Starting off the Something Wicked tour came hard rockers Co Op who blew away the crowd during their entire set with ease. Led by frontman Dash Cooper (son of rock legend Alice Cooper) on lead vocals, Kolby People’s and Jeremy Tabor joined alongside on guitar, Justin Swartzentruber on bass and Nick Spann on drums to complete the Co Op team. Although I was unfamiliar with the groups setlist Co Op filled the room with fans and friends who rocked out through their set and enjoyed every guitar lick Tabor and People’s had to offer while Cooper was making a name for himself as well during their short, but very well thought out set. Every song Co Op played had a perfect balance of instrumental and vocals that left the audience ecstatic and asking for more. I was impressed with the stage presence and authenticity this band has to offer as I’m sure many others in the room felt the same way.
Shortly after Co Op left the stage an all female rock quartet titled Doll Skin embraced the stage. Lead singer Sydney Dolezal asked everyone in the crowd to move in close because she had a secret to share. Once a few rows of people huddled in to hear the secret Dolezal put down the mic and screamed at the top of her lungs “We’re Doll Skin and it’s going to get louder!” Needless to say from there all hell broke loose. The band led straight into Road Killa off their new album Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Meghan Herring who plays drums for the band had her hands busy the entire set, but wasn’t afraid to help out Dolezal on vocals as she drummed and sang on parts of the song. Guitarist Alex Snowden recieved some assistance from Dolezal who picked up her own guitar for parts of the band set, but Snowden was not afraid to stand out from the group and she ripped through multiple notes with ease. Followed up by Daughter and Shut Up (You Miss Me). Bassist Nicole Rich stood out during Shut Up as she did back up vocals (as she does on most songs) and rocked her bass guitar with a bunch of passion and energy throughout not only this song but her entire set. The Las Vegas crowd was in for a treat tonight because they got to witness the live debut of the groups song Baby’s Breath. Before leading into the next song Dolezal reintroduced the group as Doll Skin from Phoenix, Arizona followed by saying “and this song is about lesbians!” and then Doll Skin began the intro to Let’s Be Honest. Next came Pesephone and Boy Band. Before playing Boy Band Dolezal told the audience that she dedicates the song to all fake bands who don’t play their own instruments. The last song on Doll Skins record (MPDG) titled Uninvited was next. It’s one of my favorite releases from the ladies as it begins with an eerie intro (coming from both the instruments and vocals) and leads into a rock territory. Asking for the crowds help to sing “I live, I die” the ladies led into Furious Fixation which is a tribute song to Mad Max: Fury Road. The 2nd to last song Doll Skin played was announced as the first song the group wrote together and with that came the song Family of Strangers. Finishing off the set Dolezal told the crowd “If this song offends you, I want you out of here! This song is about finding your local nazi and punching them in the face!” Overall Doll Skin had a very solid set. And as they continue to play the audience continues to grow as well as their music. With that being said, keep an eye out for these gals if they come through your local town because they’re kick in the teeth rock and won’t let you down!
Last, but definitely not least came One Eyed Doll. If you have yet to have seen or heard about the band and their live stage performances you are in for a treat on this tour. One Eyed Doll is led by Kimberly Freeman on vocals and guitar and drummer Jason Sewell aka Junior. Freeman’s hair could be seen during the intro of strobes swinging from one side of the stage to the other while she jumped up on a box and began playing her guitar. She quickly stepped down and hopped onto the mic and began singing Afflicted. In between singing parts she interacted with the crowd by placing her shoe on top of a mans head and playing guitar and later that evening placed the guitar neck on someone’s head and still continued to play. The next song Freeman dedicated to the crazy people of Las Vegas and asked if we had any in the room with us which was returned with a loud applause and cheer. She replied with “this goes out to my old friends and my new friends too. This song is called (checks the back of her guitar) Commited.” Towards the end of the song Freeman jumped into the crowd climbed up onto a chair and then table and played part of the song before she turned around and jumped down and finished playing on the floor. She quickly hopped onto the stage and said “this next song sounds best when you’re out of breath” (as she was trying to catch her own) and led into Break. Break has a really great sound that sounds like heavy metal, but still keeps a rock element to it. The stage set up was well done as their were skulls on either side of the drum set as well as an animal skull below the stage, and two scary trees set up on both sides of the stage to complete the dark appearance of the band. Props were in no shortage of supply during the bands set as Freeman had a top hat and viking hat which she pulled out of a large dark coulderon and wore during different songs and were both lost due to intense headbanging from Freeman. Although I was not there for the entire set One Eyed Doll is a show that you do not want to miss as they will be hopefully playing bigger venues in the near future.
Overall the show was a great success for all bands involved as they had a packed house for Count’s Vamp’d and everyone had an amazing set that kept fans around for the entire night.
