~ Koozie ~

When Words Fail…

…Music speaks, and it was screaming its head off Friday night at Boomr’z in Winston-Salem.

I was excited about this ‘assignment‘ due to the fact that I had never heard this band and this was a new venue for me to experience.

When I walked into Boomr’z it felt like summer with the Caribbean colors everywhere, the familiar faces from another, no longer with us, restaurant/music venue, and then rounding it out was the music that brought the whole thing together to make for one very enjoyable evening.

The band did funky versions of some of my old faves like The Rolling Stones “Miss You”, The Cars “Just What I Needed”, and even the Eagles “Take it Easy”. They really got my attention when they pulled out The White Stripes “7 Nation Army”, Sublime’s “Santeria”, and Papa Roach‘s “Last Resort“…I was definitely ready for some harder hitting music, and Koozie delivered.

I am seeing that some cover bands are able to push the lines of what some people expect by doing songs that no one WOULD expect. Koozie threw out Stevie Nixx’s “Edge of Seventeen”, Pearl Jam’s “Black” and my favorite cover of the night, Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Suck My Kiss”.

Cheebo headlines this band with his long dreads and versatile vocals. Classically trained at a young age, Cheebo can go from soft to screemo in .029 seconds.

Once aspiring to sing opera, he started playing baseball and put music on the back burner. He was drafted to came to North Carolina as a member of the Cleveland Indians, then later had an unfortunate event with his knee, which turned out to be a good thing as he describes it. He met his wife and got back into music. Two of the three main things in his life. I will let you ask him what the third is.

Now he headlines three bands. Koozie, The 5 L’s, an original progressive metal band who has toured with such names as Slipknot, 3 Days Grace, Sevendust, and Trapt. Then there is Cheebonics, his acoustic project where he gets to show off his ability to play the guitar as well as sing.

Brandon on guitar got his start on his dad’s acoustic at the age of 11. He got his first electric at 12 and has been plugging away for the last 20 years. His first band was LSOC aka Listless State of Consciousness which became The 5 L‘s. He has also worked with an original band called Roadie Ray.

He pulled a stint as a Marine in Iraq and said that even though he was there, music was still in his heart. While there, he was attached to a unit that was not his own. Once he bought an acoustic guitar through a magazine, he discovered others in his unit were also musicians. He found that the camaraderie of music stretched into all walks of life. They formed a band and played in a battle of the bands. Even though they placed last due to a ’language’ issue, He said he was ok with that because the whole purpose was to play and experience the music.

He loves the freedom of music, the ability to put your own personal twist on songs in a cover band. “You can make music whatever you want, and fit whatever mood your in“. He respects all types of music even if he doesn’t like the song. He recognizes that somewhere someone toiled over it to create it, and that earns major respect with me.

Slappin’ it on the bass is Eric Turner. He started into music when he was 9 years old. He had not been exposed to much music earlier because his father was against rock and roll due to religious reasons. When his mother remarried, he was introduced to the drums by his new stepfather and to bands such as Rush. After playing the drums for a while, he put them to the side and went on to playing guitar. Then when his brother took up the guitar, Eric tried out the bass, and there he has stayed. All he does is music, Music really is his life.

His first band was with his brother and a group of other high schoolers. He felt very lucky to be included since he was only in middle school. The name of the band was Sugar Kane, and their first gig was marching out on to the gymnasium floor during a high school basketball game. Since then he has been in other bands such as The Honey James Band and Breaking the Bend. He is presently with 4 bands including Koozie, The 5 L’s, Cheebonics, and with his brother in yet another side project.

For Eric, music is his escape. He gets lost in his own world when he is on stage. He will look up occasionally to see how the crowd is enjoying it, but right back to his world he goes. He loves the bass because it gives him the ability to change the music up whenever he wants, dropping it from funk to jazz at the drop of a hat. There is not a genre of music this man doesn’t like or respect. A true musician at heart.

Rounding out the band is James Hilton. The man who keeps time on his drums and does the muscle work for the band.

He has been in music since he was too young to remember. He recalls pictures of himself holding a guitar at the age of 2 and 3 years old. His dad played in bands when he was younger and started teaching him how to play guitar when he was 9 years old. His main passion is the guitar, though he plays drums in Koozie. He got his first drum kit when he was 16, playing in his bedroom to CD’s for fun.

In 2000 he met up with some old friends who he used to jam with. They were in need of a drummer, and he slid right in to the position. After 6 months he met Cheebo and joined the 5 L’s, which he plays guitar with.

He has had a few side cover bands to fill in the time he wasn’t playing with the 5’L such as Less Vegas, Face First, and Stuck Without a Voice. He said he told Cheebo that they should try a cover band as well, and then 3 ½ years ago Koozie was created.

Your next chance to check out Koozie will be at The Clubhouse in Greensboro on April 10th. I have been forewarned that if you want to see this show, you might want to get there early since this venue brings out a large crowd when they play.

I highly doubt you will be disappointed, I know I wasn’t.

I said I wouldn’t write anything nice about the band….and I think I kept my word, though Cheebo might disagree :)