Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
Craig Nicholls, the diminutive frontman of the Vines, set the stage for Q101’s annual Twisted 9 megaconcert Sunday at the Allstate Arena when he lost his footing and fell into the photo pit early in the Vines’ half-hour set. Crawling back onstage, Nicholls threw his guitar around enough to show that while he was p.o.’d and embarrassed, he wasn’t hurt.
This spare duo delivers a cohesive, 15-track follow-up to 1996’s As Good as Dead. Equal parts sardonic brat (”All the Kids Are Right”), realist (”She Hates My Job”), and dreamer (”Lucky Time”), vocalist Scott Lucas also cranks out the best crunchy guitar licks since Cheap Trick’s heyday. Grade: A-
Bassists everywhere are probably shuddering in horror as Local H climbs up the music charts. The Chicago-based duo is making a name for itself without the benefit of a bass guitar. “We have a big sound,” said drummer Joe Daniels, phoning from Rochester, N.Y. “Scott (Lucas) has a huge guitar sound, and our soundman is like the icing on the cake. He really makes everything sound good. People ask us all the time what we’d do if a cable went out or something, and the answer is the same for us as for anyone else in a band. You fix it and keep going on. We’ve been doing this a long time.”