Chain Of Strength return to Washington, D.C.

This past weekend Chain Of Strength made their way back to Washington, D.C. for the first time in a very long time. They played at St. Stephen's in Columbia Heights (aka hipster central) along with Red Death, Public Suicide, Praise, Mindset and Turnstile. Mindset was the only band that we had seen before. So we were curious about the other bands.

First up, Red Death - I heard about this band a couple of weeks ago and got to hear a song from their demo. Call me crazy, but as far as I'm concerned, anything NickTape is a part of is solid gold. That guy sings for Coke Bust, Sectarian Violence and is now playing bass for Red Death and I was totally digging their sound. Going to be downloading that demo from Bandcamp asap.

Public Suicide was up next annnnnnd we missed them. Why you ask? I'll tell you why...because it was hot as fuck inside of that place. I kid you not, I had to walk about 4 blocks to a CVS so I could buy some Goldbond because of the chaffing going on between my thighs. That's right. Chaffing. Too much info? I don't care. That shit sucked. Adult Crash thought it was hilarious. (He has this thing about enjoying my pain. He's also a bastard.) Needless to say, I had a cool relief going between my legs after that purchase. Back to the show we go.

While waiting for Praise to get set up, we notice the fiasco behind us at the merch tables. Specifically, the line for the Chain Of Strength merch looked like it was a mile long. After closer inspection, we could see that they had a shitload of stuff to sell. Shirts, posters, stickers, hoodies and watches. You name it, they had it. Well except for those iPhone 5 cases...Bummer.

Anyway, Praise comes on and they were okay. Not exactly our cup of tea. Not bad, but not exactly blowing us away. We both agreed that we will give one of their recording's a chance before we pass final judgement. They sort of reminded me of Give, but not quite.

Next up was Mindset and the place went nuts for them. If you like youth crew hardcore full of straight edge goodness, then this band is right up your alley. Adult Crash isn't much of a fan, but I dig them. I love the energy of their shows and they kind of remind me of Count Me Out. Highlight/Non-highlight of the show was the singer falling and getting back up with a nice stream of blood going down the side of his head and down his neck. I don't know what happened to that guy, but he was a trooper and finished their set. In retrospect, maybe he shouldn't have finished their set, because we heard people talking outside after the show saying something to the effect of him having to go to the hospital. Hope that guy is okay.

Turnstile was up next and holy shit, it was like a flashback to 1993 in New Yawk City. That band is just like all the bands that we hated from the early to mid 90's. Holy chugga chugga crap. We both looked at each other and cringed. I literally heard a guy in between songs tell his buddy that Turnstile was a band you could "groove to". Barf....Adult Crash suggested we build a time machine so that we could send them back to 1993, but it's not really necessary since a lot of bands from New York are still going with this horrible sound. Having said all this...people were losing their god damn minds over them. Clearly, we were in the minority with our opinions. 

Now, neither one of us has seen Chain Of Strength before. But we had to check them out in 2014. And thank god we did! Man, they sounded great and had lot's of energy. They played everything from both 7"s and Impact. Wish they could've played longer, but as you know, there's no other material. With as much love as they have for so many D.C. bands, I had hoped to hear a cover, but no dice.




People watching: Well, if you watched the clip above, then you probably already know what we're going to say. Camera guys on stage...Something has to be done about this, but what? What are the promoter's going to do, ban them? Not likely. Heard somebody bitching about the guy in the baby blue Bold shirt being in their way as they walked out of the show. I think it went something like "I didn't realize that I'd paid for an ass to be in my face too." Haha

All in all, it was another kick ass show put on by the Damaged City guys. Can't thank these guys enough for putting together all these shows. If not for them, then there may not even be any good shows coming into D.C. All you kids out there need to be counting your lucky stars that they bust their asses to put on shows.

D.C.S.