A spring deluge

You can’t or shouldn’t judge a book by its cover — Bo Diddley said so. But you could say D.C.’s The Fuss was as clean as it looked, bringing the audience to the brink. Emerging as if from a cold shower, a deluge of spring time or an Irish Spring commercial.

And for an added thrill the opening cut that came across included a guest spot that had Some Ska Band’s Charles Benoit honkin’ and  wailin’ his tenor sax head off.  The nine-piece rocksteady bundle of joy from our nation’s capital rocked steady for two hours drawing from  its umpteen number of albums — which included several releases on cassette tape. Talk about vintage. What fun. What a Fuss.

Last Friday night at Photo City Music Hall was a sloppy punk pairing of Voice of Addiction from Chicago, Rochester’s Sodoff and Buffalo’s On the Cinder. Now Sodoff guitar player and character on the scene, Ricky Rotten boasts a genuine nihilist’s stop drop and roll but I wasn’t sure about his guitar playing.

With all that attitude and gunfighter  bravado , it would have to suck, right? Well you’d be wrong, wrong I tell ya. Despite the little bit-of-feedback that threatened to get the best of him at the very beginning, he railed and throttled the guitar into submission for the whole damn set.

While Rotten held down the six-string side of the stage, Sodoff drummer Jon Lalopa ran the band’s sound entirely by himself from the convenience of his drum throne. Next, I hear he’s gonna juggle chainsaws while bringing the heavy downbeat.

Here’s a comprehensive list of live shows in and around Rochester: Get Your Gig On

Frank De Blase is Rochester Beacon music writer. The Beacon welcomes comments from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name.