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Aural Fixation

Smokin' Show: Papa Roach rocked the joint last Friday at the Cactus Club By Sarah Quelland THE HIGHLIGHT OF LAST WEEK was the Papa Roach, SECURITY, Lonely Kings and Down2None show at the Cactus Club on Friday (Aug. 6). Bursting with energy after an on-fire performance opening for the Deftones at LIVE 105's free show at Slim's in San Francisco the night before, Papa Roach busted out new material recently recorded at NRG Recording Services in Hollywood, including "Dead Cell," "Infest" and "Broken Home." Now that the band has a demo deal with Warner Bros. Records in place, for the moment the songs can only be heard live. The buzz on this four-piece from Vacaville just keeps growing. Touring relentlessly and hopping on every gig it can get, including two dates with the Vans Warped Tour, earlier this summer Papa Roach participated in the 98 Rock Jamboree Three all-day music festival in Sacramento with Limp Bizkit. Limp Bizkit is enjoying overwhelming success with its sophomore album, Significant Other, which stands at No. 1 on Billboard's Top 200. Vocalist Fred Durst was recently spotted on MTV naming Papa Roach his favorite unsigned band. Not bad, considering Durst is a vice president at Interscope. Perhaps not unsigned for long, though; the band is waiting to see how things pan out with Warner Bros. From Papa Roach's infectious hip-hop groove-funk hard-core to the Lonely Kings' hooky emo-core punk to SECURITY's skillful heavy-adrenaline metal with rap vocals, the entire night had good balance musically with the bands complementing each other's energy without sounding the same. The Edge put on a rare Wednesday show Aug. 4 with Kings X, Protein and Lords of This World taking the stage. Touring to support its latest release, Songs About Cowgirls, rock & roll trio Protein impressed. The San Francisco band's strengths are its playfully quirky lyrics, unusual themes and clean sound. Though its current single is "Lemonade" ("We all want a sip of it after it's made/but we don't want the lemons, we just want the lemonade"), there are more exciting songs on the album that better showcase the band's skill, among them "From Mercury to Texas," "Over My Dead Body" and "Sleeping on the Roof of a Mexican Restaurant." Protein's live cover of the theme from The Dukes of Hazzard is a particular treat. Smash Mouth is contributing to MOM 3, a benefit album coproduced by Surfdog Records and Hollywood Records. The album is due out Aug. 17, and proceeds from sales benefit the Surfrider Foundation, whose mission is to protect and preserve the world's oceans. An impressive array of artists and songs can be found on this compilation, including Beck, Beastie Boys, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ben Harper, Everclear, Lit and Snoop Dogg with members of Rage Against the Machine. Keeping to the beach theme, Brian Setzer and Brian Wilson present a bouncy cover of the Beach Boys' "Little Deuce Coupe." Sprung Monkey offers a remake of Harry Nilsson's "Coconut." Gary Hoey performs "Gone Surfin'," and the Butthole Surfers contribute a remix of Jane's Addiction's beautiful "Ocean Size." Tonight (Aug. 12) features an exciting lineup at the Edge with the Donnas, Groovie Ghoulies, Stunt Monkey and Softball. On Saturday (Aug. 14), the Watcha Tour, also known as the Latin Warped Tour, comes to the San Jose Fairgrounds with Molotov, Puya, Los Mocosos, Royal Crown Revue and more. Tickets are $25 and available thru BASS. Numbskull Productions, the Youth Music Foundation and the Jewish Community Center Teen Department bring together punk bands Good Riddance, Riff Raff and Jughead's Revenge for a special performance at the Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto that same day. The all-ages show kicks off at 7pm and tickets are $8. Boy Kicks Girl gives an intimate performance at Kyle's Place (555 Washington St., at 12th Street, San Jose) with HBA, Agent 51 and Evenground, Aug. 15 at 1pm. The Earth, Wind & Fire/Barry White concert at Shoreline Amphitheatre last Friday (Aug. 6) was postponed. The new date is Oct. 1 and tickets will be honored at the door. Ticket refunds will be available at the place of purchase until Sept. 7. PLAN AHEAD: Sevendust and others, Aug. 13 at Maritime Hall in San Francisco; KMEL All-Star Jam, Aug. 14 at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View; the Odd Numbers, Hayride to Hell and others, Aug. 14 at the Cactus; Santana and Ozomatli, Aug. 15 at Shoreline; Cher and Cyndi Lauper, Aug. 17 at Shoreline Amphitheatre; Andalusia and Castles in Spain, Aug. 17 at the Usual. [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]