
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 23, 1994                   TAG: 9410010001
SECTION: WELCOME STUDENTS                    PAGE: WS78   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

AFTER A LONG DAY IN CLASS, KICK BACK WITH LOCAL SOUNDS

If you like to spend your evenings in an intimate smoke-filled bar listening to a good local band, you're in luck. Local sounds abound in the New River Valley, and there are plenty of bands that offer sounds ranging from rock to blues to bluegrass. Here are a few:

About Time Trio: This popular band plays a variety of classic and popular jazz pieces.

Electric Woodshed: Named for the modest practice room of its early days, this Blacksburg band weaves rock and blues for a popular sound. It plays songs by artists such as The Allman Brothers, Muddy Waters and Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Fescue 911: Named after a type of Kentucky Bluegrass, this bluegrass band plays a variety of original and cover tunes.

The Kind: This six-member outfit has been around for nearly eight years and has built a large following with its psychedelic sound. The Kind plays weekly in Blacksburg, and you can expect to hear more than Grateful Dead covers.

The Mosaics: Guitarist and lead vocalist Jeff Sellers said the Radford-based band plays "contemporary, progressive, R.E.M.-ish music."

Not Shakespeare: This quartet has been in the middle of the Blacksburg student scene almost as long as Virginia Tech, and with good reason. Led by singer/guitarist George Wade, the group plays tight and catchy originals mixed with good covers. The sound has been called a blend of "melodic psycho-crush-to-jangle-crunch with a hint of country."

Rhinoz: The band describes its sound as "Southadelic," a mixture of rock and new music. The group plays songs by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin and ZZ Top.

Steppe Children: This foursome rattles the panes with swirling, hard-driving alternative rock. Fronted by singer/guitarist/sociology doctoral candidate Chip Walton, it performs its own songs and a few covers by bands such as Buffalo Tom and Dinosaur Jr.

Tundra 212: The band, which has released a full-length album of original songs, plays mostly alternative/college music.

Visible Shivers: The sound has been tagged "moody pop with haunting melodies. Thrills, chills and back beat to spare." Visible Shivers peppers its own popcraft with songs by bands such as R.E.M., the Sidewinders and the Smithereens.

Zookeeper: Pay the cover and you won't get covers. This band was formed for the composing and recording of original rock music. Tim Taylor and Jonathan Barker of the Kind and Mark McLeod of Electric Woodshed team up with three other players to offer exclusively original rock in the vein of '70s progressive bands such as Yes and Steely Dan.

Other popular bands that play in the New River Valley area are:

Blackburn Brothers

Bowshakers

No Strings Attached

Blindspot

House Rockin' John & the Hyper Brothers

January Rose

Bad Habitz

(To get a look at more New River Valley bands and some of the popular bands that play gigs here, see pages 85-89.)

by CNB