After they finished the band that contacted us about tonight, Mink was up so I waited thinking man this is probably going to suck since they were playing early. But I was very well surprised by front man Neal Carlson and Mink whose onstage energy was incredible. As I watched Mink perform I couldn’t help but notice the uncanny resemblance that Carlson had to a young Mick Jagger. His vocals and moves also mirrored that of Jagger as well, but not in a “I’m gonna be just like Mick” kind of way. It truly seems to come natural to Carlson who was great on stage.

Drummer Stella Mozgawa also caught my attention, for one having a female drummer isn’t something you see all the time and secondly she was awesome on stage. I remember telling their tour manager I’d love to Mink again on a bigger stage that gave them move room to move, it seemed to be very cramped space for the band. I also was given a promo copy of Mink’s upcoming album and have been playing it for everyone I know saying “go see this band” I have truly become a fan of Mink and am hoping they come back to see us again soon, so all of you out there can go check them out.

Next up on the bill was Miser, who I had seen before and remembered not liking very much and tonight proved no different. It’s not that Miser is a horrible band or anything; there is just something about their sound I can’t get in to. Most of you out there know what I’m talking about, sometimes you hear a band and there not bad but for whatever reason you just don’t like them. Well that’s how I feel about Miser, that and they do this cover of The Cranberries “Zombie” that I didn’t like much back when The Cranberries did it, so I’m not too particularly fond of it now when they do it either.

Now this brings us to our headliner for tonight, Saliva. I had always liked a few Saliva songs but they were a band I have never seen live so when Mink contacted us about seeing them and I saw they were opening for Saliva I said what the hell I’ll go check them out.  Front man Josey Scott walked into the lights and led the band into their new single “Ladies and Gentlemen” afterward he told the crowd if you’re ever having a bad day then this is the song you need to turn up and say “Fuck All Yall” (yes that’s the name of the song).

First thing I took notice in was how loud Josey Scotts vocals were he has one of those great rock voices that can belt out those hard grainy vocals that really drive a rock song. As far as the rest of Saliva they weren’t far behind on bringing the noise to the fans ears. Their set list included songs off of their three albums but seemed to stay with a lot of newer stuff off of “Blood Stained Love Story” in the early part of the set. But Saliva didn’t forget the songs that got them where they are now as the blasted out fan favorites like ‘Click Click Boom’, ‘Always’, ‘Your Disease’ and ‘Superstar’.

I ended up having to leave a little early so I missed some of the latter mart of Saliva’s set, but from what I did see I Can easily say they kicked ass tonight. About the only drawback I can say about tonight was the venue. I love the Scout Bar but for bigger shows it seems like the stage gets filled very easy and bands have a hard time finding enough room to really get out and play without getting in each other’s way. Well that’s about it for this one boys and girls, I had a pretty good night and enjoyed finding a new band to listen to too…