WHERE: Five Spot – Atlanta, GA
WHEN: July 17
HIGHLIGHT: Seeing hip-hop rock fusion at its finest
Detroit Mutant Radio brought the rock and rhymes to their most heavily attended Atlanta show at Five Spot, the perfect venue as it’s featured every type of music ever made. DMR takes nearly every genre and fuses them together to make something great. Influences range from smooth soul to funk to rock fusion bands like Faith No More and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Members include three Michiganders, Mr. Creech on vocals, Rama-Don on rhythm guitar and backing vocals and J-Rock on drums, and two Atlantans, Whiz on lead guitar and Los on bass.
DMR brought a new visual aspect with matching colors in their t-shirts, baseball hats and shoes. Creech and Rama-Don’s vocals cut through the fog with depth and precision as the majority of the audience danced and bopped around balloons. The music seared the air, riding on a perfect wave of sound throughout the club.
New song “Wake Up” opened the set and did exactly that to the audience. People bounced around in no time to the rhythm while Los and J-Rock did the same. Creech rapped quickly on verses as Los’ bass lines cantered along in a Peter Gunn-style rhythm. Next came “Three Feet From Gold,” a tune with the openness of an Incubus song. Clashing guitars fought out crunchiness versus mid-tempo jazz chords, and a break in the middle that included staccato rhythms, wah-wah and nice noodling. The next song, “In The Rain,” DRM’s most promoted song because of its extremely catchy chorus, blew the crowd away. Their cover of Rage Against The Machine’s “Bulls on Parade” was the best ever, spot on. “Where Will You Go?” showed off the band’s versatility with its blues as Creech acted out the lyrics. The highlight of the night was when Whiz stepped up front for the solos and even played backwards over his head for a few minutes at the end of the set.