Two weekends ago, Detroit Chic made its trek to the annual Metro Times blowout.  The event, currently in its eleventh year is put on, as one might ascertain by the popular periodical Metro Times.  This year the event, held in Hamtramck, featured 20 bars, cafes, and venues.  Wednesday through Saturday was one big mass of music, with a virtual smorgasboard of 230+ local bands playing over the course of the weekend.  If you have a friend in a local band, chances are they might have played.  The event was everything you might expect-- grand and energy packed at sometimes, tired and lackluster at others.

(All pictures by Jason Mick and Detroit Chic, logo courtesy of the Metro Times)

    The event kicked off Wednesday at the Majestic, Magic Stick, and Garden Bowl in Detroit.  Thursday through Saturday the event migrated to the whole of Hamtramck, bringing with it big crowds.  Detroit Chic first arrived on scene Thursday night.  We took the opportunity to check out the Handmade Detroit tables.  Handmade Detroit is a local crafting collective.  A rich variety of crafts was presented at the Blowout.  Artist and local blogger Alecia Dorset crafted a number of small picture frames which held pieces of patterned fabric with the popular quarter vending machine characters "Homies" affixed.

          
    Pictured:  The Handmade Detroit tables featured interesting art and jewelry made from such materials as Homies, records, and birch bark.

    Next to her another crafter had made bracelets, earrings, and notebooks from records.  While cutting up records appals us at Detroit Chic slightly, we had to admit the stuff did look sorta' cool.  Upon discussion on lament at the deaths of the records, the crafter pointed out that most of the records, fortunately, were not very good ones.  Other notable crafters included one that made earrings, bracelets, and other jewelry out of local birch bark.  Several other crafters also participated.

          
    Pictured:  The notebooks made from recors were particularly stylin'.

      After checking out the crafts, we moved on to watch a teenage-looking band take the stage.  Not on the official schedule, the band's set started at about 10 pm and ended at around 10:30.  The music was okay, though rather amateurish.  The feel was somewhat akin to a band that you would hear at a talent show back in high school.

         
    Pictured: Mystery Band #1...who were they?  They weren't on the schedule...they sounded like they were in high school...but they were still sort of fun.

    Travelling, Detroit Chic departed from the Knights of Columbus to venture forth to a new locale.  Walking up Conant and then Holbrook, Detroit Chic trekked to Kelly's bar.  This fun little establishment had a variety of great acts over the course of the evening.  Visitors walked in expecting to leave, but kept staying on for "one more band".

          
    Pictured: Kelly's was a fun little bar/venue with a lot of Irishness going on.

      First up was Lightning Love.  This writer had never heard the band before and wasn't sure what to expect.  Female-fronted vocals are always fun, but in some cases they can be a bit amateurish and more for the effect.  Not at all in the case of Lightning Love, it turns out.  Vocalist Leah Diehl, formerly of the band Minor Planets, has quite a strong voice, with a sort of twangy, wisfful quality that will bring to mind female new wave vocals like the B-52s.  Her brother, Aaron Diehl, backs on the drums, and Ben Collins, also formerly from Minor Planets, rounds off the set.  The band could probably best be described as synthpop, or a term of this writer's invention (he thinks) "bubblegum electro". 

    Pictured: Lightning Love, featuring vocalist/keyboardist Leah Diehl and best friend Ben Collins, formerly of Minor Planets, backed by Leah's brother Aaron, rocked Kelly's with fun synthpop.

    The band sounds similar in sound to Alice in Videoland or Freezepop.  Interestingly, vocalist Leah had never heard of these bands; during a post show  discussion, she stated that she mostly listens to Blur and a couple of other bands when she has time.  Chalk another up to Jung-- musical collective unconscious.  Anyway, Lightning Love blazed through a terrific set of songs such as "Deadbeat", "Porch", "Boys Who Are Taken", "Girls", and "Bobby Thompson", which featured humorous and sometimes melancholic lyrics over foot-tapping keyboards.  Whether it was singer Leah's ravishing good looks, guitarist Ben's craftful guitar work, or Aaron's in-rhythm drums, the band made fans of virtually the entire crowd who listened rapt.  On some songs Leah handed off vocal responsibilities to Ben, who proved himself to be an able vocalist.  Hopefully in future material they will feature more back and forth vocals, because they both have talented and unique vocal styles and form an interesting mix.

                              
    Pictured: Leah Diehl, lead vocalist of Lightning Love, has a dynamic and enjoyable voice that hopefully Detroit will be hearing a lot more of in the near future.

    After Lightning Love finished their set, Detroit Chic's Jason Mick (me!) got a chance to interview the band a bit.  Interestingly, Leah Diehl says that every song she writes is about a different person, most of them boys who came and went from her life.  This would explain the emotional tone of the lyrics.  However, Leah doesn't really overdo it in song writing-- most of the songs retain a bit of a humorous edge, amid the heart-break and -ache.  Just be warned, if you cross Leah Diehl you may soon be portrayed in Lightning Love lyrics.

              
    Pictured: Lightning Love really made the crowd pumped up.

     Next up was singer Charlie Slick.  Charlie Slick can best be described as a weird-beat dance rocker who dances around stage wildly and acts as if he's just swallowed a bottle full of Ritalin pills.  Slick's wild act included bubble blowing and dousing himself (and incidentally much of the crowd) in glitter.  Slick's songs such as "No Kissy Kissy" seemed a bit lyrically vapid, but let's face it, the band was all about performance and it definitely succeeded on that mark.  And the songs, while not overly complex, were rather catchy.  The crowd was a mix, with half staring at Slick's wild antics and half getting caught up in the catchy sound.  Overall it was an enjoyable set, though it did leave the crowd rather glitter covered, to many's chagrin.


    Pictured: Charlie Slick has more energy than a classroom of preschoolers.  His off the wall act certainly entertains, if a bit weird.

                                  
    Pictured: Charlie Slick breaks it down amidst a haze of bubbles and light.

    After Slick, next up was SikSik Nation.  While, Detroit Chic is all about local rock, unlike Slick and Lightning Love, SikSik Nation proved to be a bit disappointingly behind the curve.  Today in music the biggest innovation is going on in indie and electronic rock, in Detroit Chic's opinion.  However, SikSik follows a more outdated garage traditional rock style.  In and of itself, this would not be particularly troublesome, but SikSik really does not stand out much lyrically and their drummer was horribly out of rhythm at times.  The overall feel was something like a second-rate Three Days Grace, a pretty unpleasant thought.

              
    Pictured: SikSik Nation didn't lack in enthusiasm, but their garage-rock-esque songwriting and music failed to impress.  

     Still the set at Kelly's was more a hit than a miss with the strong performances of Lightning Love and Charlie Slick.  Detroit Chic closed out the evening at The Belemont, a fun bar on Joseph Campau St.  While we unfortunately missed Scarlet Oaks, which is supposed to be rather good, we did get to see the end of The Muggs set, who appeared on Fox-TV's The Next Great American Band, at around 1 am.  The Muggs played at the main stage in the hall of the Knights of Columbus, where we briefly stopped before going on to The Belemont.  The Muggs, while a bit older and very much garage rock, were somewhat fun, with their unabashedly rocking feel.

              
    Pictured: The Muggs get some enthusiastic vocals during their energized set.

     After a couple of Muggs songs, Detroit Chic closed the night out at the Belemont.  The Belemont is a fun, dimly lit bar filled with Detroit area hip types.  It frequently plays old 80s music videos on its television.  It is frequented by Club Luna's 80s Dancers, among others.  On Thursday the special was the poor but loveable Pabst cans, which came at a price of $2.  The Belemont added the perfect ending to a great evening.

              
    Pictured: The Belemont is a fun bar atmosphere and draws a likeable crowd.  Be sure to check out the fun 80s videos!

     On Saturday Detroit Chic briefly returned to the blowout, sans camera.  We checked out Powertrane at the Knights of Columbus, which failed to impress.  Again, the overwhelming trend was a murky garage rock sound that just didn't stand out or perk interest.  Travelling to Small's we viewed Bluesong.  Bluesong, while failing to sound very unique or have very memorable vocals, was a bit more solid, featuring an electronic organ-sporting brand of psychadelic classic rock, that was not painful to listen to.  Small's had a bit more of an uptight feel, though, and was less fun then Kelly's or The Belemont, despite having more space.  After a brief stay, Detroit Chic travelled to the Belemont.  After a brief conversation with Luna's 80s Dancers we watched a bit of The Badways (we unfortunately missed Marco Polio and the New Vaccines who we wanted to see!).  The Badways were energetic enough to be tolerable, though not terribly impressive.  Detroit Chic and company, would afterwards go on for a fun night at Oslo nightclub, but would be done with the Metro Times Blowout for the year.

    In all, the Blowout was quite an adventure.  Standouts were Lightning Love and Charlie Slick, with solid performances from the Muggs and Bluesong.  Be sure to check these bands out and see us at the Metro Times' Blowout next year!  And be sure to ask writer Jason Mick about the crazy post-Blowout Thursday night that was unfit for print.