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a low-cut black top, tight jeans and
sparkly black hat – an outfit that subtly showcases her curves in a way that
definitely draws attention, but with
class. If anything shows up bassist
Todd McGowan’s on-the-money fourstring delivery, it’s his soulful tenor
voice. His soaring vocals help power
the band through the Mother’s Finest
classic “Piece of the Rock.” And his
take on “Life in the Fast Lane” brings
to mind an Eagle alright, if that Eagle had fangs and was in the midst of
an air battle. Drummer Todd Schull
keeps his head down in the back behind a transparent gobo, with a steely
focus that never misses a beat. At
stage left is lead guitar virtuoso Scott
Moore, who looks as though he could
rip through a myriad of sweeping arpeggios at a
moment’s notice. But he doesn’t. The black stocking cap on his head is adorned with a pair of black
sunglasses that never move, as if they are glued on
– a metaphor for the relaxed excellence he exudes
in Bombshell. He checks sports scores on the TVs near
the stage as he effortlessly rips solos during the band’s
set.
Bombshell obviously
has the skill and talent to
do note-for-note recreations of the songs they
cover. But they don’t,
and that’s what sets them
apart. They turn James
Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”
into a searing power ballad. Aretha Franklin’s
“Chain of Fools” becomes
a fiery hard rock stomp.
The band is even able to
breathe new life into the
tired warhorse, “Summer
of ’69.” The chugging guitars and Ward’s soaring
vocals make the Bryan
Adams staple sound more
like something Adams
might have contributed to
Kiss when he was writing
songs for their Creatures
of the Night album.
According to Bates,
the idea is to stay true to
the original song as much
as possible, while giving
the audience an interpretation they would never
expect.
This Bombshell is set to explode
By John Huiett
J
oe Bates was engulfed in flames. His first thought
was that he had died and gone to Hell.
A water heater’s pilot light ignited a can of gasoline
inside a utility closet and the resulting explosion caused
massive burns on 90 percent of Bates’s 13-year-old
body. He wasn’t expected to live through the weekend.
He did live, but the following nine months would be a
brutal fight for survival. In the end, doctors would have
to amputate most of Bates’s fingers and the toes on his
right foot because of infection.
While Bates had not died and gone to Hell, this was
a special kind of living hell for someone who loved
playing the guitar. True, Bates was left without fingers
– but not without the drive and tenacity to overcome
his tragedy. No fingers? No problem. Thirty-four years
later, Bates plays the guitar like a beast – his special Les
Paul copy affixed to a stand and titled forward. His fingerless hands glide over the strings and fret board as he
chunks and solos his way through a vast repertoire of
songs better than some players with all of their fingers.
If you close your eyes and just listen, you would never
know of Joe’s challenges. But open those eyes and you
see the musical miracle that is Joe Bates.
I was able to witness that miracle when his band,
Bombshell, played Moonshiners in Lexington, SC, on
October 3, 2014. Yes, watching Bates play is somewhat
baffling and wondrous. But when you add in the rest
of the band, the talent and power they pump out make
Bates just one part of a meticulously well-oiled machine.
Bombshell is tight as a brick, as thick as one too, as they
crank out crunchy, razor-edged updates of classic songs.
It’s difficult not to compare lead vocalist Amy Ward
to Ann Wilson at her peak as the band pounds through
Heart’s “Straight ۋ