The ThrowDown Band played three sets of blistering, hard-driving blues for a packed Ming Dynasty audience last night. The four musicians might have slowed their tempo here and there, but their driving, energetic performance never lost any steam. The Marshfield, Massachusetts restaurant must see a bump in their sales when this band takes their stage.
The band jumped right in with a knobby bass driven, mid-tempo number, “Worried Mind.” You could feel that John Peresada low end’s pulse from across the room. Guitarist Stan Blues Junior cranked out an aggressive guitar line that could knock down walls. Mr. Blues Junior pressed out another assertive line on “You Upset Me, Baby.” His precision was blistering hot, peeling of a string of notes that made it seem like his guitar was singing to you. He turned up the heat even more during the bridge, firing off a salvo of fiery notes.
“Just Got Paid” found vocalist Eric Savoie belting like a classic rocker, full throated, wrapping his voice around the words like he was choking them, making them his own while drummer Skip Fischer punctuated every measure and verse with a slam dunk stomp on his bass drum.
Savoie was more subtle on the next number, “Steppin’ In.” Yet, he infused it with an underlying power in his delivery. Stan Blues Junior let loose another wild guitar phrase, a whirling dervish of notes that could have started a fire. Next, the band turned the lurking mischief of “Hootchie Cootchie Man” into a simmering, tense, blues rocker. Savoie sang it with a menacing drawl, milking each vocal note for all the potential they were worth. Stan Blues Junior’s guitar phrase sounded out like a spinning spiral of high voltage notes. He crafted that phrase into a variety of colors, tones, and timbres without losing his incisive edge.
A belty chorus, a swaggering guitar, and a rhythm section that beat people up pushed along Albert King’s “Born Under A Bad Sign” with an undeniable force. “Cold Shot” got a good dose of Stan Blues Junior’s pendulum swing of hefty, twanging notes and Savoie’s shrieking vocal blasts.
The band’s original piece “Stan’s Boogie” played like a stomping instrumental workout. The audience shouted the guitarist’s first name after he paused each phrase, creating a groove that inspired the guitar slinger to take off on a few feisty six string attacks. The boys also played the Otis Rush classic “All Your Love(I Miss Loving)” with an authoritative stomp, Fischer pounding, Savoie belting, Blues Jr. screeching, and Peresada thumping.
An original tune fit right in stylistically with the band’s arrangements of the classics. It had lyrics that Savoie could belt and a guitar phrase that Stan Blues Junior could throttle until he made his notes sound icy cold. There was room for Fischer to play plenty of speedy rolls and fills, keeping the pulse-pounding action in motion. “Pride And Joy,” with it’s familiar groove, got several people on the dance floor. It’s rugged rhythms motivated the feet to move, even if one remained seated. They threw in a Stan Blues Junior guitar line and some Savoie’s assertive microphone action, and the band had themselves a sure crowd pleaser.
Stan Blues Junior lead the way into “I’m Leaving You, Baby,” a slow burner blues that let the guitar man peel off some tasty licks. He never ceased to outdo the last line with his next. Savoie, meanwhile, sang it with a deep, gravelly timbre, pulling a lot of feeling out of the words and putting it across boldly, in your face.
Savoie used the intro to The Door’s “Soft Parade” to into “Roadhouse Blues, a blues rock cover that rocked right out. Stan Blues Junior put his own unique twist on Robbie Krieger’s original guitar phase, making it twist and turn like an electric current he had under his control. Their next original piece offered more straight forward rock. Its even flow contrasted well with the more rugged tunes that came before and after, showing how well ThrowDown unfurls their magic at a mid-tempo pace.
The boys played and sang the sprawling Jimi Hendrix creation “Voodoo Child with a mountainous groove and the attention to detail it so richly deserved. Stan Blues Junior kept his atomic powered lead guitar attacks coming like there was no tomorrow. It was an endless, seamless flow of electricity coming out of his fingertips. Segue into “Whole Lotta Love” and the band had, by then, dug deep into their hard rock roots, which this generation of blues players have a lot of.
“She’s Got A Brand New Bottle Of Whiskey” was a fine electric blues shuffle, played before guest vocalist Della Erskine got up to do her thing. She sang a fine medley of blues songs with a bold stage presence and an assertive belt. She made the crowd feel it.
ThowDown played a mad rush of classic blues to close out their evening. “Let Me Love You, Baby,” “Shake For Me,” “Going Down,” and an eerie metallish original closed out their set before they encored with an instrumental called “Sadie,” featuring more sparks from Stan Blues Junior’s guitar.
ThrowDown has certainly made the Ming Dynasty one of their most beloved rooms. The spacious lounge serves some of the best food around, especially their egg drop soup, and the low, tiled ceiling helps out with the sound quality. This was a great night for people enjoying a great dish with their ThrowDown band.
