I knew they were
good. I watched their submission several times. They
were head and shoulders over any teenage band I'd seen
and 2 of these kids were 12. So when Jim (producer)
told me we were gonna check 'em out at acollege gig
they were playing just to hang with 'em a bit before
we start taping the package - I knew what to
expect...
...like
hell I
did.
They would have been amazing at 20. If
these were a bunch of college kids
I would've easily made the comment:
"Wow, they're incredibly tight. You can
tell they've been playing together for
years." They're 13 guys. The lead singer's
voice is spot-on. Their technical chops
screamed hours of practice, and it was
clear that these guys were beyond their
years in every facet. I expected to talk
to men when they got done with
their set. I fully expected them to be
"too cool", and every bit aware of how
good they are. I was shocked to find a
bunch of... well 13 year olds. Talkin'
about grades, teachers, videogames, and if
you brought it up - they'd talk about this
whole "huge opportunity/national
television exposure" thing. It was
easily the most refreshing thing I've ever
experienced.
On top of that,
they're manager clearly cares about the kids like his
own, their parents are at every gig helping tear
down...they are surrounded by people whose biggest
interest is protecting them. They're luckier than
they'll ever know in that respect. Add in the fact
that they practice every day after school, play
at least 2 times a week, write their own material -
actually have been playing together for years... this
is the easiest success story to predict ever.
The lead singer's charisma onstage and his persona
off? It's like someone went to 1972 and created the
perfect manchild with 70's "make 12 year old girls
scream their brains out" androgynous looks and plopped
him 35 years in the future. And all of them completely
unassuming. They have no idea how much their
lives are going to change in a year.
Man, ramble,
ramble, ramble. I didn't even think I'd write
tonight - but they impressed me that much. Everything
else is as expected... a plane is a plane, a hotel
room is a hotel room. As far as my own "performance"
tomorrow... meh - nothin' to think about. I actually
love these guys and it'll ooze out of me on camera
whether I want it to or not. Both Jim and
I feel very honored to be a part of this and
I just can't express how cool it is to be part of
this at such an early stage in their
career...
---ooh - the
Guitar Hero 2 commercial just came on. I'm so gonna
beat their butts at that tomorrow. LOL. It was so
funny - as I was watching them play tonight
I actually thought to myself: "Oh man, I'm
gonna get CRUSHED by them in Guitar Hero." Ha.
I find it so funny that these kids can rock so
friggin' hard and because I'm beat so badly in that
respect I'm gonna bring out a TOY GUITAR and get
all competitive.
:-)
Alright - must get
some sleep... just remember "Crooked X" - you won't
make it out of 2007 without hearing their name
again.
Adam
PS - Forrest (lead
singer) wanted it to be known that the guitar wasn't
his and the strap was way too low (thus it falling
off) but he's such a badass it didn't matter. Oh and
the compression kills his voice in the clip - but
watcha gonna do. Ya gotta see 'em live
man...
