The Hollywood Reporter on the Deficit Gig, 12/20/00

Full Article at The Hollywood Reporter Online

Dec. 22, 2000
Deficit
By John Lappen

Goldfinger’s
Hollywood
Wednesday, Dec. 20

Grinding, crunching, howling. It was a full metal racket emanating from the hole-in-the-wall known as Goldfinger’s as new kid on the metal block Deficit played an impressive end-of-year gig. Only the intense quartet’s second show, it’s obvious that they have been spending some quality time together as they cranked away on a 45-minute set list that is lean, diamond hard and very metallic.
Led by lead singer Larry Romano, a total in-your-face New Yorker whose swarthy mug can be seen on CBS’ hit sitcom “The King of Queens” and on the soon-to-appear NBC comedy “Kristen,” Deficit is an L.A. band that is not one of the endless Limp Bizkit/Korn clones that are dominating the contemporary hard music scene. Instead of incorporating heavy hip-hop rhythms into their metal oeuvre, they rely more on a wall-of-sound guitar technique as supplied by ace guitarist Mick Taras. Taras offers up dense sheets of brittle sound that utilize minimal soloing and are all about creating a sonic atmosphere that is more melodic than gloomy. His guitar attack comes off sounding like tightly wound stacks of barbed wire that suddenly uncoil to unleash a razor-sharp edge that owes as much to the early work of Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi as it does to his contemporary metal brethren.

Pounding out relatively short, driving songs from their self-titled debut album, Deficit came off as tight, well-rehearsed and enthusiastic. Romano danced around the tiny stage, throwing mike stands and talking Noo Yawk trash to the amused crowd. His growling singing style, which never reached the depths of the unintelligible guttural style employed by some of metal’s more extreme purveyors, fit right into the mix as another rhythm instrument, fortifying the band’s sturdy metal wall. Bassist Angelo Barbera and drummer Ty Dennis were the anchors to that wall — Barbera both pushing the metal envelope with no-nonsense low-tone hammering throughout while adding punchy, finger-poppin’ funk on the Red Hot Chili Peppers-style “Burn Your Raydio” and the soulful metal riffing of the anthemic “Fad.”

Indeed, it was the band’s ability to take left-hand turns into hard funk reminiscent of James Brown amid metal-storm workouts that, in tandem with their strong melodic sensibilities, gave the music a unique quality that isn’t often distinguishable in the music of more angry, over-the-top aggro-metal bands. And it helps that Deficit has a sense of humor about their chosen work; again, something that too many of today’s heavy bands lack. Stroll-ing onstage to their lounge-metal version of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” Romano ripped off his fedora and apologized to the crowd for being so mellow before they immediately launched into the unrelenting, insidious riffing of “Monkey Blues.” A bit of shtick, of course, but it showed that Deficit can go toe-to-toe with hard music and not be grim about it. Definitely a band to keep an eye on heading into the new year.

Copyright 2003 The Hollywood Reporter