Show Reviews #'s 1, 2, and 3

Well, its two weeks into the new year and I have already seen two amazing shows and one decent show with a great headliner. Lets begin with the amazing Paint It Black record release weekend shall we?

Show Review 1.
Line-Up: Paint It Black,World Inferno Friendship Society, The Marked Men, The Dustheads, Amateur Party
Accomplice: Mark Antonio

I was immediately pumped when I first heard about this show. I love Paint It Black and have been looking forward to seeing the spectacle that I've been hearing is World Inferno Friendship Society for awhile now. And with The Dustheads on the bill as well? It was like plucking a dream straight from my head and giving it a horrible odor. God, there was alot of that. Honestly, when did it become cool and hip to smell like you shat yourself? Getting off point here. As a special surprise for this show, PIB gave out their new CD(The New Lexicon) for free a month and a half before the release date. How punk rock is that? So my homie Mark and I roll up to the show around 7. We go get some Dunkin Donuts, grab our free CD, and walk in to Amateur Party. I have tried to catch these guys before when them and Pink Razors played a house right down the street from me the summer before, but I had no one to go with and pussied out.

Amateur Party definitely had the post-punk type feel going on. I dug it. The guy singer from Kill The Man That Questions does vocals for this band as well and that was a welcome surprise. I love his gruff voice. That doesn't make me gay, right? If you like Fugazi, check them out. Didn't have any merch tho.

Next up was The Dustheads and, man, was I such a giddy boy. First chord, the singer dives head first into the crowd. From there on, they grind their way thru a set that doesnt even last 20 minutes. Yeah, they play old school hardcore punk, but it sounds so refreshing in todays scene where everyone just grasps onto whatever album is hot at the moment and duplicates. Definitely recommend seeing them if you have the chance. Had merch, but I was a cheap fuck and passed. Dummy. I still want that Elvis Presley collectors shirt.

Even with rumors circulating about a possible break up, no one even blinked at The Marked Men. That includes yours truly unfortunately. I was too busy being strangled by a drunken friend of mine i haven't seen in awhile. And now after listening to Fix My Brain and On The Outside, am i ever pissed. With a style that mixes The Buzzcocks with Husker Du in my opinion, this is easily one of the best new punk bands I've heard in awhile. Had merch, but again, i passed on it. I didnt see enough of them to reason myself into buying any.

After I finally wiggled away from my intoxicated pal, World Inferno Friendship Society came on. The place went nuts. Swinging, dancing, shouting, diving, all with a weird mixture of colors and odors hanging all over the place. All of this for a mediocre punk band that is obsessed with pirates. I didn't mind it. But i didnt love it. Honestly, the spectacle was what I expected but the music was disappointing. It was a shame. Mark and I just looked at each other and decided that WaWa seemed like the best idea. Didnt even bother to look at the merch.

Finally, the band i came to see came on! Playing their signature brand of hardcore with punk melodies, Paint It Black was amazing. They played a good mix off of Paradise and CVA, as well as a lot of new jams which was very cool. Hell, Dan Yemin even moved around on stage! Shocking? I know! Finishing off with their now classic song "Memorial Day", PIB played one of the best sets I have ever seen them play. They literally get better and better everytime I see them. I figured there was no way that they were gonna top that set.... was I wrong? Had a couple of shirts and a hoodie. It looked awesome, but i passed on it till the next day.


Show Review #2
Lineup: Paint It Black, The Hope Conspiracy, Have Heart, Damnation A.D., Crime In Stereo, Let Down.
Accomplice(s): Mark Antonio, Mike, Vince Slong

This show, the incentive was a free-one-time-only-pressing of a 7" from PIB that was recorded, but not put on the new album. Goliath was the name and it fits. It's a monster. I received copy #100/500. Ebay gold i tell ya! Well, lets get to the review.

Let Down Straight Edge(i think thats their new name?) opened. I love seeing this band not because the songs are tight, but the performance is something never to be missed. Their songs are simple, fast, and pissed. They're live show is dangerous and reckless. What else could you ask for in a hardcore band? As for merch, they had some crew necks and records. I've seen this band 3 times in the past 6 months but I've never to pick up anything by them. I need to get those records sometime soon.

Next up was Crime In Stereo. I love this band(their EP, The Contract is one of my favorite EPs) and they put out an amazing record this year. Too bad they couldn't pull it off live. All they played were songs off of "...Is Dead" and "The Troubled Stateside". I love both albums on record, but live they lack something to me. Everyone is complaining that they missed notes and fucked up, and while true, they're still a fun band to see live. When they play old shit. As for merch, they had some EPs and LPs as well as a couple of pretty cool looking shirt, but nothing i felt the need to spend my money on.

Damnation A.D. was an old hardcore/metal band from Washington D.C. who recently got back together after being broken up for about 9 years. Now, not to sound like every cliche reviewer who gives the old vs. new speech, but give me No More Dreams Of Happy Endings over.... well whatever the hell else they put out. Luckily they played a plentiful number of songs off of that record, opening with "No More Dreams" and closing out with "The Hanged Man". This was one of those bands that every metalcore band from 2000-2004 copied off of but their name was never brought up. Unfortunate really. Crowd wasn't really feeling them, but than again, they were the odd man out on the bill. My gang of rowdy barrel rollers left me to go make fart sounds in the car or something. Their loss. Had some simple looking black zip-up hoodies with their name across with some blood splattered on it. Nothing else worth mentioning.

Have Heart followed, and once again, lived up to their namesake. Kids go absolutely NUTTY over this band in Philly and i can see why. They draw inspiration from bands like Bane and Turning Point, which is clear, but this is a review so obviously I'm gonna state their sound. Is that ok Mr. or Ms. SmartAss? Their newest album, The Things They Carry, seems to be one of those albums that alot of people will use as one of those records that get them into hardcore. They put out some great tunes, no denying it, and their live show is full of energy. Another band that gets better every time I see them. I don't know why, but HH's merch was cheap. They had some shirts from their Europe Tour left over and some awesome looking long sleeves for 5 bucks. They also had a blue zip up and a grey pull over for 15. I always thought their merch was too plain looking, but i absolutely love the long sleeve. Such a sweet deal for it too. I'm none to happy that I passed out on that European Tour tee, but oh well.

The band of the weekend was the next band to destroy the place, and I'm in no way lying. This was the second time I've seen The Hope Conspiracy. The first time I barely paid attention, but then again, it was at the huge fucknest of a fest, HELLFEST. They were good than, but this time around you can tell something was different. It wasn't just the facial hair. These guys were dark and pissed. Intimidating and intense is how you sum this band up. Kids moshed for a bit, but the pit was pretty calm which was surprising. Played shit mostly from Death Knows Your Name, but threw in a few songs from Endnote(which i think is their 2nd best record. Fuck off) and I think they played "Truth And Purpose", but i honestly can't rember. Had about 8 shirts, a zip up hoodie, and a long sleeve. There were only 3 designs on the shirts, but in all types of styles and colors. I picked up two shirts of different designs. Once again, Fuck Off.

Finally, PIB came on for their second show in a row in their hometown. I've listened to the new album all day (It's great, thanks for asking)and was prepared for all the new material i thought they were gonna play. THOUGHT is the correct word. They opened up with one new one and that was all from The New Lexicon. Played some crowd favorites and that was it. They played a short but still intense set, mainly i think because the drummer just played 45 minutes with THC. I bet he was a bit tired. The last two songs, the stage was overflowing with kids hopping up to sing along. Better than the first show? I'd say so. Was a great end to a great weekend. When i went to pick up 2 shirts by them, one was sold out in my size, so i settled for a white tee with an uplifting speech printed on it signed and highlighted by PIB. I like that shirt alot.

Show Review #3
Lineup: Big D and The Kid's Table, The AKA's, The Last Matyrs Of A Lost Cause
Accomplice(s): Soul-less Samantha, Trey (Sam's Boyfriend)

Yeah, I went to a ska show. Say what you want, Big D and The Kid's Table put out one of the best records of the year, Strictly Rude. I have never seen them live, but I was excited by the tellings of my friend Tommy Digital(if you're on the west coast, in a band, and want your live show recorded, look him up at here. Also, why in the hell are you reading this? You don't even have a snowballs chance in hell of meeting me. Odd. Anyway.) So I get off off work, get picked up by Sam(my very good friend) and Trey, her boy, and off we head to the show. Now Sam has been to Philly a bunch of times in her short driving career. Unfortunately, she also has the memory of a gold fish and can never remember the way to anywhere she hasn't been within the past 3 days. She also only has sight in her right eye and yet she's a master at the game known as "Bediddle". Explain that one to me. For those unaware of the game, when you're in a car, everytime you see a car on the opposite side of the road with one headlight, you (gently... this ones up to the players really) hit the roof of the car and yell out "BEDIDDLE!" The last person to do so has the option of removing their clothes or having some sort of physical harm occur to them. Usually, no one follows through with the clothing-removal option, but even if it works only once in a million, it'll be worth it. With women. Not men. If they remove anything, they automatically get punched. Seriously, what would you do if you just happen to be riding down I95 and all of the sudden, BAM! A weiner is in your face. Not my cup of tea.

So we get to the show about a half hour early and consider grabbing Lorenzo's infamously huge slices of pizza. I decided not to because going and doing your business at any show is just insanely nasty. If you're at a show, you know the toilets are gonna be crazy foul. So instead, we head in and decide to just hang around on the side of the place for that half hour. The crowd trickled in and it was the usual mix of girls and so-called "rude" boyz who can't recall ever hearing a Slackers song but can name every Rancid song. Alphabetically. Finally, the lights dimmed and on with the show.

The firs band, Last Martyrs Of A Lost Cause, were a hometown band that I've never seen before. They were decent for a band that follows the rules of third wave ska that Less Than Jake set down. Here's what i recall. A blow up penis that cost them eight bucks with their initials written on it in red marker being tossed around. The frontman being insanely annoying and repeatedly talking about asses. Oh, and the guitarist played a rift behind his head.WOOOOO! THATS what ska is about my friend. They had a free demo that I passed on. I mean, i already own Hello Rockview, so whats the point?

The next band was another band my dear west-coastern friend talked about and even toured with a bunch. The AKA's. With all the members save the singer(looked like he belonged in The Mooney Suzuki or something) looking like they just strolled out of Hot Topic, they came out playing some blistering rock n' roll. Sike. The first song was decent, but than they got repetive. Every song sounded the same and eventually I lost interest in Mike Ski revving up his way-too-tall imaginary chopper motorcycle and started becoming fixated on the keyboardist and how she would look naked. Every move she made, I imagined her doing it naked. Was nothing sexual, just something to past the time while hoping they were gonna do The Misfits cover that i could see they all itched to do. They ended their set in a so-called "defiant move". They made all of the audience sit down(there were some bad apples up front that wouldn't follow the rules so Ski was forced to force them down with his very own body. It got scary and you could feel the tension of a riot starting to swell up. Good thing the bad apples decided to conform or else we could've been in danger. I felt that at that time, we should've sang "Kumbaya"), and than when the frontman counted to four, they all rose at once. It was the Woodstock of our generation. By the way, to the kids next to us, you know that no one could see you guys sitting down when the others rose up right? You're little revolt went unnoticed and wasn't any where near as hilarious as you had hoped it to be nor was it even as close as a laugh as your half shaved head. Overall, I had like Mike Ski's style. He can keep you entertain as a frontman for awhile before your attention starts to drift. Wish I could say the same about the music. I do have to give them a thumbs up for standing up to their record company who was trying to steal their record by putting it up for free up on the internet. Up the punx!

Next up was the only band I came to see, and i have to say, I was not disappointed. Tom knows his shit. Big D were awesome, full of energy, and even told a few funny stories. Played alot of songs off of Strictly Rude as I hoped they would and also played a few old crowd favorites. Also, Sam stole the guitar player's hat. So if you're missing that hat, hit me up and I'll attempt to wrassle it from her, but who knows. She can be very strong-willed when she wants to be. Especially when it comes to other peoples property. Unfortunately, because of her, we had to leave early. Headaches are excuses made for sex, not shows Sam. Not. Shows. Sam. So home we went, with an unfulfilled appetite for ska and food. It was a fun show tho, even if Big D was the only band I was totally there to see. I didn't bother to check out their merch as I knew that I wouldn't be interested anyway.

Well thats all for my reviews for this time around. I'd appreciate it if anyone out there hits me up with any upcoming shows(and maybe rides? I give gas money and don't fart in the car.) and continues this. My next post should be my top albums of 2007. I'm just having a pretty rough time putting them in order, thats all. Also, any criticism will be taken openly, so let me know what you think. Thanks.