Jonas Complex

December 29, 2005
Bills Bar
By Lucie Wicker

Good news for hard rock fans- the genre is alive and well in the Boston area. With a plethora of punk shows any day of the week, it was refreshing to see a relatively new band known as the Jonas Complex, the third and final act at Bill's Bar last Thursday evening. This edgy yet sensitive, personal and disarming four man band consists of lead singer Brig Dauber, bassist Dennis Harris, Jamie Maguire on lead guitar and Teddy Kelliher on drums. A clearly angst-ridden band, JC successfully manages to combine a hard rock sound with slow and sweet melodic interludes. Although fairly unassuming in appearance (no dark black eye makeup for these guys), JC puts on an impressive show that will leave you with your adrenaline pumping, ears ringing and your soul strangely touched.

On Dec 29, JC played around 11:45 following Genuflect, the Rage Against the Machine/Limp Bizkit channeling threesome popular with the water bottle swigging 18+ crowd. This show was a follow up to the band's December 10th gig at the Middle East where they advanced to the second round of the internationally renowned Emergenza Festival which they will be competing in again in April. It was also an unofficial CD release event of their brand new nine-track album, the Nether, which was produced by Arria Records and being sold for $10 a pop.

Their set consisted of the tracks from the album plus several bonus new songs. With Dennis and Jamie modestly hiding under baseball caps, the band's stage presence rested heavily on Brig who thrashed around fervently with each passionately driven song. They started off the night with "Strips of Nine," an energetic crowd pleaser showcasing Brig's impressive vocal range and the group's TOOL inspired sound. After a brief warm up period, Brig's ability to reach out to the audience both physically and vocally truly gripped the crowd and
managed to arouse a (short lived) period of moshing.

After about an hour, JC closed the show with hypnotically haunting "Dune." With the mood in the songs changing constantly JC unfailingly draws an eclectic crowd. Hardcore fans can appreciate not only the intensity of their music but also the fact that they are in every right a true hard rock band, not another crew of high school buddies just emerging from jamming in their parent's garage to stumble across a stage and claim to be the real thing. Less hard core fans can appreciate the fact that Jonas Complex is not the kind of band that is all screaming and no instrumental talent. With slow, euphonic lulls leading up to raging, wrathful tangents in every song, each band member balances out their individual wide range of musical abilities. The result is an expressive, talented, extremely entertaining band sure to become a fixture in the Boston area and definitely worth checking out.

For more info in Jonas Complex, go to their official website at
www.jonascomplex.com or their myspace page
www.myspace.com/jonascomplex - BosonLive.net

March 19, 2009

Jonas Complex: The music itself is even based, while the guitars prevail over the mix just a bit. Both the vocals and drums fit right into a quality sound level that brings this excellent group together. The song "All Mine" seemingly delivers a unique sound that reminds me of "Tool" mixed with "Sound Garden".. A very satisfying sound!

Lyrically and musically “Take You Further” sounds fantastic and draws my ear not just to the vocals but the rhythm of the band as well. An entire review could be written about this song, I just want to replay “Take You Further” over and over and over.. I see BIG things in the future for the Jonas Complex!

Scott "Deuce" Wallace
Deuce Entetainment - Metalheadradio.com - Metalheadradio.com