The Heiz, the Swamp Gospel, Fuckface at Evel Pie, Friday Nov 22, 2019

Evel Pie is a hep, happenin', punk-rock pizza palace on Fremont in downtown Las Vegas with a back, outdoor patio for live music. Set up in a railroad car-style with the stage (yes, an actual stage with a decent PA system) on one side and the bar on the other, it is an intimate setting for local and touring acts. This evening Japan's fabulous Heiz came to town to win fans and continue their dominance of our music scene!

Opening the evening was the up'n'coming Fuckface, led by Double Down's Butters (Brett) as a highly animated frontman/singer and backed by a solid, punk rock/hard core-ish trio. Still a reasonably new combo, they have already garnered a big, enthusiastic fan base who sing'n'slammed along throughout the entire set. With hints of groups like the Circle Jerks, the Sex Pistols (a chorus of "No Future" appeared in one song) and similar old-school bands, they also pulled out a punk rock cover of Rufus Thomas' "Walkin' the Dog"! Powerful way to start the night!

 The Gospel's set was not our best for multiple reasons but we hope those that were there still received some soul salvation!

After flying in straight from Japan and getting about a half hour's worth of rest, the Heiz sauntered down to Evel Pie, ate "a whole lotta pizza" and proceeded to decimate the patio with razor sharp guitar licks, finely rumblin' bass, poundin' drums and some excellent harmonies. Besides plenty of classics from their three CD's, such as "Black Pepper Girl", the sing-along songs "Taco Mambo" and "Whole Lotta Pizza" (which should be Evel Pie's anthem), "Chicken Bone" and "SOS RnR", they pulled out covers like "Sabre Dance", Led Zep's "Rock'n'Roll" (!), "Felix Navidad" (!! - bassist Watanabe singing), "Keep A-Knockin'", "Do You Wanna Dance" (with drummer Kim singing) and "Hound Dog"! Spot on sound'n'playin' throughout - everyone is top-notch musicians with great voices - and super entertaining performers. Great first night in Vegas for them - be sure to see them as they are playing almost every night this week here and I can guarantee that each show will be well worth it! The Huntridge Tavern on Tuesday with the Psyatics and Friday and Saturday at the Double Down should be especially off the hook!