Jason in the vast spoils of America

I should be in Florida right now…

I feel like shit from all the travel today so here I am sitting in my room listening to Down Colorful Hill and having nothing to do.

A brief rundown of the weekend, I don’t feel like going into any enormous detail.

Bands:

Friday:

Iron Chic – First band I saw of the weekend, ex. Latterman I think. Good stuff, they do that whole Long Island punk rock well and a lot of kids knew all the words, which is pretty cool for a band a long way from home and one with only a demo out.

ANS – missed them, stood outside because we didn’t get there early enough. Covered Poison Idea and it sounded fun, would have been more fun if I was in the venue.

Strike Anywhere – This band is always fun live, the first “big” band I saw and they impressed as usual.

This Bike is a Pipebomb – Hadn’t listened to this band in a few years, while they were entertaining, I only recognized a couple songs that they played so that sort of sucked.

Bouncing Souls – Played only songs from their first three records. I’m not really into that stuff but they put on a good show. I enjoyed them more when I saw them in May in Pittsburgh. They covered the Misfits, I got my Hallowe’en Misfits cover, even if it was acoustic.

Paint It Black – Dan “I’m the Man” Yemin was passing out flyers after Strike Anywhere’s set saying they were playing a show in the parking lot across from the venue the Souls were playing in after they finished. I headed over there even though I don’t like Paint It Black at all. They played out of the back of a UHaul truck and the generator died within 20 seconds of the first song. Some dude climbed onto the UHaul, ran off and flipped into the crowd, that was pretty rad. Soon after it was all broken up by cops on horses. I went home and hung out in the hotel. There was a rumor of Shook Ones playing in a house but I was much too tired to go find that, especially since I heard it was 5 miles from the main strip.

Saturday:

Ruiner – Stood outside for their set because there was a line. I realized I don’t really care about this band anymore. They didn’t sound very tight anyways.

Atom and His Package – One of the sets I’d been looking forward to the most. The Package was having some difficulties so Atom was backed by a CD player. He played for a good amount of time and it was a lot of fun. I don’t think he’ll be performing too often with the Package anytime soon, so it was cool to see something that not many people will have the opportunity to see again.

Lawrence Arms – I’ve never been bothered to check anything out in too great of detail besides The Greatest Story Ever Told because I tend to have this problem that if I really like something by a band, it’s all I’ll listen to. After that performance I’ll definitely be listening to more of their records because all the songs sounded really great. Kyle won some contest and got to hang out with Brendan before their set which is pretty rad for him. I missed Paul Baribeau to watch them and it was definitely 100% worth it.

Max Levine Ensemble – Another band that has grown a lot since I’ve listened to them. I only recognized a couple songs but everyone else there seemed to know every song. This band is a lot of fun recorded and even better live.

You, Me and the Atom Bomb – Caught this band accidentally because I was really early to the Common Grounds. I had a nice nap during their set.

Lemuria – Amazing band that got an amazing reaction that they deserved. There’s not really much else to say, except Sheena played the opening bars to Teenage Kicks by the Undertones during their sound check and they should have covered that.

Municipal Waste – This band is pure cheese but still a lot of fun. I hadn’t listened to them for about a year but still had a good time. Kids went nuts which was cool. The new album is absolutely terrible though and all their songs seem to sound the same now. Oh yeah, they covered SOD, that was rad.

Dillinger Four – Tight set, another band I should be into more than I actually am. I wasn’t blown away, but definitely impressed.

Comadre – Really cool band Joe showed me when we were coming back from Pennsylvania in May. They’re a “screamo” band I guess, and had a ton of energy. Extremely tight musicians, kept me interested even though I’m not that familiar with them.

Polar Bear Club – They played in a pretty small venue and got an awesome reaction. Apparently they’re signing to Bridge Nine which kind of stinks but good for them. The place was packed and everyone was having a good time.

Able Baker Fox – Ex members of Small Brown Bike, the end of the night was coming so they didn’t sink in too well. Sometimes they sounded sort of like Fugazi, that was cool.

Young Widows – First thing the guitarist did was complain about how they had to wait all day to play – wah, there were a lot of people watching, who cares. They played a good set though, but after 30 minutes I couldn’t take it anymore, no band should play over thirty minutes. I went back to the hotel room to find out everyone had been there for a while. I fell asleep watching the Shining.

Sunday:

Sakes Alive – My friend Josh was filling in on bass for them so I went and caught them while everyone else I was with hung out in the hotel room. They’re like a straightforward punk band, sort of hardcore, little bit of skate punk, I don’t know. They played well, I just don’t like the singer’s voice.

American Cheeseburger – Hilarious. Really great thrashy punk band, played for 10 minutes and I was really stoked, they didn’t need to play anymore in my opinion, because they packed around 10 songs in there. The sound guy informed them they had to play for another 7 minutes if they wanted to get paid. Sort of stupid but they played a few more songs that were also rad.

The Ergs! – Since this was one of their last shows and Dead To Me dropped, they played two sets. The First set was from all over the place from their catalog. They opened up with Kinda Like Smitten, then went on to play a bunch of songs from Upstairs/Downstairs and all of their 7″s and splits. They closed with Books About Miles Davis and Alex and Jason from Lemuria got on drums and bass respectively which was really rad. After a 20 minute break they came out again and played Dorkrockcorkrod front to back. They finished with two Descendents songs, because Frank Navetta, the Descendents original guitarist died on Friday. The first song they played I didn’t know, must have been a real oddball because no one else I was with recognized it either. They closed with Bikeage and it was awesome. An incredible band covering another incredible band. It’s a shame the Ergs are breaking up, they’re definitely some of the most talented musicians and songwriters in punk today, probably even the best in both departments. Bummer that I forgot to pick up their new 12″, hopefully it shows up online soon.

Leatherface – People had been bragging to me about seeing Frankie Stubbs a few weeks back at Sneaky Dee’s, where he performed one song on a whim. Seeing them play for an hour was incredible. Frankie was completely wasted before they got onstage and his banter was hilarious. For being as drunk as he was, they played incredibly well. Probably the most important set of the weekend.

The Holy Mountain – After Leatherface finished I headed right over to the Market Street Pub where the Holy Mountain was playing. The sound in the place is absolutely awful and walking in the venue it sounded like a pop punk band was played. I caught the majority of their set and it was definitely the crustiest set of the weekend. A Crass cover and a Body Count cover, the latter was butchered pretty hard, but still fun. I hope this band starts playing again because they’re so good.

Other than the shows, I ate a lot of Taco Bell, had a really rad vegan pizza with tofu and spinach, bought a bunch of records, and saw some friends from different places which was rad. The No Idea sale was pretty rad and where I bought most of my records. I also saw the Eating Glass record in three different places which was a cool feeling, the first was at the No Idea sale itself, the other was this record store called Wayward Council and the third was in one of the guys from the Holy Mountain’s distro, in which I picked up the new Hatred Surge 7″ and the new Dystopia LP. I’m too tired to go through the stuff I bought but I know I got Jawbreaker – Etc., an Onyx 12″ single, Shorebirds 7″, Acrid – Sea of Shit, and a few other things.

Anyways, Gainesville is a really rad town and I look forward to going there again soon. Not looking forward to being sick, I almost threw up while writing this, bummer. Also, not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow or seeing people I dislike anytime in the future.