Last week I ventured out to locals only, walking a full two blocks to take in two groups, one older, one newer, both comprised of veterans on the Indy music scene. Locals only was hosting on a chilly Friday, and while the crowd was light, it still managed to be eye-burning smokey. But whatever, let's hear some music.

Virgil is a hardcore instumental group of dudes who have known and played with each other since childhood. Thus they have a very tight, nuanced, and creative mixture of head-banging crunch and rhythm chopping. Yet it seemed to always stay in a groove, and thankfully was not just a series of masturbatory solos.

They got down, led by a bald bassist named T.J. who I had met years ago but never actually saw perform. The end-of-set near-fight between T.J. and apparenty old recording buddy in the audience thinnined the crowd a bit further, but was quite entertaining to me.

Next up was Lazarus, led by Russ of the Mudkids, and backed by a hardcore band. Right from the beginning of the set, sound problems emerged and plagued the musical vibe. It seemed to improove after a couple songs, although it's always going to be hard to hear an emcee over some loud rock music. At this point the band could have backed down a bit, and played quieter and less, but they seemed to do the opposite.

It seemed thru the mojority of the Lazarus set, the musicians were tuned into themselves, oblivious to the fact that the lead voice was being drown out behind their fills, crashes, and distortion. As a result, Russ never really hit stride during a set that had it's moments, but didn't quite come off to it's potential. I look forward to hearing this band again in a venue with a bit better sound-system and more people to provide the missing energy.