Discard The Weak/Debri/Negative 263/My Plastic Friends - The Side Pocket - Kilgore, Tx - 12.02.06
Reviewer - BrokenKeith

This night at the Side Pocket in Kilgore featured a nice surprise. Originally featuring the line-up of Debri, Negative 263, and My Plastic Friends, the guys from Discard The Weak showed up and decided to take the stage. Credit should be given to Wendy (the Side Pocket owner) and MPF for allowing DTW to open the show after their previous show of the day met with misfortune. The guys got the show off to a great start, with tight rhythms and plenty of groove to spare. Derek's vocals add a lot of dynamic to the "band formerly known as Waja". I would compare his vocals to a mix of Machinehead's Robert Flynn meets Randy Blythe. Highlights of their set included "Junkie" and "Say The Word." The music featured a bit of a progressive twist on groove metal, which was very pleasing to the ears and great for a pit.

Up next was a young band by the name of Debri. I really liked what I had heard on their demo, so I was looking forward to seeing them live. I was very please with what I heard. The sound was very tight, and the guys' stage presence improved with each song as they got used to the crowd and venue. What was interesting about Debri is the style of metal While Pantera is an obvious influence, I also detected the sludge and groove of NOLA underground (Down, Eyehategod, Crowbar). The guitar playing was also smooth and well executed. It was very mean and very heavy. I am looking forward to seeing where these guys are heading in the future.

The third band of the night was Negative 263 out of Abilene. I must say that I have never seen this band live, nor do I have any music from them in my collection. I had a lot of hype in my head as they started their set. Well, I believe the hype now. There was a great mix of heaviness and mainstream accessibility. This is what Incubus would have sounded like if they followed S.C.I.E.N.C.E. by going harder instead of popier. Another band that comes to mind is Atreyu, although there I find -263's sound to be more dynamic. I will add that JScott is an impressive vocalist that I now consider one of the better I've heard in on the local scene. Hopefully the word "local" won't be associated with this band for much longer.

The headlining band of the night was My Plastic Friends. The new lineup with Darkus on vocals and Jonathon on bass has only been gigging less than a month. They are coming along quite nicely. The only issue I had with their performance was the sound, as during some songs it was very hard to hear Darkus' vocals. The new songs in the set were very heavy, and were well put together by Drew and Jonathon. While Darkus is not as crazy as Jonathon was in the lead role, he is still a commanding presence. Jonathon himself seemed to be doing fine with a bass in his hands, still a crazy mofo on-stage. And Darkus did very well with the old songs, with strong performances on "OK" and "DNA." This new line-up has potential and I can only see it getting better from here.