Ramrods continued
The band opened with “See Me, Hear Me, I am a Ramrod,” with guitars, vocals and sweat blazing, and the audience erupted in cheers, sweat glazed smiles and dancing, and Scott did not disappoint, remaining possibly the best and sexiest front man or woman to come out of Buffalo’s music scene in at least the last 20 years. He swayed, shimmied, humped the microphone stand, rubbed the microphone and chords in various places, shook his groove thing, sang, pleaded, moaned, groaned, and begged, all without falling into the clichés too many singers do and which I dread. As soon as the first song ended, the applause was loud, but turned to almost deafening as Neal started playing the opening chords to “While the City Sleeps,” a great song about living for the moment and the night and doing what you want and feel, not what should be done or others want. Neal, now a classical violinist with an orchestra in Naples, Fla., zinged a great solo and added some virtual motorcycle sounds. Song three, “Fun Night,” was a real old favorite many heard on WBNY 91.3 FM back then, with Scott adding some harmonica.
Bill sharing a little shakin' with the audience
Pat Neal with Bill Scott
The Ramrods continued their hard charging, fun attack with the stomper “Come on Get It,” then followed it with “Feel It,” a wild rocker with more 1960s feel. After a cover of “You Can’t Judge a Book by Looking at the Cover,” the band played “Take Me,” bluesier, slower and sensual at first before revving up. Scott introduced the next song, “Totaled,” by saying “This is about going out and getting shit faced;” the next song, “The Dive,” continued the true stories about the band, describing Dumpster diving for food. After a dizzying version of “Metamorphosis,” The Ramrods launched into one of my favorite live songs of theirs, actually two rolled into one, “Full Tank/I’m in Love with My Car,” as hot, lustful and sexy (as well as euphemistic) a bunch of songs about picking up your date, driving and getting it on as you’re likely to hear. The songs were heavy with blues mixed in with rock, somewhat slower but with a lot of crunch, especially on Neal’s first solo, and he followed this with a ripping solo as the band ended its regular set.
After a very short break, The Ramrods returned to play another of its all-time best and virtual signature songs, “Heavy Shakin’ Mamas,” about just exactly the title states; the crowd went wild again, using up what little energy it had left to dance and scream as Scott all but had sex with the entire audience. While the band may have finally played all of its great songs (or those they could rehearse/remember), they did have one more ace up their collective sleeves, ending the night with a crashing run through of the MC5’s “Kick out the Jams.” The band sold their long-lost CD during and after the show for $10, and Val and I snapped up a copy. Opening the show was Invisible Choir, made up of two serious veterans of Buffalo’s indie/punk scene, guitarist Richie Coffman and drummer Heinz Remus, plus bassist Amber Marcucci, who was wearing her graduation cap from high school earned earlier that day for this show. The band played rock, sometimes rough and fast, other times thick and mid-tempo, sounding rather good and more intense than the band’s current CD.