By Andrew Bansal
March 29th 2015, The Viper Room, West Hollywood CA: Los Angeles-based rock ‘n roll outfit Beasto Blanco features Chuck Garric, bassist of Alice Cooper’s band, on vocals and guitar and the rock icon’s daughter Calico Cooper on vocals. Coming to the end of their most recent touring run, Beasto Blanco played a headline gig at the Viper Room in West Hollywood last Sunday March 29 2015, along with local opening acts Blackpool Republic and GayC/DC. Sunday nights are usually dead on the Sunset Strip, but this strong lineup of bands packed the venue and made it a worthwhile outing for one and all.
Doors opened at 8 PM and first up at 8:30 was novelty AC/DC tribute act GayC/DC, who as evident from their name dress up as gay men and change the AC/DC song titles and lyrics wherever necessary to fit their theme. All female references in the lyrics are replaced by male counterparts, and are delivered through the great stage personality of their singer who brings forth hilarious facial expressions, body movements and crowd interactions. The music is well-played, the costumes and props are excellently thought-out, the guitar picks with the band’s logo on one side and ‘Dirty Dudes Done Dirt Cheap’ on the other side are genius, and the overall show is definitely not short on entertainment. AC/DC songs have been done to death by millions of tribute bands over the years and to do them plain and simple would just be boring at this point, so the world needs tribute acts such as GayC/DC to sass things up. Whether or not you’re a fan of AC/DC, this band comes as highly recommended by Metal Assault.
Set List:
01. Hells Bells
02. Shoot To Thrill
03. Big Balls
04. Gay Boy Boogie
05. Highway To Hell
06. You Shook Me All Night Long
Playing after GayC/DC was always going to be a tough act to follow but Blackpool Republic succeeded in keeping the audience’s attention and interest through a set of quintessential hard rock, performed with aplomb by a group of seasoned musicians who have plied their trade in various projects in the local circles and beyond over the years. Their slower, heavier jams made a stronger impact, but both the slow and fast kind were well-placed in the set. They used a large amount of back lighting to create a silhouette effect and blinded the room with copious amounts of fog, adding further to the uninhibited rock ‘n roll vibe they exuded through their music. These dudes were here to rock, did not hold back one bit, and gave it their all. An apt warm-up for the headline act.
Set List:
01. Riot Queen
02. Stranger Five
03. Light It Up
04. Backbirds
05. Cut Love
06. Shoot A Wire
07. Rock City
And at 10:30, Beasto Blanco appeared on stage for an hour-long set wherein they played almost all of their 2013 debut full-length album ‘Live Fast Die Loud’ but also included some brand new tunes and a cover to end it all. Chuck Garric revelled as a frontman, donning the guitar in this band instead of the bass, and handling lead vocals with much passion and power. The songwriting evident in these Beasto Blanco tunes and Garric’s on-stage performance once again proves that Alice Cooper invariably works with the cream of the crop when it comes to selecting musicians for his backing band. Talking of Alice Cooper, his daughter Calico is also a member of Beasto Blanco, and appeared on stage for most of the set to sing backing vocals, but more importantly, to lend an undeniably strong visual aspect to the show with her antics. It’s quite obvious where her fierce presence and personality comes from, as the 33-year old has shown several times in the past, not only in Beasto Blanco but performing with her father’s band as well. The final item of the set was a cover of Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out”, and as was widely rumored on various social media platforms throughout the day, Alice Cooper’s newest guitarist Nita Strauss joined Beasto Blanco on stage to aid their rendition of the classic, along with Glen Sobel from Cooper’s band sitting in on the drum kit. It was the perfect climax to a wildly rocking exhibition, and received deafening applause from a grateful audience at the Viper Room.
Overall, a stellar event from start to finish, and this is perhaps the most the Viper Room, or any venue on the Strip for that matter, has rocked on a Sunday night.
Set List:
01. Blind Drive
02. Beasto Blanco
03. Freak
04. Blood Shot
05. Motorqueen
06. I Grind
07. Live Fast Die Loud
08. Honey
09. Break Down
10. Beg To Differ
11. School’s Out (Alice Cooper cover, w/ Nita Strauss)