Those guys (an article from The Providence Phoenix 12/7/06)

I saw the much ballyhooed MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE last week in their sold-out show at Lupo’s. Their newest disc, My Black Parade, is surprisingly good; live, they’re a melange of edgy alt-rock and classic Aerosmith, Kiss, and Queen. Lead singer Gerald Way is without a doubt this generation’s Freddie Mercury, which helps to make MCR a band for all tastes and ages. Nowhere was that fact more clearly played out than in diversity of the audience, where fifth graders squealed, 30somethings pumped their fists, and 40ish parental types smiled at the back of the room. A bunch of those fist-pumpers happened to be in a band called THOSE GUYS, a talented corporate function/ wedding/private room bunch. Johnny Halloran and the boys, once the house band at Christie’s in Newport, have been gigging for a decade. While they’ve ditched their aspirations of succeeding with original material, they’ve been able to stay busy playing every weekend at places around New England in front of “mature” crowds that enjoy their mix of melodic rock from the ’70s to the ’00s. When I bumped into them, they were sitting quietly up in the Lupo’s balcony. But, like the hardcore rockers they are, they upped and shoved themselves to the front of the stage. Halloran told me after the show it was the first time in 12 years he felt moved enough by a band to take that kind of plunge. And, better still, he lived to tell about it. Sounds like hearts are in the right place with Those Guys. You can check ’em at www.thoseguysnpt.com.

Bob Gulla-Writer for the Providence Phoenix