PRESS: The Sand Paper 06/18/2008

ON TAP: Amethyst

Issue date: 06/18/2008

HOME BASE: Middlesex/Union County

STYLE: All covers of 1980s music, complete with band members' head-to-toe '80s apparel. The band, formed in 2001, plays exclusively the best of the decade's pop, rock and Top 40. "We mostly stick to the hits, which almost always get folks up and dancing," bass player Mike Dok said, "be we also sprinkle in some more obscure stuff here and there, which folks like us who grew up in that era (who now are in their 30s and 40s), really seem to appreciate."

LINEUP: Peter Amadeo, lead vocals and rhythm guitars; Kristy Talorico, lead vocals and percussion; Mike Zaff, lead guitars and vocals; Dan O'Leary, keyboards and vocals; Mike Dok, bass and vocals; and Tom O'Kane, drums and vocals.

SOUNDBYTE: The '80s were a fun era in pop music, and we perform the material "note-for-note" with a lot of attention to detail," according to Dok. "Above all, we're fans of '80s music, and it's really the songs themselves that deserve the credit for our act." Audience members often tell the band, "You guys sound just like the record!" he added.

TWO'S TAKE: From power ballads to stadium rock to new wave to glam metal, the '80s provided the sountrack to many Generation X-ers' passage into adulthood. Take a stroll -- or better yet, walk like an Egyptian -- down memory lane with Amethyst this month.

BE THE JUDGE: The next two Fridays, June 20 and 27, at the Surf City Hotel.