It was a huge crowd at the Snout Saloon in Chippewa Falls. Maybe the consistently busiest I have ever seen the Snout for a full night. There was never a slow time at the bar.  The band was Assembly Required.  I am not going to say that they are a great band.  Frankly they need a little work.   But, what I will say is they have a great song selection.  They know how to work the crowd and build up some excitement, and in so doing, they make for a great party band.  So, they were perfect for New Years Eve at the Snout.

Andy Hayhoe and Brady Hasmuk on guitars

As I said, musically, Assembly Required has some troubles.  They don't hit all the notes.  Solos tend to be short and simple.  Brady on vocals is sometimes a little off key.  But where they shine is their play list.  It was extensive through the late seventies early eighties rock.  They did have musical highpoints.  Last Dance with Maryjane which I caught on video and a couple other songs in the third set were very much worth the price of admission.  By far though, the musical highpoint of the night was the Kenny Wayne Shepherd song Blue on Black.  It was a perfect rendition.  The vocal range of the lead singer fit this song very well.  In all ways, this song was a perfect fit for the band.  The crowd was eating it up to, being a rock/country crossover song.  Everyone was singing along and the rockin' party factor was high.  Great song!

The mood in the bar was one of "It feels good to have 2009 behind us".  Talking to a few people it was nearly unanimous in the thinking that 2009 sucked.  Between high costs, and job woes, people are tired of troubles.  Still though, it was also universal, people were optimistic for what 2010 will bring.  So, many times that's all that is needed to turn things around.  A spirit of universal optimism might just propel us out of the 'aughts' and back into an upward trend.

Assembly Required plays Maryjane's Last Dance

The bar was smoky as we entered 2010, the year of the smoking ban, which starts in July.  Looking around I would say easily 80% of the patrons were smokers.  Will they still be around next year or will they stay home where they can smoke in peace.  Will the bar be as busy?  Will the Snout be able to afford to bring in bands if the crowds are smaller? I am worried the non-smokers will have driven the smoking customers away, but then they stay home and watch their TVs anyway.  All the time thinking of something new to be offended about.

This past week I had chance to run into my friend Tim, who's son , Will, plays in the band Weeds, reviewed here a couple of weeks ago at the Infinatea House in Eau Claire.  Tim told me he queried his son after forwarding my review to him.  He said to him, "Son, this review isn't entirely complimentary about your music" what do you think about that?  To which his son replied "As long as I am offending old people, I must be doing something right."  Touché Will Anderson, touché!

A couple of typical Snout patrons

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Comments (3)

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Hi this is the drummer for assembly required. I must look like Tom, but my name is Dennis Adamski.And I thought the review was very good. Thank You.

dennis adamski , February 09, 2010

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Hello I'm Del Hasmuk a huge fan of Assembly Required but then again I'm a bit bias! Great review, great read!!! I never met a group of guys more dedicated to music. Nice to see in a small town. Thanks for the publicity. Well done! Thank you.

Del Hasmuk , February 10, 2010

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Hey this is Dennis again. I just wanted to tell you that Assembly required moved their date at the snout from march 6th to march 5th (friday) and we got a new bass player named Jason Chambers it should be even better

Dennis Adamski , February 10, 2010

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