Cane & the Sticks - This is a tapas menu tonight with a lot of bands packed into a pretty tight time-frame at this venerable indie site. The first band is a local trio that I have not seen in a long time. They still have a great sound like I recalled and the songs vary from psychedelic swirl to heavy riffing. The rhythm section maintains a nice groove for the guitarist to ride high as they go into a tighter thrashier sound. This was a delicious opening bite for the fifteen minutes they were on. Hope the next delay is not as long until we meet again.
Jail Solidarity - I had absolutely no use in seeing these three people unload their catharsis for the 24 minutes they were on stage. This was painful and only reminded me of other ways to make these feelings work musically.
Priests - This is a raw primal hardcore punk band that has some fascinating components deep within their sound. The drumming is solid while the guitar and bass seem to phase in, out, and around the basic structures they set up. The vocals are as expected and these 24 minutes did show off a lot of deep well worked out moves. Hardcore music can still sound fresh if you know what you are doing and these four have it down. The only misstep was that the singer thought they were done one song early, and after hearing the closer, I think she was right. But I heard plenty of excellence before that.
Pygmy Lush - From Sterling, comes this more traditional hardcore punk band with a couple guitars, vocalist, and rhythm section. They had a rock heaviness to the sound and kept the tempo down from the real thrashers. It was a good sound, but due to the oversaturation of bands tonight only played for 14 minutes. You don't really want one hour plus sets with this music, but I would have liked more than a taste of this.
Screaming Females - This trio from New Jersey has toured hard and found their way to a solid fan base pretty much everywhere by now. They have played here many times to large crowds who easily get into their straight ahead rock sounds with plenty of punk attitude within. Marissa Paternoster is still one of the most amazing guitarists on a stage that will you see in this day and age. She also has a powerhouse voice and a great rhythm section that thickens the sound to let her deftly move from rhythm playing to shattering lead runs in the blink of an eye. The changes were quick tonight between bands, so they had time to do a full set, although the sound did them no favors with a muddling of their four components. So although the uncomfortable (hot) conditions and the sound were negatives tonight, the band still had the energy and skill to make a good set out of it all. They are one of the best live rock bands working the road these days and are worth a look if you have not discovered them yet.
Quote of the Night: From Pygmy Lush singer... "I work in day care. It's good work. Don't put your kids in day care."
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