The Endless Blockade, Coffins, Birth Control @ Jan’s Room, 5/21/08 9 June 2008

Seeing foreign bands is awesome, especially Scandinavian and Japanese bands.  I have had the privilege of seeing several bands from both areas, including Victims, Hero Dishonest, and Breakfast.  They were all not only awesome musically, but really funny guys.  Tons of hilarious comments during their sets and great antics.  Japan’s Coffins were the first metal band I have ever seen from the country, and their guitar playing threw up the horns so many times I could feel the fires of hell coming from his just-over-5-foot body.  They were awesome though, and the guest vocalist for the last song was amazing.  Local sludge band Oxygen Destroyer opened the show with a Led Zepplin cover and a 10 or so minute long dirge.  They really are loud.  I was very excited to see Birth Control, Brad TFK’s new band.  I missed them several times over the school year so this was my chance to make up for it.  My friend Arthur is currently their singer, though I don’t think it’s permanent.  Good times anyway.  Check them out at www.freelegalhighs.org.  Seriously.  The Endless Blockade from Canada were the definite highlight of the show.  I have never seen a hardcore band where each member (including the singer) had 5+ pedals at their feet.  They had a definite noise vibe going on, but playing some of the tightest powerviolence I have ever heard.  Kids drove all the way from Pittsburgh to see this band, they must be doing something right.  They just put out a split with Iron Lung, track that down.  I already talked about Coffins, but I want to reiterate the fact that they love metal.  The Japanese tend to do every genre of music well, this was no exception.  Look them up.

Birth Control:

The Endless Blockade:

Coffins:

Random:

Thanks for reading, check back soon for Bridge & Tunnel pictures.

War Pigs Record Release Show @ Siren Records, 4/26/08 21 May 2008

Review:

Two dollar shows are hard to come by these days, especially one with an awesome bill like this. Most of the bands that played this show are high up on my list of great local bands, and Title Fight and Let Down are a couple of the best bands in punk/hardcore today. Check them out a.s.a.p.

New Doylestown HC band Concrete Jungle played first and didn’t make much of an impression. Their singer was all about the crazy antics though, even taking part in one of my least favorite things, throwing the mic at the crowd. I’ve seen a bunch of bands do this lately, and I don’t get it. Stagedives from the singer make sense, but launching a couple pound of hard metal at the heads of kids who are stoked on your band is beyond me.

New (I think?) sxe band Force Fed from Perkasie, PA played a quick, angry set. Decent stuff, though not too special. Kids were into it though.

Wilkes-Barre HC young guns and members of Title Fight the Early Birds played second. They’ve been in this blog before, and I have nothing but good to say about them. They have some neat and creative guitar work that sets them apart, and they cover “No Spiritual Surrender” by Inside Out fairly regularly.

Title Fight from Kingston, PA are hands down the best Lifetime-influenced pop punk band around. They are catchy has hell and write great songs. They just put out a new 7″ called Kingston on Flightplan records. Check it out at www.flightplan.bigcartel.com, it’s amazing. This was my first time seeing them and I was so excited. Kids go nuts for this band and they deserve it. So much energy and heart.

I’m not edge, but I love Let Down. They are genuinely pissed off, like every HC band should be. One of my favorite thing to see at a show is when a band totally confuses a crowd to the point of bumming them out. Doylestown kids LOVE Let Down and were clearly excited for the set, but were totally not expecting a Hole cover as the first song. Vocalist Bob Wilson actually sang the song, even using a mic stand. I think I saw two or three people that actually realized what was going on. The rest of the set was really well received, the band sounded great. Pick up their new LP “We’re In This Alone” on Six Feet Under Records.

I saw War Pigs a week before this show at the Deathwish Records showcase. They were great and I was excited to see them. This was the record release show for their new 7″ on Leave ‘Em records. Get it at myspace.com/leaveemrecords. The band departed from their usual formal dress during their live show for flannel shirts and bandanna headbands. They also had an awesome giant upside down cross hanging behind them and some evil red lights. The band was tight and are always great live. They finally getting the attention they deserve, look for some out of town shows soon.

Pictures:

Concrete Jungle:

Force Fed:

Early Birds:

Title Fight:

Let Down:

War Pigs:

Thanks for reading!