Las Vegas Weekly

Bathroom Banter with Papa Roach opener After Midnight Project

After Midnight Project, opening for Papa Roach Friday at House of Blues.

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Everyone who’s been to Vegas has a story to tell.

While typically it involves waking up with a pounding headache and lying next to a complete stranger, sometimes the tales are a bit more original.

For example, take L.A. hard rockers After Midnight Project, opening band for Papa Roach at House of Blues on Friday.

We caught up with the lead singer of AMP, Jason Evigan, who says he’s often mistaken for either Jared Leto or Perez Hilton (we’re only seeing Leto’s alter ego Jordan Catalano). He relayed his most recent memory of Vegas over the phone from the bathroom of the tour bus—the only quiet place he could find while en route to L.A.

“On [Interstate] 15 - it was pretty crazy - we hit a train track and the whole [trailer] just broke off,” recalled Evigan of the last time his band passed through town for a show at Jillian’s at Neonopolis (R.I.P.). “We were laying on our bunks in the back and out of nowhere, we heard this big thump—like someone hit the back of the RV. We looked out and our trailer passed us.”

Luckily, the runaway cargo came to a stop and no one was hurt, and it's also fortunate that this isn’t the only memory Evigan has of Vegas. He’s had his share of good times with us as well—like his 21st birthday that was celebrated at the Palms. “It was just like any other Vegas story,” Evigan said remembering his legal drinking-age celebration. “You black out and don’t really know what happened. It’s pretty much just like The Hangover—minus the tiger in the bathroom. Vegas is always just too insane,” he said with a laugh.

This time around the band plans to take their partying to the stage at the House of Blues, even though in the past that’s proved a painful outcome for Evigan.

“I’m a major dancer onstage,” Evigan confessed. “But I’m in so much pain right now, I jacked [my back] up really bad when I did some weird dance move and twisted it. I’m pretty much bed ridden throughout the day.”

While such an injury would typically mean a tamer performance, Evigan maintained that’s not going to be the case. “I gotta dance!” he insisted. “It’s in my blood. My mom was a professional dancer on Broadway, she was a jazz ballerina … I gotta dance!”

So fans can rest assured they’ll still be able to experience a high-energy performance from AMP. As for what to expect from the music itself – Evigan offered his personal description: “A cool way to describe it is, a couple meets at a bar, they fall in love and then they have a romantic knife fight. Then they go home with each other. So it’s emotional, it’s happy, but there’s still this anger and aggression there too.”