ONPOINT

Despite the less than ideal environs, OnPoint rocked the hell out of the Karma Lounge basement the other night. I've been tied up in So Hideous mixing and hating my job, so apologies to the OnPoint kids (and their rabid fans) for the lack of timely coverage.

Evidently, the people booking Karma are/were looking to expand their demographic a little bit by bringing in Team OP. Not sure how the not-especially-good opening singer-songwriter dude felt, but it sure brought more people in the room than the maybe one person who might have been there to see them. He did win over the guy whose job for the night seemed to be to play incidental cocktail jazz for 2 to 5 minutes between sets and then be in the way of everybody loading in, which may have been a small consolation.

OnPoint followed the songwriter guy and pretty much killed it. Olga sure can sing (and is far from un-easy on the eyes). Paired with Dylan and Matt, it's a good time. They need to get some recordings out, but in the interim they have added a bass player. He played on the last three or four tracks on the set, firing the already excited crowd up into the most spirited display of headbanging I've seen in some time. Keep up on the integration of the new guy in the franchise and hear about upcoming shows at the OnPoint web presence here. Watch out for the robots. - Jaded Scenester NYC

Onpoint, a New York City-based alternative / metal band, rocked last Saturday night at Uncle Mike’s, a lower Manhattan bar on Murray street. In shiny black hot pants and a form-fitting black and white V-patterned tank top, frontwoman Olga owned center stage, while band mates Diesekt and Muerte slammed the opening riffs of “Savence” on their Gibson guitars.
Throughout the set, Olga pumped her arms and tossed her voluminous blonde curls to the rhythm of the driving guitars, delivering a high-energy performance despite having revealed before the show she was feeling under the weather. She sang looking directly at the crowd and dramatically drew the mic away from her mouth at particularly rapturous moments.
In comparison with the singer’s direct approach, the guitarists played the aloof accompanists. Diesekt allowed his long brunette locks to fall and remain in front of his face while he bent over his guitar, and Muerte often turned away from the crowd to face the PA. But these two opposing styles were well-balanced for a mixed audience like the one at Uncle Mike’s—while a metal newbie might have been attracted to Olga’s melodic voice and her commanding stage presence, the hardcore fans still got a serious dose of classic heavy metal in the guys’ propulsive, guitar-shredding anti-performance.
The band uses pre-recorded, drum machine rhythms. Although the absence of a live drummer is distracting, the guitarists’ keen sense of rhythm keeps most songs running along at swift pace. Without a drummer’s count-off, the band’s transitions from one song to the next weren’t perfectly fluid. For instance, before Olga was finished introducing the band’s website, Muerte adjusted the iPod for the next song and launched into their Nine Inch Nails cover “Wish,” but Olga nimbly jumped in without any major hitch.
Following the show Olga said of the experience, “It’s great to be able to play with other talented musicians from around the city and have our friends support us. That’s why we love playing shows; where there are people we will go and play.” - Interactive Journalism-Janet Lawrence