I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: December 13, 2024] Muscle Tough

I had never heard of Muscle Tough and I admit I was a little concerned about a band with this name.  I mean, were they jock rock?

When we arrived, they had their name and two cutouts of muscular arms flanking the stage (pretty funny).

And it turns out I should have trusted Karina, because Muscle Tough were amazing.  They play rocking jamming instrumentals that are proggy and jazzy and show off the incredible chops of all three musicians, Ross Bellenoit (guitar), Jonathan Colman (bass) and Joe Baldacci (drums).

They have a pretty fascinating backstory.  Bellenoit was in a couple of different bands, but he wanted to start a band just for jamming and goofing around.  And Muscle Tough has been around longer and has had more success than any of his other more “Serious” projects.

Bellenoit is a phenomenal guitarist–he plays tasteful solos but also shreds like a fiend.  He also had a massive arrive of effects so he can create just about any sound.  Colman is an amazing bassist, playing really fast riffs and imrovs with ease.

And then came the twist.  In about half of the songs, both guys would click some pedal or another and then Colman would be playing lead guitar solos on his bass and Bellenoit’s guitar would be an octave lower with a big fat bass sound.  It was really fun to watch Colman playing what sounded like a guitar solo on the bass guitar.  His solos were also very different from Bellenoit’s so it showcased a very different sound of the band.

Not to give Baldacci short shrift–he kept up with all of the changes with ease and even had a brief solo moment (not too long, thank you very much) all with a minimal kit and an effects pad.  He was really fun to watch, too.

One of their songs was called Chill Dentist which was hilarious and also led to Colman telling us that his dentist was in the audience (which I gather he was).

The songs are hard to tell apart (jamming instrumentals and all), but we both enjoyed them all.  My wife, who doesn’t really enjoy opening acts said this was her favorite act in ages.  The big surprise was that Karina let them play for an hour! Typically an opening act gets 30-40 minutes, but the crowd really enjoyed these hometown rockers and they played for the full hour, ending with a really fun instrumental version of Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out of My Head (with the guitar doing the vocal parts).  It was super fun and a great set-ender.

On the way off the stage I asked Colman what kind of wizardry made his bass sound like a lead guitar and he said too many thousands of dollars of pedals.

A fantastic set, super nice guys and a jam band to keep an eye on.

1. Pick a Platform
2. Chill Dentist
3. Bread Dread
4. Swiper, No Swiping ⊥
5. Pot Frownies
6. Waiting for Bae ♥
7. Can’t Get You Out of My Head (Kylie Minogue cover)

⊥ Thumb Love EP (2019)
♥ Modern Romance (2019)

215 music recorded the whole set