When I caught rockers Hinder on a bill with Nickelback and Papa Roach at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in September 2009, it was clear that the group that melds AC/DC with Guns N’ Roses was the best — and decidedly most fun — band on the bill.
The Oklahoma quintet returned to Orange County Thursday night, this time headlining House of Blues Anaheim and still delivering a revivalist hard-rock sound that recalls the aforementioned GNR and Thunder from Down Under (I saw several guys in the audience wearing the Aussie rockers’ T-shirts) as well as early Aerosmith.
After seeing Hinder at the far more intimate Mouse House, it should be noted that bands with a huge and heavy sound tend to lose something playing in a smaller venue. Maybe because the less-than-capacity crowd was only visibly enthusiastic when prompted by singer Austin Winkler (whose voice often recalls a young Brian Johnson in his prime), but the energy level of the show was not equal to the efforts of the hard-charging band itself across the 75-minute performance.
The 14-song set was a fusion of Hinder’s best-known songs (the power ballad “Lips of an Angel,” riff rockers like “Room 21” and “Get Stoned”) blended with a number of new songs due to be included on the group’s next album, The All American Nightmare. In addition to the title song off that third disc, the most memorable stuff included the introspective “Whatcha Gonna Do,” the infectious “Hey Ho” (with the audience packed on the floor easily prompted to sing along) and the confessional “Waking Up the Devil,” the latter addressing the real-life consequences of overdoing it on booze.
My Darkest Days, one of two opening acts Thursday night, really knew how to mix it up. The Canadian quintet blends hard post-grunge with occasional early ’80s New Wave keyboards, rap, pop — you name it. This gig celebrated the release of the group’s self-titled debut, which dropped Tuesday, and most of the songs from that album were played here, with lead singer Matt Walst and the rest of the energetic band making the most of their 35 minutes. Highlights included the danceable “Move Your Body” and the 311/Sugar Ray/Sublime strains of “Can’t Forget You.” The Toronto outfit’s mostly faithful cover of Duran Duran’s “Come Undone” further enhanced the group’s diversity.
Lake Tahoe’s Black Sunshine is a new band headed by one-time extreme sports hero Matt Reardon; a terrible accident and 11 operations to save his leg abruptly ended his skiing career. The group’s neo-grunge approach blends heavy riffs with infectious grooves in the vein of Saving Abel and 3 Doors Down. Reardon’s group may be relatively fresh to the scene, but the band’s country-tinged “Cannonball” and reflective rockers “Tears” and “Once in My Life” bore the stamp of a determined troupe with plenty to sing about.
Photo, from Hinder’s Austin Winkler, from the band’s performance in September 2009 opening for Nickelback in Irvine, by Joshua Suddock, The Orange County Register.
