Saturday, July 5, 2014

M13 Sunday HC Matinee///The Grand Victory///5.4.14


M13The Grand Victory  // Sunday Hardcore Matinee
May 4th, 2014

The Mugs
The Blame
Skum City
I am pretty ashamed to admit I did not know who M13 was before I saw them play this show. I could make excuses, but mainly I just have my head up my ass in 90s metal. I don't apologize for that, but I understand that I should, and appreciate your collective forehead slaps at hearing that bullshit.

ANYWAY, I was a bit concerned about this show going into it. The Mugs, Skum City, and the Blame are all incredible, but I had so many fucking expectations for the new SUNDAY MATINEES at the Grand Victory and as much as I LOVE every band on this line up, I didn't think it was the right line up to start these off. As occasionally happens, I was brutally wrong.

In my mind, these All Ages Matinees should have been for the newer bands. Bands formed in the last with names no one knew. These are all established bands with fans and names you can find on dozens of shows a years. I did not think people who could have seen this show at a late night bar would have shown up on a Sunday afternoon, and I did not think the performers would give it their all with hangovers dragging them down.

As I said, but need to say again, I was fucking brutally wrong.

First off, let me admit my bias. I am in bands with dudes from The Mugs and Skum City, so there could be perceived reason to suspect me of underhanded compliments to people I just adore. However, anyone who says I am biased is a fucking liar, and has always hated me, so seriously never trust them bastards. 

Every time I see Phil from The Mugs he reminds me he does not hate everything I am (thus implying that he does in fact hate most of what I am ) but I find this banter and loathing to be almost sweet, not to mention heartfelt and sincere. The Mugs are an experience live. Phil spent most of the time during his set at the bar, literally, singing while sitting on top of the bar. I also want to qualify my support of The Mugs with saying that I have to set aside Phil's philosophies and behavior toward other genders, races, nationalities, animals and well pretty everything. If you are able to block out or filter a lot of the SUBSTANCE of what he is saying, he is a fucking blast to see perform. He does shit that I find totally insane at almost every show. His brain is just wired different than mine. I don't condone almost ANYTHING he every does or says, but beyond that I think The Mugs are awesome.

During the set, Jay Rogan on drums made up or Phil's stage absence by not only hammering the drums, but delivering a look of pure joy while he played. Sammy from the Mugs withstood the constant blast of insults from his band mates well, and I thought between his clearly dehydrating performance and beer swigs, his bass playing was tight as hell.

Matt D. from The Mugs is like a god damn brother to me. His glow on stage, whether it be playing guitar or singing, is uplifting. I am just going to ignore his relentless shredding, his focused riffs, and brilliant, unique vocals, and just say that this dude, coupled with the wild cast of characters that is The Mugs, make this band a fucking blast to watch live. AND there was no one kicked in the face or stabbed at this Mugs show, so I felt pretty good about that. I think that may be the first time I have been to a Mugs show and not seen someone headed to the hospital after it.

Skum City is also filled with some of my favorite people on the planet. I don't know a drummer in NYC that is more insane to watch that The Beast. He is flawless, every time. Even when he is playing for bands he has never heard, or songs he has never played, he plays them better than the band, and he gets you to believe it and enjoy it. What a fucking performer!

Let me get to the crux of why I was wrong about this show. I know these people. I know they party hard. Phil from The Mugs, Mark Sux and Christine of Skum City, these folks put your saturday nights to shame. I was worried they were gonna come in on a sunday bender and drag feet. Again, I was wrong on a massive fucking scale.

Christine and Mark were on point a-z. Christine kept up that on stage charm that makes Mark's antics seem acceptable, and Mark did his god damn job like a professional. The man is more animal than human. His reckless abandon is legitimately dangerous. Between him and Phil I was pretty certain injuries would lead to ER visitor passes. Christine and Mark bounce off each other perfectly on stage. They compliment each other like...um...complimentary angles. Damn,  that's all I could come up with, fuck. Sorry, they are better than complimentary angles, what is something that complements something else well? They compliment each other like overly eager bathroom attendant compliment your genitalia proportions. How is that, better?

But is is Moose, on guitar, that make Skum City the juggernaut it is. This dude is a pure bred guitar freak. He gets on stage and just zones every one of you fuckers in the crowd out. He buries his head and goes to town. His playing is flawless every fucking time, FLAWLESS. Mortal Combat flawless. I get to play with Moose and Matt in two different bands, and just am amazed at how what they do on stage is actually who they are, all the time. The genuineness (is that a word?) comes through on stage, and make their bands, their performances immaculate.

As for the rest of the line up, The Blame write some of the catchiest tunes in NYC Punk. You can't get these tunes outta your head. Phil and Paul are two of the kindest vets in the scene, and deserve a million pounds of respect. These dudes hold no pretensions and play with pure focus. They are serious professionals but never act better than someone else, even though they could, because they are. It's hard for me to pick if I love their attitudes or their music more. I think their tunes squeak out ahead just by a hair, because I stand their, song after song, just unable to understand how the fuck they can come up with this stuff. Impressed.

I love the bass player for The Blame too. That dude is steady. One a hilarious side note, this dude had like 4 huge cans of Monster in front of him while he played. WELL beyond the doctor recommended dose. I did not comment, kind of hope he doesn't read this, but I was awestruck that someone could plan that well ahead for caffeine fixes. Impressed!

M13. I am a fucking sucker for in between song banter. I prefer uplifting banter that encourage people to make the world a better place for everyone, but Phil from The Mugs had some interesting banter too. M13's in between song feather ruffling was spot on. The sings just hit it. It was as good as I have ever scene. Pointed and irreverent, personally relevant, but universally appealing, poetic and still politically changed. That dude was unshakable. Beyond that, his performance was menacing!

He fucking brought the boom. The god damn band was inhuman good. If Jean Claude Van Dam character from Cyborg was in a HC punk band, it would have been this one. It was that tight. I had never heard these tunes before, but I could not hear a misplaced note or unsung syllable.

I was only gonna stay and hear one tune, as I was already late for a meeting when they started, but I stayed their whole set. I don't know if they consider themselves a political band or not, but I just think the outlook they expressed and the feelings they focused on were a great balance for this show. They made me think, and made me want to fight. This is what I think the greatest hardcore bands do, and I feel like these guys contended on this day.

The show didn't have “new” bands on it, but it was a million miles an hour. Not a sing person in this show seemed slowed by Sunday morning bullshit. The crowd showed up, and got down hard along with the bands. The Grand Vic. crew did a great job putting together a line up of folks who put on a top notch show. I had my concerns about it, but was totally wrong. The thing I was reminded of through all this, and my shameful lack of for sight concerning these Sunday Matinees is the power of music. Music and REAL musicians are transformed by these tunes. They comes out any time, any place and pour their fucking hearts out, endlessly. I am not going to forget this lesson again. I owe this show a debt of thanks for printing this though on my ignorant brain in such a singular way.

--------------- Now on to something SLIGHTLY different...SUNDAY HC MATINEES and THE GRAND VICTORY ---------------

Now, I know you prob. think this review is already a bit long, but fuck you, I wrote it, so I can do whatever the fuck I want. I still want to say some things about the larger issues in motion here.

Sunday Matinees. I have proposed doing all ages sunday matinees to like 15 bars and DIY spots over the last few years. Mainly, people like it, but don't want to wake up early enough to do it regularly. I LOVE ALL AGES SHOWS, and I know it is not easy for a bar to do it. I also LOVE punk/hc matinees. They embody a dozen reasons why punk is better than whatever shit someone else listens too.

So when I heard that the Grand Victory was doing Sunday ALL AGES matinees, I was fucking stupid jacked. I hope our scene can grow these shows, and it becomes a place for us to get down with wildly unknown new bands and some of our favs as well.

Punk is not about tradition or living in the past. It is about the here and now. And sadly we have a HUGE fucking problem in our scene with only a few ALL AGES venues stable enough to book  long in advance, ABC NO RIO being one of them, along with a smattering (that's right I said smattering, FUCK YOU) of DIY venues, and now, GV being another. We should fucking cherish these places. They put punk over profit a lot of the time, and are the beacons for us to build this scene again. BOOK UNDERAGE BANDS, PROMOTE TO UNDER AGE KIDS, and let's make use of these gems before profit or police take them away from us.

All that said, I want to say my piece about The Grand Victory. When I first walked into this place, I almost walked right out. I am an unapologetic communist. I am a flag burning anti-nationalist on every front. So seeing the décor of the GV and it's patriotic undertones was not something I was super excited about. I understood this was a WWII themed bar, not a nationalist bar, I just didn't appreciate the difference enough at the time. This bar could not have started out in a worst position with me. I felt like there was almost no way I would return after my first visit. BUT as seems to be the major theme of this article I was brutally wrong.

That flag makes me uncomfortable and I am sure my immigrant family feel the same way. I def. needed to be won over into being ok with this place. I hate nationalism because, among other things I find it a petty and narcissistic ideology, but the people at this bar could not be further from that. This bar, despite the huge American flag on the stage, is hands down one of the best in NYC. (Those of you who know me, know that is not an easy thing for me to say, I really do not appreciate that fucking flag.)

Here is how the GV took a loathsome communist and turned him into an avid fan. First the atmosphere in this place is professional but not pretentious. This is almost impossible to do in NYC/Williamsburg. Bar owners in NYC have this thing where they want to make their bar exclusive and in doing so they make it douchey and unapproachable. I am not gonna shit talk bars, there are a number we regularly do shows at that go out of their way to make their space open and appeal to fans and bands. I appreciate that. But GV not only has incredible sound, attentive staff, they are actually fucking WELCOMING. They put on all types of shows, and don't have an air of superiority.

This bar LOVES the punk scene. The music, the bands, the fans, everything. They have more respect for every one of those things that most venues have for any one of them. They put tons of thought and money into making this sound great and be comfortable. You just don't find businesses very often that actually care about what they are doing. All they want is profit. This place is part of our community, not simply a place out community uses for our shows. I can't thank them enough.

I enjoy spending time there, even though I have to see that flag all the time. I respect the people involved in this place enough to know that this symbol to them does not mean the same thing it does to me, and a lot of the rest of the world. This is something I think a lot of radicals need to deal with better. We can despise a symbol and what it represents to us, objectively or subjectively, while not despising the people who appreciate that symbol. That does not mean I respect the symbol, but I do have respect for the people. They are not dumb or mislead, they are looking at something and seeing something I don't see. They love that symbol because to them it represents freedom and equality, opportunity and courage. I have the utmost respect for that love, even though I deeply disagree that this flag does in fact represent those things.

Ok, you punks may not care about this thought process, but this bar did not have it easy to win me over, but did so effortlessly because the people who are involved in it are good people, genuinely good people. So I had to reflect on my own how such good people could believe so much in that flag, and felt like I had been unfairly judging these people. I did the same thing to Christians when I was 18, but had not given as much thought to flag waiving as I had to cross bearing. I still have problems with it all, but GV helped me see things a bit differently.

I am not sure what first started me on the road to being won over to GV. But I can't say enough about how hard it is for a place to be COOL in BK without being pretentious. I have known the security, Ira, for many years, and have a ton of respect for him. So it may have been his encouragement, or simply his way with people. (I have a buddy who did not know Ira, one day, he was telling me how he went to a show, and there was the nicest, most considerate security guy he had ever met, I asked where this was. He said at the GV. I showed him a picture of Ira and ask if this was him. He said, holy shit, you have a picture of this door guy, he is great, right?) or if it was the owner Sean, or the guy working the sound board when we first played there, I don't know. But I am glad I was won over.

Sean, the owner, is the nicest dude in the scene, forget even being a bar owner, he is just a good dude. When the will played there, as one of our first show, not even being known the guy working the bar, not sure if it was Sean or a dude who looked a lot like him, I thought he said his name was Frank, but I was also crazy high from the set, and not making any sense.  I do remember him smiling ear to ear and saying he dug our shit and then telling me why. Bar tenders don't thank musicians for playing, they sure as fuck don't listen closely enough to explain why, fuck MOST of them in NYC don't even smile (I suspect a number may not even have 2 ears to smile between). This bar is not normal. It has fucking incredible sound, ALWAYS. It has wildly clean bathroom, without a question the best in the punk scene. Great staff, and genuinely give a fuck about our scene, not just making money. But that is not the only or even main reason why I love it here.

I could not be more proud (well, I could be, if they took that flag down, but I am a raging asshole) that the Grand Victory is doing Sunday ALL AGES matinees, I hope to play a thousand of them! Spencer Kray is booking some killer fucking shows in the HC matinees.

get down,
joey steel

Monday, January 20, 2014

ABJECT/HILLTAP TAVERN/9.22.13

ABJECT! @ Hilltap Tavern // Homecoming Show
September 22nd, 2013

THE ENEMY WITHIN (MA)
WEIRD AND PISSED OFF
THE LAST STAND
NO DICE
STEP 2 FAR


I wrote this article a while ago, and was waiting to post it until it was closer to the NYC Abject release show of their new album, Ugly on the Inside, which I fucking can't wait to hear. But sadly, Abject announced yesterday that they were breaking up. I have to say I am feel very lucky to have had the chance to see these guys perform many times, and honored to have had the chance to share shows with them. They are good friends and great dudes. I wish them all the best of luck in future bands.

Now the actual review of the show....

I guess it is pretty strange to admit, but I had never actually been to a Hilltap show until recently. There was a piece of me that felt I may not be welcome at the venue, but I didn't think I would be getting stabbed, maybe slapped around a little. Nothing more than I should expect at this point. But I was finally free and felt I deserved a beating worse than normal, so I headed over.

On a bike it was not nearly as difficult to get to as I thought it was going to be. For people who don't know, the Hilltap is one of the only venues in Queens that has punk and hardcore show consistently, but it is deep in Queens, not some bullshit Astoria nonsense, not to shit on Astoria too hard, but fuck 'em.

Abject's brash frontman and lead vocalist was celebrating his birthday at this show, and rang in a new age with a great line up. Boston's Enemy Within brought some serious hardcore for Hilltap to get down with. I seen these fellas shred The Place before, and they didn't live that show down. Having super heavy riffs and catchy tunes is not an easy duo to mix. A lot of bands can pull off heavy or catchy, but together not many. If you are fan of straight up hardcore and blistering energetic performances, don't fucking miss these dudes the next chance you have to see 'em.

I missed Weird and Pissed Off at this show, which I was very disappointed to find out. But I can't recommend their tunes enough. I deeply enjoy listening to their songs.

But I went to see Abject. I have seen Abject and had the pleasure of sharing bills with them a number of times. However, nothing compares to seeing a great band in their time at their venue and this was their show, completely. To quote the fucking birthday boy's new song, “This is where we belong.” There is a comfort that can be hard to capture in foreign settings, even though away shows present interesting other opportunities. This show was packed with friends and fans of the band. (It is refreshing when this line is willingly blurred by hardcore bands.) And the show pulsed with electricity and dare I say sincere adoration for these dudes, and when they played it was easy to see why.

Abject's sincerity comes across clearly in every note. These dudes are straight up about everything, good, bad, and ugly and don't mince their words. In  a fucking time and place where words and actions are cold and calculated for best case approbation, this is fucking priceless. At times it can be frustrating, and times euphoric, but that honesty is irreplaceable. This is to say not only in their lyrics or stage commentary, which mixes hilarious anecdotes, crowd insults, and often very on point and conscious/applaud worthy social commentary, but it is in their actual playing too. Matt G. puts everything into every strum. That dude doesn't hesitate in his playing. It is fucking ruthless. Attack. Attack. Attack. There just is no defense in his game. Which is why having Spew there as a guitar freak is nice. While he does not bring the attack as Matt does, he can play a bit of defense when needed. I was unsure at times which guitar player was playing which leads, but I have to say, on some of the new tunes, I really enjoyed some leads which on paper I might have thought were too metal for my taste. They weren't they fucking interesting as hell, and added a new angle and depth to a sound which I have heard time and time again and still enjoy.

Too much sports? Fine. Let me say one thing about Chucky Brown on bass, and Shuffles on drums. Chucky's bass riffs reverberate into uncomfortable places. He is a fucking maniac when he tears into his jams.  And Shuffles may not the prettiest drummer when he chose to defrock, but aside from this ugly but benign mole on an otherwise unblemished set, Shuffles and Chucky synch in and drive this shit forward. Shuffles just loses consciousness and flows. I don't know who is driving who, I just know these fuckers are moving this shit.

The show had a real family feeling, probably because it was largely made up of people Abject would considered family. Well I should not speak for the dudes, if that crowd was not family, it was certainly felt like a day of family. NYC punk rock staple Pookie, who has since understandably abandoned us for brighter pastors, and Jamie had a belching competition between sets.  As they pounded seltzer water (they drink that here in NYC, I don't know why) Jamie's lovely special lady friend, Laura just smiled her priceless smile and handed her man another can of bubble water. Raul, who was working the door, jumped around the pit like a psychotic spider monkey. Sean from the great NYC HC band On The Offense amused us all  in between sets with his positive, but biting wit, another combination not easily to walk along. Tall drink of water, tough ass Meagan regaled us with fucked up stories from the front lines of her ER, and then got the fuck down in the pit and maybe even put a few of the dudes in line for a check up. Fucking good times. This is what a hardcore show should be like, everyone included, everyone being good to each other (there actually was one creep who always seemed a half step away from pulling whatever conceal weapon he kept touching under his coat. I like to think it was a concealed weapon and not his fucking dick. That dude was a fucking creep.)  Everyone (else) was just fucking having a good time and being great to each other.

But, briefly, back to the set, besides a broken string and a shirtless Shuffles the set was flawless. Then they filmed a video for one of their tunes, and a crowd, a family that was already giving their all in a wicked thrashing pit, went wildly off the cliff. Dudes and chicks flipping around and blasting their own vocals so loud, Jamie was hard to hear. Ever song was sung by the crowd the whole set, but shit got outta control when the cameras went on. Its nice to know these fuckers can turn it to 11 when they are called to do so.

I have seen Abject in enough different spaces and towns to know that they kill it where ever/whenever. But I will say, this was their time/their place and they fucking captured it.


Wednesday, January 8, 2014

THE FAR EAST/THE SWAMP/11.11.13

THE FAR EAST @ The Swamp
Nov. 11th ,2013 

CHRIS MURRAY (LA's SKA champion)
THE FRIGHTNRS (scary good nyc reggae)
THE FAR EAST

 

While punk and hc are my bread and butter, I love all music that boils my blood. When I was at the matinee at the Swamp on Nov.17th to hear what I consider to be one of the best musical talents I have ever had the pleasure of hearing, The Frightnrs, I also heard another band that was a pleasant reminder of how moving and energizing other styles can be as well.

Some times the soul gets lost in blistering riffs and ripping punk vox, it is hard to go hard and fast and convey deep emotion. Enter Maddie Ruthless. Ms. Ruthless, along with her collective of killer boys,  lit up the stage as The Far East.

When they hit their rhythm they were a juggernaut of joy. The Far East imbued that crowd with smiles. But that that alone is not impressive to me. I challenge anyone to listen to a reggae influenced band without smiling. Good fucking luck. While I love reggae, some of them tunes can sap folks of resolve. Some slow tunes in general can lull a crowd, but The Far East filled folks with energy. Not an easy task for The Swamp on a chilly Sunday AFTERNOON (it is more of a night show crowd over there). That room was pulsing when they finished, not only in anticipation for the great FRIGHTNRS, but because The Far East took 'em on a ride and left them wanting to go further.

The musicians in The Far East are magnificent. Great songs, played perfectly, and with emotion. But I singled out mentioning Maddie earlier, because I had to ask someone I was watching with who that was playing guitar. She really struck me as something special. Not because she was a woman (all you gutter-brains who went to a fucked up place with that need to get some fucking hobbies). What impressed me most about the set was Maddie's guitar playing. I am no guitar aficionado, far from it. I don't get Hendrix, Led Zeppelin bores the hell out of me, anyone named Jimmy rubs me the wrong way. I am all vocals all day, and Maddie's vocals were spectacular, I don't mean to say that they weren't. But when I was standing there, listing, I was mesmerized by her guitar playing. I even turned to my buddy to comment on it, and he told me to shut the fuck up, which was the right thing to do, as usual.  I honestly had never heard, or never noticed guitar sound so delicate before. Every strum/note/touch reverberated with depth.

I hope to have these folks on a DftU show soon! But either way, yall should GET DOWN with The Far East.

--Joey Steel

Friday, November 29, 2013

Hillltap Tavern/June 4, 2011

Hilltap Tavern in Queens
June 4, 2011

DIS-CON
RETRO-VIRAL
NO VICE
SECOND BEST (PA)
CAUGHT IN A TRAP
Yo!SCUNT
(A)TRUTH
SEIZURE CRYPT
ENDANGERED FECES

Alright so growing up i didn't have too many of those things called friends and i spent a lot of my time living under a rock (and in and out of psych wards and on people's floors/basements) so i hadn't really been to too many local shows until a friend of mine took me to a basement show in st. James long island where i was introduced to zombie culture and retro viral. Now this was impactful because it was one of my first shows and it was when i was re introduced to this guy who i met outside of the pizza shop in my town (justyn kiddo). He asked me to join his band and the rest is history. 


Well although this was a very important show to me it's not the one i hold most memorable. The one i hold most memorable if i had to pick one it would be the Yo!$cunt cd release show. Now me being new to the scene it was a night of firsts and as it turned out a night of a few lasts. 

Now this was the second time i ever saw yo!$cunt and it was also the first time i went to the hilltap. Two things that would become staples in my time spent going to shows. What was most memorable at this show was that i spent a good portion of it making friends who i consider to be righteous individuals but i also spent most of that night talking to a young lady by the name of sarah B who i had a crush on since my first show with retroviral. The night was fun, she gave me her number and two and a half years later we're living together happily in queens.

What was also great about this night was how amazing everyone played. It was probably the best set i had ever played with retroviral, every note on every song was exactly the way i wanted it to sound and everyone at the show got in on the pit and it was over all the most fun i ever had in that band. Unfortunately it wound up being the penultimate show for retroviral and the last show for no vice. Just before we both were scheduled to play punk island. Although both great bands (in my own opinion) ended, that night will always be a great memory for me.

-Rob Miller - the imaginary friend

Monday, November 25, 2013

RAMSHACKLE GLORY/JERRY KOCH BENEFIT at M(A)/7.6.2013



RAMSHACKLE GLORY @ M(A) House in Brooklyn
JULY 6th, 2013

THE TAXPAYERS (goof punk from everywhere except NYC)
RAMSHACKLE GLORY (7 piece anarcho-punk from TUCSON, AZ)
WOOD SPIDER (high energy NYC Folk Punk) 
BROOK PRIDEMORE (punk folk)


This summer, hundreds of punks packed into the local anarchist space in Bushwick to see Ramshackle Glory. If you don't already know Ramshackle Glory, go educate yourself. They are one of the best folk punk bands in the US and they put on an awesome show. Not only do they have a great stage presence and great songs, they also keep their music political.

Now the actual performance in itself was fantastic as well as very impressive. The fact that none of the band members passed out while playing was remarkable (it was well over 100 degrees in that room). It was tough to hear through the PA but it didn't matter because EVERYONE in the crowd knew the words and was singing along.

About half way through the show, Pat (frontman of Ramshackle Glory) stopped the show because of some fucked up behavior coming from crowd members. The issue was quickly dealt with, and the show went on. It is a relieving thing to know that there are still bands out there that ACTUALLY give a fuck and are willing to take the spot light off of themselves to address issues that they stand against.

By the end of the show I was so covered in sweat that I could have filled a bath tub. The shirt I took off retained enough sweat to fill a bottle of water, I had no voice left, and my knees were hurting. Long story short, it was a killer show.

Be sure to catch them when they are in your area and also check out Savage Wasteland, an anarchist music collective that they are a part of and help run.
-Jason Tancer


(An added side note from JOEY: This was a benefit for Gerald “Jerry” Koch, a New York City anarchist and legal activist. He was found in contempt of court on May 21, 2013. For more info on Koch go to:www.jerryresists.net 
NOTHING BUT CONTEMPT FOR THE COURTS!)



Friday, November 22, 2013

MASAKARI/THE ACHERON/7.9.2010

MASAKARI @ Acheron
July 9th, 2010

MASAKARI TERROR LEVEL RED (reunited for this show)
DEATH FIRST
ZHENIA GOLOV

From time to time, I like to think of those shows which blew my mind. They are hard to think of at the time. Sometimes it only happens in hindsight, when you think about it more. But sometimes, in the middle of the show, you realize, 'holy shit, this show is not normal. I can't believe how out of control.”

I remember seeing MASAKARI at ABC NO RIO in NYC years ago. I left that show with a new favorite band, and since they were from Cleveland and conscious punx I was proud to love their tunes.

When my friend Dean and I went an saw them a few years later at in Bushwick, THE ACHERON Brooklyn, we knew it was gonna be a great show, but mid show/set I actually walked out of the show. Throwing up outside simply from how awesome the show was (not because of drinking, sXe) I knew this was one of those shows.

I cleaned the vomit off my face. Shook off the bad vibes, and ran back inside. The walls in Acheron are pure black and back then the pit area was very tight, it has since expanded that space. It was, at the time a disorienting space. I am not sure there was any dancing at the show, but I remember being out of control. In hindsight we may have had a fight in the pit, but whatever it was, it was fun. Masakari drives a crowd bonkers.

They are pure bred D-BEAT machines crusted with awesomeness and pure crowd pleasing/blistering death riffs. When I could not move any more I just stood there and smiled. On bad days, at bad shows, I think of that show, the vomit, the violence, and the shit eating grin that sat on my stupid mug and how those dudes and that crowd poured every ounce of honest energy they had out. It made me happy, and makes me a better person.

Long Live Masakari

Thursday, November 21, 2013

WTFWD

Here is What The Fuck We Do.

This blog was made because we and our co-conspirators have simply too much to say about the shows they go to/the bands they see. We felt obligated to make a place for these thoughts. It in no way is a replacement for the podcast. It is more like a supplement.

We will be posting SHORT reviews about SHOWS we have been to and bands we have seen LIVE. Bands we can't stop talking about, for better or worse.

Feel free to message us your own reviews of shit you heard (it must have been heard LIVE at a show, we are not reviewing albums here, there are a MILLION places to read that) All we care about is shows. Reviewers will be asked to SIGN their names, no hiding here mother fuckers.
If you want to know about shows coming up or to here some in depth reporting GET DOWN at http://dispatchesfromtheunderground.com/