Band worth the money

Start with a little bit of blues and mix in a touch of down-home roots rock a la Sister Hazel. Then mix it all up with an uptempo blast of original funky goodness that will leave you shell-shocked. \nYou can hear all of this and more in 30 seconds of any Shantee song. But the truth is, when it all comes down to it, these guys sound like no one but themselves.\nShantee is an up-and-coming rock band out of Columbus, Ohio. It's torn up the scene on the Ohio State campus, and Tuesday night it brought it eclectic blend to the Bluebird. Though it was a small Tuesday night crowd, Shantee brought the roof down.\nI was very impressed at the improved sound the band had for this show. It's albums have received rave reviews from nearly everywhere it travels, but the difference between the album versions of these songs and the live versions is quite noticeable. While in places on the albums songs might sound forced, in the live format the band is in top form, which showed quite clearly during it's Bluebird performance.\nThough there were fewer than 100 fans in the crowd, there wasn't a soul left sitting by the end of the night. I found myself consumed by the sounds that were hitting me full force. One moment I'd be deep in a blues vibe, and then there would be a switch to good down home roots rock, which invariably brought the fans to their feet. It's a rarity today in music to hear a band that doesn't get caught up in writing only certain styles of music. It is apparent even from the first listen that Shantee is certainly not going to fit into any predetermined style.\nThat's the best thing about this band, in fact. The fact that it doesn't stick to one style all the time leaves it open to bursts of amazing creativity, something that is generally lacking in other bands I've seen perform live. Shantee's set was filled with crowd-pleasing, yet entirely inventive songs, that I am sure will keep it in top form for years to come. And more than once I heard individual fans saying this was the best show they'd put down money for. That sums up Shantee.\nI can't help but wonder when the next chance will come for Bloomington to hear the sound of Shantee. If the word spreads here as quickly as it has wherever it puts down the roots of it's music, tickets for it's next show will be hard to come by.