A couple show reviews I wrote earlier this year when I was considering doing another print zine:
JANUARY 4, 2013: DETAINED @ THE MANHOLE
You’ll probably be reading a lot about the Manhole in the future issues of this zine, so let me provide some context. The Manhole is a pretty average size house with a pretty average size living room. Lots of punk bands jam there and they have shows semi-often as well. Although I appreciate any sort of space that allows a bunch of man-babies to act like idiots the Manhole does have some limitations. It is not really the sort of house that is laid out well for shows. Mainly, the living room is rather small and sort of detached from the rest of the house (meaning, when you are outside the living room, you cannot really see the band). People also do not seem to take shows there very seriously. Sometimes people perceive living spaces as being legitimate venues, but I think people see the Manhole as a house that sometimes likes to have bands play their living room. If you’ve been to your fair share of house shows I think you will understand this distinction. It really affects the overall vibe of the show. All the same, the Manhole is great because they allow bands to play and jam there, aren’t uptight or over protective of their house, and generally have an appreciation for all things punk. Oh yeah, there’s also a dedicated screen printing room. The Manhole is your average punk house, I think.
DETAINED are in grade ten and eleven. Last year I did a teaching internship for the Bachelor of Education program I was enrolled in. I actually taught the drummer during this time, although I did not realize it until recording DETAINED almost a year later. I’m not sure if he knew, and was afraid to mention it, or legitimately never paid enough attention in class to remember my face (which is fine, I never remembered his either). Furthermore, over the last few months I have also substituted a couple times in the school two members of DETAINED attend now. So, my relationship with this band is interesting, to say the least. By day I am an authority figure (or at least, I would like to be), and by night I am a mosher (this will probably get me in trouble when I am lucky enough to get more work teaching).
DETAINED is one of the few bands in St. John’s that play solid no frills hardcore. I think they are still trying to find their specific sound (or maybe they aren’t looking for one). Sometimes they play real stripped down all-go-no-slow 80s USHC, while other songs are littered with NO WARNING style mosh parts. Although I appreciate consistency in my HC, this does not particularly bother me, as DETAINED are at least consistently good. All their songs are great, regardless of style. At this particular show DETAINED played first and opened with the intro to WOLFPACK. Now, I have seen many bands open their set with an iconic intro (as opposed to playing the whole song), and I have also seen bands open their set with WOLFPACK. However, I have never seen a band play just the first two measures of this song, and follow it with a shaky transition into their own. Furthermore, before starting, they announced precisely what they were going to do (that is, play only the first few seconds of the cover before their own song). This is indication to me that they only half “get it”. In a way this is very refreshing. It would be predictable to kick their set off with the intro to WE GOTTA KNOW, for example. We have all seen this a hundred times. It is no longer exciting. Sure, we will mosh (getting HC kids to dance to those first three stick clicks is like shooting fish in a bucket) because we feel we owe it to ourselves, the band, and the AGE OF QUARREL, but we don’t really mean it. We are going through the motions. DETAINED don’t know, or care, what is predictable or pleasing to their audience. They are playing according to gut instinct and it is completely honest. In a genre of music where live performances are often extremely rehearsed and dissected, but made to look spontaneous or exciting, this is a welcome change.
After ripping through a couple great originals, DETAINED played SACRIFICE NOT SUICIDE by THE FREEZE. The last time I remember anyone discussing THE FREEZE was when WEAK LINK (my band) learned this same song in the summer of 2010. In these parts, THE FREEZE is not a HC household name. It is not cool to cover the band and you will not get any sort of reaction. As predicted, people generally stood around scratching their heads at this cover. They were pretty out of tune by this point, so it kind of dampened the impact of the song. I was just excited there were 15 year olds paying homage to great 80s HC again for the first time in five or six years.
DETAINED followed this cover with another original or two and then announced they were going to play a cover song that their friend considered cheesy, but that they liked anyways. They then ripped into HARD TIMES. Following this cover they played CONTENT, which is, by far, their best song. It has a real PICK YOUR KING era POISON IDEA meets BLACK SS vibe to it, and the bridge is a straight rip of the intro riff/drum roll to TIED DOWN. They ended it all off with NO WARNING song which got a good reaction. I like NO WARNING as much as the next guy who grew up on early 2000s HC, but as DETAINED packed up their guitars and cymbals I was left feeling a little disappointed that people in St. John’s have a greater appreciation for ILL BLOOD than THIS IS BOSTON NOT LA.
JANUARY 5, 2013: BAYWARD @ THE ROSE AND THISTLE
The Rose and Thistle is one of the two or three bars in St. John's that HC shows often happen at. It is not a place that is particularly gross or depressing, but there is nothing really nice about it either. I have never seen them ID someone at the door, they do not charge anything to book shows, and they pretty much let anything happen there. This alone makes it a suitable venue for a punk show. In terms of layout, it is particularly narrow with the stage next to door leading outside (which is probably the worst thing about it), and the bar at the back of the room. It can fit fifty people comfortably, although many more have squeezed in. I don't know what the legal limit is, and I'm not sure if they care. If they are selling beer, anything goes. One of my favorite things about this bar is that it is very easy to watch a band from outside. The stage is back on to the sidewalk and there is a huge glass window through which you can see everything from behind the band. So, if you want some air or space, but still want to watch the band, you can easily check it all out from the sidewalk.
BAYWARD are primarily from Mount Pearl, which is where I lived most of my life. Mount Pearl is a bit of a satellite city to St. John's. There's not much there but houses, some businesses, and city infrastructure. I guess many people would call it a suburb, but a lot of it is not very suburban. I think most of BAYWARD come from the suburban neighborhoods, however. All four members are around 18 or 19 and did time in a band called WRECKAGE. Much like DETAINED, WRECKAGE lacked a cohesive sound or direction. Sometimes they sounded metallic, sometimes they sounded punk, and sometimes they were real difficult to peg. I think the biggest issue with WRECKAGE was that they lacked the necessary rage and energy to play HC punk. At best, they were ok. Fortunately for us, WRECKAGE died a slow death, and BAYWARD was born out of the ashes. BAYWARD play for the sake of it, I think. None of them really put off shows and most of them don't seem super invested in the local scene or anything. BAYWARD are also one of those bands that are more influenced by 86 MENTALITY than NEGATIVE APPROACH. From what I can tell (and I could be wrong), the band is more familiar with contemporary HC than the classics. This is an interesting trend in modern HC, where people's main source of information about music seems to come from blogs and their friend's Facebook status updates. This isn't always a bad thing. I can understand being more interested in the bands that are active than those that released a couple records thirty years ago. However, when BAYWARD play it's rough enough around the edges that it comes out sounding more like SOA than anything released by Grave Mistake Records, for example.
At this particular show I was really impressed by their drummer. So many HC drummers lay on their cymbals and hi-hats way too hard, and end up neglecting their snare and kick drum volume and projection. The drummer in BAYWARD tastefully accents beats using the crash, but plays the hi hats completely closed and just taps on the ride cymbal. I love the sound of closed hi hats and I wish I was better at keeping a consistent beat on them (a drummer's ability to keep a steady 4/4 on the hats becomes way more apparent when they're closed). The result is that his snare and kick drum ring through real loud and crisp, while the hi hats and ride just sit in the background and help keep the beat. This style of drumming is perfect for 80s HC. It's also worth mentioning that the drummer of PEACEBREAKERS, who I have seen live only once, is the master at this. He is so fast and clean with the hi hats, and they are never open (but remain adequately loud the entire time).
BAYWARD ripped through maybe eight or ten songs and topped it all of with a cover of OUT OF CONTROL by 86 MENTALITY. All in all, it was a set of unremarkable but solid hardcore punk.
pixelskylines
prguitarman
vaporwave
yousharknotpass
