Live-Metal.Net - Concerts: Hinder

Recher Theatre
Towson, MD
February 25, 2006

By GREG MAKI

On this night, the packed house at Towson’s Recher Theatre was more about getting stoned than going wild.

Girls Gone Wild, without which basic cable channels would have no infomercials to fill the airwaves at 3 a.m., brings no girls with it on tour, instead relying on the audience at each stop to provide the entertainment. Baltimore County law and a couple of stern-looking police officers prevented the festivities from getting as wild as you might expect. It’s just as well; most of the participants in the make-out and thong contests held between bands should not have been on stage in the first place. No one should have expected otherwise from an audience that was probably 80-percent male.

Of course, the music was the real reason everyone was there. Hinder quickly has built a strong following with their single “Get Stoned,” which apparently is a big hit on rock radio. Their CD, Extreme Behavior, has a lot of good ideas (including some of the catchiest hooks I have heard in a long time) but leans a little too heavily on softer material for me to embrace it fully. That was not a problem for Hinder on stage, where they have a swagger that says this is a no-nonsense rock band to be reckoned with. Frontman Austin Winkler in particular amped up his performance from the studio, lending attitude and toughness to his vocals. His mannerisms and stage presence reminded me of Josh Todd of Buckcherry. If there is a star in the band, it’s lead guitarist Joe “Blower” Garvey, whose solos – especially on a tight cover of ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man” – stole the show.

Hinder’s 45-minute set included all but one song from Extreme Behavior (“Room 21,” a raucous tribute to one-night stands, and the aforementioned “Sharp Dressed Man” were the highlights) and an encore, which seems unnecessary for a band with a 10-song catalog. They were off-stage less than a minute before returning to play “Get Stoned,” which, of course, received a massive response.

Revelation Theory, an up-and-coming act with a harder sound, preceded Hinder. The size of their following was a surprise considering I was unfamiliar with them before hearing about this tour. Most of the crowd seemed to know them, and it was easy for those who did not to get into their high-energy 35-minute set. Their songs came across heavier live than on their CD, Truth Is Currency. The vocals by frontman Rich Iuzzi and bassist Matt McCloskey are the band’s strength.

I had high hopes for the first band of the evening, Faktion, based on a couple tracks I had heard and the fact that their self-titled debut release is due March 21 on Roadrunner Records. Now, I’m curious about what drew the interest of such a renowned metal label. Faktion isn’t a bad band; they’re entirely listenable, in fact. But their set lacked the fire of the bands that followed, the songs a little on the bland side. I like the two songs on the free sampler CDs given out after the show, though, and I still plan to check out the full album.

Heading into the show, I was looking forward to seeing Faktion, Revelation Theory and Hinder – in that order. I rank the bands’ performances in the exact opposite order. A song like “Get Stoned” typically has the makings of a one-hit wonder, but Hinder has the chops to not only avoid infamy but to go on to much bigger things. See them now – girls going wild or not – when you can get a ticket for only $12.

www.hinderonline.com
www.revelationtheory.com
www.faktionband.com