Local Fort Lauderdale Rock Band plays JB's on the Ocean Posted by donna king

It’s 9pm as I walk along the beach Friday night, hearing live music coming from a local restaurant. Sounding like Elvis, I stop dead in my tracks to listen to this rock group belting out one of his greatest songs “Suspicious Minds”...Being a fan of rock music I immediately head for a table on the patio to enjoy the tunes. The next song this band plays, is another great Elvis tune “It’s Allright Mama”. This local Fort Lauderdale band, formed in 2009 calls themselves “The Weedline". They are known for playing classic rock, modern rock, jazz, blues, country, and their own originals.

For a local Florida group, which was formed in spring of 2009 they have certainly gotten a lot of recognition in such a short time. The group’s members are : Mark Zaden. Zaden, guitarist and singer-songwriter who adds the acoustic soul to the rock and roll rhythm section made up of Eddie Garczyk on drums, Ed Groblewski on bass and Dave Oechsle on lead guitar and vocals, all formerly of the band Superstuff. This particular night featured an incredible female vocalist which sounded like a cross between gospel and jazz.

The next several songs the band performed were original tunes which had more of a modern rock sound. A little like Jimmy Hendrix, these rock sounds can be downloaded directly from Itunes.

Being a fan of blues and jazz I really enjoyed when The Weedline covered songs from Tom Petty, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Allman Brothers Band, and Kid Rock. The Rolling Stones, “Can’t Always Get What You Want” sounded great – a little blues, a little county. Sweet Home Alabama, originally by Lynyrd Skynyrd was sung in a combination of jazzy and country sounds, making an interesting combination in one song. Surprising it worked well as the female vocalist sounded like to cross between Tom Petty and Kid Rock. When the song by Tom Petty “Free Fallin’ was played, the house was totally rocking. But I can’t say enough about the Allman Brothers tunes the band played, they seemed to get their music down with such precision that I actually thought Duane was playing guitar. Another great tune was John Mellencamp’s “Little Pink Houses” which sounded more bluesy than the original recording. To me this band sounded more of rock with an acoustic soul.

If you love the music from Elvis, Kid Rock, Tom Petty, Allman Brothers Band, Rolling Stones, and Blues Brothers undoubtedly you will love “The Weedline Band”. I highly recommend listening to this diverse rock group.

To find out more about this group and their scheduled performances visit their website: http://www.theweedline.com/fr_welcome.cfm