TM STEVENS
At the Brighton Bar - Long Branch, NJ (8/30/03)
PERSONNEL:
1. TM Stevens - deadliest bassist (O.O.C.), lead vocalist,
leader
2. P.M. Eaton (of PHUNKYMAN) - nasty guitarist, vocalist
3. Chuck Treece (of BAD BRAINS) - power drummer
4. Darrell "Kason" Otey - rapper with a purpose
5. TIffany - rapper with sex appeal
At 11:35pm, one of the deadliest funk-rock bands to grace this earth
started.....TM STEVENS and the SHOCKA ZOOLOO Band....with the lethal rock
groove of "No Good Without the Bad"....unfortunately, the sound
system was so jacked up, no one could hear the vocals (they were either not
there or at a low volume). TM still carried on the show with some smotherin'
bass riffs (enough to shake the earth) and P.M. threw down on lethal lead
guitarisms! "Sticky Wicked" was more of the lethal formula.
TM asked one Dr. Brookenstein to come to the stage and this brotha was
dressed in a Bootsy T-shirt, pimp-style dalmation hat with star stickers all
over it, a long green wig, a star medallion, and a four star rings on one hand
(wot is dat bout?!) When TM Stevens asked him who their favorite uncle,
Brookenstein said "Uncle George". Hmmm. Hearing TM say "Uncle
Bootsy is all that" (or something like that) made me question if
Brookenstein was on the same wavelength as TM!
"Go My Way" featured TM having a bass attack of the strongest kind!!
"Get on Up, Stand on Up" featured Kason on lead raps.....the audience
participated in the sing-along, especially during the "Soul Power"
segment.....Larry Graham fans would have appreciated TM's work on the "The
Jam" (GCS) segment!!! "Maximum Respect" was maximum, hardcore
funk-rock groovin' that was followed by the mellower "River Flow".
"Shocka Zooloo" featured some guitar soaring by the mighty P.M.!!
"Family Man" featured Tiffany on additional vocals and a segment of
"Thank You (Fallentime Be Mice Elf Agin)".
"Thumb" was da BOMB!!!!! IT WAS TOO, TOO,
TOO, TOO, TOO, TOO FONKAY!! The bass was killin' serious TM fans like ME!! The
drum solo by Chuck Treece was some hardcore, power rock shit!! (I'm still
having trouble hearing because of that drum solo!)
"Body Bag" was done for about 2
minutes, just to satisfy some rockheads in the audience. The band performed
"The Squeeze" (actually, that was "Hair", "Raw Like
Sushi" and "Boom" in about 8 minutes or so). On
"Hair", the bass was so funky that it burned out the woofers and
tweeters in the sound system! On "Raw Like Sushi", the lead
guitarisms set afire to the Brighton Bar.....remember the great big fire in that
nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island!! The ending of "Boom" was
sped up double-time allowing rockheads to bob their headss violently till they
needed their necks realigned by doctors....this kind of music ain't illegal,
but it's damn sure dangerously!! The funk-rock feast was over at 1:00am.
LISTEN TO SHOCKA ZOOLOO (or any TM Stevens CD) AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com