Mutha’s Day Out

with I Mother Earth at Axis
by Scott Hefflon
photo by Chris Johnson

This fresh-faced young band from the sticks writes hit after hit. They wasted no time and hurled right into “We All Bleed Red.” I should have seen it coming, but that cowboy hat donning frontman roared and howled like a madman. The “back up singer” was this little dude pacing like a kid O.D.ing on Halloween candy that doubled over and screamed out his lines. Talk about getting into it! You just watched, transfixed, expecting him to blow an organ or something. It was intense. Even the semi-syrupy power ballads turned to full-on rockers. “I Need You But Do You Need Me” is not for the pleading, longing youth in puppy love – it’s the sneering, twisted smile of a jaded youth waiting to get burnt again. They even turned those memorable sing-along choruses into boot stompin’ verbal rampages.

Throughout the entire show, the power of the guitars and bass was a massive, constant barrage that lightened only when doing trippy, effect-soaked intros. Even then, it was a brief respite. A quick pit broke out during the radio fave, “Locked,” but dwindled and died rather quickly. It wasn’t that the security guerrillas actually stopped the pit, but we all suddenly felt very safe. The crowd was left nodding their heads and shuffling their feet while the band screamed “Tear it Down.” How ironic.