Gainzilla
Well-known member
I found out about this show about a month ago and was pretty Stoked, Im a big Eric Sardinas Fan and love his playing. I didnt know anything about Gomes but went to his site and checked out some of his stuff. Hes billed as a "Fiery Blues rock" player and I figured that if he was touring with sardinas that he must be pretty good. I had called to see who was opening and what time they got on and they said that Sardinas was opening and that he would be on at 8pm. I was happy about that because I was there to see him and if Gomes didnt cut it for me, I could bail early..
I invited a friend of mine who had never heard of either player but loves blues rock in general and when we got there, we ran right into Sardinas who was hanging outside. He remembered meeting me at NAMM( which I thought was pretty cool) and we got to chat for about 15min. I told him how stoked I was that he made it to NYC and he was really appreciative that we came out during the week to see him; A really cool down to earth guy who's a pleasure to talk to..
Anyhow, it turns out that Gomes took the stage first. He had a 4 piece band consisting of him on Guitar and lead vocals and bass,Keyboards and drums all on backing vocals, They were called Anthony Gomes and the New Soul Cowboys, all from Nashville, Tn.
He came out playing one of those teles with a brushed aluminium face like the one that Joe Bonamassa plays and was plugged into a Marshall JMP. He had a pedalboard that had a wah,boost of some sort and a Line 6 delay box among some other stuff that I couldnt see. His tone wasnt bad but it didnt floor me..
His band was tight and talented as hell, they had a bunch catchy tunes and Gomes has a really good voice, think early Paul Rogers with a bit more thrushiness to it. My problem was that he was really unexciting and very generic as a soloist. It was kind of disappointing because everything else was there. There just wasnt any magic. I wasnt looking for shred or flash but When it came time to cut loose, he just fell short IMO. I understand about playing for the song but again IMO, his songs begged for solos with a bit more oompf...
He played for an hour and a half and truthfully, I would have walked halfway through his set if I wasnt there to Sardinas. They all took solos and they were all great but Gomes left me wanting.
Sardinas took the stage 25min after Gomes finished and the man just flat out wailed his face off for his entire set. He came out playing one of those washburn Resonator guitars that has a cutaway and put it through a Rivera halfstack that was sitting on what I believe to be one of those Los Lobotomy subs. His pedal board had a wah and a Univibe on it and when he kicked those in with his crazy slide playing it sounded amazing, especially at the volumes and heavy OD that he was using. His tone was awesome and clear as hell
The guy seriously beats the crap out of his instrument, he was just bangin away on that thing and spent alot of time tuning between tunes. He had commented that his guitars didnt like travelling( he had just landed in from a Month tour of Europe the night before) but I cant see anything staying in tune if you hammer away like he does..
He had a 3 pc with him on guitars and lead vocals and he has a great gutsy bluesy voice as well though not as good as Gomes.. The cool thing about Sardinas is that he takes that Old Delta Blues and infuses it with some serious hard rock and technique. The guy has some pretty amazing chops as well as a damn good ear, his intonation was really spot on. You could tell that he was a bit of Hendrix fan from his use of effects in his phrasing as well as his use of feedback and he was a master of controlling it, ESPECIALLY with that big holowbody going through a loud Overdriven half stack. It was just so ridiculouly cool and tasty and his band and tunes had buckets of heavy groove to them.
If he comes to your town, check him out, Im fairly certain that if youre a fan of blues rock, youll be really impressed with Sardinas. His albums are great but damn, he brings it up to levels beyond when he plays live... It was well worth the 15$ price of admission to me!!
Kage
I invited a friend of mine who had never heard of either player but loves blues rock in general and when we got there, we ran right into Sardinas who was hanging outside. He remembered meeting me at NAMM( which I thought was pretty cool) and we got to chat for about 15min. I told him how stoked I was that he made it to NYC and he was really appreciative that we came out during the week to see him; A really cool down to earth guy who's a pleasure to talk to..
Anyhow, it turns out that Gomes took the stage first. He had a 4 piece band consisting of him on Guitar and lead vocals and bass,Keyboards and drums all on backing vocals, They were called Anthony Gomes and the New Soul Cowboys, all from Nashville, Tn.
He came out playing one of those teles with a brushed aluminium face like the one that Joe Bonamassa plays and was plugged into a Marshall JMP. He had a pedalboard that had a wah,boost of some sort and a Line 6 delay box among some other stuff that I couldnt see. His tone wasnt bad but it didnt floor me..
His band was tight and talented as hell, they had a bunch catchy tunes and Gomes has a really good voice, think early Paul Rogers with a bit more thrushiness to it. My problem was that he was really unexciting and very generic as a soloist. It was kind of disappointing because everything else was there. There just wasnt any magic. I wasnt looking for shred or flash but When it came time to cut loose, he just fell short IMO. I understand about playing for the song but again IMO, his songs begged for solos with a bit more oompf...
He played for an hour and a half and truthfully, I would have walked halfway through his set if I wasnt there to Sardinas. They all took solos and they were all great but Gomes left me wanting.
Sardinas took the stage 25min after Gomes finished and the man just flat out wailed his face off for his entire set. He came out playing one of those washburn Resonator guitars that has a cutaway and put it through a Rivera halfstack that was sitting on what I believe to be one of those Los Lobotomy subs. His pedal board had a wah and a Univibe on it and when he kicked those in with his crazy slide playing it sounded amazing, especially at the volumes and heavy OD that he was using. His tone was awesome and clear as hell
The guy seriously beats the crap out of his instrument, he was just bangin away on that thing and spent alot of time tuning between tunes. He had commented that his guitars didnt like travelling( he had just landed in from a Month tour of Europe the night before) but I cant see anything staying in tune if you hammer away like he does..
He had a 3 pc with him on guitars and lead vocals and he has a great gutsy bluesy voice as well though not as good as Gomes.. The cool thing about Sardinas is that he takes that Old Delta Blues and infuses it with some serious hard rock and technique. The guy has some pretty amazing chops as well as a damn good ear, his intonation was really spot on. You could tell that he was a bit of Hendrix fan from his use of effects in his phrasing as well as his use of feedback and he was a master of controlling it, ESPECIALLY with that big holowbody going through a loud Overdriven half stack. It was just so ridiculouly cool and tasty and his band and tunes had buckets of heavy groove to them.
If he comes to your town, check him out, Im fairly certain that if youre a fan of blues rock, youll be really impressed with Sardinas. His albums are great but damn, he brings it up to levels beyond when he plays live... It was well worth the 15$ price of admission to me!!
Kage
