Overzealous @ Hard Rock Cafe, 7/8/10

   

If you had shown up at the Hard Rock Café Thursday night at 9:45, you would have only caught the tail end of the second act.  When performances actually get rolling at the scheduled time, you know you’re in for a classier show experience.  Hard Rock is ideal if you’re not up for being packed into the room so tightly with fellow showgoers you’re absorbing their sweat.  You can enjoy a table inside or on the patio during the show, which on Thursday consisted of Blackfoot GypsiesBravo Max, and Overzealous.

Seeing Nashville/Murfreesboro band Overzealous play live for the first time was something of a shock.  In person, founding members Dustin Sellers (vocals/guitar) and Brad Crittenden (vocals/bass) seem affable but subdued.  Onstage, they prove there’s something to their name and deliver a high-energy performance.  Newest Overzealous member, drummer Nick Morro doesn’t seem to have a problem keeping up, either.  Last year, Sellers and Crittenden were still looking for a drummer that would stick; now they’ve got Morro plus a new EP to follow up the previous sunny “Yellow Jr.”

Melodies echo all the regular guys who rocked the late ’90s and early ’00s – Foo Fighters and even Jimmy Eat World at times, plus traces of Nirvana when they decide to shred a harder riff – but the lyrics are Sellers’ own.  “Really every song I write is an echo of what should have been,” he says.  Sellers crams a lot of personal experience into his lyrics, and the new EP “The Valley” is no different.  Worth checking out if you’re into any of the aforementioned artists, or just want to see an energetic and fun show. – Jessica Pace