Flanfire

Four solid hours of classic rock and roll, screaming lead guitars, intricate arrangements (no three chords and a lot of noise here!), and, yes, the amazing vocal power of 19-year-old Sasha Ortiz of Blues Mafia -- plus Jovita's migas, some cold Coronas, and hanging out with the Hudsons and Willie Pipkin, too! And MORE of this amazing Austin teen music is yet to come.

Austin owes a lot to having great summer music camps and outstanding music teachers for these young professionals (yes, they play for money but mainly for the love of the work!). On April 28th, Blues Mafia and nine other teenaged bands will perform at Threadgill's in the Austin version of TEXAS 10 UNDER 20 (there is a separate event in Dallas on April 22nd) ... and even though the Daze and a lot of other groups that should force lots of older guy bands to practice harder and be much more focused will not be on this year's bill, there is plenty of talent to make it worthwhile to eat seconds and thirds on your veggies and stick around for the whole show.

Sunday's show began with a 15-song set by Black Cat, which features Matthew Lyons on guitar, Luis Rangel on bass (but he too is a classical guitarist), and Scott Graves (the old man of the band) on drums. All are freshmen at Anderson High (as I noted after hearing them in February) -- and these guys just keep getting better! Original songs included "(She wants to be a) Movie Star," "Rock-a-Holic," "Rock & Roll Summer," "Scorching Heart," and of course, "Black Cat" -- but also Matthew's acoustic "Rainy Day Song" (a classical piece) and a couple of instrumentals that may one day have vocals too. They also did two Hendrix covers and three Beatles songs -- including "Blackbird" done by Luis on his Ibanez classical guitar and the show ender, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Fact is, these guys can play lots of musical styles already and they are just getting started. Up soon -- maybe a new lead singer (they have actively been looking for the right guy -- or gal).

Maiden Austin was missing guitarist Joseph Villanacci, so they asked Max Frost of Blues Mafia to sit in on two covers -- "Little Wing" and a long but wonderful "Sultans of Swing" (they could have kept playing another five minutes and I would not have minded). Guitarist Alex Campbell is another kid whose fingers just light up the fretboard, and bassist Alec Woodruff (the tall guy in the band) also sings lead on many of the tunes. I know Robin Mordecai through his mom Laura and dad Mike -- both of whom are well known in the Austin music scene -- but had not heard him play or sing before, and I left looking forward to my next visit to a Maiden Austin set (which MIGHT be April 29 at the Red Seven, where The Daze will also perform). These guys covered Eric Johnson, Three Doors Down, and Billy Idol (Rebel Yell!) but tossed in a few of their originals and might have done more had they had the whole band on hand. I liked "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Shoreline."

Drummer Chris Copeland was smiling for much of his band's set, and no wonder. Blues Mafia, with Patrick Mertens and Max Frost on guitars and Kai Roach on bass, have already won big-time recognition as an up and coming Austin band -- and it was their commitment and skill and camaraderie that led Sasha Ortiz (who I am sure is the only high school graduate who was on stage all afternoon) to start working with them about a year ago. Now I have been writing about these guys for quite a while (and I must acknowledge that Sasha has been a family friend for half a dozen years now), and so when they opened up with Summertime Blues and Four Sticks and then Patrick's new tune, "O Baby Baby," I was cruising along with the rest of the crowd, having a good time.

And then Sasha just exploded across the stage.

From her take on "Mojo Working" to the Blues Mafia original, "Phunk It Up," and another original (tentatively titled "Too Long," which ends with a lengthy "happy jam"), Sasha and her bandmates upped the ante. THEN she sat down while the band covered "Killing Floor" and "Outside Woman Blues" (with Patrick on vocals) but snuck back on stage for "Communication Breakdown" and the major explosion of the afternoon -- the band's own "Higher" followed by "Alone" -- where Sasha went from Janis to Robert Plant without blinking an eye. J.W. of Rubber Monster (which also features Blues Mafia's Kai Roach and Chris Copeland plus Yayo on guitar) took Max's guitar over for "Red House," and he and Sasha took turns upstaging each other gracefully. The band closed out with two more originals -- "Devil's Jam" and "Da Man" -- and the sizable audience slumped in their seats in total exhaustion.

You can catch Blues Mafia with Euphoria on Friday at the Rockin' Tomato or on April 28 (with Rubber Monster and eight other bands) on April 28th at Threadgill's.

Flanfire -- Bringing LIFE to Austin music.