New Year, New Posts!

I've been neglecting this blog, and I'm not sure why. Wait, I know why. I'm lazy. And forgetful. Yeah I think that's it. Well the hell with that I say! New year, new gigs. I'm going to start from scratch this time. In fact, I'll start with the final gig of 2010 that I attended.

#0.5

Thunderlip
White Tiger and the Bed of Roses
Salvacion
The Dielectrics

@ the Soapbox (Upstairs) 12/31/10

I'm only counting it as 0.5 since it was technically last year, but ran over into 2011.

This show was pretty rad. Very crowded, and just an overall vibe of "let's party and rock and roll!" And that's just what happened.

I only caught the last half of the Dielectrics set, but they did just fine. Their new song, which they closed with, was pretty rad. Good punk/rnr. They're still a band to me though that I'd prefer to see with other awesome bands instead of by themselves.

Salvacion is a five piece now, Nick taking on frontman duties with Chris Millard coming back on as guitarist. They did a pretty damn good job. Very entertaining stuff from the guys who definitely love their old school metal/70s hard rock. One thing of note other than the expanded lineup was two "Salvacion girls" who were dressed in cut up tees and dancing like they were having the time of their lives. Or like hoochies. I'm not quite sure. Either way, something you don't see every day.

White Tiger did a damn good job, just good solid rock n roll with a bit of a similarity to the Bronx at times. Matt's a great dude if you ever get to meet him, and his venue Reggie's kicks ass too, even if it IS 21+. Carlos from Salvacion (somehow) drummed on the last song, and I say somehow since the guy probably drank more than anyone that night but still did a pretty good job at it.

I hadn't seen Thunderlip in over 4 years (last time was opening for Doomriders/Coliseum, which was also the first time I used my camera for show photos). I wish I hadn't waited so long. To put it lightly, they kicked ass. Chuck's one of the most entertaining frontmen in NC, this time draping himself in Christmas lights and an Elvis jacket while wearing a diaper which seemed to be made of only duct tape. The crowd was going bonkers for most of the set and they played for what felt like an hour, which is pretty crazy for a (sort of) local band. For the last song, they invited everyone onstage who could get on. Most obliged, including the previously mentioned Carlos, who hoisted Chuck onto his shoulders for most of the song. Very entertaining stuff.


#1

Common Enemy
Crows Foot
No Tomorrow
S.O.L.

@ The Opera Room/Soapbox (Downstairs) 01/02/10

Well this started off as an odd one, but turned out awesome thanks to the folks at the soapbox. This was originally scheduled to be at the Opera Room, which hasn't hosted a loud show since 2008's Kontatto/Stinkbom/Pavlichenko gig. That one was fun, but ended badly due to the punk kids and the jocks/marines next door feuding over silly shit outside.

S.O.L. had a LOT of technical difficulties for their first few songs and by the time their 4th song was done, we were informed the cops had been called due to noise complaints from the people behind Opera Room. Thankfully, some phone calls were made and the show was moved to the soapbox downstairs. All was well, minus Opera Room receiving a ticket for noise, which I'm sure will be fixed soon.

When everything was set up again, S.O.L. played a few more songs (including one with a rather ODD mosh part. I had to look around to make sure I wasn't the only one who noticed that). Not bad heavy punk, most interesting thing is that their guitarist is handicapped but still shreds and sings too.

I was expecting to hate Crows Foot based on not being huge on some live footage I saw, but I was completely wrong. Very angry/heavy crust from Florida with a tiny female vocalist. If I had more money I would've bought a 7".

Common Enemy fucking ruled. Just awesome skatepunk/thrash similar to Bones Brigade/Suicide Machines/Municipal Waste. I've always been on the fence about their vocals, but the new guy wasn't bad at all, at least live. The folks who knew who they were went off for em. Again, would've bought something if I had more money.

No Tomorrow did another awesome job like always. I know some people are going to disagree with me, but I like the fact that their fanbase in town is a bit more diverse now. More fun to be had with circle pits. They dusted off the "Police Bastard" cover in honor of the whole clusterfuck with Opera Room.

Damn good pair of shows, nice way to kick off 2011.