Guitars, Drums, Tones, and Saxophones

The Gamits - Parts

So the Gamits are a long-running pop-punk band from Colorado. They put out a few lauded records via the awesome Suburban Home Records before disbanding in 2005. Major bummer, right? But not so! Now, from what I understand, they’ve gotten back together to do some shows- primarily in Japan- and to celebrate that, they’ve cranked out a whole new album for us lucky fans. Huzzah! How does Parts stack up to their earlier releases like Antidote?

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Red City Radio - The Dangers of Standing Still

At long last! Oklahoma’s Red City Radio have unleashed their first full-length record upon the world, by way of Paper + Plastick. After building some substantial hype with their EP, To the Sons and Daughters of Woody Guthrie, and the album teaser “Spinning in Circles is a Gateway Drug” digital single, not to mention their probably-awesome set at The Fest 9, (I wouldn’t know, I was standing in line outside Common Grounds during the whole thing. Not bitter or anything.) the band delivers more of the high-energy, melodic punk rock they’d burst out of the gate with, to hopefully a great deal of fanfare.

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Day 2 was a bit more low key overall, in terms of crowd rowdiness, but perhaps even more awesome than the first night.  Somehow I felt more destroyed after this one day than I recall feeling after the entirety of Fest 9. Weird! Some highlights:

• My friend Kevin playing 2nd guitar for locals Ascetic Parade, and being totally awesome
• Red Collar sending the crowd into a frenzy that may have been more out of control than Less Than Jake’s ‘Hello, Rockview’ set.
• Brendan Kelly drunkenly falling over the drum riser, and playing a song he wrote when twelve, entitled “Dicks.” For fans of “Nuts Nuts We Want Nuts.”
• I Was Totally Destroying It overcoming their kinda dumb name and being awesome, particularly their cover of “Big Country.”
• Pink Flag. Wow. Best band I wasn’t very familiar with before, I’d say. More people should listen to this band, because they were awesome. Awesome 3-piece, all female power-pop-punk. I feel that, if there’s any justice in this world, this band will be huge.
• The bodega across the street selling empanadas. I’m sure how I feel now is a direct result of those things, but man if they weren’t delicious.

I want to send thanks to everyone I spent time with at DTFH Fest. It wasn’t long enough, but it was a blast. Thanks to the bands who played and rocked hard. I don’t think there was a single less-than-great performance all weekend. And of course, thanks to Scotty Sandwich from Death to False Hope Records, for putting this whole thing together.

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Greetings everyone, from sunny, not warmer-enough-than-Massachusetts Durham, North Carolina! Here are some highlights from Death to False Hope Fest’s first night:

• The Dopamines, featuring Roger from Less Than Jake on second guitar, and Mikey Erg on drums, in a last-minute line-up that came together largely on the drive to Durham that afternoon
• Less Than Jake playing the entirety of Hello, Rockview
• Mixtapes bringing the rock, and the crowd loving it. Great to see this young band making such a splash so quickly
• Jay Kutchma of Red Collar playing a killer solo set, ending with “Used Guitars,” my favorite Red Collar song
• $2 Schlitz!

There’s more to piece together, of course. Off With Their Heads also played a great set, including a Fake Boys cover. I arrived a song or two in to the Riot Before’s set, and they threw down a solid performance. Scotty Sandwich has done a fantastic job so far with this festival. Everyone I saw there was in good spirits and seemed to be having a whole lot of fun, just happy to be there.

Hometown Throwdown, night 3

Once again, for the 4th time since coming back together in 2007, Boston’s own The Mighty Mighty Bosstones descended upon their city for the traditional Hometown Throwdown series of shows. As was the case last year, they played three shows at the relatively new House of Blues. Scheduled openers were We Are the Union, the F.U.s, H2O, the Flatliners, DYS, and Less Than Jake, though in the end H2O was forced to cancel when their lead singer’s flight to Boston was canceled.

Once again I was able to attend all three shows, and if it’s possible, that’s the recommended course of action for any Bosstones fan. Obviously, not everyone can do so, but the Bosstones will always vary the setlists enough to make it worth your while. Also to that effect, if someone ever asks which night is best to go to, it’s nearly impossible to answer. The later nights feature the band with, as Dicky says in ’98′s Live From the Middle East, their “Throwdown swerve” on, but every night will feature great songs and performances.

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Is World - Turning EP

Is World is a somewhat oddly-named band from Moline, IL, who I came to be aware of by way of The Please and Thank Yous, who if you haven’t checked out, you really should. Anyway, any friend of those fellas is probably worth a listen, I said, and so I delved into the Turning EP.

The band kicks out some really fun, enjoyable, catchy indie rock. The opener, “Either/Or,” opens with a light verse that leads into a crunching chorus. The lead singer’s kind of high-pitched vocals suit the music well. I wish I could remember who they remind me of, but it’s not coming to me.

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Beware the Dangers of a Ghost Scorpion! - Undead in the Fallout Shelter

So I went out the other night to see my friends’ band, Thick Shakes, a fun, local garage rock act. Playing with them was a band with a ridiculously long name- Beware the Dangers of a Ghost Scorpion. Length aside, it’s good advice. I’m generally cautious of live scorpions; one from beyond the grave sounds like trouble. Anyhow, they burst on stage wearing matching shirts- black with a yellow scorpion silhouette- and black bandanas covering their lower faces. It was visually striking, to say the least.

And then the music started.

They played a set of surf rock reminiscent of Man or Astroman?, though where the latter band had sci-fi flourishes to their sound, this band had a vibe that reminded me of the soundtrack to a gritty western movie. Which was cool. And so I grabbed one of the free CDs they were offering.

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Make Do and Mend - End Measured Mile

I was kind of late on the Make Do and Mend hype train. Despite being somewhat local to me, the Connecticut-based hardcore four-piece flew underneath my radar for a while. I heard about their lauded Bodies of Water EP, but never checked it out. After their excellent split 7″ with Touche Amore, I started to pay attention, and their contribution to the Punknews.org Fest 9 compilation, “Transparent Seas,” really caught my ear. And so, their debut album had me interested. Seeing it was coming on Paper + Plastick didn’t hurt, either.

And so, at their album release show on Friday, I bought End Measured Mile. And let me tell you up front: it’s a great record.

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Red Collar - Pilgrim

Well hello there! I’m mostly recovered from Fest, and ready to get back to this jam. And I’m going to talk today about a band that I swore I had already written about, but apparently not. Red Collar is a band from Durham, NC, who play some upbeat, energetic punk-influenced rock ‘n roll. I caught their set at Fest- after being told by just about everyone I know that they are not to be missed- and somehow loved their music more than when I’d first heard it.

But! Onto the album itself.

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