Since then, Axia’s star has been on the rise as they’ve evolved and gone through various incarnations, while never losing their original passion, drive and substance. They’ve released a self-titled EP, toured the state of California non-stop and shared the stage with world-class artists including Ted Nugent, the Drowning Pool, Filter, L.A. Guns, Nonpoint, the Bullet Boys, Devon Allman’s Honeytribe and People in Planes.

The Axia: left to right, Ian Forbes, Dusty Rhoads, Steve Gourley and Chad Land

I caught Axia’s current line-up last Friday night, made up of original members Chad Land (vocals and guitars) and Dusty Rhoads (drums), with new infusions Steve Gourley (bass and backing vocals) and Ian Forbes (keys). I was, as always, nothing short of taken by this band’s music, which continues not only to reach me, but to keep me smiling and on the edge of my bar stool. This band is going places, and although I’m sure they’ll always call the Central Coast home, don’t take for granted that you’ll be able to catch them at your neighborhood pub on a Friday night much longer. Appreciate them, show them your support and get out to see them every chance you get.

If you can’t get enough of Axia (and who can?), visit the band’s website at www.reverbnation.com/theaxia, where you can listen to more of their music, get show information, sign up for the band’s mailing list and find links to the band’s presence on social networking sites including MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

FOOTNOTE: I was so hooked after first experiencing Axia, in fact, that I wrote my first rock music review, so it is only fitting that they are the Central Coast Musicians’ Exchange’s first ever Featured Artist. That first effort was as gushing as you’d expect a first-time reviewer aka fanatic’s writing to be. I’m a little embarrassed reading it now, three years later, but in the interests of journalism and full disclosure, I’m biting the bullet and sharing it here. ;)    Kiss My Axia.

The Rolling Stones were at the very top of my list of must-see-before-I-die bands. Through a series of unfortunate events, I’d missed others on the list.

Cheap Trick: I had tickets in hand–at the last minute, my mother wouldn’t let me use the car.

Bon Jovi: I had tickets in hand–at the last minute, my ride got called in to work . . . and like an idiot, he went.

Aerosmith: I had tickets in hand (and a car)–at the last minute, the show was canceled when Steven Tyler came down with the flu.

I was all grown up now and had a car of my own. I was determined not to miss The Rolling Stones. Alas, word on the street was that this may be the legendary band’s final tour, and tickets sold out almost immediately. I searched eBay and pored over craigslist, where tickets were available, but way out of my league. Some field level seats were going for $2,500 a pop. It looked like the Rolling Stones were about to join the list of bands I had never seen–and might never ever see.

Enter my daughter, Melissa, not only the best daughter a mom could ever have, but a young woman who understands the need to be at a particular show on a particular date and at a particular time. This is a young woman who, in fact, called me on her cell phone from the field at SBC Park one Friday night, where she was grooving to the Black-Eyed Peas, having decided at the spur of the moment to crash a Dave Matthews Band concert. She is her mother’s daughter, and she makes me proud.

No, Melissa didn’t have tickets, but she had something even better . . . connections. She had wrangled us jobs as security guards for the San Francisco leg of the Rolling Stones tour, both nights, which meant we would don blue security coats and attend the show two nights in a row, for free! In fact, we would be paid about $250 for the privilege and would be given a sack supper both nights, including Rice Krispies Treats for dessert. Stones and sweets. It was a dream come true.

The first night, Melissa was rotated to various stations, including stints as the guard posted outside Sheryl Crow’s trailer, one of the guards posted on the catwalk in front of the stage, and the backstage guard posted at the banquet room (which, I must say, is a little like putting the fox in charge of the hen house). As Melissa stood outside the banquet room door, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards walked right past her. Although she’s young, she’s wise beyond her years when it comes to rock and roll, and the significance of the moment was not lost on her.

The second night, before the show started, both Melissa and I were assigned to frisk people and to check their bags as they entered SBC Park. That was an adventure in and of itself. There is nothing that will make a mom more proud than seeing her sweet-tempered, petite, college-age daughter rise up and assert herself as a tattooed, 6’4″, 250 lb. concert-goer tries to sneak contraband into the show, or politely refuse a bribe of freshly-caught salmon in exchange for entrance to the park. It was mother-daughter bonding at its finest.

Both nights, I was stationed on the field for the Rolling Stones performance, in the front rows, right in the $2,500-a-seat section. I was front and center for Brown Sugar, It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll and Sympathy for the Devil. I saw Mick Jagger strut his stuff to Start Me Up. I saw Keith Richards perform one of my personal favorites and one of his rare vocal leads, Before They Make Me Run. I saw Mick and Sheryl Crow duet on Wild Horses and Honky Tonk Woman. I believe I may have had tears in my eyes as the band closed out the second night with Satisfaction. The Rolling Stones Forty Licks tour, and my awesome daughter, gave me two nights I will never forget. No, you can’t always get what you want . . . but sometimes you can get all you want and more.

As Melissa and I hung up our blue coats for the night, the manager announced that they still needed security for a show the following weekend, in nearby Marysville . . . Aerosmith. Melissa and I looked at each other and, without saying a word, raced to the front to sign up. One week later, I was standing less than five feet in front of Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, a free Rice Krispies treat in the pocket of my blue coat, making sure crazed female fans didn’t climb the security wall to get to them. Again, it was a little like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.

1. Almost Famous
Although it was a close call between this movie and #2, I ultimately chose Almost Famous as my top favorite rock ‘n’ roll movie. Maybe it’s because I’m a writer, or because I was a nerd in school, or because I deeply love music but choose to express that love not as a musician, but as a “semi-professional music appreciator.” For whatever reason, I identified with young William Miller (played by Patrick Fugit) and his journey. I love this story. I love that Miller sees his idols stripped bare of their rock star status, but rather than being disillusioned, his life is enriched by the knowledge that they are human beings. I love that he learns through his encounters with his heroes that he is worthy and rocks in his own, unique way. I love that this movie is based on Cameron Crowe’s real story, and that there is out there in the world this person who as a young man worked hard and made his rock dreams come true. And I loved, loved, loved Philip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of rock writer Lester Bangs in this film. He inspired me to go out there and read the rock essays of the real Lester Bangs. They are amazing and I highly recommend them! Here’s one of my favorites, How to be a Rock Critic.

2. This is Spinal Tap
I cannot watch this film without losing it. This mockumentary sends up the rise and fall of a fictitious band, Spinal Tap, touching on every rock ‘n’ roll cliche there is. Christopher Guest is a comedy god. If you haven’t seen this movie, (1) what rock have you been living under? and (2) get yourself to Hollywood Video and rent it right now. Or better yet, buy a copy, because you’re going to want to watch it more than once, and this is one movie worth watching in every mode, in other words, with the various commentaries. They are outrageously entertaining in and of themselves. On a scale of 1-10, this film is an 11! (Yeah, I had to go there.)

That having been settled, I will say that Anthem and Bastille Day do, however, bring back some pretty great memories of my days as a garage band groupie for an under-appreciated Monterey County rock band known in the late 1970′s-early 1980′s as Force It (as in “If it don’t fit . . .”). The band was made up of a very talented group of guys who covered songs by the likes of Judas Priest, AC/DC, Rainbow, UFO, Blue Oyster Cult and, of course, Rush.

I don’t know what it’s like being a garage band groupie nowadays, and I certainly never achieved celebrity groupie status like Pamela Des Barres or Cameron Crowe’s Penny Lane character in Almost Famous (wonderfully played by Kate Hudson). But I can tell you that, back in the day, being a groupie had some credibility and was a good thing.

As a groupie back then, we had jobs to do. It was our duty as garage band groupies to help pack the house for performances, to make sure there was plenty of beer and food at practices and to buy the guys stupid-looking matching t-shirts with their band name printed on the back.

The guys paid us back for our support by putting us on the VIP guest list at parties and indulging us. For example, I got to introduce the band at practices, fully mic’d, with my very own rendition of Patti Smith’s opening lines from Babelogue. They taught me to play a few songs on the bass guitar and let me sing lead vocals on Godzilla. Once, they called me up on stage and let me sit in on bass for a cover performance of Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s Breakdown, a performance which attracted the attention of the man who would one day become my very favorite ex-boyfriend. I even helped pen a couple of original songs which, for some inexplicable reason, the guys never actually performed. In any case, we were involved and we were important. They couldn’t have done it without us, and they let us know that. Those were the days.

Here’s a shout out to the members of Force It: Front man Norman Walkup, lead guitarist Steve Mellor, bass guitarist Kurt Dillard and drummer Mark “Styx” Whitaker. I’ll look forward to the day when you guys get back together, VH-1 Band Reunited style. In the meantime, here’s one from Leni for old times sake: “Kill the King!”

Here are a few tips to help you book a gig at a local venue:

KNOW YOUR VENUES

The first step to booking a gig is to familiarize yourself with the venues you want to play. Visit the venue, find out what nights they offer live music and check out the venue’s crowd. Don’t waste your time (or the venue’s) by contacting clubs that don’t book live music, unless you think you can convince them that they should consider doing so. Additionally, make sure the venue books your genre of music – if you’re in a hard-core punk band, don’t find yourself in the position of wasting time and resources trying to
get your foot in the door at a venue, only to find out it’s a strictly traditional country music venue. Know the venue’s requirements and make sure you’re prepared to meet them. If the venue doesn’t provide sound equipment, it’s up to you to do so, and if you can’t, then you’re better off looking at another venue.

Make sure you have the correct name, e-mail address and telephone number for the person who does the booking for the venue. Pay attention to the little details – make sure you spell the booking agent’s name correctly in communications. As a booking agent, I have one artist who’s played for me on a repeat basis for more than six months now. Every time he contacts me, he calls me by a different first name, and never the correct one. I try to be impartial, but frankly, I’m only human. If he can’t even take the time to learn my name, it makes it a little harder for me to justify taking the time to give him first crack at gigs.

Visit the venue and get to know not only the booking agent, but the owner, the bar manager, the bartenders and the bouncers. It can’t hurt, and it just might help. These people generally have the booking agent’s ear and may be able to put in a good word for you.

Most importantly, be supportive of live music at the venue in general and of the other bands with which you play in particular. As a booking agent and a supporter of live and local music, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when a band who has been after me to get their band booked finishes their set, then takes off to go party elsewhere when the next band takes the stage, taking their friends (and a chunk of the venue’s crowd) with them. It’s disrespectful of the other bands and the venue.

Left to right: Chad Land, Heath Seager, Travis T. Warren and Dusty Rhoads
Photo by Krystal Otis – January 2007

It happened something like this, as I recall:

At the end of the evening, I walked over with every intention of congratulating Axia drummer Dusty Rhoads on a great show and perhaps fleshing out a few details for some future article, then somehow managed to squeeze in a hug as part of my research. In my inebriated state, this seemed perfectly reasonable at the time.

Rhoads appeared puzzled. “What will you write?” he asked. After the hug, I’m sure he was concerned about the nature of my writing, fearing some kind of unauthorized, tabloid-style exposé. Don’t worry, Dusty. I reserve those for Heath Seager, who has tried to feel me up the last two times I’ve run into him out in a club. Okay, so it was a little less like he tried to feel me up, and a little more like he placed his hand against the small of my back to steady himself as he made his way through a crowd (and perhaps to keep my drunk ass from falling into him), but to a single woman of a certain age, it’s pretty much the same thing and nearly as satisfying.

Anyway, I digress. A promise is a promise, and so, while I’m no Lester Bangs, here goes:

I’d heard Axia before, but when I saw them perform an acoustic set in a relatively intimate setting at the Frog and Peach in San Luis Obispo a few weeks ago, I was won over, immediately and completely. When a band strips itself bare of all the hard-core, rock ‘n’ roll trappings and exposes itself naked on the stage like that, something of its soul emerges. I found myself mesmerized, loved what I heard and was eager to catch the band again soon for a live and plugged-in set.

So, when I heard the band would be performing virtually across the street from me last Friday night, at Mongo’s Saloon, I was set on seeing them. I was thrilled to find Axia in full rock mode, with electric guitars, mile high amps and the works. After special guests Heath Seager and Rob Hart of Criticnue solidly warmed up the venue, Axia took the stage.

I wasn’t disappointed.

With the added depth (and volume) of electric guitars, amps and a hard-driving bass line that reached the crowd’s core, Axia’s performance gave new meaning to the term “rock the house.” The band definitely shows the positive influence of progressive rock predecessors like Tool and Pantera, and even the classic influence of Led Zeppelin. Still, it easily goes beyond those influences to craft a sound of its own. Axia clearly takes its responsibility to its audience seriously, arriving determined to entertain and enthuse, to shake, rattle and roll, and leaving satisfied in having accomplished that purpose.

Lead vocalist Chad Land aptly performs double duty on guitar. Land’s voice has an intensely beautiful, sustained and melancholy quality reminiscent in this reviewer’s mind of Geoff Tate in his Queensryche days–maybe even moreso of Tate’s newer stuff–and perhaps Ronnie James Dio (but without the scary eyes).