Gruhak: It's internet speak for "Rockin Out"

                Welcome once again to The Bones, loyal viewers!  Quick announcement:  We’ve officially broken a thousand hits!  Thanks guys.  Really.  That’s awesome sauce.  Keep on coming by and keep on sending out the links.  This is all you!

                I was mucking about on the interwebs today when I stumbled across something marvelous.  Not something cool.  Not something pretty good.  This shyte is flipping MARVELOUS and I don’t know why I haven’t heard of these guys before.  It’s a little band called Gruhak  and I know next to nothing about them.

                On the facebook, my friend told me that she had never ever heard a Led Zeppelin song.  This was a travesty that I felt must be righted, so I went straight on over to the youtubes and I did a quick search for some of the essentials.  (The Immigrant Song, Ramble On, Misty Mountain Hop and the like.)  On a search for the Immigrant Song I found these guys.  A cover of a Led Zeppelin song?  Yeah.  I’ve never heard one of THOSE.  (Rolls Eyes)  But I’m all about music and the picture looked like my buddies rocking out in their garage so I just had to click it.

                It’s not every day that I’m surprised like this.  (Like really pleasantly surprised.)  But this was one day where I would feel that glee.  The only thing that I can say is “solid.”  Not just a solid representation of the song, but a solid band.  I flipped through some other covers of theirs and you can just tell that either these guys had recorded about eighty billion takes of this, or they worked REALLY well together.  I’m choosing to believe the second part. 

                They do covers of other bands and I’m going to be honest, that singer is versatile.  If you ever happen to read these words, man:  I salute you.  I salute your guitarist too.  I salute you not only for your skill, but for your honesty about what you do.  Right on one of the videos I watched, I think it was one of the Led Zep ones, a viewer commented something to the lines of “Dude.  That solo was great.  Better than the original.  How did you do it?”  The guitarist replied with “I was feeling lazy that day, so it’s a dumbed down version of the original.”  Then he actually posted the chords in the response.  That is a freaking musician.  THAT is the kind of people that I like to see.  None of this big headed prickish snark that you get so often, just a guy that (I assume) enjoys what he does and is just having a good time with it.  Maybe I’m wrong, but in this case, I’ll be happy being wrong.

                I know I just picked out the guitarist and the singer, but the WHOLE freaking band is solid.  Great energy on their videos and either well rehearsed or very skillful.  Can it be both?  Maybe it can.  I especially love that in almost every video they’ve got cigs hanging out the corner of their mouth as they play.

                They have a website.  It’s at the bottom.  Go to their youtube channel first.  Tell me that that singer doesn’t capture that mouthful of gravel that Morrison sings with on those Doors covers.  And don’t be afraid to dig their original work too.  It’s not half bad.

                Fantasy will set you free,

                                -Costello 

Gruhak Youtube Channel:   http://www.youtube.com/user/Gruhak

Gruhak Band Page:  http://www.gruhak.com/

LONG LIVE THE PARLOR MOB!

Hey all!  Welcome back to the bones where we attempt to inject a little badass into bloggery every day.  (Trust me, it’s difficult even for our leading scientists!)

A while back, probably about a year now, an awesome band from New Jersey managed to make their way to the Machine Shop.  The band was called The Parlor Mob and I haven’t heard about them since.  If you get the chance to see them, jump on it!  The band just echoes Led Zep, and unlike a lot of other bands, they do it well.  I’m not talking about cover songs or anything crazy like that, I mean that this band has some amazing vibes.  The lead singer actually sounds a lot like Robert Plant.  One of the best draws to this band, apart from the singer whom I could go on and on about, is actually their drummer.  Right?  A band with an impressive drummer?  How cool.  When I saw them they opened for Theory of a Deadman and these guys blew the pants off of the band that they were opening for.  Yeah, I’ve spoken to a lot of Theory fans and I know how tenacious they are, but I kid you not, had they been there even they would have admitted that The Parlor Mob put on a way better show than Theory this time around.  It’s a pleasure to watch this group and I’d love to see them around Michigan again!  Do yourselves a favor and give them a listen!

I’d also like to take a couple of seconds to thank all of you who messaged me about that annoying man on the CMU campus that I talked about yesterday.  Brought a smile to my face to know that I’m not the only one ranting about him.

                I’m Costello VonHumbolt III.

                                You stay classy, Internet.