By The Throat / Psycho / Mob Hit / Bad Lieutenants
10/8 at the Church
This afternoon, Slimedog and I find ourselves scurrying to the Church by the Fens to check out a cool show featuring a couple of our most favorite bands around town, Bad Lieutenants and By The Throat. Although we’ve heard lots of good things about the other two bands on the card (Psycho and Mob Hit), this will be our first time seeing them live. It’s also a CD release party for By The Throat and Mob Hit, of which, we will add our 2 cents. And Slimedog has lined up an interview with Mob Hit, which you’ll be able to check out in the coming weeks.
Matinee gigs at the Church are usually pretty good, but the crowds can be a bit on the light side, especially if it’s a nice day (…like it is today). As the Bad Lieutenants take the stage the atmosphere in the Church resembles more a private party than a public rock show. Scanning the spectators, I see that Duncan from Bring The Knife and Jay from Red Line Rebels are hangin’ out by the bar to check out the bands and lend their support. Behind the bar is Heather, who is awesome and does a fantastic job. Our good friend Brandon is working the door, and by the looks of it, may have had too much fun last night. Anyhow, on with the show….
Brian, singer from the Bad Lieutenants, says “good morning” and they’re off and running. They start out with a Ramones-y number, doin’ their typical BL thang. The sound is awesome in the Church and Brian and the boys are in great form. For me, the Bad Lieutenants are like the Dictators, the DK’s and Angry Samoans all rolled into one. As Brian blurts out, “…I’m just a piece of shit…”, I’m really amazed at how great the sound is. Now it’s a cool short one, “…you just suck!!!…”, which gives way to “…oh, oh…you fuckin’ whore…” featuring a nice squealing guitar bridge. Javier has decided to offer free porn to anyone who makes a By The Throat CD purchase (…such a deal, …whackin’ while listening). They then jump into their hit, Balls Out of Memphis Baby (a good time punk rockin’ number) followed by a tune about Brian’s super model girl friend he has locked up in his basement (…hmm, I wonder if his wife knows…). You can check out the BL’s band profile here and listen to a few of their cool songs (…and don’t forget to check out their way-cool new CD review here).
During the break, I had a drink with Barry, who is the fine drummer from Mob Hit. In the old days, he used to play for the popular 80’s thrash band, Wargasm, out of Stoughton, MA. These days, Barry fills his time bangin’ the skins for both Mob Hit and also the very cool, Gozu. As Mob Hit takes the stage, the word comes down to Barry and he rushes off to the stage… As I mentioned before, this is a CD release party for Mob Hit and you can find Slimedog’s review here.
And now it’s time for Mob Hit to pound our senses with their own brand of powerful down-tuned thrash hardcore. As they commence playing, their wall of sound vibe fills every nook and cranny in the Church (…in a very good way). This afternoon, they mixed up their fast paced straight ahead Motorhead-ish numbers with a few heavier lumbering numbers (…reminiscent of Rage Against The Machine/Soundgarden), which featured some very cool Jimi Hendrix-like “wha-wha” guitar solos. They managed to play most of the songs (if not all) from their awesome new CD. I wanted to review it, but Slimedog plied me with liquor and stole it off me during the show (…that’s OK, since I stole By The Throat’s new CD from him…). At any rate, wicked cool set by Mob Hit. You can check out their band profile here.
Up next is a band that has stood the test of time, called Psycho. I was remarking to Slimedog how it’s amazing we never saw them perform over the years. Slimedog says they date back to the days of bands like Jerry’s Kids. Oh well, better late than never. Psycho is a trio that plays a brand of hardcore suited to their name. I feel a “dooms day” thing goin’ on as they break into their own brand of hardcore mayhem. It doesn’t take Slimey and me very long to get into them. We quickly move from “like” to “these guys are fuckin’ awesome”. “A Thousand Miles Away” and “Pledge” are really cool tunes. Everything is short and sweet and destructive with funky abrupt endings. At times they verge on avant-garde punk with a Wire-ish feel. Two guys at the front of the stage haven’t stopped head swirling since Psycho started. By the time it’s all over (…and Slimedog and I have picked our collective jaws off of the floor), we can’t help but feel that we’ve been thoroughly entertained by true visionaries of punk rock. I wish I could point you to our band profile for Psycho, but we don’t have one (the minimum requirement for our profiles is a reverbnation profile). The best I can do is to give you their MySpace link here.
And now, last, but definitely not least, it’s times for By The Throat. As I mentioned before, this show is a CD release party for BTT and you can find my CD review here. These guys are a recently formed (2010) hardcore punk band that has easily become one of TNB’s favorite bands. They feature a an old school hardcore buzz saw action with a straight ahead aggressive style. Their sound is reminiscent of all the cool hardcore bands we loved from the 80’s. And this afternoon’s set was arguably the best I’ve ever heard them play. Cool straight ahead hardcore action with tinges of good time rock’n’roll guitar licks thrown in for good measure. Jay from the Red Line Rebels has just jumped into the mosh pit to stomp out his approval. They played all the cool songs from their new CD. “Riders On Boards” is an awesome tune. I can’t say enough good things about these guys. The only thing Slimey and I could think of to voice out approval for these guys was to go buy them all a beer (…which is exactly what we did). You can check out BTT’s band profile and cool songs here.
And so, as the sun sets on another great afternoon show at the Church, with the drink flowin’ and Motorhead’s Ace of Spades blearin’, I’m not sure where we’re all gonna be in a hundred years, but you can bet it won’t smell too good (…who said that). The only thing I do know, is that, if you weren’t at the Church today you definitely missed out on one of the best shows of the year. I can only hope that you all get a chance to experience these fine bands down the road (I’m sure you will).
Later
(Andy Bang)
