Letdown

By Stephanie Marino - Photo by Jeff Behar
Letdown from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, was one of the winners of a contest put on by WAAF to open for Godsmack at the Tweeter Center on May 22nd, so me being the local lover that I am, had to speak with them after their hair-raising set. I wanted to get the feel from these boys after just playing the second stage, where many famous bands have played before them: Mudvayne, Incubus, and even Fear Factory.
This was actually the third time Letdown got to play at a huge venue. They were at Locobazooka this past September and at the WAAF Indoor Beach party opening for Social Burn, Seether, and Mudvayne. Damn! Letdown is no joke - next thing we will be hearing them all over the radio. They did mention that their radio song is “Figure It Out,” but as usual I never agree. I personally love “Dying Slowly” and you can hear me play it on “ALL LOCAL”, 91.5 FM, WMFO.
Letdown got a 45-minute set and I was really surprised as usually opening acts don’t get that long of a set. They informed me that on Tuesday, two days before the show, they were told that since they were going on so early they could play for that long. And before I forget to mention, these guys really put on a great set. I especially liked the last song, a cover of the Charlie Daniels Band’s, “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” Of course it was the Steve Vai version, like from the movie. And when the solo came up Dan flipped his guitar behind his neck and let the solo fly. GREAT!!! I love that stuff. Letdown told me this was a dream come true and expressed many thanks to WAAF and Godsmack for giving them this opportunity. They don’t get much love in R.I., so when the contest was held at the RockPile in Saugus, they were happy to have a club ask them back to play there more than once.
The actual Letdown name is about three years old. The founding members have been together for eight years and the newest member has been with them for two years, so no virgins in this band, they know what it’s all about. They went through the gamut of different people and names. But they all grew up and went to school together.
I asked them to describe their music to me and this is what I got: “Soul-searching music, because you feel differently all the f’n time so you write differently.” I agree with that description, because some songs sound metal, then you have the hardcore, plus there is a little rap in there and even some ho-down sh’t-kickin country style going on. Letdown states, “You are not going to be mad all the time so whatever the feeling is, that’s what comes out in the music.” These guys have such a great sense of humor, too, they let it slip out that they used to be a boy band until they got fat. I think they were part of N’Sync or the BackStreet Boys at one time. Ya right! But either way Letdown is a really good band and I would definitely recommend you checking them out live. For more info go to www.letdownsite.com.

Letdown is: Dan Pepin, Ron Howard, Dan (Tiny) Carter, and Nate Tellier - Soundcheck Magazine