Rock stars don't tour in January, and they certainly don't come to Ohio during the middle of winter. But Primus bassist Les Claypool ain't your typical rock star, and the flurry of artists he brings with him on the two-pronged SnoCore tour don't have the clout (or the cash) to hibernate quite yet. SnoCore encompasses two different touring units, playing three days apart at the Agora. First up: SnoCore Rock, the aggro-metal hoedown, spearheaded by Kittie (metal babes in boyland) and Fear Factory (the boys). The former operates as a sort of Donnas collective for the Korn set -- four badass chicks with fake IDs and a cunning plan to fuse hair metal with rap metal, sans the dunderheadedness. Fear Factory, meanwhile, sports less crossover/sex appeal, doling out punishing faux-industrial metal and only surfacing to toss off a Gary Numan cover ("Cars") every now and then. Marilyn Manson protégés the Union Underground join a pair of amusingly named underlings (Slaves on Dope, Boy Hits Car) in rounding out the set. The SnoCore Icicle Ball wanders into town a few days later, led by Les Claypool's Frog Brigade, a side project possessed of the same technically brilliant, stylistically nervous punk-funk that made him famous with Primus. Expect a sort of "This Is Your Life" set (cuts from Primus, Sausage, and the Holy Mackerel) mixed in with the odd Beatles cover. The Brigade shares headlining duties with Galactic, a New Orleans jazz-funk collective boasting a more traditional Cajun style, and two "edgy" fusion bands (Lake Trout, Drums and Tuba) round out the evening, perhaps taking the jam-band aesthetic a bit too far. Folks will scratch their heads more often than they'll bang them, but a little disorientation never hurt anybody.
