The Beach Drive Band Rocks the House

So, following rendezvous amid the towering slick grey-white ice piles of Po'washington, we charged off up the L.I.E. in Drysuit Crash Messina's Custom Raised 4WD V8 Ford Extended 250/350? Battlecruiser of Shred ... through fog and mist far east into the outer-nether regions of Suffolk County and darkest lost Northport.

Specifically a lost intersection on the edge of town, or maybe the center of something - it was anyone's guess. Eagle eye Caro spotted the joint from afar. It was indeed where the GPS had stopped us, we just couldn't see the sign from our angle — Napper Tandy's.

And folk were flowing in and the parking lot was full — fuller, fullest? ... since there were a goodly number of XL sized trade vehicles, "dualie" pickups and whatnot.

AMBIENCE
The cell-phone camera. What can i say? actually I like the photo because although it overexaggerates the darkness, it does capture something of the ambience.

Bassist Steve "Domer" Domjan along, of course, with his fellow band members of The Beach Drive Band rocked the house and had the floor packed with an abundance of willing dancers. No mean feat for a largely 35 to 55 age crowd. And all credit must go to the rhythm section which began the procedings with a rock-steady underpinning for an extremely credible version of Start Me Up that set the tone for a solid night of classic rock and rock and roll choices.

Tight bunch of musicians here. Very punchy powerful beats, fluid lines, melodious and very pro. I'm thinking Domer has digested some Geddy Lee somewhere in his bass apprenticeship, but plenty of other influences. The vocalist deserves big props for handling a real broad gamut of songs without blowing up or blowing out in any way. Great job. Keyboard man, what can I say, we would have loved to had him in the gigs in my old band days in the 70s/80s.

KILLER
Wish I could remember the names of half the songs, but the first set list was peppered with a 70's 80's 90's diet of Springsteen, BIlly Joel, Rush?, the Cars, Led Zep, (SEE SET LIST IN COMMENT BELOW) and not a single song went unappreciated by the enthusiastic Saturday night crowd. THings reached a climax pretty much with a thundering rendition of Kashmir, and an extremely well-received "Killer on the Road" (The Doors) with the keyboardist hitting the soundscape perfectly and the bass and drums taking it up and bringing it down.

We were planning to head home at a decent hour, like before midnight-ish (being slightly old fartish), but as Scott Y. appeared in the house toward the end of the first set, we got to yakking and before you knew it, the "Lloyd Floyd" fest was on. A superbly executed 3 song sequence from Dark Side of the Moon ending with a spectacular version of The Great Gig in the Sky, followed by a gritty thumping version of Young Lust.




There were some Fleetwood Mac-like (?) selections and a countryesque tune whose name I forget with the sit-in female singer whose name I didn't hear, but who had a wonderful set of pipes and a great delivery to go with it.

Meatloaf's Dashboard Light has never been my cup of tea, but the two lead singers pulled off a theatrical act that had the dance floor denizens shimmying and jiving.

Other highpoints included I'm a Believer (the Monkees) and erm... I forget ... Domer do you have a set list you could send me to refresh my memory so I can finish this thing off?

Well worth the trek in foul weather, and not to be missed for a good, no great, night out, if The Beach Drive Band are in your town, or near.