In the early 1970s, the California style of American Heavy Metal was established by guitarist Ronnie Montrose and vocalist Sammy Hagar in the first incarnation of the band Montrose. Their eponymous debut album was brief (32:22) but served as the template of powerful, fast, clear guitar riffs, “blooze” shouting vocals and hard driving rhythms. The producer and engineer of the “Montrose” album (Ted Templeman and Don Landee) later went on help Van Halen become the mega-success that everyone remembers. Van Halen often played “Make It Last” in their concerts since they knew obviously enjoyed it and paid their respects to the originator of this sound.

Prior to Montrose arriving on stage, the audience watched the performance of a local band called Plowboy. This band consists of 12-14 year old musicians who take their music very seriously and perform with composure that a lot of their older compatriots have yet to learn. The band consists of Jonah (lead vocals, rhythm/lead guitar), Brad (drums), Isaac (bass), and Evan (lead/rhythm guitar) and they perform mainly originals written by their singer.

Plowboy songs like “Cold Fever”, “Supernatural” and “I Want to Touch Her (She Smells Like Suburbia)” have some dynamic slow/fast progressions and a bit of that heavy metal/punk sound like Grunge music. They sometimes went into near Thrash mode with building drum/guitar breaks. They also credibly covered “Shuffle Your Feet” by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Plowboy have played around DFW, Austin, and the Hill Country so you might want to keep an eye out for this precocious group.

Montrose came out firing on all cylinders with the first song “Rock the Nation” from that legendary debut album. The band’s current line-up consists of Ronnie (guitar), Keith St. John (vocals), Dan McNay (bass), and Steve Brown (drums). St. John’s voice was strong and just raspy enough to sound similar to Hagar but he enough personality to not be just a tribute type of singer. The band then went to the second Montrose album to pull out the powerful “I Got the Fire”. An early high-point was “Make it Last”, probably the number that drew the most comparisons to Led Zeppelin when Montrose first recorded it. The second album was raided again for “Spaceage Sacrifice”.

In the middle of their set, songs recorded by Ronnie Montrose’s later group Gamma were featured. They were more melodically structured than those strutting Montrose songs, but their complexity and drive were no less powerful. “Voyager” was treated to very intricate harmonic delay effects that caused the number to soar gracefully and it was given an extended performance that left the some members of the audience wondering “How did I miss this Gamma band when it came out?”

The last 3 songs of the set were all off of that classic debut. “Make It Last” was also given a bravura performance where McNay played a very rock-to-funk bass solo and Montrose whipped through a long solo that even incorporated a bit of “Freeway Jam” by Jeff Beck! The monster drum beat of “Rock Candy” got the audience to stand and sing along with band to provide the “hard, sweet, and sticky” lyrics. Then the hyperkinetic “Space Station No. 5” brought the set to the end with even more guitar heroics!

A black Epiphone SG guitar was brought on stage and when Ronnie Montrose came out for the encore he autographed it. There had been a raffle for the guitar to support the American Red Cross’ efforts in helping Texas recover from the terrible grass fires that happened in the summer months. Over $800 was raised.

Montrose broke out the slide and the fiery “Bad Motor Scooter” came out of the Marshall stack like an out of control Harley Davidson. When the song came to it’s over the top end, the guitar was presented to the happy winner of the raffle. Hard rock bliss had been met in the Pub this night.