Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Whigs at Harlows 2/26

Last night at Harlows Nightclub marked the first date for BRMC on there tour to support the up coming album "Beat the Devils Tattoo". I have never been a super huge fan but a few of my beer loving friends decided to go so what the hell I'll go just to check out the scene. I also figured seeing BRMC at a 200-300 club like Harlows could be really cool. I usually enjoy seeing bigger bands in smaller venues, get up close and personal with them. Rub elbows with the life I never quite made it into. As we rolled up to the front door a 35 person line stood in our way. Not a good sign. While we waited in the freezing cold I looked around at my fellow concert goers...more skinny jean wearing, trendy beard sportin hipsters than you could shake a stick at. Not a good sign. When I finally made it threw the door I realized why it took so long; the show had been close to double oversold. Not a good sign. I hate it when clubs or promoters over sell shows by that much, it's dangerous. Anyway I had to bump and grind my way to bar it was stacked about four people deep. The only way I even got a drink was because a friend of mine was working, sweet I grabbed two drinks cause I wasn't about to wait in line again. I turned in circles to find a place to stand but it was so over crowded I could barley move, then some kind sir aloud me to cozy up to the corner of his reserved table pretty close to the stage. About this time Georgia's finest three piece garage rock band The Whigs hit the stage. I couldn't help be a little disappointed that there wasn't a local band on the bill, it's always good to see local guys getting a shot at a big time show. But The Whigs were pretty cool. They had sort of a grunge/southern rock sound to them, as if Kurt Cobain tried to sing like Waylon Jennings. The southern rockers brought some good hooks and riffy songs, but I do think they over used The Pixies style song writing. A lot of there songs used palm muted power chords to get that throatie chugin guitar sound then when they went into the chores an open chord to get a much larger wall of sound. On A few songs the vocals followed the scale the guitar and bass played which is bitchin. It's extremely hard to write songs in that style, that don't just sound like some sort of middle eastern hack job. IE White Stripes song Conquest. By the time The Whigs left the stage I was convinced to buy an album, good stuff. So of course BRMC takes forever to get to the stage. Nothing I like more than sitting in a hot, humid, over sold show with no drink in my hand. I don't understand why you don't add another band to the bill if you are going take your sweet ass time getting to the stage. At Least give us something to watch. Needless to say I was not in a good mood. Like I stated in the beginning of this piece Im not a huge BRMC fan but I DID like them. When the rock stars finally sauntered on stage they came out with a powerful, ambient song? The rest of the set continued to underwhelm. I never noticed how many effects are on the singers voice, live he sounds like an unoriginal version of Billy Corgan. I guess musically speaking they played well, no missed chord changes or off beat train wreck moments but my god I have not been that bored at a show in months. BRMC player mostly their mid-tempo songs, you can only listen to a band rip off Smashing Pumpins (without the good guitar player) for some many songs. Not only that but I think they said as many as two sentences to the audience the entire show. Both the guitar player and the bass player changed instruments between almost every song, Ive done entire tours without turning that much! The drummer played some pretty good drop beats but the bass player played root notes the entire night...BORING. The guitar player used a Capo to play lead parts, how does that?! Most guitar players consider this cheating. When the night came to a close I swore I'd never see BRMC again. They did not come close to living up to quality of there albums and to boot they bored me out of my mind. I do have to give props to The Whigs, good stuff I recommend it. As over sold as the show was the Harlows staff did a great job, from sound to bar, grade A.

Anthony
ps. I know I can't spell or punctuate correctly

A show review I did for Submerge Magazine

7Seconds, Youth Brigade, Pressure Point, Boats!, The Knockoffs
Shire Road Club, Friday Jan. 29
Words Anthony Giannotti

When I heard about this show I was really excited for several reasons: First, I hadn’t seen some of the bands in almost 10 years; second, it showcased a wide cross-section of Sacramento punk rock talent; and third, it gave me a reason to get out of the grid and check out a new all age’s venue. So I made the trip all the way out to The Shire Road Club.
First up were The Knockoffs. The band consists of guys from other great Sacramento punk bands The Secretions and The No-Goodniks and Berkeley, Calif.’s Mr. T Experience. Right out of the gate these hometown heroes hit us with three-chord punk that would do The Ramones proud—songs chock-full of sing-alongs, power hooks and quirky choruses about girls. I found the drummer of this band to be very interesting; in fact I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Imagine if The Rock stopped taking steroids AND played with the exact facial expression/drumming style of Ringo Starr circa 1964.
Next up was the pop punk trio Boats! The set started out with some equipment malfunction that caused the guitar player to miss some notes and forget chord changes. Anyone that has played in a touring band understands every show can’t be the best one you’ve ever played; you just move on and play better next time. These guys did have some catchy tunes. Similar to something you might here on a late 90’s Screeching Weasel album, fun goofy three chord punk. The bass player David blew me away, honestly one of the best young punk bass players I’ve seen in a long time.
The third band, and arguably the best band on the bill, was Pressure Point. I really don’t know what else to say about these guys, they are just fantastic New York style hardcore punk. Apparently I was not the only person who felt this way because the previously motionless, expressionless crowd burst into a wild circle pit, fist-flying singing along to all the songs. These guys brought a little more musical complexity to the night, more than five chords per song and some flashy lead guitar. Pressure Point brought out an interesting observation; punks, skinheads and hardcore kids attended this show. Not a lot of other cities can boast such unity.
As soon as Youth Brigade hit the stage I was immediately unimpressed. Yeah I know, punk legends, been around forever, whatever. For some reason Shawn Stern (lead singer) had a problem with the majority of the audience not being born before his band started. He seemed to imply that we weren’t there so we don’t “get it”. This is the equivalent of Boss Hogg telling me I don’t “get” Dukes of Hazard because I wasn’t born in the south. I don’t see this in any other genre of music but for some reason some old punk rockers are ageists. Sorry for being younger than you. I don’t know what you want me to do about it. If you’ve seen the classic punk documentary Another Sate of Mind you’ve seen modern day Youth Brigade. They still play teeth grinding aggressive 80’s style barking hardcore punk. Shawn is still singing about politics and playing the same power chords, I didn’t get the impression that he wanted to be there. He acted as if he was going through the motions, to get paid.
7Seconds was the last band to take the stage, they immediately kicked down the doors and tore the roof off. They played fast, loud, and hard. I was surprised Bobby didn’t break a string the way he slammed on that guitar. Steve Youth played about as complicated of a bass line as you can fit into a blazing fast punk song. I loved Kevin’s vocals, that distinct higher range is one of the things that has made 7 Seconds so recognizable over there career. What an extraordinary band, they are celebrating there 30th anniversary so get out and see them!!!
All said and done it was a good night with very talented bands. It was a good reminder of what I love about punk rock. I hope Shire Road Club has more of these shows in store for us.

Anthony
ps I know I can't spell or punctuate correctly