Music Under Fire

After serving up some heated kickball late Thursday night, I headed to downtown Philadelphia to catch Your Vegas at The Khyber. Being informed they would be playing second out of three groups, I was shocked to enter the venue with their sound already in the air.

Your Vegas



The UK group turned NYC natives of Your Vegas played beneath dim red lights on the spacious 15x15 foot stage in a room adjacent to the ever-bustling bar of The Khyber.

What is immediately evident when listening to the group is the strong and clean vocals of lead-singer Coyle Girelli. These awe-inspiring vocals intertwined smoothly with the high-stringing guitar of Mat Steel, the synth keyboard work of Mark Heaton, the well-timed rapping on the drums by Mal Taylor and the fingle-fingers of bassist Jon Langford. When these facets were all churning (as they did for the whole set) the place turned electric.

Coyle's vooice bent and reached every corner of the vocal spectrum, which sometimes bordered on the feminine, as Wes Blaylock of Deas Vail's also do . This tiered with catchy lyrics had fans in attendance singing along. Your Vegas closed out their set with "Troubled Times", which rumbled the room and had fans singing "Lydia, Lydia" as they strolled home.

Having interviewed Your Vegas a couple of months ago when their album A Town and Two Cities hit stores, I chatted after the show with Coyle about the group, where they have played and who he is listening to. I strongly suggest heading to see them live as it is only a matter of time before these guys headline as much larger places in every town they go to. Plus, the group was more than happy to sign posters or just talk about anything. Go to this link to see when and where they will be playing next.




























Do You See The Dark


I didn't really get to listen to this group since I was talking with the other two groups that had played or were going to play, but I did catch some of the harmony that is Do You See The Dark. The Khyber was a perfect venue for them since the instrumental solos worked nicely with the layout of the bar, since their sound traveled from the show room to the bar without losing much of its luster.

Shannon Cole


Before she went on, Shannon Cole walked through the venue and chatted with a bunch of the other people there. Although I wasn't particularly fond of her pop-punk sound when I listened to it online, the live version, despite being a bit rough around the edges, proved to be the strong point.