Live review: Teenage Cool Kids, Slippery Slopes, Flashlights, Hot Hands.

Teenage Cool Kids
Teenage Cool Kids.

Teenage Cool Kids, Slippery Slopes, Flashlights, Hot Hands.
@ Uncle Lou's. Orlando, Florida. Sunday September 27, 2009.
Review and pictures by Jeffrey Howard. Additional photos by William Lloyd.

There's been several good turnouts for "off night" shows in Orlando lately. It's a good sign when you can pack a venue on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. Let's keep this up people!

This show was supposed to be at Black Box Collective but there's changes over at that "diy" venue/art space. Seems like bands and shows are out of their vision. There's been only silence from the head honcho over there- no official statement or anything......... So the show was moved over to Uncle Lou's on Mills Avenue.

Kristin and I (Hot Hands) played first after we figured out Uncle Lou's PA system. We've been on a string of sloppy shows and equipment failures and tonight was no different. Not sure if it shows. Keepin' it real, ya'll. Nothing several Colt 45s won't solve. Our drink of choice at Uncle Lou's. Hahaha.

Flashlights are a three-piece indie band from Titusville/Melbourne. I've seen them before about a year ago or so when they played with the excellent Blah Ha at a UCF area coffeehouse Natura. Can't say they impressed me. It seemed messy and off key not in a good way. Tonight they were actually all right- they showed growth for the better. Sometimes it comes across a little overly dramatic but still enjoyable. Their drummer, Melissa, is quite good. I know what you're thinking, I'm a sucker for a super cute girl drummer- it should be expected at this point. She's definitely the bright point of this band. Singer/guitarist Terry will still steal the show back from her like throwing his guitar into the air and shouting the last lyrics away from the microphone during the last song. Intense!

It's been over a year since Texas indie rockers Teenage Cool Kids made their way through Florida, twice in Orlando: a house show and at Uncle Lou's. In that time they've toured all over the country, released another full length album and have been sued by rap act Cool Kids for name infringement. And this show would be the last show on U.S. soil before flying out of Orlando for Europe for a full tour over there. Pretty exciting for them. They've gained a few more fans here so a lot of people came out to see them this time. They put on a good fun show- they played mostly new material I hadn't heard yet. Good stuff.

Closing out the night was Slippery Slopes and those guys are on fire with Britches out of jail. Thank God! Those guys are going on a West Coast tour soon (check their myspace for dates) and tonight they had the audience in a crazy dancing frenzy. Singer Erik spent most of the show ontop of Uncle Lou's Bar.

This show was filmed for a new teevee show in the Central Florida area called Plasmaphonic. It's a new teevee show that is going to debut November/December on WRCF TV29/WSWF TV10.

Pictures:

Hot Hands - photo by William Lloyd. Closeup of a fisheye.