Back in Black is an AC/DC tribute band from Dallas, TX. Host Katie Daryl caught their show last week at the House of Blues Anaheim. She introduced the band as they rocked the crowd and paid tribute to AC/DC by performing many of their popular hits. From Back in Black’s looks, stage presence and mannerisms, they were able to replicate a live AC/DC performance with impressive results.
Almost half the songs played for the TV show were from the Back In Black album, but they also played a handful of tunes that featured Bon Scott on vocals.
Vocalist Darren Caperna’s ability cover both Bon Scott and Brian Johnson-era AC/DC was very impressive. He wore the hat as he sang the Brian Johnson songs (from Back in Black and The Razor’s Edge) and went without a hat for the Bon Scott songs from five different albums prior to Back in Black.
Mike Mroz had the ability to replicate the guitar playing and moves of Angus Young. He wore the schoolboy outfit and did the hopping strut up and down the stage for a good portion of the show. The women in the audience got very excited when he started taking his clothes off, up to and including flashing his underwear (something Angus is known to do during live shows). That was really funny.
Eric Sykes did a convincing job in handling all of Cliff Williams’ bass lines.
Scott Lepage looked just like Malcolm Young and really rocked all the rhythm guitar parts.
Ken Schiumo kept time for the band mostly playing Phil Rudd’s drum parts during the show, along with “Thunderstruck”, a song later in the AC/DC catalog, which was originally recorded with Chris Slade on drums.
Their gear even matched that of an AC/DC stage..
SET LIST: Back In Black (BACK IN BLACK album- Brian Johnson) You Shook Me All Night Long (BACK IN BLACK album- Brian Johnson) Shoot To Thrill (BACK IN BLACK album- Brian Johnson) What Do You Do for Money Honey (BACK IN BLACK album- Brian Johnson) T.N.T. (title track, T.N.T. album) Whole Lotta Rosie (LET THERE BE ROCK album- Bon Scott) Dirty Deed Done Dirt Cheap (title track. DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP- Bon Scott) Highway To Hell (title track HIGHWAY TO HELL – Bon Scott) Hell’s Bells (BACK IN BLACK album- Brian Johnson) Thunderstruck (THE RAZOR’S EDGE – Brian Johnson) For Those About To Rock (title track, FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK (WE SALUTE YOU- Bon Scott)
The crowd clearly loved the entire live performance. And, upon getting home, it looked and sounded great on the TV/DVR as well.
DSB lived up to their distinction of being known as one of “The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands” for their live Journey tribute broadcast live from The Roxy on AXS.TV.
Katie Daryl introduced DSB and they proceeded to literally stun the crowd with their spot-on renditions of Journey classics. And what an all-out, powerful performance they delivered.
These guys have movie star looks and rock star chops. In addition to wowing the ladies, they truly are world-class musicians. Everyone in attendance was quite blown away by how incredible DSB sounded.
While rocking out and playing great versions of Journey tunes, their stage presence and the smiles glued to their faces showed that they were having a truly great time. Their smiles were all contagious and they had no problem making the crowd happy as everyone in attendance sang along to Journey songs.
From start to finish, the place was electric with a celebration and powerful performance of Journey’s music.
Dean Cain was on hand to support his brother, guitar hero Roger Cain, who rocked for a sold hour and played solo after solo. There’s obviously a strong resemblance between the brothers.
Dean is a big DSB fan AND has been known to attend quite a few DSB gigs. The band says people freak out when they see him there in the crowd enjoying the music.
It’s pretty safe to say that Juan Del Castillo has pitch-perfect vocal ability. His ability to sing Steve Perry’s vocal parts are quite impressive and he kept the crowd going with his strong vocals throughout the set. He’s a natural.
Scotty Kormos was phenomenal on drums . He was focused and pulled off some very impressive drumming as well as some fancy stick work. I watched closely to make sure he nailed the most memorable drum parts in “Separate Ways” and more than did justice to all of the songs, which is no small feat in itself .
Tony Love played great bass parts and really seemed to be enjoying himself. The crowd was feeding off his energy.
Henry O’Neill did a great job with all the piano and keyboard parts. He also has some serious vocal power, which made for great back-up vocals.
It’s not possible to pack all of Journey’s best songs into a one hour television show, but their set list was a great representation of the some of their most beloved, timeless classics.
The place started rocking with “Wheel In The Sky”, the crowd got out the glow sticks for “Lights”, they brought back the memories with “Open Arms” and rocked through the more great songs and ended their set with “Don’t Stop Believin’”, which served as the perfect way to close out the telecast.
SET LIST:
Wheel in the Sky
Anyway You Want It
Stone In Love
Lights
Who’s Cryin’ Now
Ask The Lonely
Open Arms
Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’
Faithfully
Separate Ways
Don’t Stop Believin’
JUAN DEL CASTILLO – LEAD VOCALS
ROGER CAIN – LEAD GUITAR
SCOTT KORMOS – DRUMS
TONY LOVE – BASS
HENRY O’NEILL – KEYBOARDS
After they concluded their set, they took time to come out into the crowd. They met fans, took pictures and celebrated the exciting experience they just shared that few tribute bands will ever have the opportunity to achieve in their careers. It was an exciting evening for everyone there. And it was as good to watch on TV as it was live (I just finished the program and it was excellent!)
I invited a few people to the show. My friend has a son she named Journey (yes, that’s his legal birth name), so he HAD to be there.
I also invited my friend, Lorn, who does video concert reviews and captures the reactions of fans at concerts just after the conclusion of a performance. Lorn is a total pro and the mastermind behind YOUTELLCONCERTS.COM. One of his talents is his incredible ability at getting people’s perspectives on shows in real time after a show just happened. It’s one of the best ways ever to capture a performance of a show.
It was only fitting that he actually interview Journey and then ask around to get as many fan reactions as possible from the rest of the crowd.
One fan we met has seen DSB over 25 times!!
Here is the short 6 minute video recap with fan reactions to DSB. Great job, Lorn :
Here’s a picture of Kenny Metcalf, who did a marvelous job last week as Elton John, talking to Katie Daryl.
Fans were ecstatic at the opportunity to get pictures with Roger and Dean:
The tribute band business has grown into a billion dollar industry.
“The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands” on AXS.TV has been building real momentum on the network. Already half way through the season, this Monday’s show focuses on the music of Journey tribute, as DSB (it stands for “Don’t Stop Believin’”, of course), an incredibly solid band of skilled musicians that averages around 150 live Journey tribute shows each year takes the stage LIVE on AXS.TV at The Roxy on the World Famous Sunset Strip.
DSB has an impressive and growing list of credentials and is widely considered the MOST authentic sounding Journey band in existence. The band specializes in the Steve Perry-era of Journey and obviously has a vast catalog of hits and great songs to draw from and perform to delighted crowds.
In addition to Journey’s already tremendous fan base, several recent hit TV shows and movies have brought on a real interest in Journey’s powerful songs to the younger generation, which pretty much guarantees the largest viewing audience yet for this already widely successful series.
I had a chance to talk to DSB’s band leader, Scotty Kormos, and discuss the upsurge in popularity to a still very relevant and incredibly popular band and find out exactly what makes them the most authentic Journey band out there.
Scotty is originally from Cleveland, OH and ended up moving to the L.A. area to work on various musical projects and struck gold when DSB was formed. He gave some valuable insight and a behind the scenes look of what it took to achieve such an incredible distinction of being considered the best at what he and his band does, which will translate nicely to Monday night’s performance.
This Los Angeles-based band has been in existence for 4 1/2 years with a staggering rate of growth year after year. Since their inception, they have been doing roughly 150 shows a year and are attracting more fans and larger crowds partly due to the consensus that they are the must-see Journey tribute band.
Not only do they constantly tour across America, but they hold the distinction of being the ONLY Journey tribute band to play coast-to-coast and internationally. In addition to touring in Mexico and Canada, it looks like there are imminent plans for DSB tour dates in Asia – a real dream come true for any band.
Opting not to wear wigs or dress like it’s still the 80s, Scotty made a good point in saying that Journey has never really had a “look" like some other bands that would appropriately require costumes for a stage act, as you would expect from Guns-n-Roses and other bands of that nature. According to him, and, in this case, it’s “always been about the music and it’s better to sound like them than to just look like them.” Great point.
Journey has so many hit songs. Their first greatest hits album alone has 17 songs, so there is a wide selection of songs that most everyone can already sing all the words to, and there’s no shortage of songs they could play for their exciting upcoming AXS.TV performance.
The band strives for a family-friendly experience. I asked about their best gig to date and Scotty mentioned a show in Southern California, where there were 14,000 people in attendance to witness DSB perform live. He said while they were playing, and as the massive crowd was swaying back and forth to “Faithfully", that, for a moment, he actually FELT like he was in Journey.
As a true sign of a great band, he stressed that the group pledges to be just as professional offstage as they are onstage. Their strong emphasis on fan-friendly, all-ages entertainment and musicianship has served them very well. They love interacting with fans and will spend plenty of time after the shows to meet fans and generously gift guitar picks, drum sticks, set lists and such.
DSB is as humble as they are talented. Guitarist Roger Cain’s brother is TV actor “Dean Cain." Scotty explained that Roger never publicizes this since he and his brother took different paths in the entertainment industry. However, and to add to the excitement of the show, Dean Cain will be co-hosting this upcoming event with TWGTB host and producer, Katie Daryl.
Scotty is very serious and passionate about DSB and his overall enthusiasm, level of excitement and passion for the music is quite inspiring. DSB is incredibly honored and humbled to get this incredible opportunity.
He mentioned that he gets a lot of requests from fans for places they haven’t been able to play yet, so this is the perfect opportunity to reach those fans. To prepare for the show, Scotty said DSB just played six shows in a three day span through Nevada and they are ready to take the big television stage to entertain all the Journey fans out there.
He also commented on the “multi-generational interest” in Journey’s music. You have young fans that know all the lyrics to the songs and some of their parents, and even grandparents probably have those same albums in their collections, along with all the people that Journey served as a “soundtrack to that era of their lives”. Many remember dancing to “Open Arms” at a prom, or roller skating to the hits off the “ESCAPE” album. Part of the reward for Scotty is so many people having incredibly fond memories of this music. And it’s fun for DSB to see people reliving some of life’s memories through their recreation of Journey’s music.
Scotty pointed out that Journey’s music, although very "listenable", it is quite complex from a compositional perspective, with all the chord structures, guitars solos, drum parts, and he possesses a very technically savvy respect for the material and craftsmanship involved.
I love when Scotty said, “We’re not doctors, we can’t save your life and we’re not lawyers, so we can’t get you out of jail, but we are entertainers and if you can come to our show, you can put your problems aside and let DSB make you smile.”
Tune in Monday night to find out what makes this band stand out above the rest of the many Journey tribute bands that are out there recreating and paying tribute to the timeless classics of Journey. They will have you believin’.
Follow DSB on Twitter, live tweet during the show and interact with Dean and Katie. Be sure to use the hash tag #AXSTribute.
After having really enjoyed the Atomic Punks last Monday, it was time for a quick return trip to Hollywood to enjoy the premiere Elton John Tribute from Kenny Metcalf for the next installment of “The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands” on AX.TV.
After checking out some of his performances via the Internet, it was clear that Kenny was definitely up for the sizeable task of recreating an Elton John performance.
It turns out that Kenny was the original keyboardist with Stryper and toured with the band up until 1986.
Several years ago, I caught the show of Elton John’s The Red Piano a few times at Caesar’s Place in Vegas. That was an extraordinary production. I could just imagine what the Million Dollar Piano is like.
I also saw Elton at the Wax Museum a few years back (ha ha):
Hosted by Katie Daryl, she did the show’s introduction just before Kenny and the band took the stage. Within a couple of songs, I actually felt like I was at an Elton John concert. And unlike a lot of tribute bands, I didn’t have to close my eyes to imagine that. His tribute to early Elton John was phenomenal. “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, “Tiny Dancer” and “Pinball Wizard were the standout tracks.
In addition to rocking out to a lot of the popular hits, there was a special appearance by Caleb Quaye, Elton’s original producer and lead guitarist. That was a fantastic moment to an already incredible show. The entire band was on fire. And the sound was incredible. Those amps sounded really hot.
I’ve already watched the AXS.TV airing several times on my DVR since seeing the show live and I’ll definitely check it out again.
Concertologist 
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