Saturday, June 25th, 2005
The Mint / Running From Dharma / The Jealousy Curve
The Crowne Plaza, Harrisburg, PA
For the past nine years, Harrisburg has been the host of the Millennium Music Conference, featuring 3 days of panels, clinics, workshops, mentoring, demo listening sessions, and music business trade show. The conference has served to celebrate emerging talent since its debut in 1997 as a winter event. Since then, the conference has grown into one of the premier music conferences and showcases on the East Coast of the United States. This year, I was lucky enough to attend one night of this showcase accompanied by managing editor and reviewer Scott for a night of constant music- sans ear plugs, unfortunately.
The first band to take the stage was one that I had seen perform several years before at Creation, the premier Christian music festival in the nation. The Mint, from Lancaster, PA, is a 5 piece indie rock/emo band complete with a keyboardist for an added bit of originality in a sometimes bland genre. Their passion was clearly visible throughout their set, and despite their Christian roots, they were easily accessible to the secular crowd as well. It was clear that in the time between my first experiences with The Mint, they had taken the time to tighten and polish their sound to near perfection live.
The next band I had the opportunity to hear was a local favorite, Running from Dharma. While their live performance was not obviously lacking in any one specific way, the music itself had something to be desired. They played run of the mill indie rock that sounded like it could have been taken straight out of Scott Stapp of Creed’s repertoire. Though they were clearly a favorite of the local drunken girls complete with Miller Lite’s in hand, in my humble opinion, they would fit in quite well on a tour with Three Doors Down and Staind.
The Jealousy Curve was up next, and by sheer coincidence, being that they were supposed to go on at 1 AM, when I would have been long gone. However, luckily for me, their set was bumped up to a couple hours earlier and I had the pleasure of seeing them perform. Their brand of progressive rock with an edge, albeit a soft one, was reminiscent of Coheed and Cambria, sans the excessively high distinctive falsetto vocals of C&C lead singer Claudio. Classic rock influences including Led Zeppelin and the Beatles were obvious, though the Jealousy Curve’s sound was by no means merely a carbon copy of either of these bands. Their cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain” as a closer was excellent, though it was somewhat overshadowed by the noise of another band playing in the next room. I wish it was possible for all cities to have such an amazing music fest as here in Harrisburg, being that it truly was an excellent all-around experience for any music fan.
-Allison Frank
thisloverstryst’gmail.com
Band Name: The Mars Patrol
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