Saturday, February 23, 2008

2/22 - The Loved Ones, The Gaslight Anthem, The Ergs!, Lagrecia, Higher Giant

So, my friends and I were all really looking forward to this show. And with due reason, because there were so many good things about this show, that even if it sucked it would still be great. We got to the Knitting Factory a little after 6:45, and still no band had played yet. So Joe and I went over to New Fancy Food Deli around the block. Got 2 cliff bars and a Naked smoothie(dinner) and went back to the show. Once inside it was obvious that this was a sold out show, people were everywhere. Surprising, because most sold out Knitting Factory shows dont fill up until the end, but for this one it seemed like everyone was there before the first band played...

So on to the first band, HIGHER GIANT. None of us knew who they were, so we were just hanging out in the bar/merch area. Eventually I mentioned to someone "hey this kinda sounds like GREY AREA", and not too shortly after that I went into the main area and low and behold, Ernie Parada (TOKEN ENTRY, GREY AREA, KID DYNAMITE) was on handling lead guitar/vox. And then i saw that Dave Wagenschutz (LIFETIME, KID DYNAMITE, PAINT IT BLACK) was on the drums! And apparently somebody who had filled in or was in KILL YOUR IDOLS. Well, thats pretty promising. So I watched them for the last of their songs, and they were not bad at all. They definatley gave me a GREY AREA vibe, but that could be just because of Ernie's voice. They were a little more poppy than that, but still very good. Ernie was hittin all his signature high notes and not missing a chord, and the rest of the band looked like they were all having a great time. They had no demos for sale, but this is a band to check out.

Now, at the Knitting Factory they set a half hour between bands for them to set up(on the main stage). But pretty much for any punk/hardcore, this is too much time. 15 minutes is more than enough, this lead to bands kinda standing on stage trying to make it look like they were doing something all night. I find this really fucking annoying. I dont want to watch you dilly dally on stage, and wait for you to start, the venue needs to stop doing this.

On next were LAGRECIA, which is KID DYNAMITE frontman Jason Shevchuk's new band. I was very excited for them, because I love'd NONE MORE BLACK, and KID DYNAMITE and basically Jason Shevchuk cant make bad music. So the three of them took the stage and well, were fucking awesome. They are like NONE MORE BLACK, but maybe with a little more of the western feel. They played extremely tight, and they were definatley having a blast. I think this was about their 4th show, and it was obvious people were definatley there for them, I had never heard such a loud applause after the first song of a openeing band. LAGRECIA is great, and they are from Brooklyn so expect to be seeing them play a lot soon!

Dead center of the show were THE ERGS!. It took me a while to get into THE ERGS!, but I am glad I did because they put on a great show. The first time i saw them I was so surprised that the lead vocals were done by the drummer! That takes some serious skill to be able to drum and sing at the same time. Very impressing. They played a great set and kids were jumping around and havin fun for them. It was my third time seeing them and I was hoping for more MINOR THREAT covers. I think ive seen them cover THE DESCENDENTS also, but I cant remember. They play pop-punk the way it should be, and they are always on point, so dont be lame like I was and think "pop punk sucks" because this band proves it does not suck. I still cant stand the ramones though.

Next up were my most anticipated band of the night, THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM. This band sounds as if BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN started a melodic punk band. Once again, I cant remember what songs they played, sorry. I can say that there was a lot of energy during their set, from the band and the kids. Kids were dancing around and jumping and crowdsurfing for them. Generally just having a blast. It was obvious that THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM were surprised that so many kids were into them, and they were definitely happy about it, you could tell by the huge smiles on the singers face. At one point they started to talk about how it was some girl's birthday, and then went into a cover of TOM PETTY's "American Girl". Holy shit it sounded perfect, just like the original. Actually, their entire set sounded just like the LP, perhaps even better. They are definatley a great live band, if you have the chance to see them go for it, you will have a great fucking time.

Last up were THE LOVED ONES, touring supporting their new LP "Build and Burn". I dont know much by them, but they were definitely well received by the crowd. They have come a long way from when i saw them in Bellmore, to about 20 kids. And that show wasnt even a full band, just Dave Hause playing because the rest of them couldnt make it. They played very solid, besides the fact that Dave looked really drunk, there were some mic troubles later in the set but it fixed itself somehow. At one point Dave said they had a surprise, and then started talking about Ernie Parada. This of course made me think they were going to do some kind of GREY AREA or TOKEN ENTRY cover. No luck tho, the surprise was some guy from the hold steady playing guitar during "Louisiana", also during that song Dave jumped out and sang with the crowd a few times. I like that. They played for almost a hour, if not a full hour. By the end of it I got bored and tried to buy tickets to Blacklisted on April 1st, but the box office was already closed, oh well. Oh yea, during their set kids kept on ending up on stage, and then not knowing what to do. This led to them just standing there, one girl grabbing the mic and singing along(which is cool). But they all overstayed their welcome and Dave kept yelling DIVE. Seriously kids, when you end up on stage, you FUCKING DIVE. Nobody wants to see you up there, and you look like an idiot. dont end up on stage if you are too afraid to stagedive.
"I want to see 17 stagedives during this song, no more no less"- Scott Vogel.

On the subway back to penn, there was a homeless dude sleepin on the train. so everyone on the subway car was on the opposite side of him. seeing homeless people always reminds me how lucky I am, but it always makes me feel bad for them. Once back in Penn we got some pizza from Rose's and caught the 11:45 train home.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

2/16 - VERSE 5 Year Anniversary Show

So this was the day I had been looking forward to for a while. As I hadn't seen VERSE since the summer in Brooklyn, and I hold a special place in my heart for HAVE HEART and DOWN TO NOTHING. I started the day by rounding up the crew which consisted of Rob, Gw and Chris. We got some breakfast at the local bagel place and we were off to Providence, Rhode Island. I had a cup of coffee to start the ride and it was shaping up to be a great day.

So as we are driving along I-95, we pass the NY/CT border and of course I get into a fucking car accident and total my car. Great fucking job. I hit some Buick suv/van thing, and to make matters worse she hit the person in front of her. So the cops and the fire department come and everything gets sorted out. My parents pick us up, my car gets taken away to get junked. We arrive back on LI and decide we can still make the show, so off we go in Rob's car. About 3 and a half hour later we get to Providence, but not after getting lost because our exit was closed, good job dickbags of the road for doing construction when I go to your city.

We find a spot real quick, and run to the venue, Club Hell. SOUL CONTROL is in the middle of their set. This means we missed RAMPAGE, MELTDOWN and ST. JUDE. Which sucks because i wanted to see RAMPAGE and MELTDOWN, but I was told later on that RAMPAGE weren't that good, and that MELTDOWN was great. Back to SOUL CONTROL, they played very tight, as I would expect them to since Providence is their home-town. I couldn't really see from where I was standing but I'm pretty sure kids were into them. Which is great because the band is awesome, do yourself a favor and get Involution and read those lyrics, fuck so good. The only problem i have with seeing SOUL CONTROL is that the singer, Mattdude, doesn't always sing the words into the mic. So it makes it kinda hard to follow. But nonetheless he has a great stage presence and is fun to watch him get really into it.

Following SC were SHIPWRECK(ad), for those of you living under a rock, SHIPWRECK had some trouble with some shitty band who had the name before them, so to avoid being sued they had to add an AD to their name. So they came on and JD started talking about some type of historical event before playing their blistering set. Kids were doing their thing for the wreck the entire set, and if you have been to a SHIPWRECK show before, you know theres a high chance you could get hurt. But this is hardcore right, so deal with it if you do. The new songs off Abyss were fairly well received by the kids, but some more than others. Everyone went nuts for the both of the 7" stuff of course. They closed with Miasma, which surprised me because most bands play their biggest song or a song that they know kids will go nuts for, to close their set. Mostly everyone stood there catching their breath from the previous song, which I cant remember what the fuck it was. (this is a problem I have at every show, I can never remember what songs the bands played, even if I was singing along). So SHIPWRECK had a kind of anti-climatic end, but you know what I give them a lot of credit for it. Give it a few more months and soon everyone will go off for every SHIPWRECK song.

After checking out some merch we walked to the middle and THE FIRST STEP came on. If you aren't familiar they play hardcore in the vein of a youth crew revival type deal. I had only seen them once and kids didnt really care. This time though, kids were going nuts! I was glad, because while im not that into THE FIRST STEP, I do like them and they put on a great set. Every song was introduced by the singer screaming the name of the song, then the band following with the opening chords, which pumps kids up but gets old after a few times. They had their new 7" but I chose to save my money, as I have to buy a new car now.

Up next were Richmond's DOWN TO NOTHING. First of all, I love DOWN TO NOTHING, so I was super excited for this. They came on and David Wood was wearing the Straightedge letterman jacket, nice touch. There was not a dull moment during the set, they play great every time and kids go off for them. And it is well deserved because they always look like they are having so much fun playing and that just makes me want to go nuts and have fun. One of their friends did guest vox during Unbreakable, I dug that.(cant wait to see MURDER WEAPON at UNITED BLOOD). Kids were trying to dive but it wasn't easy, because of the low stage, so you really had to go for it if you wanted a good dive. One thing Sean from VERSE said was that you always know when DOW TO NOTHING is in the room/playing, because they come with a entourage and are usually being loud and hilarious. So true. They gave shout outs to the Jersey Shore and Long Island, maybe more but I cant remember.

Boston's HAVE HEART was up next, and Pat Flynn was sporting a full fucking beard. God damn, beards rule. So they came on and you could tell that their popularity has really grown over the last year and a half, as the front was fucking packed. They started and of course, kids went nuts, pile ons, headwalks, dives, everything. A Long Island native got to do guest vox for part of a song, pretty sick! HAVE HEART even played a new song off "Songs to Scream at the Sun" everyone bobbed their heads along, it sounded great and it just make me even more excited to hear that record. July 1st is the date, mark your calender. They played a extremely tight set and it was obvious that everyone enjoyed it.

After they played, is when i decided to hit up the merch tables and buy shit. On the way to the show I was thinking that it would be cool if HAVE HEART made the Boston Straightedge hoodie into a crewneck, and wouldn't you know it, they did and I fucking bought one with a huge smile on my face. All the bands had good merch, but I only got from HAVE HEART, VERSE and SOUL CONTROL because, well I have to fucking buy a new car.

Lastly were VERSE, this was their show, celebrating their 5 years in existence as a band. Although, they did point out that both DOWN TO NOTHING and HAVE HEART have been around for longer. But this show was going to help them get out of debt from a tour mishap early on. Both VERSE brother bands had good things to say and reminisce about VERSE, and they reciprocated. They started their set with a great song, and I cant remember which one it was. I really need to try harder to remember these things. Anyway, VERSE played a great set, and played 2 new songs off their B9 debut "Aggression", both were awesome and I cant fucking wait to hear that LP. They only fucked up once, I think it had something to do with the drummer, who I think was from HAVE HEART and filling in, or maybe he is in VERSE now. Either way no big deal, they played a different song and then went back to that one. I like that bands can admit when they fuck up, its funny and makes light of the situation. Anyway, even though some moronic kids definatley left before them, VERSE got a great reaction, and were on stage for maybe 45 minutes. Great fucking set. Everyone went nuts and had a great time.

After the show we went back to Rob's car to discover I had left the ceiling light on. Pretty stupid of me, but luckily the battery didn't die. We drove and found a pizza place and had to drive around for 15 minutes until we found somewhere to park. We ate then i got some coffee at 7-11. Finally, were were on the way back home, and made the trek in about 3 hours.


VERSE

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

2/2 - Crime in stereo/Thieves and Assassins/Ambitions/Small Arms Dealer/ Incendiary

Ok so this show was at the LINDY moose lodge, and for those of you that dont know. Thats lindenhurst. This was my second time there, and i love this venue; plenty of room, food, chairs, great people who run it. we ran a little late getting there and missed buddy up, i think it was their first show or something. We got there just before INCENDIARY was to play. The first time i saw them i wasnt into it, but as ive seen them a few more times ive started to enjoy them more. Heavy shit, the time before this they did a STRIFE cover, kids went nuts. I was siked that kids were moving around for their original songs, good things will come from that band. Next up was SMALL ARMS DEALER, they did nothing for me. I felt that they were trying to do a HOT WATER MUSIC, LAWRENCE ARMS thing. but what the fuck do i know. Up next were a Connecticut / Long Island special, AMBITIONS. They played a great set, played a lot of stuff off of stranger, and a few songs off their ep question (which is fucking great). Kids were moving around a lot for them, definatley their best reaction on LI so far. at this point i noticed that the place was decently full, which is good because the fuckin place is huge, and has a stage. its also got a bar that sells snacks and shit. i did not take advantage but many did, as you could see after the show.
So taking the 2nd to last spot were THIEVES AND ASSASSINS. Now i love this band, great lyrics, entertaining to watch, great melodic hc. well, this was their best reaction ive seen them get. people have finally begun to learn the words, and the kids showed their normally subdued love for thieves with some decent movement. i even got in on some of that myself. i dont know what it was about that night that everyone decided to move around, maybe theres something about lindy, or maybe it was because Keith was there. Anyway, Duncan (singer of t&a) was obviously having a great time, and he too was appreciative of Keith's presence. They played a great set, everyone has to get into this band now.
Finally, CRIME IN STEREO got up on stage. Now cis has taken a lot of shit for their new album "IS DEAD" but if you listen to it, and dont expect a hardcore record, you will be pleasantly surprised at how good it is. and the songs come off great live too, somehow Kristian is able to hit those high notes, no way i could fuckin do that. They played a great mix of new stuff, and old stuff. Stagediving was outlawed after a few songs, but kids still crawled on each other and for the final song "i, stateside" kids got their thing on. I very much miss when they would open with "everything changes/nothing is ever truly lost" but im getting used to them opening with XXXX.
anyway great night, hung out with good friends, even help pick up a bit of shit on the floor because fucktard kids dont know how to respect a venue.


Thieves and Assassins, we here on LI all have mustaches.

Crime in Stereo.

both pictures were stolen from Meghan Mcinnis
and one edited by a t.c.