Scouring Al Gore's internet for tunes has given me these two bands.
First up is a band from D.C. called Human Shield and they have a 5 song demo that sort of reminds me of Citizen's Arrest. They have ex-members of Aftermath, Coke Bust, Sick Fix and current members of State Violence and Dealbreaker. It looks like I need to check out these other bands since i'm not familiar with all of them, but that's for another day. Vocally, the singer sounds like Paul Bearer if he lost his voice after a show. That might sound terrible, but it sounds great to me. They shred through these five songs in just under 6 minutes and that is right up my alley. I haven't seen anything about them playing out, but if I do, I can assure you that I will try to be there. You can check out this link and hear them for yourself, but they get a big thumbs up from me.
Next up is a band called Stonecutter and they have a 6 song demo that starts out pretty good, but by the time I get to the fourth song, i'm kinda tuning out. I will say that " The Will And The Way " is a pretty catchy tune that makes me wanna mosh and sing along. And I really dig the last song called "Grim Repurcussions." The weird guitar sounds remind me of something Void would do. I would give it a solid thumbs up if they just made it a 4 song demo, but that's just my two cents. There's no other info about this band that I can tell you, but check out the link to the songs.
Infest got together for a show at the Echo in Los Angeles this past weekend and it looks sweet! Check out this clip and don't tell me that you're not losing your shit.
Day 2 of the Salad Days show with Youth Brigade, Government Issue and Scream. I walked into the Black Cat and the place was buzzing with talk about Dag Nasty from the night before. I definitely heard a few responses like " I can't believe I fucking missed that! " and my personal favorite, " I would have taken a kick to the nuts to have been able to score a ticket! "
I walked over to the merch table because there was a shirt I had to have that I forgot to snag the night before. All the bands had merch ranging from shirts to records, but what I wanted to have was the Youth Brigade shirt that was there, practically begging me to trade my hard earned money for it. Mission accomplished.
After a quick stop at the bar to grab a frosty beverage, I go up front to get a spot close to the stage. Youth Brigade was setting up and I didn't know what to expect. The line up consisted of Nathan Strejcek, Bert Quieroz, Danny Ingram and Steve Hansgen. If you know anything about the band, then you know that Steve was not part of the original line up. But, it was cool to see him filling in for them on guitar.
They opened up with a song by the L.A. Youth Brigade as a goof and I was definitely confused for a minute. I was never a fan of theirs and I didn't know what the DC boys were playing, but I overheard somebody saying that it was a song by the L.A. band. After that gag was over, they tore into their jams and I was impressed with how they sounded. Of all the bands that played this weekend, I was more concerned with how this band would sound like. All the other bands have played together over the years in a limited capacity, but Youth Brigade haven't played together in 30 years!
The highlight for them was Nathan asking the crowd if they wanted to hear " Stepping Stone. " This was met with a round of applause and the next thing you know, John Stabb comes out to do some back ups. Alec Mackaye was asked to come up, but he didn't seem into it. After some pleading from Stabb and Nathan, he comes on stage during the song. It was a great sing along for everybody, but Alec Mackaye was acting weird by going up to people in the crowd and putting his hands over people's camera's or putting his hat on them. I didn't get that at all, but whatever. Maybe he's gotten camera shy over the years. They finished up their set to some big applause and I was a happy camper to have seen them play.
Next up was G.I. and their line up was very similar to the line up they had a few years back when they did the Government Re-Issue show. John Stabb, Tom Lyle, with Brian Baker and Colin Sears pulling double duty for the weekend. Stabb, as usual, was making jokes and telling stories through out their set. He came out in a ridiculous diamond studded jean jacket and I had to laugh. The man is highly underrated as a front man in my opinion. He's like the east coast Jello Biafra, in regards to his witty banter in between and during songs.
They busted into " Religous Rip Off " and proceeded to put together a really solid set of songs from Legless Bull, Make An Effort and Boycott Stabb. The crowd gave them a good response and I was impressed with the way Stabb sounds. For an older fella, he's still got the pipes for his songs. They played plenty of songs, but they left me wanting more. Good stuff.
Last but not least for the night was Scream. I'm a hardly a fan of theirs, but I really wanted to see them play. I know they've played out a couple of times over the last couple of years, but this was my first chance to see them. They got a solid response from the crowd and i really enjoyed their set. I enjoyed it so much so, that I downloaded " Still Screaming & This Side Up " on my phone, during their set. I don't know much about this band in terms of band members, but I did recognize three of the guys in the band as original members. I'd like to see them play again after giving their library of tunes another listen.
H.R. makes another appearance! He comes on stage with a huge wig that just looks ridiculously funny. Everybody around me was either giggling or wondering aloud " what the hell is he wearing? " It was as painful to watch as the night before, but it was still entertaining. I can now say that I got to see H.R. during the " crazy era. " Scratched that off my bucket list!
The weekend was pretty damn cool if you ask me. And I wanna give props to everybody that had a hand in putting this together. Well done.
I was looking forward to having some more frosty beverages at a nearby bar before calling it a night. Off I went...
I've been looking forward to this show ever since it was announced. I think it could have been a one night affair with Youth brigade, Government Issue, Scream and Dag Nasty, because I couldn't care less about the other two bands. But I digress... Day one's line up consisted of Kingface (WHO?!), Dag Nasty (woohoo) and Black Market Baby (meh) and it was being held at the Black Cat in Washington, DC. It's a cool place to see a show...you just gotta look past the "No stage diving, No crowd surfing" signs that littered the place. It didn't take long to overhear people complaining about it, but what can ya do?
First band up was Kingface and I don't know why they were on the bill. They sound like a rock band with a singer that can totally sound like H.R. sometimes. The bass player even made a mention of the similarity towards the end of their set. They weren't my cup of tea, but they definitely had fans there. As I am putting this thought down, I still know nothing about this band. I can, however, tell you that they could open up for Van Halen and probably get a good response.
Second band of the night was Dag Nasty and this is who I really wanted to see. In all my years of hardcore, I somehow missed these guys playing shows around me. First of all...WOW. The line up consisted of Shawn Brown, Brian Baker, Roger Marbury and Colin Sears. They sounded like they've been playing together for the last 20 plus years. Shawn's vocals are just awesome and the rest of the guys sounded tight. They got a good response despite those pesky "No Stage Diving, No Crowd Surfing" signs. Because after a couple of songs, people just said fuck it and let loose.
Funny observation from their set was seeing H.R. before and during their set waving at the crowd and throwing up the "peace" sign from behind the stage. I was disappointed in his outfit since he didn't have the astronaut helmet, nor a bird in a cage to sing to. He looked as normal as H.R. could possibly look.
Back to Dag Nasty, they played about 11 songs, one of which was a cover of Red C's "Pressure's On" from the Flex Your head comp. If you didn't know that, smack yourself a couple of times cause that song is great and it's from a great comp. They played an all around great set and I would love to see these guys play out again in the future.
Last band of the night was Black Market Baby and I was never a big fan of their brand of punk. Just not my thing. Some people cleared out after Dag Nasty, but I will say that they sounded good to me. I've heard of them playing a couple of shows here and there over the last few years and people were digging them. The highlight of their set was H.R. coming out and playing Right Brigade with them. He was playing guitar and sounded as lame as you would expect. They should've had the Kingface singer come out and sing the song for him because it just didn't sound right to me.
This show was also promoting a documentary called Salad Days by Scott Crawford and it looks really good. They showed some footage and interviews that I wanted to see more of. There's a funny clip of Ian Mackaye talking about getting crank calls from people in regards to straight edge. Crazy rascals...This documentary can't come out soon enough. It looks fucking sweet! Keep your eyes peeled.
Show ended pretty late and this guy went out for some late night eats before calling it a night.
Stay tuned for Day 2...Until then, check these videos out of the Day 1.
Welcome to D.C. Sniper, where I'll be spouting off on random things related to the hardcore scene. I'm what some people might call a "washed up core-men." But i still have my finger on the pulse of what's going on within the scene. Sit back and enjoy or tell me i suck.
