Halloween started early this year, with the freakishly fun holiday ever-present at the Old Rock House on Oct. 28 for the Loyal Family Costume Ball, an event that featured bands EOTO, J. Public and Blown Speakers.
Most of the people piling in through the doors were costumed and ready to party. Costumes ranged from the Joker to Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz,” and from sexy vampires to the Cookie Monster.
The headliner for the event, EOTO, is a live improvisational breakbeat/drum ‘n’ bass/trip hop project, or at least that is what their MySpace says.
The band is composed of Jason Hann and Michael Travis, the two percussionists from the String Cheese Incident. When String Cheese Incident broke up a few years back, these two gentlemen started jamming together for fun and they really enjoyed the sound that developed, thus EOTO was born.
They pride themselves on the fact that their live show is 100 percent improvised and nothing is prerecorded. It is a spectacle to witness live. Since EOTO’s inception, they have been playing shows continually across the country and music festivals as well.
EOTO has also just released a new album titled “Fire the Lazers!” that is only available at shows now but will be made available for download after the tour is finished.
The opening act, Blown Speakers, is composed of members from Messy Jiverson. They blended a wonderful melody of improvised psychedelic, dance and straight up rock ‘n’ roll music.
The guitarist, bassist and keyboardist rotated between songs, keeping a fresh sound. Each had their own style and it was cool to see them switch it up live on stage and still keep such a solid connection with the rest of the band.
There was a long intermission before EOTO finally graced the stage.
At 11:30 p.m., these two gentlemen began their three hour, two-set performance. Immediately glow sticks began snapping, and the tightly packed crowd on the dance floor, full of a wide variety of freaks in and out of costume, began dancing and waving around the glow sticks and other things that sparkle. Jason Hann handled all the drumming for the band, and with his live looping station he could produce several beats and then play them all simultaneously.
On the other side of the stage stood the barefoot Michael Travis, who was practically surrounded by his musical instruments and other equipment. Travis held down the keyboards, bass guitar, and six-string to make up the other half of the band. It was awesome to watch them do all this live.
Travis is constantly moving around, pushing pedals with his bare feet, layering on different keyboards, playing guitar or bass, and mixing everything live for the audience’s listening pleasure.
The Old Rock House sits on the edge of downtown St. Louis at 1200 S. 7th St. near Soulard. The venue is two stories, with a bar on each floor and a balcony to view the stage from above. The building is a staple of the beautiful architecture of the area.
On Wednesday nights, Steve Ewing, former singer from The Urge, holds a basement party with some of his friends and plays a wide variety of cover songs and some stuff from The Urge.
The show ended at 2:30 a.m., but the party was still going strong for many of the audience members.
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