FINALLY made it back to the Black Cat last Thursday night, one of my favorite spots in DC and, although I admit to limited punk rock travel, probably one of the best venues around for a punk show. This one even came with a touring indie publishing company for all you zine kids out there. I'll respectfully pass on the "Bikes Not Bombs" sticker.
The lineup went as so: Ratsize (sorry, missed them); Riverboat Gamblers; Paint It Black; and Strike Anywhere.
Expecting much worse from the opening acts after recent experiences with Darkest Hour (see Damnation AD) both Riverboat Gamblers and Paint It Black were surprisingly solid. The first played some Ramones inspired tunes with a LOT of vocals, at times all 4 dudes not stuck behind a drumset (although maybe he was in on it also, I couldn't see).
Paint It Black did their best Minor Threat impression, even mentioning the punk idols, mixed with a little bit of the Bronx for anyone interested in a fresher reference point. The political chatter in between wasn't really my style but props for an inspired performance chock full of hardcore breakdowns and gang vocals packed into minute and a half tracks.
Strike Anywhere belted out some of my favorites from their first couple records but I enjoyed some of the newer, unknown to me tracks, equally. At times I struggled for attention as I wavered on the idea of talking to Mike Schleibaum of Darkest Hour, who was standing directly to my left and pumping fists along to the tunes.
In the end didn't bother Schleibaum with any super fan comments or perhaps a WTF for Sunday night, but it felt damn good to be back in a sea of black t-shirts and little punk rock kiddies (man did I feel old).
Here's a video from the 9:30 Club that's a couple of years old since the sound quality from the Black Cat clips on YouTube isn't great -
No comments:
Post a Comment