Cooper’s band and prior to that her stint in The Iron Maidens, you guessed it all all female tribute to Iron Maiden and most recently Demi Lovato. Nita Strauss got things going in PDX, this time in a supporting role. The Nita Strauss band features her fiancé Josh Villalta on drums, keyboardist Katt Scarlett, rhythm guitarist Johnny Young, and bassist Christopher Dean. Singer Kasey Karlsen who Strauss happened to find online and had to get her in her band. Karlsen’s vocal isn’t for everyone, it leans heavily toward melodic death metal at times, but there’s clean singing in there too.
This band is the same band that was in Portland in July when Strauss & Co headlined The Hawthrorne Theater. Last time around we got a 60 minute set, this time it was an abridged 45 minutes. The rendition of “Cowboys From Hell” was sorely missed, but understandable, being that she has a new album ‘Call of The Void’ released this summer and she’s in a supporting role. Strauss kicked things off with what is sure to go on to become her signature song or one of them, “Summer Storm.” Unlike the previous time around this audience was a mix of Wolfgang Van Halen fans and Strauss fans, it took a couple tunes for the Mammoth WVH fans to warm up to Strauss & Co but when they did, the energy in the room intensified. I love the way this band moves around the stage and spends equal time directing their attention to each side of the stage. The highlights of the Strauss set were “Victorious,” “Summer Storm,” “Our Most Desperate Hour,” “Mariana Trench,” and “The Wolf You Feed.”
I’d never thought I’d find myself at a Wolfgang Van Halen show, frankly I avoided it, mostly because what I had heard was a tad ‘too light’ for my taste. Then there is the Twitter wars with trolls that Wolfgang has engaged in, which is second only to Paul Stanley’s Twitter virtual war of words with his detractors. Having said that, there I was at a Mammoth WVH show. The band must be heavier than what I had sampled online, right?
Mammoth WVH is the creation of Wolfgang Van Halen who performs everything on the albums, but he can’t very well do that live now can he? Mammoth features Van Halen on lead vocals and guitar along with rhythm guitarists Frank Sidoris [who you know from Slash’s backing band The Conspirators] and Jon Jourdan, bassist Ronnie Ficarro, and drummer Garrett Whitlock. This band is extremely tight and their execution is spot on and faithful to what you hear on the records. It was pretty amazing.
Unlike the Strauss band, Mammoth WVH didn’t stray from the collective spots on the stage, that much if at all. I could envision an ‘x’ on the stage that they stood over and that was their designated spot for the night. I hadn’t seen that since the height of grunge and the alternative rock takeover a few decades ago. Mammoth put on a memorable 90 minute, possibly a slightly longer charismatic set. There was just enough stage banter to not wreck any momentum. That left time for more music and that was a huge win for the fans. There was a point where Wolfgang ‘toyed’ with the audience and strummed some of the Oasis tune “WonderWall” before stopping and introducing “Waiting” off of ‘Mammoth II’ which he said was ‘sequel’ to “Distance.”
Throughout the set list, Wolfgang presented a ‘balance’ of the two albums seamlessly, ‘the best of both worlds,’ if you will. I really enjoyed “Don’t Back Down” which was even heavier live, “Another Celebration at the End of the World” and “I’m Alright,” so much, that I picked up ‘Mammoth II.’ I’d say those were the highlights for me, but what really seemed to be the audience favorite was “Distance,” which is the tribute the young Van Halen wrote as a tribute to EVH
This was such a winning combination, that Mammoth WVH and Nita Strauss will do it again in 2024 and you best not miss it. It was a damn good time. If you get a chance to see this in 2024 do it!