Well, first off, apologies for this being sooooo late (nearly a week) – call it Turkey Day – A – Phobia, or just a lack of time while trying to get EVERYTHING else done on this three-day work day work week… but I do apologize to all three bands for this being so way freaking LATE… then the technical difficulties attached to going offline and all that…
nevertheless, we have PHOTOS and COMMENT from last Saturday’s show at Quackers (and a Spotlight for the venue to boot, go TCC!) so here we go, ready or not! And as this is our final and last column before we go off the grid (with downstairs neighbors pounding on the ceiling/floor below us, guess we need to take it down a notch maybe???) we give you….
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Open – Dead Set Life (no info online for this band!) I would get you set up with how to contact this band, but they have very little online info available unfortunately….
Photographer Jeanice and I absolutely LOVED these guys, who evidently wish to remain anonymous online (huh?!!) as we could find nothing about them on the internet at all but some blank FB and old myspace pages with no band member names etc. So…. going just on the basis of what we saw of them live, while only 3 members were in this night’s show, I understand another guitarist was unavailable for this show but they still completely awed us. I think they have played this venue previously and we just missed them but we won’t do that again if we can help it, trust me. The first thing I noticed was their vocals – I could understand them (and lyrics that made sense), and that each of these guys make this incredible wall of sound look so easy –
drums were so simple, eloquent and tight, heavy on cymbal (with one cymbal? WTF? evidently the rest of the brass was forgotten until the show started!)
So yeah, we won’t mention how the brass rack arrived via friend in the middle of the set… right? Damn, I just mentioned it, didn’t I?
Bass knows his business, keeping it snapping and lively while running backup vox – nicely done!
And lest we forget, frontman on lead/rhythm guitar AND vox extraordinaire… if we said his guitar weeps and wails, would you hear it? If we said his vocals were clear, pretty one moment and biting the next, would you hear it?!! 
Face it – if you weren’t there, you DIDN’T hear it… your loss!
I loved the repartee between the band members and the audience. I liked that they work with what they’ve got to KICK YOUR A$$! I can’t honestly imagine what they sound with four members playing… we especially loved “Rat Race” opening and absolutely LOVED “STRAIT JACKET” – and that the bass player hung out with us most of the night, chatting and trading impressions of the other bands – thanks for the awesome night!
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Second up – Vial…Experiment (see FB and ReverbNation pages, right?!)
The last time we saw these guys it was a very short set at 2am… Coming on after Dead Set Life as second up, this was our first chance to see them play a full set – and that not in a cramped, rushed venue – right?
Call them stoner psychedelic metal (if there is any such thing) – they feel almost oriental in their chord progressions and patterns, not to mention their time signatures… 
We were bludgeoned!! Absolutely loved their cover of AIC’s “Junkhead”….
Kevlar (we know him by another name but no matter!) is completely captivating as frontman lead vox and guitar – we would almost forget what we were waiting for –
Gary’s guitar just RIPS (and yes, darling, your hair is gorgeous as you whip your head around).
Tony on bass just stands there, pounding sound around everyone, mohawk standing standing proudly.
And their temporary drummer (who is nameless at this moment but not without image, right?!!) absolutely nailed every song, every time… HIRE THIS MAN NOW… need I say more???
I’ll always love how Kevlar switches it out from screamo to lead vox (me being the NOT screamo fan, right – except for Slipknot/Stone Sour and the like)… Also love how Kev and Gary play guitar in unison between guitars which is really unusual…
should be payed more and kept on – he was seriously SICK – and was that a Gladhander shirt Gary was wearing??? gotta love Eugene’s serious support in the music scene here!!
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Last up… Gladhander
What can I say about these guys??? We loved them when we saw them in Last Band Standing, but this was the first time we could see them play a full set – they are the fully elemental hard rock band definition.
Mitch is completely beyond description with his clear and cutting vocals and searing lead/rhythm guitar licks.
Dave on bass is headbanging amazing, and
Kasey on drums keeps everyone in line while keeping up the energy. 
One of the amazing things about these guys is their energy – cataclysmic….
We were completely blown away with this set… beyond words, sorry – I was left speechless…
all these bands have Facebook or ReverbNation or myspace pages – but more than anything else you want to CONNECT with them so LIKE THOSE PAGES – RIGHT?!!!
and always Always ALWAYS – go see LIVE LOCAL MUSIC when you can… enuf said…
SPOTLIGHT – Quacker’s Last Stop – 2105 West 7th Avenue, Eugene
With no house PA system but a couple full-size floor speakers, that’s ok – the fact that this sports bar venue is sponsoring (no cover at the door) live local bands speaks volumes. They have a decent-sized stage, nicely appointed, with real huge wood insets on the stage back and surprisingly good sound flow through the club.
Mitch Chamberlain (from Gladhander) tells me their food is amazing, with a wood-fired pizza oven and grill – it sounded amazing but with the holidays fast approaching and my pants already fitting tighter than I would like, I took a pass on the menu.
It was a very nice venue and we look forward to coming back to see more local live bands play here – ya’ll should seriously check this out!
theclubcircuit 