OTEP brought a great lineup of bands and some powerful music to Bogart’s in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Lead singer Otep Shamaya is known for taking a stance on civil rights, animal rights, and for not being a fan of our current president. The message was clear before the members of the band even came out as the stage was adorned with LGBT flags, an Impeach Trump sticker on the bass drum, and a small baby doll on the microphone stand holding a sign that read “where are the children?”. When Otep took the stage the crowd was more than ready to see this Nu Metal act lay down the riffs. The band opened up with the song “Battle Ready” and then jammed right into “Lords of War”. Otep can definitely scream! This was my first time seeing the band live, and I was impressed with her growl during the next song they played, “Crooked Spoons”. As the night went on the band mixed in old and new tunes including one of my favorites “Apex Predator”. A few songs later Otep broke out one of the new songs off their latest album Kult 45, “Shelter In Place”. As the night drew to an end Otep broke out “Equal Rights, Equal Lefts”, this song is dedicated to all those out there who believe in Equal Rights.
Otep is Otep Shamaya (vocals), Ari Mihalopoulos (guitars), Andrew Barnes (bass), and Justin Kier (Drums).
Otep is on tour for just a few more days so catch them while you can!
Dropout Kings is a group based out of Arizona that features dual vocalists Adam Ramey and Eddie Wellz. Dropout Kings came out with a bang throwing down a unique mix of rap and metal. As Dropout Kings kicked into their first song the crowd suddenly stopped everything, flocked to the stage, and started bouncing to the beats! As the band continued on with their set, Ramey jumped into the photo pit to interact with the crowd and this got everyone even more pumped up! Dropout Kings are touring in support of Otep and just released their album Audiodopeon August 10th. If you have a chance to catch Dropout Kings definitely do so. They are badass!
DROPOUT KINGS is Adam Ramey (Vocals), Eddie Wellz (Vocals), Chucky Guzman (Guitar), Staig Flynn (Guitar), Rob Sebastian (Bass), and Trevor Norgren (Drums)
The opening act for this night at Bogart’s was New York-based Kore Rozzik. Kore Rozzik is a metal/hard rock band that I had seen previously and thought they were intriguing. The music would definitely fall into the hard rock genre and the looks of the band are a mix of Alice Cooper and Slipknot. Lead singer Kore Rozzik encouraged the fans to step forward and and did his best to ensure everyone had a good time. Kore reminds me a bit of Alice Cooper sometimes donning a top hat and holding his microphone in one hand and often times a wand/cane in the other hand. The band did a great job opening up the show and setting the stage for Otep and Dropout Kings!
Kore Rozzik is touring in support of their latest album Vengeance Overdrive.
