The Last Vegas, according to Kryptonite's website "are a hard rock band from downtown Chicago, IL. Influenced by the blues, 70's punk, and bands the like of The Stooges, Guns N Roses, Motley Crue and The Trashmen." The end result is strong hard rock with an attitude. These guys will sound familiar to you without feeling derivative. The band is playing Kryptonite both on the 22nd and the 29th of this month, and Rockford hard rock fanatics should make one, if not both of these shows. These guys really rock!

The group have garnered a lot of interesting comparisons in the press. Some highlights include, "strut like Motorhead, hellbilly White Zombie swagger, 70's era KISS glam fuzz...it's a full-out rock'n'roll orgy," (Jeff Warren - Sleazegrinder), "A Glitter-boogie unit at cruising speed...the hubris of early Aerosmith and competitive chops." (Monika Kendrick - Chicago Reader) and "solid balls-to-the-floor Motor City rock that mates the Stooges with Mötley Crüe and nixes out the poufy glam extras." (Serene Dominic - Phoenix New Times).

The band have this to say about themselves, "We are from various parts of Illinois, live in Chicago and tour a hell of a lot in our big smelly van. We've been together almost 3 years and all came from previous other bands of vast musical background. Now we are concentrating on big, loud, sweaty, rock music which has always run strong through our Tecate soaked veins. We are not very old and have poor hygiene but still manage to find love in some of the dirtiest bathrooms around the country. Long live sweaty long haired high-energy rock and roll. " They say that they sound like "shoving your head into a loudspeaker in the sexiest way possible."

The band is composed of John Wator (Guitar), Adam Arling (Guitar), Nate Arling (Drums), P.W. Rubino (Bass) and Chad Cherry (Vocals). They officially list their influences as "Blue Cheer, Guns'N'Roses, 70's Aerosmith, Stooges and Muddy Waters." I can hear all of that in their sound, but they bring a lot of their own flavor to it. As far as contemporaries with similar musical textures you might think of Buck Cherry. The long and short of it, though, for fans of raw straight ahead, yet catchy rock and roll with a serious crunch, you have two chances to catch these guys at Kryptonite, don't pass them up!