Live review of
McGrath:
Review by: FNU LNU
November 6th brought the original
members of "McGrath" back to Cowtown!
The room was pumped for the return of
this perennial bar band. With the first chord of Santana's "Evil woman"
you could almost smell the straight scotch in the air.
Or I guess I could, because that's
what the jerk next to me spilled on me when he jumped up to dance.
(Does scotch stain?) At any rate, the band was rocking! Of course with
a line up like: Drummer Steve Froese (Quazi and the Motos, Sofa King),
Keyboard wizard Andrew , Bass and guitarest Andy P. (Greg
Westfall and the Texas Theater) and McGrath's original female
vocalist Katherine Hackett, the vocals were outstanding and
incredibly tight. The energy was high and you could tell
that these folks were comfortable with each other. The one surprise of
the evening was the announcement by McGrath that he was giving away his
new CD which he had made in LA. In a bizarre turn of events Ms.
Texas Latina took the stage and thanked everyone she could think
of. All I remember is; I think that McGrath himself said it
best: "Her crown is bigger that my ego!" The real treasure
of the evening was the vocal performance of Drummer Steve Froese
.
He was nailing vocals as diverse as "Brickhouse", "Brown eyed
girl" and "Margaretaville". He needed to sing
more. The real let down of the evening was McGrath's guitar
playing was random, at times inappropriate to the
song; lack-luster at best. Vocals were his strong suite.
Having seen McGrath before I found him much more engaging than in shows
past, so maybe the move to
LA was good for him in
that respect. 
Andrew was in great voice as well as his Keyboard
playing it was phenomenal! I was surprised to see local guitar
hero Pooch Amy (Quazi, Pooch and Me ) in the crowd. I
went over and talked to him, and he remarked that Andy 
was excellent on bass! I had seen him with Greg Westfall before so I
was surprised when I realized that it was the same dude that plays
lead guitar with Texas Theater! He and Gary switched off on bass
and guitar which was cool. As they were getting ready for
the last set my reporter's spidey senses went into high gear!
Actually it was the 4 scotch and sevens that I had, so I was
trying to sober up before getting up close and personal with FTWorth's
finest. When I saw the keyboard player ask a lovely young
woman I was
talking to named Denim; or maybe Paisley? It was some sort of
fabric I'm sure. (Yeah, Like you never talked to some chick for
four hours and
forgot her name!) What was I saying? Oh Yeah! I overheard
the keyboard player asking "Are we getting paid?" And I'm like "no
way!" Sure
enough, being the intrepid reporter that you know by now I
am, That and the four scotches I was trying to recover from
lead me to approach the characters in this Shakespearean tragedy
that was unfolding before my eyes. Yep, you guessed it these
professional musicians got ripped off by McGrath! No money for
the band. It really sucks in a town that is so tough on
bands as it is to screw professional musicians out of there
livelihood! After eavesdropping on the band talking, I don't
think the guys in this band will be giving McGrath the time of
day until he fronts the money! Which is a shame because
these guys and gal really gave it there all. It really was a
great show! Photos courtesy of Savidetup.com and
Bob Prince.