When Renoites say there’snothing going on, it sounds like a challenge to promoters like AJ & Tom Presents.
They’ve brought bands ranging from the Voodoo Glow Skulls to Tommy Lee to Las Vegas, and they even opened their own venue down south. Now, the folks who cooked up this year’s Dotfest 2002 hope to bring that success to the Reno area.
In the past six months, they’ve booked shows at several local venues, including the New Oasis in Sparks, Ark-a’ik, Stoney’s Skate Park and the Peppermill.
“We’ve been thinking about Reno for a long time,” said AJ Gross, co-owner of AJ & Tom Presents. “A strong reason we came up here was there isn’t a House of Blues [like there is in Las Vegas.] That is the big market we probably most compete against. Goldfinger [will be] playing at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, Tommy Lee [will be] playing at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, but in Reno, they play for AJ & Tom Presents.”
Gross’ success in Vegas set him up with the contacts he needed to bring bands into Reno. Some bands were even talking to him before coming here about setting up shows for Las Vegas and Reno.
“Some bands desperately want to come [to Reno], ‘cause they feel the city has not had the exposure to their music,” Gross said. “It’s been a long time since they’ve been here or they’ve never been here. Some of them are very keen on coming and some of them don’t know enough to know they should be interested.”
Dot-Fest lineup highlights
(compiled by RN&R staff)
Saliva
“And I wanna take you down, but your soul cannot be found. It doesn’t matter much you see cause your disease is killing me.”
–”Your Disease”
Yes, it’s nü metal rapcore. No, it’s not Limp Bizkit. Expect an energetic show from the band that’s set itself apart from the usual stuff with unusually textured music and smart lyrics. Saliva’s new album Back Into Your System comes out Nov. 12. The new single “Always” hits rock radio Sept. 16. Recommended if you like Sevendust, Godsmack and Full Devil Jacket. Oh yeah, stand back, we hear that they really do drool.
Andrew W.K.
“Some how or another I have wound up in this amazing life. I am very lucky. People have given me the power to make them happy. I did not give it to myself. It is an honor above all honors to have people look to me in that way. It is incredible, but also very humbling, because this power has been given to me by others, as a gift, I would never disgrace it by not trying to use it.”
—From Andrew W.K.’s Web site
So, OK, a co-worker wants to know: Why does Andrew W.K.’s promotional photo show blood oozing down his face? (The photo is also the album cover, by the way, for A.W.K.’s recently released CD, I Get Wet, which features such tunes as “It’s Time to Party,” “Party Hard” and “Party Til You Puke.”) Maybe it’s that the musician’s stated goal is to “dirty up” rock ‘n’ roll. Or maybe it’s that Alice Cooper was wrong, and not only women bleed. But after reading a small portion of A.W.K.’s artist statement on his Web site (www.andrewwk.com), I have other ideas. Who said rock was sane? A.W.K.’s music is happily loud and dumb—in a drunk football player on LSD kind of way.
Hemlock
This Vegas band knows metal like a spoon. Perhaps at this year’s Dotfest, they’ll turn Reno on to such legendary Hemlock concert events as the “All Girl Pit” during their song, “Sour,” and “Split the Pit” for “Conniption Fit.” If you want a preview, you can get on at Hemlock’s Web site, www.hemlockworld.com.
Switched
Maybe you’ve heard their single, “Inside,” from their CD, Subject to Change. Maybe not. But these Cleveland rockers put on a good show, as some northern Nevadans already know. Punk kids moshed hard at this year’s Van’s Warped Tour at Boreal to Switched’s mesh of nü-metal.