M-Set, Ill Gotten GainZ & Burke

The curse of the infamous “spring forward” time change struck me on this promising night of musical debauchery. The show was advertised to start at 9:30 PM, which means around 10:15, but due to my neglecting the time swap, I arrived late, simultaneously committing a reviewers’ sin and missing Burke’s entire set. However, being the devout investigator that I am, I found out through Riff Raff’s hospitable doormen that Burke “fucking rocked.” The venue was pretty desolate, save for roadies, other band members and the regulars who are at every show, but there was a rock ‘n’ roll vibe in the air that was unmistakable.
Ill Gotten GainZ, formerly Mykee Hates Life, took the stage to what passed for a thunderous applause for such a small crowd. The group had a looped sound machine that spewed movie dialogue perfectly in sync with the music and rocked through a decidedly psychobilly tinged set that surprised everyone in attendance. Singer and guitarist Mykee didn’t hesitate to use his whammy bar on virtually every song and the group’s drummer pounded out beats that have been locked away for years in the ‘80s vault. Though Mykee made a fleeting attempt to chastise the article that was written (by myself) about the group in the Synthesis by saying, “I think the truth was overstated,” I remained unscathed and continued to rock out to the band’s more punk rock tunes.
Finally came M-Set who I had never, ever heard of. The group took the stage and honestly looked like a group of rock ‘n’ roll parodies, though I don’t think they knew it. The lead guitarist looked like Richie Sambora, the bassist and singer was the self-proclaimed Kip Winger look-alike (open to interpretation), the rhythm guitarist resembled Pat Smear and the drummer looked like every guy at a Weezer show. The group ripped into a set that dropped everyone in attendance. What was expected to be another pissed off, punk quartet instead proved to be an extremely melodic, tight band who preferred to sing songs about lying to girls, and being wusses. Imagine the kind of tongue in cheek humor that the array of pop-punk groups try to pull off and don’t, being exemplified perfectly, and you’ve pinpointed M-Set. Each member of the group sang and resurrected tones and vocal attacks that were, until now, reserved for harmonious geniuses Bracket. The group ended their set to a dismally small but still upbeat crowd, thus ending another great show at our favorite rock bar in town.

– Ryan Prado
– Photo by Alyssa Starkey

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