Red With Envy, Domeshots & MyNis

An impressively diverse crowd, comprised of everyone from sorority girls to hardcore metalheads, filled LaSalle’s last Wednesday night for a delightful evening of gut-wrenching, headache-inducing metal madness. With the aroma of stale beer in the air, metal fans anxiously awaited hometown boys Red With Envy, the hard rock Domeshots and MyNis.
An opening band is key to any good show. They have to be able to hype the crowd for the bands that follow, while simultaneously getting the audience to feel their own sound. MyNis did just that, with their unique style — a mix of Jimi Hendrix and The Doors with a heavy metal overtone. The band, which calls Fresno, CA, home, is made up of guitar player Robert Gonzales, bassist Jason Benham and drummer Matt Gonzalez. Lead singer Tom Vlahavas gives off a Jim Morrison vibe, cupping the mic while alternating between screaming tirades and mellow, poetic moments throughout the set. For their final song, “Man’s Mostly Water,” Tom left the mic and broke into a percussion session on bongos; it was an awesome addition to the band’s eclectic set.
Next up was Domeshots, who proved the stage was not big enough for them — literally. Each member was flailing his body to and fro, consuming the entire length of stage. Hailing from Oakland, CA, the quartet put on a wildly hardcore show from the start; it was the audience who needed a couple of songs to get to that same energy level. Lead singer Dan had a creepy, almost possessed stage presence that went well with his vocals, which mostly consisted of incomprehensible screams. Wrapping the mic cord around his neck a couple of dozen times, he threw himself back and forth across the stage, entertaining the crowd in between songs with his cracks about various lame pop bands. Rounding out the band was guitarist Jimmy, Eric on bass and Dave on drums. Even through their set was short, by the end of it the band had the crowd flailing about right along with them.
The last time I saw Red With Envy it was in the backyard of some frat house on a shoddy stage with bad lighting, crappy sound and what looked like hand-me-down equipment. Although quite a bit more polished now, they still had that same ability to entrance an audience with the raw intensity of their music. This band has the one necessary element that is often missing from others, and that is passion. A passion for the music, for the performance. And it’s a passion that transfers to the crowd. Drummer Nick Harris was in his usual basketball shorts, with bare feet and no shirt, his dreads wildly flying as he banged his head to the beat. Lead singer Chavez Jarrett has this mesmerizing stage persona that holds the crowd throughout the entire set. Austin Comnick on guitar and Randy Presleigh on bass were equally as powerful. The band introduced a couple of new songs, including “Last Shot,” “Broken Mind” and one that was so new they just called it “New Song.” These, along with the band’s classics, had the crowd going well into the night. To sum up: you know a band has done its job when it’s got grown men screaming and jumping around like 13-year-old girls at a Britney Spears concert.

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