Listen here.

I had already picked up the “Digging for Something” single and was quite impressed… loud guitars, power chords, and big melodies just like the old stuff.

Update: About halfway through and this is just straight killer… no slow stuff yet, and everything is really dense yet melodic… total Buzzcocks style but with a 90s indie rock edge. Lovin’ it! Will definitely be buying this from emusic when it comes out next week.

Man, is this frustrating… at the risk of making an unseemly analogy, I imagine this is what it must be like to have a loved one with Alzheimer’s… you see little sparks of their former self but only a split-second at a time and never long enough to feel connected or gratified. There are so many cool bits here… particularly the weird drumming and the AWESOME intertwining lead guitar stuff (the end of this track recalls my favorite AOF track, “In This Jungle”), but the vocals are TERRIBLE and the whole thing sounds like it was mixed by a deaf person. Where are the guitars? Could you make the bass sound any shittier? Is it just me or do instruments seem to fade in and out randomly? It almost sounds like “AOF Shreds” in places.

I really hope this is just some off-the-cuff practice tape and not any indication of what this record will sound like. If they take their time with this, make it sound good, and keep Bondi in a very small box this could be something worth hearing. Otherwise it will be a disaster. Even at best though, it probably won’t be an album of songs that I love, it’ll just be an album made by people whose guitar style I love, which is an entirely different (and inferior) listening experience.

Jet and I create fun wherever we go… today it was at CVS.

We found this in the hallway of our practice space years ago and it’s been hanging on our wall ever since. I’m pretty sure someone in another practice space had their daughter with them and while she was hanging out she drew this picture of us. Actually, there might be an entire illustrated book she made about us, but this is the only page left.

shitty phone pic of an awesome rainbow I saw on the way to band practice yesterday

I cannot stop listening to this LP how on earth did Protex manage to write so many absolutely CLASSIC power pop songs? I’m so thankful that these are all collected in one place, and with a phenomenal rough-yet-clear recording to boot… this was my most-listened to LP this week and won’t be leaving the turntable any time soon.

Socialcide were, of course, pretty outspoken about their straightedge-ness back when they were an active band, and at this point I’m pretty sure no one in the band is remotely straight at all, which made me wonder what to expect. Would they play songs like “Stupid Drunk Asshole?” When they started it was clear that Zach was completely wasted… he was doing a lot of his old, vaguely Iggy-esque stage moves, but instead of leaping up from his weird contortions he would just go limp or fall into the crowd. The band was no less fast than they used to be, but were pretty sloppy… they never got to the point of utter collapse, with the exception of Zach, who rarely sang into the mic. They started the set with a blitzkrieg of shortfastloud (punctuated by some equipment troubles), and just as (judging by the set list) they were about to dig into the “total mosh” portion of the set ,Zach (who was by this time pants-less) fell off the stage and came back up with his face soaked completely in blood. End set. “SDA” was the last song on the set list but they didn’t make it there… bummer.

Life Trap were up next, and I questioned the wisdom of having them follow Socialcide, but they totally brought it. I walked in during the first song and they were in total rage mode, playing way faster than I remember them ever playing “back in the day” and with each member of the band clearly playing with his entire body. Their set couldn’t have been more then 10 minutes long, and it was a complete lightning-speed blur, with the exception of a sweet Poison Idea cover that prompted my first stage dive of the night.

Double Negative have a history of being a bit of a let-down at previous No Way-related events, but I thought they were completely on point last night. They busted out some rarely-played old jams like “Mein Trappe” and “Pond and Prairie,” but right now it’s the newer stuff like “Erase Yourself” and “Endless Disappointment” that gets my blood boiling. Unfortunately, during “Mein Trappe” I was at the front of the stage raging out and a stage diver kicked me square in the nose. After sitting to the side of the stage for a few minutes to get my bearings, I went back into the pit only to notice that I was covered almost to my elbows in my own blood. Also, WTF no “Saturation Tank?” It remains my contention that if you write a song as great as “Saturation Tank” you should be legally required to play it every single time.

So far, each band of the night had been a little bit better than the last, and I was nervous that Career Suicide would slow the momentum since they are not an active band by any stretch of the imagination. That fear was completely unwarranted; they turned out the best set I’ve ever seen them play. They are a band who knows what their best songs are, so you know you’re going to hear “Jonzo’s Leaking Radiation,” “Quarantined,” “Moron,” “Impact,” and all of the others that you really want. The band was stop-on-a-dime tight and the energy level was completely through the roof the entire time. “Quarantined” was the highlight, during which I got to grab the mic for a line and then stage dive… probably the highlight of my night.

Apparently there was an aftershow but I didn’t make it, skipping it in lieu of a meeting of the North Carolina / Canada hardcore summit, which involved playing DI’s Horse Bites, Dog Cries, the Geto Boys and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony at ear-splitting volumes. What a night!