By Rob Goald
rsgoald@comcast.net


 KOMP 92.3…The Rock Station’s “Homegrown 1998-2008” Local Music Celebration

KOMP 92.3 “The Rock Station” and The Homegrown Show host Laurie Steele presented a 10th Anniversary Celebration at Sunset Station’s Club Madrid last Saturday night.

The concert and CD release party highlighted four of the many bands that have appeared on “The Homegrown Show” over the past ten years. Since January 4, 1998, Laurie Steele’s passion has been to showcase local music artists on her radio program every week. The show has been a vital platform for local musicians to have their original unsigned music heard by major label A&R reps, who listen to her program as means of scouting the vibrant and diverse Las Vegas music scene.
 
Saturday’s free concert was a 21 and older event and highlighted the Happy Campers, Cornerstone, The Ill Figures and Slow Children. All four are represented on a CD titled “Homegrown 1998-2008: A Ten Year Retrospective” along with a dozen other local recording artists whose work was considered exemplary. Hitting the stage with their characteristic irreverence was Happy Campers a band who resembles Green Day in style and demeanor. Playing tunes from their new CD entitled “Death and Mourning in Las Vegas” the guys powered their way through self penned titles “Last Breath”, “Downing in the Sea of Me”, “Bark or Bite”, “Buried Alive”, “Vegas Son”, “She Was A Girl” and closed with “Wave the Flag”, a spirited and tight set.

Happy Campers
Photo courtesy of www.happycampers.org

After a brief comic interlude, Cornerstone launched into their set. The band exhibited an open musical landscape injecting different musical forms into their hard rock sound (funk, punk, alternative, jazz, soul, rap) and conveying a message of togetherness. They closed out their set with a tribute to Living Colour, whose spirit they embody, with a poignant “Cult of Personality”.

Corner Stone
Photo courtesy of www.myspace.com/cornerstone

Before bringing up the next band, KOMP’s Laurie Steele paid a heartfelt tribute to her former assistant Jason “SME” McNelis who lost his life in an auto accident last July 24th.

Ms. Steele brought the entire McNelis clan onstage, and presented the family with a portrait of Jason painted by Misty Scott who also did the beautiful artwork for the retrospective CD.

When you remove the CD from the jewel box case a miniature version of that portrait of Jason is visible and the CD is a tribute to his memory with the inscription: “your passion and love of life lives on in all of us”.
 
The Ill Figures were next up with a spirited set of bare knuckle hooks and syncopated melodies that profess sorrow, loss, uprising and turnaround. . On the kick-ass retrospective CD, The Ill Figures took top honors on Laurie’s show two years in a row and as such, are the only band to have two songs on the compilation. Their title “Drowning Slowly” was the highpoint of their performance.

The Ill Figures
Photo courtesy of www.myspace.com/theillfigures

Before the final act made its way to the stage, KOMP awarded an electric guitar as a door prize to a lucky fan. The guitar was signed by all 16 of the bands that appear on the CD.

Last but not least was Slow Children, a band originally from Oregon, who now call Las Vegas home. It seems that a van they were driving broke down here and as you know “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”. With distinctive vocals from lead guitarist Theron Fox and bassist Caleb Moffit, Slow Children was the most original sounding act of the evening varying from hard rock to blues to even a dash of reggae. The tune “Only The Shadow Knows” was a keeper. While their drum set was being repaired Theron sang a salacious song that included a contribution from Laurie Steele.

Slow Children
Photo courtesy of www.myspace.com/slowchildrenlv

The “Homegrown Show” wrapped with everyone feeling positive about a local music scene which deserves your attention. Tune in to Laurie’s show “Homegrown” on KOMP 92.3 on Sundays from 10-12PM.