Josh Gomez

Rocketline played a show on Saturday night in Tempe. The venue, Phase54, was an office park building slash music production studio slash club. Weird. After waiting through the two opening acts, and almost three hours later, Rocketline captured the crowds attention. Despite the weirdness of the venue, there was a great turnout and a responsive crowd. Rocketline opened up with Lunar Dirt, a familiar piece among their followers. I have heard several versions of it, and I think they revise it and tweak it each time they have a show. It was exciting to hear two new pieces, which both expanded on Garnet’s vocal super powers. It is worth mentioning that this was their second show with an additional guitar player, and a new guy on the keys. I am looking forward to see their roles grow into the band’s already solid form.

More on Phase54

Outside on the narrow balcony there was a bar full of novice bartenders, and a raised stage at the far end, opposite of the staircase entrance. Each band had to carry their equipment up the stairs, through the crowd, and heater lamps to reach the stage. Inside you could find marble tables mounted against wood paneled walls, and suck up the scent of old squishy carpet. The ceiling inside was low and complimented the other amenities so well that it completed the mobile home theme nicely. One last nag from me - the men’s restroom. Urinals were strange; one was too low, the other too high, and both had weird urinal tablets in them that were designed to ricochet your stream back at you.

I’m sure no one will be watching when Team Sleep strolls through town, but I’ve been wondering what ever happened to them, so I might go check them out. Being a Deftones fan boy, you have to wonder what Team Sleep has to offer at a live show. Deftones frontman, Chino Moreno created Team Sleep in late 2001, mostly to indulge in darker, dreamy, pop electronica. The band is actually coming out with a second album - and of course - you can hear some new tracks on their MySpace page. The track that stands out is Am Formant.

The show is at the Clubhouse in Tempe on December 12th. Sonny, Strata, and Monster in the Machine will also perform.

Where will you be this New Year’s Eve? Would you rather be somewhere else?

The last couple of weeks, I have been tempted to fly to San Francisco for The Mars Volta show on New Year’s Eve. I am amazed that the show has not sold out.

No one is able to go with me. What should I do?

Rocketline is a local psychedelic, space dance band and they sound amazing. I have attended two of their shows, and both times was enlightened by their energy and entertained by their skills. Their sound: a cohesive bond between drums and bass, spacey guitar work, and a flighty saxophone, all complimented by timely percussion, chimes and ambient vocals.

After talking with the group a few times, I encouraged them to let me build their band’s website. They loved the idea, and we have officially started working on the Rocketline website. Stay tuned for updates here, as I will post the play-by-play.

For now, you can visit their MySpace profile for upcoming shows, and music.