American Steel is a punk rock quartet--simple, catchy, upbeat and loud. The group is originally from Oakland, which I thought was weird because they had a few songs that employed the Sublime/Slightly Stoopid guitar sound. They are the type of punk rock band that doesn’t quite inspire moshing, but still inspires a lot of fist pumps and bouncing in place. One group of people actually started swing dancing, which was a first for me at the Casbah.

I enjoyed American Steel. They were honest, talented, and had a well rehearsed tightness to their sound. There were two guys—Rory Henderson and Ryan Massey—on guitar, John Peck on bass and Scott Healy on drums. Rory Henderson was the first vocalist, but Ryan Massey also sang lead vocals for a few songs. The effect was a strong, solid, impenetrable musical front. However there were several songs where Healy’s drums stuck out as well, such as in the extremely fast paced two-step beat one toward the end of the set.

American Steel commented on how they’ve been touring a lot with New Trust and how they were one of their favorite bands. They kept thanking the crowd and the crowd kept shouting requests. They were gracious and professional and didn’t seem like posers at all. What’s more they had the musical talent to back it up. They seem to be one of those bands whose recording material doesn’t quite compare to the live version. American Steel commented on how they had the next day off so they were throwing caution to wind, vocally speaking. Maybe there was a little raspiness to their voices, but no one could tell, and if anything it enhanced the performance. There isn’t much you could say bad about them. There music is good, but also catchy, and if they keep it up they just might make it on that MTV soundtrack