teenagers.

Northmont: The singer clearly has that Chris Daughtry thing going for him, but the judges were right on; his band sucked. Wimpy music played by a wimpy band. I did kind of feel bad for the band, though, and I wonder if any of these guys will remain friends after the singer seemed to turn on them after the judges went off.

Fifi LaRue: This was the saddest of all of them. First of all, his name is Fifi and his mama called him that, too, so it can’t even be a stage name. Secondly, he was butt-ugly, and finally, his guitarist was wearing corpse paint and smiling. When I don my corpse paint to go to work, all thoughts of smiling go out the window. (Note: If you are planning on wearing some, this is pretty close to what you should look like). Oh, and here’s a pet peeve of mine, too: Label yourself correctly. He was neither gothic or metal, yet claimed he was both.

Taken (but not really that good):

Light of Doom: I have to like that they are influenced by ninjas, boobs and explosions. Shouldn’t we all be? But they looked gimmicky up on stage. The typical metal leg kick and the pathetic toss of the guitar should go. Yes, I realize they are 13, but I think they’d be much better if they just played music for now and worried about copying all their favorite bands later.

Rocket: These five ladies sounded just fine covering Blitzkrieg Bop. I won’t argue that point. But the first thing they said was that their sound is not typical. Um, that was a straight-forward cover of a song that every punk band in the world has played at one point. What’s not typical about that?

The Hatch: They performed "Use Me" by Bill Withers, which was a weird song for them to audition with since there wasn’t much musically to showcase them as a band. I can’t imagine anyone will vote for them.

Taken (and quite good):

Sixwire: Very impressive. But then again, they should be. They were signed to Warner Brothers in 2002, released an album and had two songs chart on the Billboard country chart. I dislike their inclusion here since they've had a major label deal, but they were still very good.

Cliff Wagner and the Old #7: You have to give it up for them bluegrassing “Like a Virgin” on the spot. Excellent performance, really. But are they really going to be able to perform anything else other than bluegrass? I don’t see many people out there text-messaging for a bluegrass band. Just seems like the wrong show for them, but they are talented.

Franklin Bridge: These guys were the best by a long shot. I’m not just saying that because I’ll be traveling over the Ben Franklin Bridge tomorrow, either. A nice mix of R&B and rock with a great vocalist. Again, though, I don't know how theme weeks won’t hurt them. Although if any of these groups has a chance to pull off everything from Sinatra to Bon Jovi, it might be these guys. My favorite of them all.

I think my overall worry right now is that none of these groups is going to sell any records when this is over. Out of all of them, are any of them really modern enough to do so? Tres Bien sound a bit like Jet and the Strokes, but be honest, is that really in anymore? Dot Dot Dot have the look of a My Chemical Romance, so they have that going for them. And Franklin Bridge certainly sounds current. But why do I feel like The Likes of You will be the band to watch out for? They only showed 15 seconds of their performance for some reason, almost leading me to believe they were so good that they didn’t want people thinking that no one else had a shot before it even began.

The Muggs might play good music, but image is everything these days and these old farts don’t have a shot. The Clark Brothers sounded good, but they better be able to do something other than “This Little Light of Mine,” because that’s going to go nowhere.

I really want to see these bands inside on a stage, though. It’s hard to pass true judgment until I see more from each, but of the 12 I can only see three or maybe four of these bands being worth a dime when this is finished, so it doesn’t seem like we’re starting out Season 1 with the strongest crew.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you thought overall and what you think of some of the bands.

(In a crazy stroke of weirdness, just as I was finishing this blog, “Forever Your Girl” comes up on my iPod. Guess Mama is lookin’ out for her sibling.)

Until next week, friends.

Check out clips from American Band over in our Online Video Guide.

Or maybe not — who knows, really? But join me a few hours after Friday's two-hour debut for the first blog on American Band!!! I can't wait!!

Check out our Interviews & Features section this Friday for a Q&A with American Band judge and Goo Goo Dolls lead singer, John Rzeznik!