Envy, Yellow Brick Road rock Suncoast

SPECIAL TO VIEWEnvy, a band that performs on Friday and Saturday nights at the Suncoast Showroom, includes members, from left, Tim Doyle, Katie Dix and Ben Harris. Advertisement

The new year brought new talent to the Suncoast, 9090 W. Alta Drive. It signed two bands for its lounge and showroom entertainment.

One of the bands is Envy. It brings edgy, modern music to the Summerlin area.

"The things I look for in a band is one that plays music you can dance to, performers who have energy and are downright fun," said Terry Jenkins, director of entertainment for Boyd Gaming, which owns the Suncoast. "Envy has three good looking, talented young people. They exude energy."

Fronted by vocalists Ben Harris, Katie Dix and Woody Jarrett, the band's repertoire incudes songs by the Black Eyed Peas, Michael Jackson, Prince and Flo Rida.

Envy is out of Scottsdale, Ariz. Jarrett said they looked forward to the chance to perform in Las Vegas.

"In Arizona, there are three or four places where a band can play," Jarrett said. "But in Las Vegas, there are countless venues with bigger crowds."

The crowds Envy draws in Arizona aren't much different than the Las Vegas ones, he said. They are upscale, educated people -- not exactly what they anticipated from a city with a party-town reputation.

"We didn't really know what to expect the first time," Jarrett said. "Everybody goes to the Strip when they come here. But the locals' market is an entirely different world."

The group is different, too. It takes one song and seamlessly blends it into the next one, a sort of disc jockey slant to a live performance. Sometimes it means cutting a song down to 11/2 minutes, but the transitions keep the beat going.

"It's more conducive to dancing," Jarrett said.

Envy includes musicians Jeremy Rodriguez on bass guitar, Paul Gregory at the keyboards and the drummer, who simply goes by the initial E.

Envy takes the stage starting at 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays in the Suncoast Lounge.

The Suncoast also signed Yellow Brick Road, a classic rock band that performs hits from the '70s and '80s.

It was formed in 1997 as a tribute band for Elton John, taking its name from one of the British icon's albums. It has played in taverns and nightclubs, filling four one-hour sets.

"We'd run out of Elton John songs about halfway through, so we began throwing in songs from other artists," band member Brody Dolyniuk said.

Yellow Brick Road now is known for performing the hits of groups such as Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Journey and Van Halen.

The five-member band also incudes Brooke St. James, David St. John, Jonathan Gilcrest and James Sloan.

"This is a band that does its homework," Jenkins said. "They know what their audience likes."

Yellow Brick Road holds court in the Suncoast Showroom from 9 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday evenings.

Admission is free to both Yellow Brick Road and Envy. Guests must be 21 or older to attend.

For information, visit www. suncoastcasino.com or call 636-7111.

Contact Summerlin View and South Summerlin View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.