4
hood pub) the opening chords of
the evening’s opener, AudioShot,
began to rumble from the stage. A
mix of classic and 90’s era rock, the
hits kept coming…. a perfect prequel to the show we had all come to
see, the climax of the musical ménage a trois that we were all eager
and willing participants in this night:
The… (energy continuing to build!)
climactic return to the stage, after
a three-month hiatus, of Columbia,
SC’s own Stardog!
S
An Evening with Stardog
by Wil Clement
I
t
was a humid, downright sultry evening in
Irmo, SC as I walked toward the entrance to
Hemingway’s, a local ‘beer and pretzel’ pub by
day, live music hall by night - and the sweat was
already beginning to bead on my forehead as I
approached the door. Kinda excited, I was. As I
drew closer to the entrance, I noticed something
else in the air besides the humidity… there was
an energy: a palpable electricity of the sort that
seems to be all-too-rare at concert events these
days. The energy reminiscent of days gone by,
when, as you entered the doors to a concert (think
Carolina Coliseum) you wondered who you would
see there. Who would they be with…what would
they be wearing? The energy that, as you stand in
line for your pre-concert refreshments, electrifies
you and compels you to hurry to your seat to catch
your first glimpse of the stage, and eagerly chat
with those around you about the band and their
show on this tour.
A
s Michelle and I took our seats, after the precursory tour around the concert hall (so transformed from the normal unbecoming neighbor-
tardog, a group composed of
well-seasoned and travelled
rock veterans Artie Joyner- stylistic frontman with ‘ole Ironlung/
Dio-esqu pipes, Beau Long- talkin’,
no…wailin’, no… SCREAMIN’ guitars, Dale Raszewski- thunder from
beyond Down Under fretless bass,
Jayson Moore- Rockenfield meets
Aldridge meets in-yo-face drums,
and keyboardist Mark Foy-that
seamless, necessary touch that
ties it all together, have accomplished their mission of bringing an
urgency and musically-sexual innocence back to the sound of modern
music with the thespring release of
their self-titled EP this year. The same urgency that
was unmercifully stripped from the scene with the
onslaught of the much-ballyhoo-ed scowling Seattle bands of the early 90’s. The grunge sound…
ugh. The grunge look…ugh-LY! An urgency that I,
for one, welcome back.
T
his night: June
27, 2014… a date
that will live in infamy,
Hemingway’s is invaded by the forces of the
Empire of hard-rock.
In this dastardly blow
to the false ‘peace-bystinging-reality’ promised and enforced
by the Seattle Treaty
of 1990, perhaps we
may enjoy a return to
a simpler time, if not
music, envisioned by
the country of Led Zeppelin, nestled in the
Mountains of Rush,
on the continent of
Dio, bordered by Black
Country and protected
by The Foo Fighters
teamed with the Kiss Army. Bye-bye, Seattle Accord, hello Stardog.
O
n this night, Stardog does not disappoint.
From the opening strains of the intro to their
mega-hit Black Mountain Rain (from which they
Artiefully (sic) segued into Dirty Flower, we are
thankfully bombarded with the kind of fist-pumping
music that really does make one want to get up,
move your feet and lose your seat. It is truly a testament to the values that these guys built Stardog
upon that they even pulled the evening off: Artie
Joyner, frontman, had been battling a throat infection, yet insisted the show must go on… what a
work ethic, and what a show it was! You know, it
is one thing to cram a bunch of lights onstage and
howl cover songs at a drunken audience week after