The setting for this band from Revolver’s ‘Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock’ list is a small, intimate bar, in the middle of Jacksonville, Florida on a random Monday night.

The Rodriguez sisters weren’t the only women on this bill of hard rocking bands.  The local opener, Her Eyes Afire, also featured a female singer. Jamie Fadley is the face of this band with her husband, Austin Fadley, on guitar. The band as a whole seemed a little bit all over the place and off beat at times, but lead guitarist Matt Connor had great solos and note runs. Austin Fadley also ended up switching with drummer Andrew Harrison for their final song where Harrison joined Jamie on vocals. What was surprising about this band, was the large sound coming out of the petite-framed Jamie. She definitely had a lot of scream for a little woman and she was diverse in the fact that she rapped, sang, and screamed – albeit a bit monotonous with all three. When Austin was on drums, he was just as impressive as when he was playing the guitar. He’s also the singer in another local band, Slow Motion Suicide, showcasing that he really is a true musician a man of many talents.

An up-and-coming quartet from Houston, Texas came next in the form of Like Monroe. These guys had a great energy and presence on the small stage with chugging guitars and non-stop jumping to the beat.  The songs were very catchy and easy to headbang and sing along to. They played their latest song “This Hills”, which they just put out a new music video for and performed it very well. Vocalist Ty Johnson and guitarist Chris Deckard shared singing and screaming duties and interlaced the two styles very eloquently throughout their short set of maybe five or six songs. As their set came to a close it was clear the fans definitely wanted more.

The stage was even more crowded for the next band, Scare Don’t Fear.  Comprised of six members all hailing from Rhode Island, they made the small space work. Their first song, titled “Takeover,” was a strong anthem and got the crowd jumping and in front of the stage (everyone likes to hang back at the tables and the bar in Jack Rabbits for some reason – which is weird because [most] rock bands don’t bite… fans, at least).  Scare Don’t Fear blended hardcore rap and metal into a steadily flowing machine. Keyboardist Larry Ohh provided a sort of sampling track for each song, which made the show more intimate than playing a background track, so that was a nice touch. He even had an electronic drum pad attachment on the keyboard to add to the effects and he utilized both well. Though Scare Don’t Fear didn’t really fit with the rest of the bands on the bill, fans seemed to enjoy them as there were a lot of “I don’t usually like rap, but you guys are awesome!” comments at the end of the night. Think of Scare Don’t Fear as a much heavier Linkin Park – in both the rap and rock aspects.

When it was time for headliners Eyes Set To Kill to take the stage, the fans packed to the front and center for the act they had been waiting for all night and this Arizona quartet definitely did not disappoint. Twin sisters Alexia and Anissa Rodriguez are two of the subjects of Revolver Magazine’s Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock issue – and they have been for years. Alexia spearheads the band as the front woman and guitarist and Anissa plays bass. Drummer Caleb Clifton and guitarist Manny Contreras round out this very tight group.

For such small twins, this band has an enormous sound.  Alexia had a very strong, commanding voice and she sounded very close to the studio recordings. She even had more prominent roles on guitar than is usually expected from a singer and guitarist combination. Another observation that should be noted was the fact there were no other background vocalists in the band; Alexia pulled off all the vocalist duties and did it with grace.

Anissa stayed in the shadows for the most part, but when she did emerge from behind the venue speakers, she was smiling and making eye contact with fans. Clifton was beating the hell out of the skins throughout the set and was already dripping sweat two songs in. It seemed like he also had a cold, as he was coughing a lot between songs, but if he was feeling under the weather, it was impossible to tell based on how he was playing. The band played their hearts out and, even though they were clearly exhausted, they came out for one last encore, to the chants of “one more song.” Alexia introduced “Haze” as their final track and one of the fans screamed “Yeah, weed!” and cheered. Alexia then made a joke that “everyone thinks it’s about weed, but it’s not!” and Eyes Set To Kill delivered the last song of the night with grace and ease.

After the show, all the bands were at their respective merch tables and interacting with fans, slinging apparel and cds, and signing autographs. Fans lined up to take photos and buy t-shirts until the venue closed its doors.

Overall, the venues intimate setting provided fans with the ability to not only see and enjoy the bands on the Little Liars Tour bill that night, but they were also able to stick around and hang with the talent that gave them the feelings only a live show can deliver.

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Eyes Set To Kill:
Website | Facebook | Twitter

Scare Don’t Fear:
Website | Facebook | Twitter

Like Monroe:
Website | Facebook | Twitter

Her Eyes Afire:
Facebook

This article was originally posted in Backstage VIPs.