What their videos didn't manage to capture was their level of musicianship. From the first note I was blown away by the skill of each member. It should be noted at this point that the members comprising the instrumental aspect of the band are all current or former members of the original band The Breakfast. It should be no surprise to Southern CT music fans that I was mainly impressed with the guitar mastery of Tim Palmieri. This was my first time checking Tim out on guitar and I was extremely impressed. Enough so to say that he is definitely one of the best guitarists in Connecticut. But he does not come off arrogant. As he aptly put it after the show, "I don't play guitar, the guitar plays me!"

That's not to say that the other members were not also impressive. Ron Spears on bass handled Flea's lines very well though had some small equipment issues early on in the night. Though he more than made up for it with not only emulating Flea, but adding his own improvisation to many of the lines. Adrian Tramontano on drums took a different approach. Whereas Chad Smith of The Chili Peppers prefers to stay back in the groove, Adrian threw in all kinds of fills and extra flair to the drums. Some worked, some didn't, but in all it helped give the tunes a little more of their own flavor. You can easily tell by listening to these guys that their true passion is in improvisational jamming.

But what I liked most about the band, beyond the instrumentation, was Dave Pecoraro on lead vocals. He sounds and moves so much like Anthony Kiedis that I have to say he is the closest to the real thing than I've seen in any other CT tribute band.

The big shame in the evening was that there weren't more people there. But on stage you wouldn't know it. There were probably 30 people at the biggest point of the night, but The Good Time Boys played to them as if they were headling Hyde Park. It's refreshing to see a band that cares as much about putting on a show as they do to just playing music.

I would strongly suggest that both casual and diehard fans of The Red Hot Chili Peppers come check out a show by The Good Time Boys. They easily get the CT/MA Music stamp of approval.

For a show schedule and band info check The Good Time Boys out at www.myspace.com/goodtimeboys

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