There is nothing like hanging out with friends at a local night club while a good band is playing live. The music goes through to your soul and sets the tone for the evening. It can be an amazing time as the soundtrack is unveiled by the group on stage. Within the band Trainwreck it is a guaranteed good time for all.
The name of this group is Trainwreck, but they don’t sound like a big group of metal cars crashing into each other. It is just a name. These guys know how to set the mood for a party and get everyone in the crowd involved.
As the music began at Papa T’s in Burbank, Illinois, these guys played the “2112 Overture” by Rush. The four piece rock band took the song, jammed the hell out of it, and the place went crazy. Interestingly enough, the date was 1-21-12 and surely they played it because of the date of the show.
As their set unfolded through the night they kept playing one hit after another within the classic rock world. Performing a condensed version of all three sections of “Another Brick in the Wall” was a highlight of the band’s night. They played their own arrangement of the songs and immediately went into “Young Lust” after that. You can’t go wrong with playing Pink Floyd. It’s always a crowd pleaser.
The songs kept pouring out getting the people off their feet to dance and move about the room. An excellent version of “Simple Man” was great for the beer drinkers. A fairly well behaved crowd also enjoyed “Freebird,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” and what show would be complete without the Alice in Chains song “Would?”
Drummer Patrick Murphy slams his drum kit with hard precise hits within every song. He keeps the band’s clock on the beat and also sings lead vocals within a lot of songs. The talents within him shine through and he is fun to see play. Within the Chicago music scene he is definitely the cream of the crop of musicians.
Patrick’s brother Jimmy Murphy takes the center position on stage for some sweet vocals as well along with some tasty licks on the guitar. His rock guitar style is an important part to the band as any other member. He knows just what to play and it’s never overdone. He is very skilled at his instrument of choice and within a solo will stay more true to the original musical work of art.
At the stage left position is Jim Tomaszewski on guitar and vocals and he can hold his own on the six string. There is no doubt that this man has skills and knows his way around his instrument. He will throw in some flashier stuff at times doing some finger tapping. It’s quite obvious that he was influenced by Van Halen and he could pick a worse guitar player to be influenced by.
Providing the low end and some very smooth vocals is Kenn Keyser. This south paw player fills the stage right position, but thanks to a nice wireless system he can be seen walking about the room interacting with the crowd. His playing compliments the others well in every song and he locks with the drummer.
This band’s main goal is to bring an “arena sized” show to local music venues and they do it so well. They will play a lot of songs true to the original, but on some songs they throw in a nice creative twist showing that they can think outside the box.
As this band has no rules other than to entertain, they will do it by any means necessary. Kathy Tomazewski, Jim’s wife, came up to sing a few songs and the girl has a set of pipes. She belted out “Heartbreaker” by Pat Benetar and it was definitely a worthy version. She also sang “Barracuda” (Heart) and “Call Me” (Blondie) and hit the notes with ease.
This band always seems to have the girls at their shows and no Trainwreck show would be complete without the twins Carla and Angela Annerino. Referred to by one bar patron as “The Doublemint Twins” these two are always there to support bands and take pictures.
In front of the stage people were cutting a rug during most of the songs played. The song that had everyone moving was “Play That Funky Music (White Boy).” Your feet can’t stop moving during the song and there was even a white boy trying to break~dance. Everyone had fun and if they didn’t they were dead.
Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and so did this show. They didn’t end it without hitting on some great songs like “Paranoid” (Black Sabbath) and “Free for All” (Ted Nugent). Ending their night was the Neil Young classic “Rockin' in the Free World.” It was a good time.
As the night came and went way too fast it will be a pleasure to see the band Trainwreck again. These guys rocked the house and kept you musically entertained all night long. It was a pleasure to be amongst friendly people and enjoy some live music. It was a night to remember.
