Adventures with Allen

The Conservatory 03/20/2009

On the ticket was: the Street Dogs, The Righs, and The Bashed. So first up was The Bashed, this was I think my second time seeing these guys and it sounded like they improved a lot since last time I saw them. I hope to check these guys out again sometime soon.

The Righs were up next another local band. This was the first time I have heard of them and they were pretty impressive. I guess they are a Celtic Punk band so if you like The Dropkick Murphys then you should like these guys. They have a pretty good sound, the Mandolin helps, and a good stage presence. I would like to see these guys again also I wouldn’t mind seeing them with the Dirty Mugs since I think they would complement each other pretty well.

Last up was the Street Dogs and they just keep on getting better. They played an energetic, thought provoking and emotional show. Mike McColgan’s stage presence continues to amaze me each time I see him, this is a guy that can take you though a range of emotions and still keep you excited and wanting more. They have a broad range of messages but they present them to you in such a way that you don’t tire of hearing them. These guys continue to be the best live act around; I don’t think I have yet seen another band that can keep a crowd so energized during a set as these guys. This will be a hard show to beat but it looks like there will be a lot of competition this year so we’ll see.

The Conservatory 03/21/2009

I mainly went to see Over Stars and Gutters and Teenage Bottlerocket but also playing was Needlepoint and Scouts Honor.

Over Stars and Gutters continues to put out a solid set. They keep expanding their play set so I hope they will try and put out an EP or something. Needlepoint is a local hardcoreish band I think. I couldn’t understand a word of their songs and musically it didn’t sound all that great either, this could have been because they didn’t play on the stage so the acoustics could have been all screwy so I wouldn’t rule them out yet.

Scouts Honor was up next, a punkish/jamish band from out of Chicago that. They were alright though not all that impressive. They didn’t really have a good stage presence and the consistency of their set wasn’t all that good, sometimes they could pull you in then slam on the breaks and made me lose interest in what was being played.

Finally Teenage Bottlerocket showed up and rocked the house. These guys are pretty straight punk band in the mould of The Queers and the Ramones, so musically it might not be all that impressive but they sure are a lot of fun to listen to. Pretty much from start to finish, with a little hiccup in the middle where the drummer’s snare broke, they were none stop high energy fun. This was impressive since they played a show earlier that day in Austin. I hope it doesn’t take another four years for them to come though OKC again.

So, I went to go see the latest punk rock show at the Conservatory. The line up was Streets of Thieves, Krum Bums, The Tossers and Street Dogs.

Jebus this was the BEST show I have seen to date in Oklahoma, this is right up there with Skalloween back when I was in college. The amount of energy that was at this show was insane and everyone one involved put on a great set.

I missed most of Streets of Thieves set but the few songs I head sounded good and the crowd was really into then, this is usually not the case for an opening bad at the Conservatory. I hope to see them again so I can give them a better shot.

Krum Bums were good; they played a super fast, thrasher type of punk with lot of hard hitting riffs. Their singer was a more of screamer but that fit for the type of sound they had and I enjoyed their set a lot. Again the crowd was really into this band and the band did a good job of getting peoples energy up and participation in their set.

Next up was The Tossers, a six piece Irish-folk punk band out of Chicago. They had a Fiddle, Tin Whistle, Guitar, Bass, Drums and their lead singer played the freaking Mandolin, which was so freaking cool. This band reminded me a little of Flogging Molly, which is pretty much the same genre of music. They had a great sound and the lead singer was very good with the crowd. They played a very uplifting and enjoyable set; if I wasn’t driving this sure would have been great drinking music.

After The Tossers came the best freaking band I have yet seen come to Oklahoma. So I have heard of the Street Dogs before but have not listen to much of their music, I knew of their songs “Toby’s Got a Drinking Problem” and “Not Without a Purpose” but otherwise these guys where a new experience for me. I use to think that those two songs I have heard before reminded me a lot of the Dropkick Murphys, which now makes sense after I found out who the lead singer is. It turns out the lead singer is Mike McColgan who was the original front man for the Dropkick Murphys.

Before they came on stage the lights went out and the sound man started playing the Johnny Cash song “Man in Black”, which at first I thought was odd but later it totally made sense. These guys played with such energy and purpose that it was just simply amazing. Every song of their set was played with such high intensity and energy, I though the circle pit was going nuts before with Krum Bums and The Tossers but it was in overdrive with the Street Dogs. These guys played their heart out during their set; you could see and feel that they give it their all during this show and that it didn’t feel like just a one shot stop on their way to a bigger venue. They made you feel that this was the last show on their tour and they were going to rock your socks off to cap it. It was just so freaking awesome.

I will now have to go out and get their other two albums and keep track of all three of these bands that played. I really hope they all come back to town some time soon.

No pictures for this one because I forgot my camera, which was good cause it would have gotten broken because I was so close to the stage.