By Chaos, Freelance WriterMILE HIGH put in an excellent performance last Tuesday night at the Village Café, Liguanea, St. Andrew.
The recently revamped line-up of band leader and bassist Jason Morris, new lead singer Tessanne Chin, guitarist Paul Chang and drummer Andrew 'Preggs' Thompson rocked the appreciative crowd with a selection of original songs and cover versions, starting out with the Billboard Top Ten hit Evanescence's Bring Me To Life. Here Tessanne allowed her voice to soar as high as the cloudless night sky, engaging in the sort of vocal histrionics that would not be not out of place in an opera house.
Dressed in a sheer blouse over a shiny bra and a dark pair of pants, she was in constant motion as she gave in to the powerful music being provided by her bandmates and let loose. Morris and Chang stalked small areas of the stage, Morris often with an unholy grin as he laid down hard bass chords while Chang, with eyes closed, was lightning fast on the strings of his instrument. Preggs, dressed all in black, played his drums as often standing as he did sitting.
An original, For Keeps followed. The song demonstrated some of the fusion which inhabits the work of Mile High, with understated dancehall-inspired beats subtly making their presence felt, especially via the drums and bass. Another original, Sunset, was next and featured the softer side of Tessanne. Something of a hard rocking ballad, Tessanne went between practically breathy whispers (for a rock band) to pulse pounding screams in the space of a few heartbeats, over the sonic tapestry Mile High wove.
They then moved not so smoothly into yet another original, When I'm With You, before doing another of their works, entitled Number 7. Thick reverberations and echoes were employed as Changs riffs and Morris' bass were given added dimensions to very good effect. Tessanne finished her stint with Creed's One Last Breath, the selection bringing forth screams from willing throats - and, later on, laughter as faux thunder was added when Tessanne sang I yelled back when I heard thunder.
After her exit the crowd was unwilling to let the band go and Wayne McGregor was called up to join the ensemble. He strapped on his guitar, made a few jokes and elicited screams of his own with Lenny Kravitz' Fly Away, before the din in the packed cafe got even louder as he sang Puddle of Mudd's Blurry and Nickelback's How You Remind Me. For the next song, Real Love, the crowd was in for even more of a treat with the guest appearance of maestro Rupert Bent III, who shared lead guitar duties. His appearance and skill with his instrument had Mile High changing the game plan somewhat, since they had to take into consideration Bent's magnificent running up and down the scales and holding notes for a tad longer than they had planned for. The result was pure acoustic enjoyment.
That was the end of Mile High's stint and they left to loud applause, giving way to the house band Ting Deh, with McGregor singing lead on Bob Marley's Waiting In Vain, a request for a 'Janet' who was celebrating her birthday. Just another part of the Village Café's 'Tuesday Night Live Open Microphone event.
