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I had missed The Mantras when the Greensboro, N.C., band played at Martin's Downtown a few months back, but had interviewed the band's Keith Allen before that show, and I got the feeling these guys were going to do well.

Late last night at the beer garden stage, they put on a wildly energetic set of extended original tunes, and a tail-kicking cover of the Beatles' "I Am The Walrus." Guitarists Allen and Marcus Horth were way different stylistically, but they worked great together, delivering some stinging, Southern rock-style twin leads in the midst of sometimes Zappa-like chaos. It was an odd mix, and it worked.

Bassist Brian Tyndall must have a nuclear reactor built into his right hand -- the guy was an unstoppable thumping machine.

Afterward, Allen said the band just got signed to Perpetual Groove's management company, and are touring parts deeper south after FloydFest. If sometimes frenetic, pretty original jam rock is your thing, catch the band if it hits Roanoke again.

EOTO was at the holler stage, and I caught a bit of it. It was a dance-jam set that kept the audience going till deep into the morning. I'll turn now to Inside Out's hit the road compiler, William Alexander, for this assessment: "For just two guys, they sure can make a lot of noise."

Drummer Jason Hann had been around the site, having previously sat in ith Emmitt-Nershi band for a bit on Thursday afternoon. Of course, Bill Nershi and Hann are part of The String Cheese incident, as is Michael Kang, who tore it up later Thursday with Panjea.