North Jersey Notes: Our Black Friday

Our Black FridayI was surfing the net this week to find a band to feature. Wait a minute! Does anyone “surf” the net anymore? Or is that a ‘90s term? Anyway, I noticed that the “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” Great White is playing at Dexter’s in Riverdale, NJ, this Friday night, Sept. 19. I figured, might as well check out who’s opening for them, and I came across this great band out of somewhere here in North Jersey—their name is Our Black Friday. They’re a modern alt-rock band whose singer is outstanding! The tracks that I got to hear, “Face to Face,” “Trip with Me,” “See You There,” and my favorite and an extremely radio-friendly song called “Break Away.” New singer Vinny Solano’s voice is incredible, and can take Our Black Friday to a level that they never thought that they’d see on the music scene. I was that impressed with his voice. That’s without taking anything away from the great songwriting, of course!

Joining the band in July of 2008, singer Vinny Solano is no stranger to the music scene. Vinny used to sing for the cover band Lurker Park, but decided to go the original route with Our Black Friday after his own recent success with winning a singing competition that was put together by the legendary Queensryche. That’s right! Vinny won a nationwide singing competition in support of Queensryche’s cover/tribute CD, Take Cover, in 2007. This past spring, Vinny’s prize was that he got to sing onstage with his idol, Queensryche singer Geoff Tate, in two different cities. That’s not the only prize, though! He also gets to sing with Geoff on the upcoming Queensryche CD. You can see the performance with Geoff Tate on myspace.com/ourblackfriday. Alright, enough about Vinny! Rounding out the rest of Our Black Friday’s lineup are guitarists Scott Williams and Steve Bergamini, bassist Steve Ordner, and drummer Mike Frio.

These guys are great! I’d love to see what they can do live because on record, I’m already impressed. You can catch Our Black Friday live this Friday, Sept. 19 with Great White and Jersey Gypsy. If you can’t make the show, then check out Our Black Friday at myspace.com/ourblackfriday.

NORTH JERSEY NOTES UPDATES:

The Queens-based metal band Martyrd was recently tapped to open for ‘80s guitar wiz, Yngwie Malmsteen, who will actually have frontman Tim “Ripper” Owens of Iced Earth as his backing band, down at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ, on Friday, Oct. 24. Martyrd is an up-and-coming NYC metal band, who is currently on tour in support of their debut CD Maniac. This is a great opportunity for this new band. Check them out or buy tickets for this Starland show via Martyrd’s MySpace page, myspace.com/martyrd .

Has anyone been to Piston Driven’s MySpace page in a while? If not, you have to because they recently posted a song called “Preacher” and I’m obsessed with it! Besides Motley Crue’s “Motherfucker Of The Year,” “Preacher” might be my favorite song right now! I’ve been to myspace.com/pistondriven almost every day for the past week just to hear the friggin’ song. I know that I’ve been writing about Piston Driven a lot lately, but trust me! There is no ass-kissing going on here! This is a great song! Check it out for yourself at myspace.com/pistondriven.

And finally, I got an email from my friend Lisa over at Dexter’s in Riverdale, NJ, telling me that my new bud, Joe Lynn Turner recently took his cover band, Big Noize, whom I had the opportunity to open for a few times this summer, overseas to play for the troops, which included a stop in Iraq on Sept. 11 to mark the seventh anniversary of the 9- 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. Joe hasn’t been to the Middle East since the Gulf War when he performed there with Deep Purple. He said that he couldn’t wait to meet the men and women who put their lives on the line everyday to protect our great nation. Joe Lynn Turner will return to New Jersey on Oct. 4 at, of course, Dexter’s with former Danger Danger singer, Ted Poley, opening. For tickets, log onto ticketweb.com or myspace.com/abignoize.

That’s all for now! If your band is from North Jersey and you want some exposure, send your demos and press kits to Arts Weekly, c/o Tim Louie P.O. Box 1140 Little Falls, NJ 07424. No cover bands, please!

Just remember… We’re all in the same boat, so every little bit of exposure counts!