Despite fewer than a dozen attendees at Broadway Joe's Saturday night, the Binghamton-based Joe Rogers Band played a show fit for a packed house.
The band has played all over New York State, including the music metropolis of New York City, making it a priority to play at least a few local shows a year. Nearly everyone in the crowd were friends or family of drummer Christian Linsey, a Williamsville native, and it was apparent in their reaction.
"It's hard to be serious when you know everyone's first name," singer and band namesake Joe Rogers joked after hearing called out requests between songs.
Regardless of the laid back atmosphere at Broadway Joe's, Rogers' band still came to rock. Rogers himself had a deep and sonorous voice that blended nicely with the rhythm section.
The band's live show slipped between punk and hardcore and carried a dash of classic rock, but the group's roots are mostly rock and roll.
On the band's website, www.joerogersband.com, members cite The Police, Radiohead and Neil Young amongst their many influences.
Linsey's rhythms were reminiscent of percussion legend Stewart Copeland (of the Police). Linsey effortlessly alternated between syncopated tempo and beat. Bassist Pat Malone complemented him nicely with his solid riffs.
The Police influence could be noticed in many aspects of the two-set show, from Linsey's "Ghost in the Machine" t-shirt to the tease of "Walking on the Moon" by the rhythm section.
Throughout the entire show Rogers kept up a conversation with the crowd, and early on he decided to let the crowd determine the pace of the first set. Someone in the crowd yelled "fast," and the band agreed to the speed.
"This is like our power, pop-punk song that we're going to sell to Good Charlotte one day," Rogers quipped before the band delved into a crowd-pleasing jam.
After the trio rocked out for a solid 10 songs, Rogers did a solo acoustic mini-set, and talked about his new album, which is being released later this month.
After playing a couple tunes from his new album, Rogers ran through great covers of Radiohead's "Airbag" and Neil Young's classic "Heart of Gold."
The band got the blood pumping with the crowd-requested "Adrenaline" and then slowed it down a little with the acoustic "Cigarette in the Snow," whose title played well with both the bar atmosphere and Buffalo weather.
Throughout the show the band and audience joked back and forth, the latter encouraging the former to keep on rocking.
"If you guys stick around, we're going to have a great time drinking later," Rogers said to the crowd of friends.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
