Force of Habit Rocks Soundcheck 14 at Sacto's Ace of Spades

On Friday night, Sept. 9th, we had the pleasure to go to a Soundcheck show at Ace of Spades. This was Soundcheck 14 featuring Dixon's own as the headliner for that night. Six other bands joined our guys including Serpent & Seraph, Legion's Requiem, Deadlands, The Fulcrum, The Wreck-Age & Trench for the show put on by SacShows.

Sacramento's Trench started of the night. Trench plays, according to its bio, high output rock with a slight metal attitude. They played original songs that are very well-written with music that fits the lyrics perfectly.

The band has five members Dan Peery on guitar, Jeff Cool on bass guitar, Jim Berry on vocals, Marc Wallior, guitar, and Tim Newell on drums.  They started out in 2005 as a small project with a few original songs, through out the years they grew into the strong band they are today.

The Fulcrum got ready to rock after Trench. The Fulcrum is a three-man band, but the low number of band members doesn't seem to take away from their ability to rock.

According to their bio: "The Fulcrum is not just Hard Rock or Metal. The Fulcrum is a solid blend of the two then molded to become something in which the likes you have never seen."

I can say they don't just say that in the bio, they rocked the set at Soundcheck 14.  Members of The Fulcrum are Shawn Coleman, lead vocals and guitar, Jeff Martin, bass and backing vocals, and Todd Haendle, on drums.

The Wreck-Age was next, they are a five piece rock band out of Tracy.  The lead singer, Alex Arauz, must have a love for vintage microphones, he was using what I believe to be a Shure 55s better known as the Elvis or Rockabilly microphone. As you can see from the photo it makes for very nice photos.

The Wreck-Age is made up of Danny Quigg, guitar and backing vocals, Johnny Cardoza, bass and backing vocals, Jay Philips, drums, Alex Arauz, vocals, and T-Money, guitar. It could be considered a young band they have been together since 2009.

Serpent & Seraph really got the place rocking, most of the visitors were in front of the stage during their set.

The first song that was played started out melodic, I sure didn't expect the female singer to start grunting after the melodic part was done.  Serpent & Seraph put down an amazing set before walking of the stage.  Let's put it this way, I will be going to a performance of Serpent & Seraph again, but without a camera so I can enjoy the performance as much as the visitors of Ace of Spades did.

Serpent & Seraph is made up out of the following band members: Claudeous Creamer, guitar , KAS, vocals, Brian McCarver, bass, and Joe Lopresti, drums. We didn't know this at the time of this performance but we have since learned that Marcel Eaton, who played the keys for Soundcheck 14, left the band.

Serpent & Seraph is a hard act to follow but Legion's Requiem just picked it up were they left off.  They put down a very entertaining solid set.  The bass player was incredible, I can't find his name anywhere not even on the bands Facebook page.

He might be a recent addition or some who plays with them on a regular basis.  If you know his name leave a comment below.  The three band members I can tell you the names of are Steven Ward, vocals and lead guitar, Anders Eiremo, vocals and rhythm guitar, and Ben Jackson, drums.

Steven and Anders decided in 2008 they wanted to make music worth playing.  The band has gone through several names before landing on Legion's Requiem.  I hope they keep playing music they are a great band under the current name for a while.  If they haven't already they should make the bass player a member as well.     

Deadlands, a Sacramento heavy metal band, is working hard to release a CD that should be ready in October of this year.  They are a solid band with seasoned members, who have experience playing in several other bands before joining Deadlands.

The band is made up out of: Brian O'Connor, vocals, Kevin Rohr, lead guitar, Michael Gardner, lead guitar, Steve "Dedbass" Northam, bass, and Dan Sablan on drums.  The name Brian O'Connor might sound familiar to some, he was the lead singer of Vicious Rumors 1997-1999 and 2001–2005. In Deadlands he is a charismatic vocalist and you can hear the experience in every song he puts his heart into.

Then it was time for the headliner, Force of Habit. Made up out of four students.  They are young but you would not be able to tell with your eyes closed.  They have a mature sound that you would not expect for a band this young.  They played original songs, they closed of the night with a song written for the victims of 9/11.

Force of Habit members are: Dominic Mendisco, guitar and lead vocals, Garrett Wood, guitar and backup vocals, Dakota Binninger, bass and backup vocals, and Ryan Mendisco, on drums. Even though they are still very young they put down a professional set and they came ready to rock the crowd.

Ace of Spades' Soundcheck 14 was a great night out.  The venue itself is great they served drinks for the adults, and even served some food for the hungry.  I will definitely check out another Soundcheck show.  SacShows the promoter put together a show that fit together like a glove.

Below you find the links to all of the Facebook pages for the bands.  On those pages you can find more info for each band and find the links to reverbnation pages or band websites.

Force Of Habit
Serpent & Seraph
Legion's Requiem
Deadlands
The Fulcrum
The Wreck-Age
Trench

Ace of Spades
SacShows

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