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SPECIAL VIDEO ENHANCED CD Contains the videos for "City Boy" and a live version of "Freedom" Southern hard rock with an attitude, Sixth Floor has been going strong for 6 years in the backwoods of southern Kentucky. Groove oriented hard rock that ROCKS TO ROCK, with a dedicated following of the "Family of Freaks," Sixth Floor has a strong following and great reviews! Winners of numerous southern Kentucky awards, openers for some badass bands (like Pump jack, Betty Blowtorch, and Ratt) Sixth Floor is All about the Rock baby! GET YA SOME CHECK OUT THE REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I usually don't like singers with accents, no matter what kind. Especially Southern accents. But John King isn't a singer. He's more like some weird alien being that you didn't know existed and are scared of at first, but then find yourself raving about. James Labrie he ain't (how's that for quaint and southern) but if James Labrie fronted this band he'd be shot on sight. Sixth Floor is metal, true and true, with King's twang giving it a different type of feel. Unlike some metal bands I've heard who put out their own CD, the Floor (as I've been told I should call them) actually have melody. John King is a writer in the truest sense of the word. I'm not saying this is a melodic metal band (that just drips of Poison doesn't it) but these songs aren't just rushes of guitar with no sense of what hooks. These are songs that when you hear them, you don't forget. Honestly, with my desire to torch all cds with a southern accent attached , I guess it should be taken as a compliment that the songs were strong enough to hook me. Now, if a man who I would readily call a loud mouthed guitar swinging redneck can write songs that hook ME, that's a big plus. The songs are just there. "City Boy" and "Radio Flyer" are probably my two favorites. As far as musicianship goes this band has a lot going for them. There are two guitarists but they don't battle each other to be on top. I was actually most impressed with the drummer George Collard (not exactly a rock and roll name, but hey, he doesn't need one). George plays hard, you can almost feel the hammer coming down, but he doesn't overplay, and he keeps the beat. The biggest compliment I can give him is that he fits. He doesn't overdo it, he doesn't under do it. He is just essential. That's what a drummer should strive for. The only real problems I have with this CD (you knew it was coming didn't you) are that since this version came off MP3.com, it doesn't have that true CD quality I love. Everyone knows MP3s just miss something, but that isn't taking anything away from this CD. I'm just an anal retentive ass who listens way too closely for my own good. The rest of the world probably won't even notice. I would also have preferred that Superficial or Supergrass switch places with Freedom, but that's not a big deal. Freedom is a good song, I just think the CD would flow better if it wasn't right after City Boy. On the whole, I'm glad I got to listen to this. I've been told that a new version is out, complete with a video for City Boy and some other stuff, and upon visiting their site I see that is true. So if you get the CD, you'll get an even better version than the one I have. I give Let Freedom Ring 4.4 headbangs out of 5, 5 being the greatest thing ever, 4 being definitely worth having, 3 being nice to have but you wouldn't miss it, and anything less than that being something I won't bother to review. The Grynder -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Amplifier-3/02 It's time for the Family of Freaks to celebrate. The official release of Sixth Floor's new CD Let Freedom Ring marks the first full length CD by the Morgantown hard rockers in about five years. The wait, punctuated by a flirtation with a deal with Island Records, did not put any rust on Sixth Floor, though. Let Freedom Ring has all the intensity, irreverence, and rural heavy rock point of view as the first two album releases Sixth Floor and Supersonic Hydroponic Phototron. Their fans, the freaks, will be buzzing on it. Sixth Floor formally released Let Freedom Ring at their February 22 show at the Factory in Cave City, which also featured Dry Land Fish and Rivendale. The CD also includes two videos, an improvement over an earlier mp3.com version of the CD. Sixth Floor once again turned to Barrick Studios, which has a knack for great recordings of heavy rock bands. David Barrick (who co-produced with Sixth Floor) was up to the task and conveyed the pulsating aggression and I-know-what-I-want attitude of the band. The players this time around are John King (lead vocals, guitar), Jarrod Duke (lead guitar), George Collard (drums), and Rob Dowell (bass, vocals), with additional bass and vocal tracks contributed by former Sixth Floor bassist Dave Shaver Part of the bands appeal is their hard rock musicality. Far from just blasting away, Sixth Floor has a sense of melody and rhythm that elevates their riffs to major league hook status. Let Freedom Ring again shows that the band has an incredible heavy groove, with tight and live power in their rhythms and Dukes leads which elevate without overplaying. It's impossible -- just not possible -- to listen to a Sixth Floor album without cranking it up and bathing in the storm. The other part is strong, up-front lyrics delivered with conviction by King on themes of living life ones own way and in settings well off the main roads. Even on record, King is magnetic, and he lets you know that he does what he does regardless of what The Man and others think of him. Leading off the CD is the saturated City Boy, flowing and menacing like red-hot lava as King warns the neighborhood "Here come the rednecks creepin up your block/With the Trans Ams, IROCs and old drop tops/Here come the freaks, better step aside/Got the Black Sabbath jammin in my super fly ride".Universe is a signature Sixth Floor landscape-- dramatic, charismatic, and dangerous, with a swirling arrangement that puts the listener on a sonic roller coaster. King and Co. question the fairness of the shake ordinary people get on the thunderous Freedom, saying Honesty ain't such a bad religion/Common man needs a slap on the back and declaring "Let freedom ring like a bullet from a gun/Don't know about you but I'm gettin me some/Got a choke hold on the fortunate son/Grand daddy gave his life, now it's comin undone. Living life in rural environs -- its pleasures and drags -- permeates Sixth Floors music. The raging Radio Flyer hits the heart of it with the lines "Family thinks I'm a freak/Says my values are weak/But I know just where I stand/Don't wanna be no businessman". Stump Broke is pumping with Collard's unstoppable skins driving the riffs into overdrive while King sings of being poor and harassed by family and the law. Supergrass is one of the strong tracks here, blasting away while King says he just wants to unwind from everyday life. Appalachian Queen tells of a different kind of fishing story -- lets say the pole and the trophy catch have nothing to do with a tackle box. And then there's Small Town, an anthematic song with its dead-on look at dopers, sex fiends, and others who may wind up in the Butler County jail. King sings of going to the river with a sack of seeds, a truck load of freaks and that ultimately all I care about is friends. Sixth Floor just did a March 2 show in St. Louis at the Creepy Crawl with Pud and Persona Non Grata and a March 9 show in Nashville at the Sutler. They'll be in Richmond on March 22 at Hooligans, then back in Bowling Green at Three Brothers on March 29. Let Freedom Ring is available around the area, including Musicians Pro in Bowling Green, ShowBizz Video in Morgantown, and Record Rack in Glasgow. Get more information and talk with the community of Sixth Floor freaks via the message board at http://www.sixthfloor.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- News 4 U -2/01 Let Original Bands Reign SIXTH FLOOR Tears Through Western Kentucky By Justin Case Word to the wise, just because it's a reference to the old mental/rehab floor at the hospital, it doesn't mean you need to avoid the Sixth Floor. In fact, if you're looking for an original band that plays killer rock-n-roll, the Sixth Floor is where it's at. They'll be playing at Suzy Q's on March 10th and again at Kelly Green's on March 17th so if you haven't seen them before, now you have two chances to catch one of the hottest , rockinest bands in Western Kentucky. The band has been around quite some time; it started in the mid-90's has released two CD'S. Their third release , titled Let Freedom Ring , will be hitting the street probably about the same time as you're reading this article. Their songs are all rocking and available at MP3.com , or you can get the CD in it's entirety at any of the band's live performances. Lately the band has been stretching their horizons and spreading out to new areas. Lead guitarists Jarrod Duke told us all about what's been happening with Sixth Floor lately. " We just try to set up gigs ourselves and we don't have anyone doing our booking but we play in Bowling Green, West Virginia, Memphis and throughout Indiana. We're trying to get set up in Atlanta too." What should one expect to hear on their CD or at a live shows? "We just play original songs. That's what we decided to do the very first day we started. We've tried to make it all our material. And as for cover bands " It's an easy way to play in order to make money, but I'd rather not play that stuff and try to get more respect. People know that we're actually doing stuff that somebody hasn't already done. This CD is the one we're really pushing." The band is made up of members Duke, John King, the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the band, Rob Dowell on bass and George Collard on percussion. Dowell has only been with the band for a year but as Duke told me, Dowell is the perfect fit to this group and only adds to the talent of the band so there's no need to worry about not hearing a really sweet show. Here's the laundry list of achievements: They've released two CD'S with a new one moments away from being released ( I have an advanced copy and it kicks ass) they were the 1996 winner of the Southern Kentucky Battle of the Bands, they were on the cover of the Amplifier magazine, the cover of Rock-n-Read magazine, opened in concert for Ratt, showcased at CBGB's in New York, ranked #1 on the Live and Local show on 107.1 FM and won an award for best live performance in Bowling Green. When they played in New York in 1999, they received some serious label attention from Island Records. They've also had airplay throughout Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia and were featured on Cornerband.com. Duke filled me in on how to define the music of Sixth Floor. "We're an old rock and roll band; we can really rock. We have been labeled as straight up rock and roll, which is fine. Metal gets such a negative view sometimes. If you say you're in a metal band, then people figure that it's speed metal with a lot of screaming. We just try to make good music. We always say that we're a cross between Sabbath and Skynyrd, we're heavy but...we're just rednecks. Where we're from, you can't be anything other than that. I'm from a little town called Morgantown. It's in the middle of nowhere. We're actually not from Bowling Green. When we first started playing we were in Bowling Green but we say we're from Morgantown. There are so many bands that are from Bowling Green right now so we just try to be a little different and say we're from Morgantown. Sixth Floor's webpage, www.sixthfloor.org, is not only well designed , but has just about everything you'd ever need to know about the band. It is also the only place where you can sign up to become part of the Sixth Floor team. That's right. You too can join the Sixth Floor Army. Well, the band refers to them as "Street Sweepers," but it's growing like an army. You'll need to go to their website in order to join. Relax, it's not a cult or anything, the Street Sweepers are something like a step up from a fan club. The Sweepers get to go to all the Sixth Floor concerts and hand out flyers and cool merchandise like T-shirts, stickers and more. Their job is to help spread the word about the band and bring in more potential fans to the shows. Let Freedom Ring is ten action-packed songs with sweet samples from movies like Braveheart. Songs like "Pimp Daddy Stalker" and "Small Town" show the massive capabilities and talent of this "local" band because they sure don't sound like they're from around here. Actually, the way they sound ranks them up there with the big boys. Don't dawdle- - go out and see Sixth Floor when they come to Suzy Q's on March 10 and then see them again at Kelly Green's on March 17. And while you're at it , buy their new CD Let Freedom Ring or download songs from sixthfloor.org or MP3.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Amplifier-12/99 Think of the musical artists from this part of the state who have gained national prominence. A certain pattern emerges - names like Ronnie McDowell, Lonzo and Oscar, Bill Monroe, the Kentucky Headhunters, and New Grass Revival (and their famous alumni Sam Bush, Curtis Burch, and John Cowan). Now think of Sixth Floor. If that seems as ill a fit as flip flops with a tuxedo, then start changing your thinking about area music and Sixth Floor. The Bowling Green and Morgantown based heavy rock foursome has caught some serious record label interest. Four years from the time that John King put a card on the musicians board at Kentucky Music, Sixth Floor has elevated itself into a position to be as likely a band to get a major label deal as any unsigned band in America. Emerging from a music area that traditionally produces mainly country and bluegrass luminaries, Sixth Floor seems to be flying in the face of convention, much the same way their lyrics frequently flout social conventions. Fresh back from playing at CBGB in New York and the Philadelphia Music Conference, Sixth Floor - John King (vocals, guitar), Jarrod Duke (lead guitar), David Shaver (bass), and George Collard (drums) - will perform in Bowling Green at Picasso's on January 20, where record label representatives are expected to be in attendance. At this showcase, the group will give away CDs of their latest four-song demo that has created a buzz among those who have been watching Sixth Floor over the past year or so. The dancing with the industry began in earnest with the second Sixth Floor release Supersonic Hydroponic Phototron (reviewed in the March 1998 issue of the Amplifier). The powerful yet multi-dimensional album introduced several labels to the band, and radio stations in Kentucky and Tennessee did give Sixth Floor some airplay. At the same time, Sixth Floor attracted the interest, and representation, of entertainment attorney Ronald Bienstock (whose roster has included Megadeath, King Diamond, Cannibal Corpse, Billy Joel, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and the Goo Goo Dolls). As a result of feedback from these industry contacts, Sixth Floor has directed their energies in development of their stage show, songwriting, and exposure in larger markets. As was the case when Sixth Floor promoted Supersonic Hydroponic Phototron exclusively when they could have printed more copies of the first album Sixth Floor, another pressing of Supersonic Hydroponic Phototron was passed over in favor of pushing toward the next project and refinements to improve their chances with national and indie hard rock labels. Sixth Floor brought four songs to Barrick Studios, the place where both albums were recorded. The resulting demo, recorded and mixed in one day in Sixth Floor's characteristic speed, got strong feedback from David Barrick , Barrick felt that, good as Supersonic Hydroponic Phototron was, these four songs were Sixth Floor's strongest material yet. That reaction has been shared by attorney Bienstock and several record labels as well, labels who have been monitoring Sixth Floor for over a year. One major label, who must remain nameless at this stage, reacted quite favorably to the demo, indicating that the music goes in the direction Sixth Floor needs to go. Sixth Floor got good exposure with some higher profile gigs, particularly the fall shows at the Philadelphia Music Conference (an event played by the Radioactive Flowers previously) and CBGB. Both shows were attended by national labels who were watching Sixth Floor. In addition, Sixth Floor has opened for Ratt at the Toy Tiger in Louisville and played prominent venues like Exit Inn and 328 Performance Hall in Nashville, New Daisy Theatre in Memphis, and the International Ballroom in Atlanta. As those who attend the Picasso's show on January 20 will find out, the four song CD demo is a little different from the previous releases, but that difference is more an adjustment of approach rather than a change of style. The music is still Sixth Floor - still surging and agile, still pointed and militant, still tied to a tectonic heavy groove. The songs on the demo reveal a development toward streamlining the Sixth Floor approach - including the time signature changes, dynamics, and heavy compelling riffs - and saying what they say in 3 1/2 minutes instead of 5 minutes. The songwriting and performances are sharp. On the opening track "Let Freedom Ring," King assails differences in freedom over a pounding instrumental storm: "We all live in a yellow submarine, man/Ain't no smile 'cause our pockets ain't fat/Up to our necks in your American dream, man/Missed a bill, what you think about that." Then when the tempo shifts to a slower gear, King issues the loaded declaration, "Let freedom ring like a bullet from a gun." As usual, Duke and King offer up meaty riffs that the rhythm section of Shaver and Collard perfectly push into hyperdrive. Collard steps forward with some answering flourishes on "Shindig" and well- chosen accents throughout. In keeping with the overall Sixth Floor philosophy, Collard never overplays, yet he adds the occasional drum riff that accentuates the groove of the song. The strong reaction to the demo by normally jaded industry people has Sixth Floor feeling like they are on to something more than what they've achieved before. But, as Curtis pointed out, the band still has a wary approach to their current label attention. One of the labels watching Sixth Floor with interest is in the midst of a business transition which could delay any decision on Sixth Floor. Any number of factors can delay or stop a deal, some of which (like how the band can fit with a label's promotional approach of its various artists) could have nothing to do with Sixth Floor's readiness for a national or regional market. Curtis says their plan is to keep playing where they can showcase for labels; another trip to New York to get in front of other labels that have expressed interest in Sixth Floor may be pursued. Sixth Floor has been playing dates recently with Supafuzz (which has signed with New York indie label Gotham). Also, Sixth Floor is working with the Kentucky Headhunters regarding a spring show at the Corvette Museum Amphitheater featuring several Kentucky rock bands; Supafuzz is likely to be part of that show as well. For more information on Sixth Floor performances, visit their website at www.sixthfloor.org *Additions: Sixth Floor will be playing with SupaFuzz in Lexington 1/16/00 at what use to be Phone 3. Sixth Floor played "Unsigned Primetime Live" sponsored by 100.5 The Fox in Louisville at the Toy Tiger in August and was one of 16 from the 60 participating bands to be chosen to play again. Of the 16 four will be picked to showcase in front of A&R's from Electra, Dreamworks and Island Records. Dreamworks and Island Records are two that have shown a strong interest in Sixth Floor. Sixth Floor will be interviewed live on the Fox Monday January 25th and will play at the Toy Tiger on Tuesday January 26th.owing and great reviews! GET YA SOME Check out the artist's website: http://www.sixthfloor.org Track List: 1. City Boy 2. Freedom 3. Universe 4. Stump Broke 5. Superficial 6. Supergrass 7. Small Town 8. Radio Flyer 9. Appalachian Queen 10. Pimp Daddy Stalker 11. 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