Bradford Beach Club
Milwaukee WI
Saturday September 9th 2006
An Eternal Farewell
40 oz. Fist
New Society of Anarchists
Ahhh the pleasure of this "job" is unless I am being sent somewhere, I get to pick and choose where I go. So when I hit The Exclusive Company for CDs, I check the fliers. I came across one for a hardcore show. Hot damn, people are still making that stuff? Well, the reason I happened to go to this show was primarily because of the recommendation of one man. A man I met briefly in 2003. A man who is a living legend. A man named Billy Milano (See
my bio for my brief encounter with Billy). Anyhoo Billy said it was good. I followed his lead. It's been ages since I have seen a good hardcore band and damned if I was going to pass up this chance. There were several bands playing, one had to be good. Off to MySpace to check out and see what I was looking at. The show got a two hour late start, so we did miss one band.
Been a very long time since I have even seen a show at the BBC. And that was a mid-evening show of a friends band. BBC has remodeled some. They have a nice set up in the upper level for shows now. Small yes, but hell, its a great place to get a start and get a following. And for the most part it sounds a helluva lot better than some places.
First up is a group of younger kids in a band called An Eternal Farewell. Self described as "Brew City Mosh Core," they sound somewhat Pantera-esque. They are having their second show of the day (first being a pig roast) and it's their third show with their new bassist. Not bad over all, the singer really got into it, and the band as a whole is a very high energy group. A little thrash, a dash of some hardcore sounds, a splash of death in the vocals at times. A very nice mix.
This is where it gets hard to describe. Hardcore is a hard thing to explain. The sound is definitive. Angry, hostile, forceful, and glorious all at once. You need to scream for hardcore. You need some anger somewhere in your soul. But you need to also have some talent. It's a very working class guy type of music (or in my case working class broad). It's a mix of punk, thrash, speed, and hostility. It works the aggression out of your soul and you leave a show pumped up. Then you get home and you have a Zen-like relaxation. Ok, maybe its just me. But that's why I've always liked hardcore. Music to work your anger out on. I have music for moods. Hardcore is my aggression killer. It helps me work it out.
40 oz Fist was pretty darned cool with the dual vocalists. One high and one low. I really did enjoy the dueling vocalists, gave them something different to entertain me with. A six-piece band from Milwaukee, that is something that is a standout. This is hardcore. Almost had a big guy fall in my lap running up to the window sill from the pit. Tables knocked over. Small crowd, but they were into it. A few songs the guys did were "Lesser of Two Evils," "What's Yours is Mine," "Come Get Some," and "Break Free."
Now for the band we actually planned on seeing. I tried very hard not to get to know them or any other band playing. I wanted to go in with no impressions and have the bands make them on me. New Society of Anarchists has been said to be true hard,core by Milano. Well if you remember the old school hardcore, this is the best way to say what this is. I was really taken by the bassist's Zakk playing. It almost has a slap funk undertone. To kinda explain what I heard, if I mention a bassist's playing think Robert Trujillio in his ST/Infectious Days. Robert is my bass GOD and if I mention a bassist the sounds are much along these same lines. The bass was very ST Style. A few songs played, "Conviction," "The Few, The Proud, The Brutal," "Gang Mentality." This is what I remembered hardcore being, and I can honestly say I'm eagerly awaiting writing a review of their upcoming CD
For the Forgotten.
I'm glad I found hardcore is still going. While other shows have mosh pits, I've seen that hardcore shows are the only shows where in the pit you can punch someone in the face and get up and then hug that person. Hardcore pits are the only ones I ever avoided.