Photo courtesy of Rony Armas

KELLY’S LOT IN NOHO  Kelly’s Lot burned an incredible show before a packed house on Saturday night, December 13th, at Hallenbeck’s General Store (on Cahuenga) in NoHo.   Most of the songs performed during the set were selected from their latest release, “Come To This”, which is available at their website, www.kellyslot.com.

Kelly’s Lot is a five piece blues rock band made up of Kelly Z, on vocals; Perry Robertson, on rhythm guitar; Rob Zucca, lead guitar; Bill Johnston, on saxophone; Mark Drews, on bass; and Bryan Celano on drums.   However, for this special Hallenbeck’s show, they went all acoustic and without the bassist and drummer.  

If you have never been to Hallenbeck’s then you need to go there to experience the unrivaled intimacy with the musicians that it delivers to the audience.  There are clubs in NoHo and in the Los Angeles area that are of comparable size, but the positioning of the stage and the sound system make it a truly original and unique music venue.  (The food is good, too!) 

They opened the set with “Train”, which is from the new album.  “Train” is a rock blues song that starts out with a hot solo by Rob Zucca.  It is a song about getting away from a lame duck relationship.  Nice.  And yeah, the rhythm of the song has “TRAIN” slapped all over it, with Robertson’s rhythm guitar stoking the furnace, Kelly Z’s vocals as the conductor and Zucca and Johnston riding along in First Class.

“The Green Toads” was played next and it is a great song about love.   (By the way, this song is from their album simply entitled, “Trio”, which is a CD of a great live Kelly’s Lot Hallenbeck’s performance.  On this album only three of the members are present: Kelly Z, Perry Robertson and Rob Zucca.  It is an amazing testimony to the power of vocals and two guitars.)

Next, they played a new song called “Nobody Here But Me”, which was really strong.  Often times when bands perform new songs or songs that have yet to be recorded on one of their albums, the arrangement can be muddy or vague, but this was not the case here.  This song is great and Zucca fired up a killer solo that was all over it.

“Come To This”, the title song from their latest CD, is a really cool song about a chick that comes to the realization that her life is nothing but boring and tedious.   Instead of holding her in his arms, her man holds the remote for the TV set in his hands (there is no mention of a beer but there probably is one somewhere in this story).  She also is tired of doing housework.  The song ends with a last verse lesson that advises: if we are not careful, we all get what we wish for.   Nice.  Kelly and Perry wrote this.  The song has a strut groove and has really cool chord changes.  Bill Johnston took the first solo.  Man, can he play the sax.  Rob Zucca followed and, once again, amazed the audience with his juicy guitar playing.

“Woman’s Love” is about, well, the love of a woman.  What is really great about the crafting of this song is the fact that even if the listener never understood a word of English, OR, if the song were released in an instrumental version, the music sounds like, well, the love of a woman.  The key change, dropping chromatically, to accommodate the sultry and erotic sax solo by Johnston (which was probably his best of the evening…Bill Johnston blows the sax with his mouth but it sounds like the air comes from his heart and his soul), is brilliant.  This key change brings the ear of the listener by the hand into a new and different colored tonal room.         

“Drive” was next.   It is a cool boogie-woogie blues penned by Kelly and Perry.   If you have read this article all the way, clear down to this point, it is a safe bet to assume that you possess the creative and deductive abilities to imagine what this was like.

Kelly’s Lot closed with “Happy Girl”.   Damn if this isn’t one of their best songs.  It is a straight ahead, four on the floor, pumping, take no prisoners, def-con four, red alert, blues rock masterpiece.  It is a tightly arranged classic, sprinkled with accents, chokes and fills that are masterly placed.   Everyone was ON IT.

Now, just a bit about the players: 

Kelly Z is an alto, singing with a range close to Natalie Merchant and with the conviction of Marva Wright.  But make no mistake, citizens, she is an American Original.  She could get away with just standing on the edge of the stage and looking hot, but the fact that she is a killer singer and a looker make her a unique and extraordinary talent.  (And she’s great with the audience.) 

Bill Johnston is one, too (an American Original).   He plays the sax, like mentioned earlier, but with more than just his mouth and fingers.  It sounds like pieces of him are coming though the bell and pouring into the sky.  He has a good tone and his phrasing puts him into a category all his own, somewhere between rock and jazz.  

Perry Robertson is a human metronome.  That’s all there is to it.   He plays the rhythm guitar as if he had a metronome surgically implanted into the wrist of his right hand (the opposite of a metronomectomy).  Realize that he, for all practical purposes, WAS the rhythm section for this show.  When people listen to Jimi Hendrix, they don’t often think about the fact that it would have been impossible for him to play the way he did WITHOUT a human metronome bassist and drummer.   Paintings can never hang without a wall to hold them up.   Walls make art possible. 

Rob Zucca is the caliber of lead guitarist that most people will never get the opportunity to see in person.  This is simply because of the fact that these types of players are rare.  He has the ability to blend in with the rhythm and then come to the forefront with his solos.   He plays with a lot of brass and smoothness.  Notes melt from his fingers and his rhythm is impeccable.   There are a million rock gods who can play a million notes, a million licks, a million miles a minute.  However, Rob is like a craftsman, or better yet, like a skilled laborer, using only the tools that each musical situation demands.   He has a million notes and a million licks but he has the judgment and the discretion, most players lack, to use them only when needed.  His phrasing is balanced, his delivery is sure, and his demeanor on stage is confident.    

Together, they play as one of the tightest bands you will ever hope to see. 

Make an effort to see Kelly’s Lot perform live.  

For more about Kelly’s Lot, including upcoming shows and information on how to obtain any of the CD’s from their catalog (including the latest release, “Come To This”), log onto www.kellyslot.com. 

Copyright 2004 Scott Detweiler.  All Rights Reserved. 

Scott Detweiler is an accomplished musician in his own rite and has just released his fifth CD.  For more details, log on to www.detweilermusic.com, or write to scott@detweilermusic.com.