Dot Dot Dot is eliminated on The Next Great American Band
Four bands performed tonight on The Next Great American Band – The Clark Brothers, Light of Doom, Sixwire and Denver and the Mile High Orchestra. Dot Dot Dot was the band that was eliminated tonight. They performed two songs this evening – a cover of a Queen song and an original song. Here’s my take on the performances tonight.
The Clark Brothers. They took Dicko’s advice from last week and added two members to their band – a bass player and a drummer. What a difference that made. They had not been a favorite of mine during the competition, but I thought after their cover of Queen’s “These are the Days of Our Lives” that I would actually go out and buy one of their CD’s. Of course that changed after I heard their original song “Homestead” and the lyrics about going home to eat fried chicken on the front lawn. The judges loved the Queen cover and all three commented that they were happy they added members to the band. John Rzeznik and Sheila E. actually liked their original song, while Dicko told them the lyrics were standard country 101. I thought it was funny that I had the same opinion as Dicko. I don’t think that’s happened before in the competition.
Light of Doom. Tonight’s show really put a spotlight on their youth and inexperience. I hated their cover of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and I thought it was kind of immature, like kids in their room at home just jamming out along to the radio. All three judges did not like their performance, and Dicko compared it to a school project. Their original song was “A Matter of Time” and I also hated this song. The vocals were poor and the song overall was not good. Here’s where I thought their inexperience was a detriment. When you listen to the lyrics put out by Sixwire you can hear their whole life experience behind them. These kids are 12, 13 and 14 (I think) and I have to wonder what kind of life experiences have they had at such a young age? Have they been in love? Been dumped for another guy? Had their girl sleep with their best friend? I guess you can see what I mean. John said that he could not hear them in their original song, only their influences. Sheila E. commented that they are so very young and have a long way to go, while Dicko said that they needed to think more about song structure when writing a song and suggested they do it on an acoustic guitar versus their electric guitars.
Sixwire. To me they were the best band overall tonight. They did a cover of Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls” that really rocked. It was mature, and had a lot of positive energy in the performance. All three judges loved the performance and Dicko said they had found their inner “naughty boys” whatever that is supposed to mean. Their original song was “Go On” and here’s where the men really separated themselves from the boys. You could feel the emotion, anger and pain behind these words. All three judges thought this song was a hit. John said it was as good as anything on the radio today. Sheila E. said it was amazing and she wanted them to win so we could hear this song on the radio. Dicko even gave them a good critique, telling them it was a really good song, perfect for their market.
Denver and the Mile High Orchestra. I was kind of disappointed with their performances tonight. The judges overall thought they did well, but they kind of left me flat tonight. Their first song was a cover of Queen’s “Sleeping on the Sidewalk,” a song I don’t think I have ever heard before. Maybe this was why I did not like it. I thought for sure they would cover “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and that this song would have been a good fit for their musical style. The judges liked their performance, but Dicko said they are getting sloppy with their wardrobe and that now Denver is the worst dressed front man and needed to go shopping with him to get some new clothes. I had not paid attention to their clothes, but really took a look at them when they performed their original song “Big White House.” Again, the performance left me flat. The judges thought it was good, but Sheila E. and Dicko did not hear a hook in the song. Dicko said it was a good album track but not a hit, and if they returned to perform an original song again they needed to perform a hit.
I think that since Dot Dot Dot was eliminated from the show that Light of Doom was the next weakest band. I think they are very young and inexperienced when it comes to performing and their songwriting leaves a lot to be desired. If they make it through to perform next week it’ll probably just be on the novelty vote. It would be a shame for one of the other three remaining bands to go home before Light of Doom. That’s my opinion.
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