Bad Reviews

I really need to stop reading reviews of the stuff I’ve released on Sorry State. There’s this one review of the Koro records that I keep stumbling onto over and over again during my daily net-surfing activities and it drives me up the wall. Somehow they manage not only to notice every tiny little thing that wasn’t right with the records, they harp on them in a particularly nasty way. The review also says straight-up that Speed Kills sucks and that it isn’t worth your money; I know it’s not as raging as the EP, but who expected that? I’ve grown to love Speed Kills over time and I think those who listen to it will too. Further, I wonder if these people had rather I not released it at all?

I need to avoid reading these things because they don’t do anything but depress me and discourage me from releasing new records. People are buying all of my releases and saying (mostly) good things about them, so I should make a resolution to avoid these things. The only problem is that I know such a resolution won’t stick.

I also worry about what it’ll be like to read reviews of my band (other than the ones written by friends already, all of which I heartily appreciate). Cross Laws just finished recording our first 7″ this past weekend and I think it’s a really great record. However, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who will think it sucks, and I don’t know how I’ll feel about that. On the one hand I’m less confident about the Cross Laws record than any of the Sorry State releases, but on the other hand this stuff is my own artistic expression so criticism will probably hit closer to home. I guess we’ll see how this works out. In the meantime, I’d be interested to hear how other people deal with reading reviews.

Need to Spend Some Money?

I just saw that TKO Records is having a 10th anniversary sale and all of the CDs in their webstore are $5, even distro titles released on other labels. In case you felt like dropping a few bucks, here are some recommendations:

86 Mentality: Goin’ Nowhere Fast – There’s a reason these guys get talked about so much. The music is a dead ringer for first LP-era Bad Religion, but the lyrics are super gruff a la Capitol Punishment. This CD is a ripper from start to finish.

The Beltones: Cheap Trinkets – Perhaps my favorite release on TKO Records that isn’t by the Stitches. These guys play rough punk rock with a gigantic (but still complex) guitar sound and rough vocals. I’m tempted to make a comparison to Leatherface since they really capture the spirit of that band without sounding that much like them. Highly recommended.

The Distraction: Calling All Radios – This was recorded before Hot Rod Todd from Le Shok joined on vocals, and it’s very much like the early Dirtnap Records sound or the earlier, more distinctive Briefs stuff. A definite keeper.

The Ends: Concrete Disappointment – While not quite as good as their first album, this is still some great Stitches-style punk. If you like the Stitches you should really be into the Ends.

The Generators: Tyranny – What a fucking record! I remember hearing this for the first time and being absolutely blown away. If all street punk sounded like this I would probably hanging out at the post office in Chapel Hill trying to find a way to fit one more Adicts patch on my jacket. I don’t even know what to say about this record besides “get it!”

Hard Skin: Same Meat, Different Gravy – Pretty much the only Oi! record released in the past 20 years that I have any interest at all in hearing.

Pedestrians: Future Shock – While I like their latest 12″ a little better, this is still one of the most powerful and rocking records to come out of the midwest in ages. Comparisons don’t really do these guys justice so just give them a listen.

Poison Idea: The Best of Poison Idea – Perhaps the greatest compact disc ever known to the human race (I am not joking). Seriously, if you don’t have this in your collection stop reading this and buy it immediately. You get all 3 of Poison Idea’s first records plus a later single that’s still pretty good. If I could only own 1 compact disc this would probably be it.

Reglations: Self-titled and Electric Guitar – Honestly I’ve probably played these records a little bit too much since they came out, but if you don’t own them you definitely need to hear these.

Smogtown / Teenage Knockouts – Split CD – Get this because the CD comps all of Smogtown’s hard-to-find early releases. Along with the Stitches these guys were the epitome of west coast punk in the late 90s and early 00s. All of this band’s material is classic but the early stuff is really something special.

The Stitches – 8×12 and 12 Imaginary Inches – Aside from the Poison Idea collection these are probably the best CDs on offer. Both of these records are absolute classics, totally carrying on the 70s punk tradition a la the Buzzcocks and the Heartbreakers while not sounding like (too much of) a throwback. Aside from Leatherface’s Mush, 8×12 might be my favorite record of the 90s.

If you have some money burning a hole in your pocket that should alleviate some of the pain.

On a completely unrelated note, all this weekend VH1 classic is playing this incredibly long documentary called The History of Rock. I got the punk section of this on VHS for Christmas years ago, and watching a few of the other segments I wonder if these people deliberately set out to make the most pedestrian rock documentary of all time. If there’s a story you’ve already heard a million times then this doc is going to tell it one more, with no hint at deeper analysis, seeing past the myths or any such malarky. Not only does it bring absolutely nothing original to the table (save girth), but also it is one of the most boring films about music I’ve ever seen (far more boring than American Hardcore if you can believe that). However, despite all of my whining and criticism you can be this music documentary junkie will be flipping back to it all weekend. I’m such an addict.

NPR Likes and Dislikes

Here in central North Carolina we’re blessed with a pretty good NPR affiliate, WUNC. Back when I lived in Richmond I virtually never listened to NPR because the affiliate was terrible. Due, I suspect, to the conservative political climate there, most of the programming was classical music (here we have an entirely separate station that is only classical music) so I had to go to ultra-conservative talk radio if I wanted to get my talk radio fix. At any rate, while our NPR affiliate is quite good, it isn’t perfect, and I’d like to share some of my personal opinions on their programming.

Keepers

1. On the Media – This one only comes on during the weekend and WUNC just gave this a death-knell 6AM Saturday time slot, but if you ask me this is easily the best program on NPR (and thankfully it’s also available as a podcast). This show takes a look at the top news stories each week and cuts through the bullshit, analyzing how the story has been spun and otherwise distorted by the mainstream media. I think this should be essential listening for any person who pays attention to the news.

2. BBC World Service – WUNC plays this every night starting at 10 or 11 (depending on the night) and it goes until the early morning hours. I really like listening to the BBC for a summary of world news that isn’t as relentlessly US-centric as what comes in on my television. I also listen to this as I’m falling asleep at night because I find the accents soothing.

3. Marketplace – Despite its name, this show isn’t just about stocks and bonds (which separates it from similarly-named television shows). Instead of investment advice, you get some pretty decent analysis of American business and consumer culture which, these days, is pretty much our entire culture (ever noticed how the President and mainstream news media have taken to calling Americans “consumers” rather than “citizens?”).

4. Day to Day – This show is done in conjunction with Slate Magazine and it’s pretty much like a radio version of Slate. I read Slate daily but it’s a mixed bag, and while this show is also a mixed bag it’s certainly one of the better shows on NPR.

5. All Things Considered – This is where I get my more regular fix of On the Media-type analysis, but this show isn’t nearly as solid. Honestly, this show doesn’t stand out too much because it’s by-the-book NPR fare a la Morning Edition and Talk of the Nation.

6. Fresh Air – This one is hit-or-miss depending on the guest, but they’ve had some pretty good ones in the past; a few months ago they had David Johansen from the New York Dolls on for an hour-long interview (by way of contrast, I don’t even remember seeing anything on MTV or VH1 about the Dolls reunion). Terri Gross isn’t a particularly inspired interviewer, but she’s competent at least and definitely allows the interviewees’ personalities to shine.

7. Car Talk – Honestly, I could take or leave this show but it makes this side of the list just because it’s the only tolerable show among NPR’s abysmal weekend lineup (On the Media excepted, of course). I could do without all of the corny jokes, but I like the fact that these two guys seem to be genuinely bizarre people; case in point, their obsession with the spelling of female names (?!?!). Occasionally I even learn something about my car, which is nice.

Garbage

1. The Diane Rehm Show – I could probably deal with this lady’s “I’m on my deathbed” on-air persona if she were a halfway decent interviewer, but such is not the case. Instead, you get the one-two punch of a nightmare-inducing voice and some of the blandest, least probing interviews on radio. Plus, why is it that this show seems like it’s always on when I get in the car?

2. A Prairie Home Companion – I always used to wonder to myself “who the hell listens to this crap” until last year when they actually made a major motion picture out of this bad weekend programming staple. Now, I’m beginning to think that perhaps I am the insane one. How can any being classifiable as the same species as myself enjoy this?

3. Thistle and Shamrock / Back Porch Music – I’m not sure if other affiliates have these shows since Back Porch Music is produced out of WUNC, but you’re not missing much. Thistle and Shamrock is traditional Irish music (ugh!) and while Back Porch Music will occasionally play a scratchy old 78 that sounds pretty cool, most of it is ultra-sterile, too-modern-sounding country and bluegrass.

4. This American Life – I once heard an awesome episode of this show that was primarily about the tiny Island nation of Nauru, but aside from that you mostly get a bunch of whiners trying to tell us why their life sucks. I’m not interested in human interest.

5. The Story – This American Life, but produced here in NC and airing daily. With a smaller geographic pool to choose from and more frequent programs, you know this is just going to be a terribly watered-down version of an already-bad show. Why waste my time with this crap? So tedious…

6. Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me – This is NPR’s attempt at doing a game show and… well, actually that just about says it all. This thing is painfully un-funny and ridiculous as a game show. Plus, the prize is having some weirdo record your answering machine message?!?!? Who gives a crap?

Checking Two Off the Want List

The other day I was looking at the keywords people typed into google to find this blog, and I noticed that searching for “record collecting” had led a lot of people to my post on record shopping in Tokyo. Admittedly, I’ve become less of a vinyl junkie in the year or two since I started my own record label (I guess the process was somewhat demystified), but there are still a few choice items that I’m dreaming of checking off my want list. Since people seem interested in it, I’m going to try and make a point to tell a record collecting war story every once in a while.

Bastard’s Wind of Pain LP had probably been on my want list for six or seven years until very recently. In fact, the one time I was straight-up ripped off by a record collector was over this record. This guy Jesse Standhard, who used to sing for that band Right Brigade, was selling off his collection and I put in an offer of $75 for Wind of Pain and a bootleg of Gauze’s Equalizing Distort LP, which was a pretty good price that I didn’t expect the guy to agree to right away. However, he said the price was OK and I got my money order in the mail right away. Well, the receipt from that money order sat on my shelf for about two years as I waited for my record, being assured a few times by Standhard that he’d send the records until he dropped off the face of the hardcore earth and stopped replying to emails. To this day there are people on the Bridge 9 message board who have something to the effect of “Jesse Standhard is a ripoff scumbag” as their signature.

Anyway, I’ve consistently balked at the $150+ that this thing fetches on ebay nowadays, hoping that I would come across a copy on my aforementioned trip to Japan. Sadly, that was not to be. Thinking I’d never own the record, a few months ago I broke down and bought a copy of the recently-released bootleg, which has Wind of Pain on one side and Bastard’s other recorded works on the other, from Benchpress distribution.

This is where the story gets exciting. Ever since I posted the Tokyo post I’ve had various people ask me to photocopy the maps I used to find the stores (finding anything in Tokyo without a map is impossible). While it took a few months of nagging to get me to scan these into the computer for easy distribution, eventually I did it and emailed them to whoever wanted them, on the condition that they also take a peek at my want list.

Well, a particularly nice fella by the name of Jon had to take a trip to Tokyo for business, and while he was there he used my maps to find the Disk Union punk shop in Shinjuku where he found a copy of the Bastard LP and kindly got it for me! The price was a princely $75 (the second-highest amount I’ve ever spent on a record), but since that’s about half the ebay price and one of my favorite LPs I didn’t blink. Jon shipped the LP promptly when he arrived home and even included a couple of other goodies, such as some of the Dicks records that recently came out on his label. Thanks so much Jon!

I also want to note that this is one of those few occasions when setting the needle down on the vinyl was as satisfying as I expected. I’ve owned the CD version of the Bastard discography since this summer and mp3s for years before that, but the songs explode off the vinyl. Plus, the 7-song track list (the CD includes the slightly weaker 7″ Controlled in the Frame EP) is, definitively, all killer no filler.

Image from The Shipyards

The other long-standing want list item that I’ve checked off recently is the vinyl version of Leatherface’s Live in Oslo LP. Leatherface is the one band that I simply must own everything by (because it’s all that good!), but this LP eluded me for years despite the fact that I own many far rarer Leatherface items, including several test pressings and other assorted memorabilia.

This one also came into my possession through rather convoluted means. This past fall a guy named Sean from England emailed me asking if I had any more colored vinyl copies of the Koro records. I think his email address was from a certain record shop in London, and I remember meeting Sean Forbes from Wat Tyler and Rugger Bugger discs (the label of the aforementioned Leatherface LP) at said shop when I was in London in 2000. I quickly emailed him to ask if he was this Sean and if he had any spare copies of Live in Oslo to trade. Sadly, he wrote back saying that he only kept one copy of each of his releases. Bummer.

After that Sean’s email lagged in my inbox, no longer a top priority (in retrospect, that probably wasn’t that nice of me) until he emailed back saying that a used copy of Live in Oslo had come into the record shop where he worked! We quickly worked out the logistics and in a scant few days my copy of Live in Oslo was finally in my hands! The CD and vinyl don’t sound too different on this one, but it’s nice to finally have a pretty-much-complete Leatherface collection.

As a follow-up to that last story, I’d just like to make note of my subscription to the old cliche “when it rains it pours.” Not 24 hours after I received that copy of Live in Oslo, a copy appeared on a reputable seller’s set sale list for only 20 bucks. Since I’m not really tapped into the Leatherface record-trading circuit anymore I passed on the second copy. However, I can’t remember how many times I’ve wanted a record for years only to stumble upon multiple copies in quick succession. In fact, that reminds me… maybe my next entry will be the story of Naked Raygun’s Basement Screams EP…

Since this is a somewhat related post, I thought I’d note that I’m about halfway through the monumental task of cataloging my vinyl on recordnerd.com. I’ve entered my want list and all of my 12″s, and there’s a lot of amazing, desirable stuff in the “for trade” section. If you want to work something out you can find my email here or on recordnerd.

Less Time Than You Think

This weekend I was packing up Rabies LPs and after boxing up about 40 orders I noticed that I had been pulling from a box of black vinyl rather than a box of color vinyl. Of course I’d be pissed if I’d been promised color vinyl and got black, so I had to open up every order, double-check the color of the vinyl and tape them back up. That took a long time and it sucked. Hopefully I won’t make that mistake again.

While I’m quite cognizant of the fact that no one who reads this probably cares, I thought I’d talk quickly about two pieces of software that I’ve recently adopted, since I’m quite happy with both.

The first is the latest version of Ubuntu Linux, which I’ve been running on my laptop for the past 2 weeks or so. My previous attempts to switch to Linux have always failed because of hardware incompatibility, but the smoothness with which Ubuntu runs on my Dell Inspiron 700m makes me want to switch wholly over to Linux (don’t worry, Kelly, the home desktop is safe). There were a few issues getting everything right upon install. There was some googling involved in getting the wide-format screen resolution working and getting the wireless up and running wasn’t 100% smooth (in fact, I seem to have gotten it working by accident and I’m still not sure exactly what I did). However, there are a couple of hardware features that don’t work in Windows that do under Ubuntu. The most important are the computer’s power-save features. Ever since my first re-installation of windows I hadn’t been able to bring the computer out of suspension or hibernation without some deadly video card errors, but both of these functions work fine under Ubuntu. Plus, the argument I’ve seen people make about Linux being a more productive operating system seem true; I feel like I get a ton of work done whenever I’m computing in Linux as compared to when I’m putzing around in Windows XP.

The other new virtual gadget is the new version of Google Reader, google’s RSS reader. I’ve been singing the RSS aggregator gospel for some time now, but the first version of the software that appeared as Google Reader was absolutely wretched; it made no sense to me, and I abandoned it after just a few minutes of experimentation. After experimenting with a bunch of things, I’d settled on a version of Feed on Feeds installed on my own web space (not a feasible option for most people), but the new version of Google Reader has all of that client’s features plus a few more. I especially like the personalized statistics that tell you about when and how much you read. Plus, the integration of tagging, labeling and starring (a la Gmail) makes perfect sense and has proven useful even after less than 24 hours of use. Score another one for Google!

Update: I just found another feature in Google Reader that lets me share some of the more interesting items I come across on my daily blogroll, so check the sidebar for that exciting nugget, hopefully to be updated continuously.

Mommy, Where Do Feelings Come From?

Today, all signs point to the fact that I’m having a good day. I woke up at 7:15 curious as to whether it had snowed or not, and when I peeked from between the blinds the ground was white and thick clumps of snow were still falling from the sky. As I threw on my clothes I glanced at the clock just in time to see that I was going to miss the bus, but then it was five minutes late and I made it out to the stop just as the bus was pulling up. Finally, we had a hoity-toity professor giving a roundtable/talk thing to graduate students and faculty and I actually mustered the gumption to speak in a discussion that was dominated by full-fledged faculty members. I don’t think my comment was especially insightful, but no one at the room burst out laughing at the absurdity of my thoughts either, so I’m putting that one in the win column.

Oh, and perhaps most importantly I finally had a good day teaching. After the first two days, I had convinced myself that this was going to be a horrible semester, that the batch of kids I was dealt were simply going to alternate between being bored by me and snide to me. But today there was an air of enthusiasm in the classroom. That’s always good.

However, despite all of these good things I’m still in a vaguely surly mood. Maybe it’s the fact that the snow has turned into a bitterly cold rain, or the work that’s piling up both at home and the office. I don’t really know. I feel like going home, making a pot of coffee and vegging out in front of the TV for a few hours. However, there are dozens of orders to pack up and a few work assignments that have to be done by tomorrow afternoon. At least I can work from home tomorrow.

Now, just so this post isn’t composed entirely of whining, here are a list of records that are knocking off my sox lately: Rabies Test Your Might (the vinyl is finally in and it looks and sounds PERFECT), Vicious Alienated (like all their records, growing on me with every listen), Cross Laws upcoming 7″ recording (yeah, I listen to my own band way too much), Totalitar Sin Egan Motstandare (explanations? you seriously need one?), Gentleman Jessie I Don’t Want to Know (total Exploding Hearts worship, and that’s the way I like it… thanks Rich and Chaz!), Beat Beat Beat Self-titled (my favorite CD to do DDR to. fuck you, fatty).

American Hardcore Movie

This weekend I finally got to see the much-anticipated American Hardcore movie. I had planned on going opening night, but unfortunately dinner ran a little long and we got to the theatre 20 minutes late. As I was walking away from the box office a drunk guy stumbled up to me and asked, inexplicably, “what are you wearing?” Then he stood up straight, took a long look at me and said “what the FUCK is THAT?” and practically fell over laughing. I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Sometimes drunk people are really stupid.

Anyway, I finally saw the movie the next day and I liked it. Like everyone else, though, I need to qualify that judgment. I thought that, as a documentary, American Hardcore was terrible. This was confirmed when I asked my wife (whose interest in and knowledge of hardcore is negligible) what she thought of the movie; she thought it made no sense and was, at best, a too-long string of sometimes-interesting anecdotes. As for me, I was judging the movie as eye candy for someone obsessed with hardcore and its history, and on this front I thought American Hardcore was satisfying though hardly stellar. However, as we talked about the movie on the way home and I talked with other people over the next few days, it became clear that the movie is a failure, though a failure that’s far more entertaining to watch than most poorly-made feature-length movies.

When I talk to hardcore and punk people about their reaction to the movie, almost everyone groans at hearing, for the thousandth time, the story of how Henry joined Black Flag or how DC invented straight edge. However, these are exactly the parts of the movie that Kelly really liked. Those of us who were expecting Blush and his cohorts to dig up stories as resonant as the ones we’ve heard a thousand times before (for good reason) had our heads in the clouds. By the same token, I thought the film spent too much time on the Bad Brains and SSD, but when I showed Kelly the LP of the film’s soundtrack these were the only two bands (aside from Void) that she was interested in hearing again. I was also groaning whenever the film used contextual footage of things like Reagan’s inaugurations (you could’ve used that time to show more Die Kreuzen!), but this was the only cultural or historical context the film gave. To the uninitiated, the rest of the film felt like an exhausting list of band names that fly in one ear and out the other.

Since the live clips are frustratingly short and annoyingly low-fidelity (clearly an aesthetic choice, since better footage of things like the aforementioned Reagan inaugurations could have been secured quite easily), the only real value left in this film is in the interviews, which are hit and miss. Since these are all recently-conducted interviews, you don’t get the eerie, journalistic quality of the Decline of Western Civilization; instead, you get a bunch of talking heads reflecting on what their youths meant. If you ask me, the analysis of what hardcore meant ranges, almost without exception, from inane to downright absurd. Kira Roessler has a very interesting perspective and Harley Flanagan is surprisingly eloquent, but aside from them, the best you’ll do is people like Keith Morris and Henry Rollins acting the fool. Oh, and Vic Bondi annoys the living hell out of me.

I hate to be just another member in the resounding chorus of people who were disappointed with this movie. However, I think it’s important to point out the various levels on which this movie failed, especially since almost everything I’ve read critiques this movie from a decidedly “punk” perspective, often asking it to do things no 2-hour movie could possibly do, such as cover more of the country’s (or even the world’s) smaller scenes or show significantly more and better quality live footage. So, be forewarned: this isn’t hardcore for the hardcores, nor is it going to be something you can show your parents in order to explain your obsession with this weird subculture. However, if taken for what it is it’s not a bad way to kill a couple of hours.

December 30th and 31st

So, there has been some clamor in the comments section about the fact that I haven’t written up the two epic New Year’s shows here in Raleigh yet. While it doesn’t win me any punk points to tell you this, I’ve been distracted by a great little Christmas present I received called Dance Factory. Basically, this is a version of Dance Dance Revolution that lets you play to any CD you want. Ever dreamed idly about doing DDR to the Rabies discography or the Direct Control / Strung Up split? Well, I can say proudly that I have accomplished these amazing feats, though attempting to play with the Deep Wound discography nearly made my heart explode.

Another reason I haven’t really had the motivation to write is that I’ve written about almost all the bands I saw at least a few times before. Trust me, I’m more than aware of how lucky I am to get to see bands like Double Negative, Direct Control and Government Warning so frequently. However, there’s only so many times that you can say “they ruled!” Despite this fact, these two nights were very special. With very few exceptions, all of my best friends from the punk scene were there and everyone was ready to let loose and go completely crazy. The second night there was even a keg provided by Hank, and in addition to hitting that pretty hard I downed to bottles of champagne; and I don’t think I was even one of the really insane drinkers. It’s a testament to how strong the Raleigh hardcore scene is that there can be two shows this jam-packed with amazing bands and people will actually come out and go crazy, even without the event being called a fest and given some stupid name. So, with that out of the way here are some pictures and quick descriptions:

My band, Cross Laws, opened up the festivities on night 1. I realized, just like the last time we played here, that I really need to learn how to play in the dark. Here’s a picture of Dennis taken by Hank, whose flickr page has a bunch of photos from these shows:

There may have been a few bands before them, but Rat Byte, who were a last minute addition to the show, played soon after. Once again I was astonished at how much this band rips live. I really hope these guys can pull it together on one of their records, because the energy and power of seeing them live really doesn’t come through the muddy recordings. In addition to a bunch of their songs, they played a JFA cover and Brace from Warkrime (who was visiting from the Bay Area) sang it:

DC’s Set to Explode played next. Honestly, I was surprised to find out that these guys were still together as it’s been so long since they released their solid 7″ on Grave Mistake, but they’re still going strong (albeit with Alex from GW filling in ably on guitar). While I’m all for a crazy pit (Hank has pictures to prove this… horrible pictures), this was the one point in the night that got a little too intense for me as STE’s friends from DC were dancing pretty hard.

Government Warning played next and as usual they were totally manic. Honestly, I think GW might have passed the point where they can play a basement this small, as people were slamming into Eric a little too often for those of us who actually like to hear the bands’ songs. The band was undeterred by the insanity, though, and played one of their trademark Raleigh sets that included almost as many covers as originals.

After GW played a few touring fastcore-type bands, I Accuse and XBrainiaX played, and while I watched their sets I didn’t take any pictures. They were pretty pissed that not as many people were watching / dancing for them as the other bands, but they probably shouldn’t have played last. They also had a really snotty attitude about the situation, making fun of the other bands for playing covers like they’re cutting edge artists or something. Oh well.

Click here to see more photos from the first night.

I think I was out until around 5AM, but I still managed to drag myself out of bed and make it back to Raleigh for new year’s eve, which couldn’t be anything but insane. As a special treat long-running Japanese hardcore imitators Abikyoukan played a surprise set after practicing for about an hour before the show. Watching their set I was reminded 1. how good they were and 2. how they don’t sound Japanese at all. They ended with a punishing cover of Bastard’s “Misery” and everyone went insane, especially me.

There may have been a few bands in between, but eventually Wasted Time played one of the best sets that I’ve ever seen in my life (no kidding). I’ve been waiting for them to come to Raleigh for what seems like ages and I know they’ve wanted to play here for a long time too. It couldn’t have been more worth the wait. They were just punishing, and despite the fact that this was their NC debut people went completely mad. A week later I still can’t believe I saw this set.

Raleigh’s Concrete Bombers jumped on the show and played next, and while they were somewhat mismatched on this bill I thought they played a rad set of ultra-fast, super-tight punk. They’ve added a second guitarist since the last time I saw them and the new guy is just blistering, layering complex leads over their already powerful music.

Direct Control played next and if GW have passed the point of being able to play a sane set in a venue this small, then Direct Control are miles past that point. In fact, things got so crazy that they had to cut the set a bit short. I don’t think Brandon did any vocals after the first track. While their set was frustratingly short and a bit too chaotic, it was worth it to hear them play “Bone to Pick,” which I haven’t heard live in years.

At the stroke of midnight not-so-surprise guests Double Negative laid into a satisfying set. I’m kind of tired of writing about Double Negative because everyone thinks I (and the rest of the NC scene) are blowing smoke up their ass about how good this band is until they actually see them.

Wasteland DC closed out the festivities to a drunk and exhausted audience, and while they were plagued by the same problem of people straggling outside as I Accuse and XBrainiaX, they didn’t have any of the snotty attitude about it and were just stoked to play.

Check out more pictures from New Year’s Eve.

So, there you have it. Two of the punkest nights of my life distilled down to one blog post.

Rad as Hell New Year

The past 3 days have been insane. I’ve seen close do a dozen sets almost solely by amazing bands, played one set, acquired two big scabs on the top of my head that are (not coincidentally) the exact same distance apart as the tuning pegs on a guitar, been insulted repeatedly by Brace Belden, drank two bottles of champagne (among other things) and taken close to 200 pictures. I’ll post a full report tomorrow, when hopefully my body won’t feel like it’s gone through a trash compactor.