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Aug 27, 2011 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

If anyone cared about guitar heroes anymore, Rose Hill Drive would be king of the current music scene. Unfortunately for the four boys from Colorado, their musical movement came 40 years earlier, led by one golden god and a wavy-haired occult-obsessed former session musician from West London. Thus Rose Hill Drive is relegated to opening for has-been grunge mainstreamers Stone Temple Pilots and its gaggle of aging fans in an outdoor arena set in the shadow of the dilapidated former empire of Bethlehem Steel, the now defunct company once famous for providing steel for the Golden Gate Bridge.

Playing a selection of songs mostly off their third album, the vastly underappreciated Americana, Rose Hill Drive easily blew the dead and bloated STP and its over-vibrato delivered, megaphone-enhanced hits right off the grand Steel Stacks Stage. Not that the diverse collection of ‘90s enthusiasts noticed much (or seemed to care). But this is beside the point.

Over the past nearly a decade since the band’s inception, Rose Hill Drive has developed from wet-behind-the-ears wunderkinds to the real deal of ‘70s-influenced heavy rock and roll. Sounding like Led Zeppelin with Pop Levi’s voice, the band blazed through its allotted 45 minute set with vim and vigor to spaire. Songs such as “Baby Doncha Know Your Man,” “Americana,” “Psychoanalyst,” and the wonderfully titled “Your Mother’s Jam” succeeded on sludgy riffs, blistering low end, and anchoring drums, not to mention a guitarist who was not afraid of the killer histrionic solo and a singer who could wail like Robert Plant on acid. “Trans Am,” a song from the band’s sophomore album, 2008’s Moon is the New Earth, was rendered much more vicious and visceral than its studio counterpart, and “Telepathic,” from Americana, became the band’s signature with a blend of funky riff, instrumental crescendo, and ear bleeding vocal yelp.

Though the band has three albums under its belt (including a long out-of-print live album where they cover Led Zeppelin in its entirety), Rose Hill Drive may not have made its best studio work yet. But judging by its performance on this night, it has conquered the live stage.

(www.rosehilldrive.com)