Fill The Void
Aunt Flossie
by Alex Vagelatos

Aunt Flossie — then known as Dive — had their start in Rockord, Illinois, just like another rock band by the name of Cheap Trick. The similarity ends there, however. Whereas Cheap Trick devoted their considerable talents to perfecting power pop and high-energy fan anthems, Aunt Flossie, in their first full-length CD, explores the more traveled terrain of (sometimes) radio friendly mainstream rock n’ roll with (occasionally) enough rough edges to give the listener something to hold onto.

(Let’s hope Aunt Flossie never gives as lackluster a performance as Cheap Trick did at Piere’s recently. Of course, by the time they reach that level, they probably won’t lose any sleep over it, as the Tricksters apparently did not.)

The members of Aunt Flossie were just out of high school in the mid-90s when they decided to form a band. It was the usual story: The local paper wrote a story, and a radio station began playing some of their early cuts. Quickly, the band decided it needed wider pastures in which to roam, so they lit out for the territory (Austin, Texas a la Jackie Fly) and began opening for national acts, such as Collective Soul and Foo Fighters.

There are similarities to those and other successful bands in Aunt Flossie’s Fill the Void, and that isn’t necessarily bad. Aunt Flossie is Matt Roberts, lead guitar and vocals; Dave Steffen, drums; Jason Nelson, guitars and vocals; and Dean Rusk, bass. Anthony Olszewski was listed as the bass player in the promotional material that accompanied the CD, so Mr. Rusk may have been a really last-minute replacement; or is it the other way around? Roberts is a competent singer, and he and Nelson are pretty good at growling in the metal style favored by their peers. Steffen’s drumming is featured prominently on virtually all the songs, which gives the songs a strength that must serve them well live.

Judging by the length of the lyrics included on the CD insert, this band never met a line they didn’t like. The songs are verse tone poems. Unfortunately, the writing is at yet too vague; specifics touch people, not generalities.