Floor Show

Philadelphia City Paper
February 24–March 2, 2000

Whether you think all the hype around K-Floor being the Next Big Thing out of Philly is overblown or understatement, the band’s recent TLA headlining gig/media circus would probably support your argument.

With so many roving cameras in the venue, one couldn’t have been faulted in thinking they were about to witness the second coming of Stevie Ray. Quickly ruling out the possibility of spectral apparitions, however, the crowd was left to conclude one of two things, that K-Floor really are a huge Philly talent deserving to be backed by big money, or a huge Philly sellout. (The original band formed in Kansas City, but their ubiquity on the local front since moving here in late ’97 has clearly established them as a Philadelphia property.) This, in turn, raises two major questions: First, if the former is true, is this a good thing? (see Huffamoose), and if the latter is true, are they as good as musicians as they are as marketers?

At first glance, the sellout notion seemed to hold some serious weight. The venue’s "redecorating measures" (read: logo-laced poster-plastering), undertaken by a certain sponsoring tobacco company, left the mostly early 20-something audience hard-pressed to forget the fact that the show was buoyed by some major corporate green. And guitarist/vocalist Nick Schnebelen proved, through intermittent kowtowing to said sponsor, that he possessed the ass-kissing skills which are unfortunately becoming increasingly more and more necessary in landing such headlining gigs.

But thankfully, that’s where the comparisons between K-Floor and bands turned corporate whores (read: Smashmouth) ended.

From the opening chords of the searing "Somanydynamos" to the blistering cover of the titular Howlin’ Wolf blues classic "Killing Floor," the Floor (as the cool kids call ’em) stole the attention of even the staunchest camera-hungry, Webcasting star-fuckers and placed the focus squarely upon the music. The funk-laden groove of "Spanky Jam," coupled with Schnebelen’s guitar acrobatics (the guy went through more backup strings than the Eagles’ secondary on a Sunday), was mesmerizing. It was enough to divert attention from the Mighty Morphin Power Ranger lookalike weaving throughout the crowd (and spending a good deal of time onstage), filming snippets through a specially designed face-mask camera for an upcoming MTV special titled — appropriately enough — Homegrown.

So maybe K-Floor does have what it takes to blossom into industry whores. But then again, who cares? Their scorching performance proved them to be among the few who deserve such attention.

(Joshua Valocchi)