It's high time to really talk about new local classic/hard rock cover quintet Headrush on here, so what should you know about them? Debuting as one of a pair of mystery bands at last year's Toystock at The Grand Gardens, Headrush (not to be confused with fellow local hard rock quintet HeadFirst, who also played at Toystock) only launched their official Facebook group in August, with former Cherry Crush/Tripod The Dog bassist John Amendola taking the lead in posting content and promoting the group there. Bizarrely, the band still hasn't listed their full lineup in writing on Facebook, but I believe I have identified two of John's bandmates. The singer is John Anderson, who made the top 15 in the inaugural Soo's Got Talent back in 2018, and I have shades of Frankly Speaking here with two band members sharing a first name & last initial! As best as I can tell, the lead guitarist is Soo Fighters/2 Minute Warning alum Wes Greco.
I'm not 100% sure on who the second guitarist/keyboardist and drummer are, but we'll let you know if we hear public confirmation! Unless they played a public gig prior, Headrush held their second show at The Water Tower Pub in July, and they just played their first ever full weekend at The Esquire Club on Friday & yesterday. They're slated to return to The Esquire Club on November 15th-16th and December 27th-28th, so consider those LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS! Musically, Headrush describe themselves as playing "80s music at its finest" (though not all of their covers are from that decade), and multiple videos from jam sessions and live concerts can be seen on their Facebook group, so what is available to check out? On August 5th, John Amendola posted five jam session videos of them covering Billy Squier's "Everybody Wants You", Bon Jovi's "Get Ready", Journey's "Stone In Love", Foreigner's "Hot Blooded", and Jefferson Starship's "Jane".
Ten days later, John posted three videos from their Water Tower Pub show in July of them covering "Get Ready", "Jane", and Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" (complete with a local, if non-rhyming lyric change). All three are vertically shot and suffer from very blue lighting, so keep note of that in comparison to what else is on offer. Also that day, John uploaded more jam session videos, this time featuring uncredited guest musicians, and even a saxophone! These videos include covers of AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie", Journey's "Lights", and Foreigner's "Urgent". On September 1st, three short & vertical videos (the first two being "Reels") from a private end-of-summer party were shared by co-host Sabrina Cappelanni's personal Facebook page of Headrush covering "Whole Lotta Rosie", Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl", and "Jane". While these are all short & vertical, they are well filmed!
Sabrina also got a horizontal video of Headrush covering "Lights" at that event, but alas, it's only 11 seconds long. John Amendola also uploaded previously unseen clips of four other covers in this "Reel" to promote this past weekend's Esquire Club shows, but I'd definitely rather see the full songs than short, vertical, and unembeddable clips with overlaid text. From what I have seen of Headrush so far, they have a talented lineup across the board, and they do lean towards hard rock and AOR covers more than anything else, so fans of cover classic/hard rock bands should be right at home with this group, especially if you don't get them confused with HeadFirst! I seriously called them the wrong name a few times writing this post before fixing the first draft. John Anderson has deceptive vocal talents to hit some strong notes on these covers, and they do seem to have gotten a good response so far at their live gigs!
No word on when we'll see Headrush elsewhere, but they will be back at The Esquire Club in mid-November. Those and their post-Christmas gigs at the same venue have 9:30 PM start times, 19+ age limits, and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more on Headrush (the newest addition to our active band links), stay tuned for more this week, and here they are covering Bon Jovi this summer! Thanks everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment