Like many in the audience, I had no earthly idea what to expect out of four local guys selling themselves as (of all things!) THE LED ZEPPELIN TRIBUTE. Filling the role, even remotely, of a Page/Plant/Bohnam/Jones would not be an easy task for the most seasoned pros...much less a local band--almost all of whom appear to be young kids in their twenties and, as such, were not even around, as I was, when the real Led Zeppelin came out and was discovered by the public. Stepping out on The Madison stage, and announcing a night of nothing but Led Zeppelin, the kids delivered the goods. Most notable in the performance was guitarist, Greg Blachman, playing guitar with a horse hair bow (as the real Page does) and drummer, Phil Clements, stepping out from behind the kit to actually play a credible mandolin on some of the more mellow Zeppelin material. Meanwhile, bassist Jason Stegemoller, left the bass behind (during the “Kashmir” portion of the show) to play a keyboard that was tuned exactly to the Zeppelin-esque tones the band was emulating. It was at this point in the performance, thanks to the expert house mix by The Madison’s sound engineer, that one could barely ascertain the difference of between the tribute and the real thing. Relatively new to the band, at less than a year, was singer, Tony Makino who, while maintaining his own personal identity and not attempting to be an “Elvis Impersonator” type clone, was about as close for comfort as any young musician could hope to be in attempting to fill the shoes of one of the greatest of rock’s vocal legends. At five bucks a pop (in advance) and only seven (at the door) this show was a bargain!
It was hard to conduct an extremely intense and deep interview with this band, only because, just seconds before, they had stepped off stage, from the two song encore, and the noisy auditorium had not yet settled down. The group was not even out of the backstage area yet and the house music was starting to play on The Madison’s massive sound system. An interruption from one of The Madison’s bartenders, informing the band that a customer had just sent three beers and a shot of Jagermeister, to the stage for them, also broke the concentration a wee bit. But...we trecked onward! What follows here is a brief, but accurate, interview with a local Cincinnati band that seemed to pleasantly surprise everyone that night--including me!
----Rick Flynn 1/24/08 (All photos and exclusive text © 2008)
----Taken from Madison Theater Fansite
\"Best Tribute Band: Winds of Thor, a tribute to Led Zeppelin. Remember The Back Doors, a Doors tribute band that frequently played Cincinnati and sported the motto, ”You’ll believe Jim is him”&? Well, local Led Zep enthusiasts Winds of Thor are kind of like that — “You’ll believe Page is on stage” — but it’s all about musical recreations, not costumes and haircuts. The band has become a popular club draw, attracting a more diverse crowd than most Rock cover bands. \"
----- Taken from Best of Cincinnati
