Where is the ballsy bombast we used to jam to in our older brother's IROC? Where have all the guitar solos gone? Is it too much to ask for a little fist-pumping mayhem ? You can see them holding tickets for sad reunion tours; bands like Motley Crue and Van Halen dragging their aging carcasses on stage for these lonely young men wishing for some new anthem to take them away.
Boston natives, Bang Camero, feel your pain and they have come up with a new style of music that combines the bombast of 80's hair metal with the other tenet of the genre, male bonding. They are backed by dudes. More specifically, an all-male chorus.
Bang Camero has no lead singer, just a chorus of grungy, disillusioned dudes lost in the wilderness of hipster fad-rock that doesn't speak to them. They take the stage and wail the choruses of their many anthems, transporting the listener back to a simpler time.
The 13-member chorus (listed on the band's myspace page) is a stripped down version and are currently something like a touring company. Previously, the band has appeared with over 20 vocalists on stage. More recent (in a very unfortunate comparison), the band was compared with Nickelback in Blender Magazine's Epic "Bro-Down," a contest to crown the ultimate man-band. And while the bombast-less nu-metal dirges of Canada's lamest offering since Brian Adams ended up winning the contest, it is a tacit approval of Bang Camero's mass appeal to be listed in competition with Nickelback, a band currently playing arenas.
The band was given the ultimate rocker compliment when their songs were featured in Guitar Hero for "Push Push Lady Lightening" and Rock Band for "Night Lies." Bang Camero was also asked to join the Rock Band Tour last fall.
So with the recent successes of this man-band, you would expect them to be in a large venue on their trip to Philly. After all, how can a small venue contain such massive rocking? We'll find out this Saturday, when Bang Camero performs on Saturday, December 6 with Hooray For Earth, Leslie and Dirty Diamond at North Star Bar.
The show begins at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $12 each.