Material: Hot for Crime is a Los Angeles born ‘n bred, hard rockin’ band cranking out tunes in the vein of The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, SoundGarden and Alice in Chains. The music is well written and is stiff, in-your-face rock & roll with creative twists and turns spiraling wildly through each song. The songs are inventive, and although sounding somewhat like the above-mentioned artists, each tune has its own personality.
Musicianship: Excellent. The band gelled together nicely from the get-go and didn’t let up all night. Thompson, Cash and O’Malley make up a great rhythm section and that opened up each song for some blistering guitar work from Schon. Although his fretboard was lit a-fire from the opening note, Schon managed some very refined, tasteful and juicy solos that were the highlight of many of Hot for Crime tunes. Icing on the cake was Dorn’s very masculine, youthful vocals that had the ladies screaming, singing and dancing to all the tunes.
Performance: Hot for Crime put on a good show (with a little help from The Viper Room crew). The music was loud, clear and thundering in the small venue and the lighting just put everything over the top. Dorn tried hard to keep everything light and airy as he talked to the audience between songs and kept it rough and rowdy while singing. Schon was all smiles as his fingers glided and danced over his fretboard while he strutted and posed for the picture-takers. Cash and O’Malley had the girls dancing and screaming all night long and Thompson was the steadiest of time keepers.
Summary: Hot for Crime's show was a lot of fun. The music has everything. Great background vocals, searing guitars and great rhythms and melodies. “Kisser” has a high school vibe that takes you back to a time when things were simpler and more carefree. “Irish Style,” a rockin’, metal-guitar infused rockabilly tune, had the audience jumping in their seats. “My Girlfriend,” is a Ramones-meets-The-Beastie-Boys tune that was heartfelt and touching to the core.
The band’s music is imaginative and unique and the tunes are melodic and pleasing to the ear; and on top of all that, Schon’s guitar work is phenomenal. You can hear many a genre evaporate off his fingertips as he plays; rockabilly, metal, grunge, rock, hard rock, punk and pop, making Hot for Crime a memorable listening experience.
The Viper Room West Hollywood, CA
Contact: [email protected]
Web: hot4crime.com
Players: Mick Dorn, vocals; Chris Cash, guitar; Danny Thompson, drums; Miles Schon, guitar
Paul O’Malley, bass
