JOSEY SCOTT / (HED) PE /ADEMA – LIVE AT OFF THE RAILS
By Kat Gullage
Nu Metal Revival tour featuring Josey Scott, (hed) PE, Adema, Core and Lone Wolf James goes Off The Rails in Worcester
Always a great time at this venue! The clean and accommodating music hall has a capacity of 600. They open a wall of giant doors during the summer months, but they had to stay closed on the windy, 28° night. There’s also a super convenient restaurant attached with decent BBQ.
We arrived prior to the 7PM start time, so I was surprised to see a band already on stage when we entered after a quick bag check. Lo and behold it was Lone Wolf James! We had just seen them open for Lynch Mob at Webster Theater in Hartford. The Boston based band gives me a biker bash / garage band vibe, they were a fitting act to get the early crowd warmed up. These guys are on a roll as they recently opened up for Ace Frehley!.
CORE, a trio from South Dakota, kept it rollin. They are Jeremy Johnson (Guitar/Vocals), Arthur Wallace (Bass) and Michael Cantrell (Drums). Their sound is similar to Lone Wolf James but more polished. They’ve toured with big name acts and have three LPs, 2007’s We All Fall Down, 2010’s St. Judas Day Parade and 2015’s Broken Heart Syndrome which was re-released as a Deluxe Edition in 2019. You can check out tracks like “Daydream Junkie”,b“Shatterproof”, “Get Over Yourself” and “Ugly October” on their YouTube channel @coretunes.
Full disclosure, in between bands I saw the backs of two dark haired guys hanging out and I approached them and said that I covered their show a coupla weeks ago when they opened up for Lynch Mob. Cuz I thought they were Lone Wolf James. I’m only human people, I make mistakes. Jeremy walked away but Arthur was a good sport and we had a laugh about it. Find out everything about CORE on their website CoreTunes.com
Louisville, Kentucky’s FLAW was originally on the bill, but I found out on the way to the gig that they had to leave the tour. Apparently their bass player, Brian Carter, announced his departure from the band on 2/24/25. I like to check in with fans when I’m doing reviews and there were a handful of them that attended specifically to see Flaw, one guy said it was on his bucket list. Which is now flawed.
ADEMA hails from Bakersfield, California and their 2001 self titled LP Adema was part of my mind blowing sex soundtrack for that decade. There has been some employee turnover in the band, but the founding members remain. Tim Fluckey, who stands at a towering 6’11”, (Lead Vocals/Guitar), was accompanied by Dave DeRoo (Bass), Kris Kohls (Drums), and Mike Ransom (Lead Guitar). Original singer Mark Chavez, Jonathan Davis of Korn’s half brother, was the voice on their first two albums. Tim always sang backup vocals so it wasn’t too much of a stretch for him to switch to lead.
Adema has five studio albums but their nine song set included seven tracks from KAT’s Songs To Smash To, aka Adema. They opened with the title track to their LP “Unstable” followed by “Close Friends”. The sound quality was surprisingly good. Tim addressed the flock of fans clad in Bruins and Red Sox gear. “What the fuck is up?! We’re only warming up right now. I know we’re old and shit but come on, give it up for Core! Up the enthusiasm level!” “Are you ready to move your fucking heads?! This one’s off our first album.”
“Everyone” was followed by “Do What You Want To Do”. “How many of you play video games?!” This was the intro for “Immortal”, featured in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. They performed “Trust” and then Tim spoke to the fans again. “How we doin?” He got a decent response. “That’s what I thought!” “Our singer retired, he didn’t die by the way.” They went through member introductions and one of them yelled that Tim was the Indy Slam Champ. Indeed he was IL Class A State Dunk Champion (high school).
The fans really started to groove when they fed us “Freaking Out” and “The Way You Like It”. Tim gave departing words, “Give it up to you, the bands, the crew, the drink slingers, the sound guy. Anyway we love you! This songs called “Giving In”. Add em to your playlist! (*not responsible for aphrodisiacal effects)
Higher Education Planet Earth/Planetary Evolution, or Hed PE, or (hed) Planet Earth’s 2000 LP Broke was my battle cry for that decade. Their nu metal / funk combo gets your blood pumpin! They have crafted fifteen (!) studio albums spanning nearly three decades. The group from Huntington Beach, California has experienced quite the employee turnover, with founder and vocalist “M.C.U.D.” aka MC Underdog aka Jared Gomes being the only constant. However, the foursome that makes up the current line up is out there killin it.
The last time I saw these guys was in a tiny room that held 250. I immediately became obsessed with guitarist Nathan Javier. He had great energy, exuded the band’s west coast swagger and busted as many moves as he could in an area the size of a closet. I was psyched to see him strut in a bigger space. Bassist Kurt “Kid Bass” Blankenship and drummer Stephen Arango rounded out the quartet.
They dipped into five of their LPs for the nine song set that opened with two from 2023’s Detox with “Peer Pressure” and “Rat Race”. The crowd was one hundred percent into it and the sound quality in the room was on point. One of three tracks off of Back To Base X was up with “Peer Pressure”. Of course Jared had his trusty organ kazoo thingy, known as a melodica. A circle pit commenced during “Killing Time” from Broke. “Let’s Ride” included a taste of Bob Marley’s “Stand Up” which prompted a sing-a-long with one hundred percent audience participation.
Jared addressed the fans “This song goes out to my neighbor who’s always telling me to turn the music down. Get the fuck outta here!” “It’s Friday night, everybody havin a good time?!” “Cuz we came here from South Carolina, it’s so fucking cold here! How do you do it?” The show continued with Only in Amerika’s “Raise Hell” My boy Nathan was bouncin and jumpin and vibin. “Sophia” was next followed by the fans chanting “Hed PE! Hed PE!” Jared exclaimed “So much love! Love your faces!”
At that moment Josey Scott walked right past me as he was being escorted to the backstage area. My clumsy ass dropped a water bottle and Josey stopped, picked it up and handed it to me! Hed PE fed us their biggest hit “Bartender” and blew the roof off the place.
Jared wrapped it up with “Thank you Josey Scott for bringing us to Worcester! Everybody’s having a good time, yeah! Hed PE recorded their first LP in Worcester, Mass. Thank you Crazy Ed for selling our t-shirts! Thank you for all that served. I just wanna say I came here first generation from Brazil and made it!” “You got time for one more?” “Renegade” from New World Orphans was the closer. The group showed their love and appreciation as they exited.
I ended up seeing Nathan all over the venue all night long. When I arrived he was at the merch booth where I revealed my obsession and that I would be reviewing the show. He loves what he does! Then I saw him perform. Found him at the bar during Josey’s set. He hung out with the crowd and caught the other band’s gigs throughout the show. Do you like Hed PE? Catch a live show for a fun night. Wanna try some Hed PE? I always recommend Broke for starters.
The last time I saw Josey Scott, currently sporting “The Original Voice of Saliva” moniker, was at a charity event last year. They flew across the country to perform at WPLR’s Toy Drive which raised over $193,000 in cash and toys for local children’s charities. The band belted out four of their biggest hits, on limited sleep, but the venue was a furniture store and the sound quality wasn’t great where they were positioned, just outside of bedding. Our community will always be indebted to their selfless act of kindness on that day.
The Memphis, TN band Saliva formed in 1996 with Josey as the frontman. They produced several hits in the early aughts. Josey cut seven LPs with Saliva before exiting the band, after fifteen years, in 2011. He left to pursue a Christian music career and “be a father, get sober, clean up his life and find himself.” Saliva continued on with a new singer. In 2023 Josey began to tour with his own crew. At this show they were: Tyler Parry (Bass), Dylan Edney (Rhythm Guitar), Ben Hosterman (Lead Guitar) and Justin Barber (Drums).
They took their positions, with Josey clad in all black with highwater pants and exposed combat boots (it’s called a fashion statement people!) and kicked off a robust eighteen song set that touched on five LPs and included covers and soundtracks. “Black Sheep” from Blood Stained Love Story kicked it off followed by “Superstar” off of Every Six Seconds. They wasted no time getting to the hits as “Ladies and Gentlemen” was up next. The sound quality was spot on and Josey’s voice was up to the challenge.
The singer humbly offered up love and appreciation to the fans several times and the full room of concert goers responded gleefully. No one left early. They fed us two from Saliva with “Beg” and “Cellophane”, and two from Every Six Seconds with “After Me” and “Doperide”. I had a blast, I bopped around all over that place! The set continued with “Greater Than Less Than” and “Broken Sunday” before dipping into Back Into Your System with “Weight of the World”.
I left my perch up front to go to the bar and my boy Nathan was there hanging with fans and taking in the show. This was during the title track “Survival of the Sickest”. The band did a rendition of Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name Of” and we all lost our shit. I told Nathan I couldn’t stay at the bar, I had to be back up front for that. He totally understood. And there I stayed for the rest of the set, vibing and dancing with my people. We got “Rest In Pieces” and from the 2003 Daredevil soundtrack, “Bleed For Me”.
The set wrapped with a rapid fire of their most well known hits: “Hero” off of the 2002 Spider-Man soundtrack, “Always”, “Click Click Boom” and “Your Disease”. Don’t remember Saliva? You’ve probably heard their songs at sporting events! Have fond memories of Saliva fronted by Josey Scott? Then you won’t be disappointed at the live show. The Nu Metal Revival tour runs through the end of March and it looks like Josey is adding some dates beyond that. Get you some!
To learn more about Josey Scott, check out their Website
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