Fingertight’s Incubus-crossed-with-Incubus-with-a-hint-of-Incubus dude rock will never charm elitist critic tastemakers or rouse devout Built to Spill fans from their soporific stupor. But the Martinez band might sell eight billion records to simultaneously horny and enraged teenagers worldwide, and Scott is the reason. He’s a David Lee Roth-caliber entertainer, with a classy signature move (the onstage standing backflip) and enough charisma, perceived passion, and vocal-cord gusto to be all things to all young people: Dudes idolize his intensity and whiff of up-yours menace, while the ladies go wild for his boyish/cocky mix of sex appeal and crooning vulnerability. He’s a double feature of Kill Bill and Love Actually, and his play-to-the-crowd theatrics elevate Fingertight’s by-the-books aggro-rock, making the band the toast of the all-ages “well, it’s kinda punk rock” crowd that has turned Berkeley’s high-tech iMusicast club into such a cultural hot spot. Diamond Dave would be proud.
.Best Band Frontman: Convergence of gymnastics and nü-metal
Scott Rose, Fingertight