THE LOW WATTS provided high voltage entertainment on Friday, August 30th, at Gibson's on Mill Avenue. A hundred or so people were lucky enough to be there to catch a glimpse of what could be the next major band to come from Tempe's famous alternative breeding grounds.
Composed of a collection of some of the finest musicians from around Arizona, THE LOW WATTS are: Jesse Valenzuela as lead singer, Scott Johnson as lead guitar (both formerly of the now broken up GIN BLOSSOMS), Winston Watson on drums, who was a member of the early 80's, Tempe band GENTELMEN AFTER DARK and Darryl Icard on bass formerly of MAJOR LINGO and the POETS CORNER. Although they weren't the headlining act, they certainly stole the show by mixing classic GIN BLOSSOMS' songs like "Mrs. Rita," "Till I Hear It From You," "Virginia" and "Memphis Time," with a sample of some of the more than forty new songs concocted by Jesse and Darryl over the past few years.
The new material, which occasionally has a more severe country edge than earlier GIN BLOSSOMS' material, goes as far as including a steel guitar accompanying them, is a wonderful mix of slow, sad love ballads and high energy pop songs. But it even goes beyond that, the best way to describe LOW WATTS' musical style would be to say that it falls somewhere in the middle of a bizarre love triangle between rock, country and blues.
Sorry to say that the guys have no immediate plans for any upcoming shows in the Phoenix area, but listen to KDKB for any announcements.
-- Alan Rother, MTV College Stringer
