Adventures with Allen

Elvis Presley seduces Buck-O-Nine and they had a love child, that kid is then raised on a steady diet of The Misfits and that’s pretty much what The Independents are, a pretty crazy great Horror Ska Punk band. Also playing was Death Wish and Maximum Homeless Guy.

Maximum Homeless Guy was great as usual, though the new line up was new for me. They got a new guitarist and Joe went to vocals and crazy antics only now. It was a little different that before but I liked it.

Death Wish was next up, I never heard of these guys before and they were alright. They were a little to METALish for me but they did have a pretty tight set. Also the lead singer ate Mothra while on stage.

Now for the bastard offspring of Elvis and Buck-O-Nine, The Independents for those with ADD. These guys were super fun to watch though the fog machine was a little annoying. They had everything that you would expect from a Ska band minus the horns but they were very different from any skaish band I have listen to before. Thoroughly enjoyable and I will defiantly be on the lookout for them again.

Why is it that the kids in Oklahoma have no clue how to skank it up for the various Ska bands that come through town, hell I don’t remember one kid doing it during the Toasters show last year. People might need to listen to Mustard Plugs Skank By Numbers to figure this out. Damn kids today!

So I have no idea what I was doing there.

Another night and a surprising bunch of good bands, all local too. The lineup was The Voices of, Romantic Disasters, Unmarked Cars and The Gunship. I decided to head out of my hole so I could check out The Gunship again since it has been a while and the last time I only caught the very end of their set.

First up was The Voices of, these guys were OK but they are not really my thing. Sort of an Indy Rock with Emo or something, I don’t know. I did have a little hope for them at first since they did have a keyboard set up and I’m a sucker for that but that didn’t really help them out for me.

The next batter up was Romantic Disasters and these kids did impress. They put on a hell of set full of energy and fun. They had a great sound and the singer was super, she sort of sounded like a more rocking Pat Benatar mixed with some Joan Jett. I never heard of these guys before but I’m definitely going to be on the look out for their up coming shows.

Another unknow that impressed me a lot came up thrid, Unmarked Cars. They also had some good energy on stage and the crowd was really infused by them. They had they nice mix of Rock ‘N Roll, Punk and New(Old) Wavy sound, it was great. I will also have to be on the look out for any of their upcoming shows that I can hit up. Sadly I think they wore the crowd out since it pretty much was empty of their set.

Finally The Gunship got on stage and kicked all kinds of ass. They played a bunch of new stuff to me so that was nice. It’s just to bad that there was like 15 people left in the place during their set but they still played liked the badasses they are and for a freaking long time. All in all it was a really good show.

Welcome to another installment of my poorly worded critizims and praises for the various bands that I go to see.

Got some good and got some not so good with this last batch of shows.

First up the not so good is Sundays show at the Conservatory. The lineup was billed as Valencia, Sing It  Loud, Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer, Single File and Cash Cash. The only band I knew of before the show was Zolof and that was the reason why I went. Well Zolof didn’t play, I don’t know why either, so I was pretty disappointed there.

I don’t have much to say about these guys, I think my disappointment over not seeing Zolof  might have clouded the evening for me.  All the bands did a pretty good job of getting the crowed involved in their sets; some of them even attempted some funny banter while on stage. Most of them had a New Wavy sound to them with some Alt Rock and Pop mixed in, generally I do enjoy some New Wave sound here and there but these bands just were not doing it for me. The kicker was when Valencia said something about playing something different from their Punk Rock roots; I refuse to consider any form of Emo as part of Punk Rock. So all in all if you enjoy lots and lots of Emo and don’t mind New Wave sound then these are your bands but if you’re like me a despise Emo then I wouldn’t bother.

Now the good and GREAT.

The show before the last was The Cute Lepers, Avenue Rose, Dreadful Children and The Bashed. Now this is was a damn good show. All the bands except for The Cute Lepers were new to me, The Cute Lepers being Nix and Kicks from the Briefs.

First up was The Bashed, a three piece local band. They had a nice straight up sound to them; I got a very Oi feeling from them which is a good thing. Also they covered This Land is Your Land, which actually makes a good Punk song, and If the Kids are Unite from Sham 69. I hope to check these guys out some more soon.

Next up was Dreadful Children, another band with a very cool Oi sound to them. These guys were a lot of fun on stage and they reminded me a little of the Toy Dolls, just a few songs here and there not the whole set. This is another band I hope comes though again.

The penultimate band up was Avenue Rose. At first I was thinking were we’re going to get an Emo show out of them or something similar, I’m so glad it was like that. These guys were pretty good up on stage, I don’t think their set was as good as Dreadful Children. I don’t have a whole lot to say here, I was getting pretty damn tired at this point as the show started pretty late for a Tuesday. So I guess just the regular line works here: I wouldn’t mind them coming back though town so I can check them out again.

Finally The Cute Lepers showed up and rock the house. They pretty much showed like at the end of the Avenue Rose set and had to run all their equipment out on stage as Avenue Rose was tearing down, van trouble seeming to be a common thing with the past few bands. But they didn’t disappoint with their set, even though the girls didn’t have their Tambourines. The only disappointing thing about this show was the crowd; it was almost a ghost town considering the talent that was there. If you like The Briefs you should like The Cute Lepers and if you don’t like The Briefs or The Cute Lepers then what the hell is wrong with you. 

Leper show photos.

So finally I got out of my hole, saw the sunshine and went to check out some bands. It has been a long freaking time since my last show and that’s my fault.

So last night was an Asian Man Records night at the Conservatory. I wasn’t familiar with most of the bands on the ticket last night but that didn’t stop me from braving the harsh light of day to see some new acts. Those bands were The Queers, Lemuria, Bomb the Music Industry, Andrew Jackson Jihad and Kepi Ghoulie. The only ones I knew anything about were The Queers, main reason why I went, and Kepi Ghoulie, from The Groovie Ghoulies.

First up was Kepi Ghoulie and I’m sad to say I was a little late so I pretty much missed all of his set. From what I did see it was pretty enjoyable. A three piece with Kepi playing an acoustical guitar and singing; it was a little mellower then I thought it would be but still enjoyable. I hope he comes though again so I can check out a full set.

Andrew Jackson Jihad was up next and this is a two piece with guitar and upright bass. These guys were crazy fun to watch up on stage. Again their music was a little lower key then I was expecting but still very fun.  Their songs were a lot of fun and they had some good banter between each other and crowd interaction.  The ending of their set was great with members of Bomb the Music Industry coming up to play with them and tons of energy and fun coming off that stage. This was really setting the stage for the fun to come next.

Bomb the Music Industry played after Andrew Jackson Jihad and man these guys were great. Their music style was all over the place going from punk, punk ska, blues/Motown and somewhere in-between them all; it was thoroughly enjoyable. These guys and gal played their hearts out on stage and jumped into the crowd to infuse some of their insane energy into it when it looked like the crowd was starting to wind down, from exhaustion I think and not because of what the band was doing. Again I hope these guys come though again so I can check them out.

The penultimate act was Lemuria a three piece band from out of Buffalo, NY, I think. At first I wasn’t too keen on them but they started to grow on me. I walked away thinking these would be what Lisa Lobe would be if she was punk rock and cooler. It took a few songs but they started to grow on me and I ended up enjoying their set.

Finally The Queers came up; I missed them last year so I was glad to hear they were coming though again. These guys are legends in the punk rock scene, being around in one line up or another for years on years and they didn’t disappoint. They played everything I wanted to hear and then some. The ending of their set had Kepi coming up to sing with them on two Ramones covers. It was great and apparently they are coming out with a new album next year so here’s hoping they come back though town when that happens.

Another night and another good show, Tuesday I went to see Street of Thieves, A Wilhelm Scream and The Unseen. I’ve been meaning to check out The Unseen but never got around to it before. I also wanted to see A Wilhelm Scream since their kick ass show a few months ago and I’m always up for a show that has Streets of Thieves playing. I guess Excessive Enemy opened but I was to late to check them out and I still want to give them another go to see if they have improved any since the last time I saw them.

So first up for me was Street of Thieves and these guys were amped up for this show it seemed. They of course played a great set and what was a nice treat was that it included a bunch of new songs. I also finally got to find out if they were working on putting out an new album of any kind and they told me that they were going to be working on a new EP with maybe six songs on it, so when they put that sucker out I hope you all buy it up so they can get some cash to start working on an LP.

A Wilhelm Scream was up next and their set was just as good as last time. After finally getting to listen to some of their music before this show I think I enjoyed it more. They played their crazy fast punk to the max and the crowed was super stoked during their set. I think they had better crowed interaction during this set than they did last time. There was defiantly a hell of a lot more stage jumping and crowed surfing than last time. I hope they come back through again soon.

Last was The Unseen, they put on a good set but I wasn’t very familiar with their songs except for a few here and there. The crowed seemed to be just as stoked for these guys and they were for A Wilhelm scream but I just wasn’t really all that impressed with their set. It could be because I’m not familiar with their music but something about the set just didn’t strike a cord for me. I wouldn’t pass another show from them though I just didn’t like them as much as some of the other bands that have come though before. I guess all the headliners can’t be great.

All in all it was a good show and I’m pretty happy to hear about Street of Thieves working on a new CD. I don’t think there are any more upcoming shows on my radar until the Punk Rock Garage Show at the Conservatory on April 12^th.