From the Quad City Times -- Janurary 12, 2005
Concerts promise variety
David Burke
In local performing lingo, the phrase "all ages show" is sometimes another word for "teen night."
But the people behind two area bands want to change that. Scott Morschhauser, founder of The Metrolites, is using his Go-Go-Golem Productions banner to begin shows that will hope to draw music fans of all ages.
"There seems to be a lack of truly all-ages shows in the Quad-City area," said Devin Kirby-Hansen, bass player for The Metrolites and for Braille Illustrated, two of the three bands performing in the first of what they hope are monthly all-ages shows at the Moline Community Center."We could put on a show at Lumpy's (in Davenport), but that's 19-plus. We could put on a show in Rock Island, but that's 21-plus. Places like Peabody's (in Moline) say they're an all-ages show and they are, but the crowd that goes there is mostly younger ... high school kids," Kirby-Hansen said.The concerts will try to have acts that appeal to a wide age range, he said. While the Metrolites' surf-spy-jazz noir sound has an audience of various ages, Braille Illustrated has more of a college-crowd following and Minus Six — a keyboard-based rock band and the third band on the bill — has a large high school audience.The goal, Kirby-Hansen said, is to not only give audience members a chance to see bands that they know, but bands they might not be familiar with."Maybe you'll like these other bands, a band you might not ordinarily see, a musical style you might not normally hear," he said.Fellow Metrolites members Morschhauser and drummer Josh Duffee each have music students who are in bands that could be considered for future concerts, Kirby-Hansen said. And with the tight networking of musicians in the Quad-Cities, he hopes more bands will become interested."We want to give bands we feel just haven't had an opportunity to really show off what they can do," he said.Braille Illustrated, whose sound Kirby-Hansen compares to Smashing Pumpkins or Radiohead, began as a project in his high school's talented and gifted program. It began as a guitar-heavy trio, until drummer Al Raymond was recruited to switch to drums. Guitarist Adam Hurlburt has been with the band since the beginning. Guitarist Blake Connolly, a student at St. Ambrose University, is busy with studies but may rejoin the band this summer, Kirby-Hansen said."We were a fan of the big guitar sound," he said. "When we pared it down to a trio, people are saying they can really hear us now."David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com.