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Last night I headed to Philadelphia’s sweaty basement of the First Unitarian Church to catch Philly’s own adopted punks The Menzingers.  I actually got there so late that I missed every opening band, but somehow made it in time to catch the headliners (I really lucked out).

The place was sold out, sweaty as fuck, and packed.  I’m not going to lie, there was a period of time back in 2011 where I was seeing them all the time, but I sort of started taking The Menzingers for granted.  Any time they’d play a Philly show I’d just say “oh I’ll catch them next time they come around.”  Some time passed, and I realized that it has been at least 2 years since I’ve last seen The Menzingers, and holy shit was there a much different vibe at the show (more on that later).

The Menzingers themselves played a solid, tight set… although they seemed to not have the same stage presence they did a few years back where they’d be jumping and diving into the crowd, and with the slower jams of their latest On The Impossible Past I totally expected it to be a bit more mellow.

Most of the material they played was off the newest album, and it was good to finally hear those songs played live.  They actually didn’t do that many off Chamberlain Waits with at one point a member of the band said “come on, you guys really haven’t heard I’ve Been Born enough yet?”

After closing out, the band returned for a cover set encore which included songs by The Lawrence Arms, The Smashing Pumpkins, and The Bouncing Souls (which I lost my shit to harder than probably any other song).

My only real complaint about the show was a small minority of the crowd.  I guess a lot has changed over the past two years and they’ve gotten huge, but I noticed there just wasn’t as much respect at the show.  There were some cases where kids fell and people would just step on them (while veterans would rush over to help them up) and people dancing in the pit with everyone just targeting them and not letting them (I actually heard someone say “if you see someone dancing, fuck them, push them out of the way”).
I think it really has to do with the fact that for a lot of people, The Menzingers are now a gateway into punk and they just aren’t used to show etiquette.  Again, it was a small minority and you’re going to find assholes at every show, and at least these people just seemed more ignorant than intentionally being dicks, but it was worth mentioning that the vibe is definitely different.

Still a good time and didn’t really take too much away from the show, but definitely not the same rowdy party I’m used to with seeing The Menzingers (but that’s what I get for not seeing them in two years).

Setlist From What I Remember (Not In Order, And Not Complete):
Good Things
A Lesson In The Abuse Of Technology
The Obituaries
Casey
Home Outgrown
Gates
Ava House
On The Impossible Past
Nice Things
I Can’t Seem To Tell
Who’s Your Partner
Timetables

Encore:
Are You There Margaret, It’s Me God (Lawrence Arms Cover)
Bullet With Butterfly Wings (Smashing Pumpkins Cover)
Kate Is Great (Bouncing Souls Cover)

MP3:
The Menzingers – Home Outgrown

But I Will Fuck This Up, I Fucking Know It:
On The Impossible Past
Chamberlain Waits
Smoke or Fire – This Sinking Ship
Static Radio NJ – An Evening of Bad Decisions

Buy:
Epitaph

This cover reminds me a lot of Secret Of Evermore… anyone? Or am I just nerding out really hard over here…

If there’s one band that have been getting a decent amount of hype these days, it’s Night Birds… and I can’t believe I’ve been sleeping on them for so long, even after I’ve seen them and had them recommended to me countless of times by multiple friends.  After listening to The Other Side Of Darkness a few times, I have to ask: what the fuck was I thinking?!

The Other Side Of Darkness is the debut album from these NJ and Brooklyn dudes, who play a surfy/garage punk sound that is incredibly reminiscent of The Dead Kennedys. The songs are catchy, fun, yet uneasy all at the same time.  Take opener “Demon Haunted World” for example, which in almost Misfits fashion is a horror themed number.  Night Birds aren’t only about campy fun though, as “Paranoid Times” deals with the war on terror and Guantanamo Bay.

If you dig early punk like the Dead Kennedys or The Adolescents, you really can’t go wrong with The Other Side Of Darkness.  Night Birds just released a new album this year as well, but I recommend you check out their debut album first.

MP3:Night Birds – Demon Haunted World

More Punk Rock:
Millions Of Dead Cops – Hey Cop…
Dead Kennedys – Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

Buy:
Grave Mistake Records

Anyone who knows me knows that I can’t handle repetition, my ADD just can’t handle it (hey, this is why I listen to spastic punk rock).  With that in mind, I’ve been spinning DC’s Deathrats Self Titled 7 inch at LEAST 3 times a day, this shit completely blows me away.

Deathrats play aggressive, female fronted hardcore and their 7 inch is easily one of the most brutal, yet catchy records I’ve heard in a long time. With 6 songs finishing in a mere 7 minutes, it’s a quick listen… however one thing that really sets Deathrats apart from all the other adrenaline junkie hardcore bands is how fucking catchy they are.  Most hardcore bands rely on minor chords and dissonance to sound dark and heavy.  Deathrats prove you can do just fine with major chords, mix them with some blast beat drumming, add some charged vocals and you’ll still be heavy as any other.

If you like your punk rock and hardcore heavy like Punch, you definitely can’t go wrong grabbing Deathrat’s Self Titled.  Unfortunately the band called it a day early last year (and I never had a chance to see them… fuck me), but that shouldn’t stop you from grabbing this gem.

MP3:
Deathrats – Self Obsessed

More:
DNF – Hurt
Punch – Self Titled
Ceremony – Violence Violence
Coke Bust – Fuck Bar Culture
United Nations – Self Titled

Buy:
Deathrats

If you listen to ska at all, you know who Jesse Michaels is, and if not you probably at least have heard of his most famous project Operation Ivy, the quintessential ska-punk band.  Perhaps you’re a fan and have listened to his other band Common Rider (have I dropped enough names for you yet?)  After Common Rider’s demise Michaels went on sort of a musical hiatus, but recently came back to music with his latest punk band Classics of Love, and their Self Titled album is definitely a high energy punk album that any fan should check out.

Musically, the songs mostly remind me of later Common Rider, where they dropped the ska/reggae groove for more straightforward punk tunes.  Containing 13 songs, the entire album is a high energy onslaught pausing only briefly for a more mid-tempo ska jam.

It’s good to see Jesse Michaels back into the swing of things, and while rumors of Classics of Love breaking up have been rampant, according to their facebook page they wrote: “We didn’t break up, someone fix wikipedia because we don’t know how to do it” so if they come around your area, make sure you go see them.  If you dig your punk rock with a few upstrokes here and there, definitely give them a listen.

MP3:
Classics Of Love – Castle In The Sky

More:
Common Rider – Thief In A Sleeping Town
Bomb The Music Industry – Vacation
Scenester 101: How to Be a 3rd Wave Ska Dork

Buy:
Asian Man Records

When you think of fast thrashy skate punk, I’m going to guess Sweden isn’t probably the first place that comes to mind, but after listening to DS-13 (short for Demon System 13) that might change.  These Umeå, Sweden punks certainly do their home country justice with their release of Thrash and Burn.

Thrash and Burn is a quick listen with 10 songs finishing in a mere 7 minutes, but with their scathing, adrenaline junkie fueled punk rock, anything more would probably result in an overdose.

With their English tongue in cheek lyrics, DS-13 provides a ripping commentary on everything from racists (“Shoot the racists!”) to all the tough guy hardcore bands signed to Victory Records (“Pathetic wankers/Think they’re hard/Macho insecurity/Got no place here”).

If you dig fast aggressive hardcore that’s all go no slow, you can’t go wrong with Thrash and Burn.  Fans of Bones Brigade and Cut The Shit will find refuge here.

MP3:
DS-13 – Straights And Drunks

More punk rock for your thrashin’ heart:
Cut The Shit – Marked For Life
Bones Brigade – Endless Bummer
LxExAxRxN – First Lesson

Buy:
Out Of Print.

Friends, I know it’s been a little bit of a while (I’ve been gone for work… boo) but today we celebrate Mother’s Day… that day where we honor the one who has put up with way too much of our bullshit growing up, and still didn’t kill us.  Here’s a little punk rock mix for all you punk rock moms.

MP3:
Youth Brigade – Punk Rock Mom
The Vapids – Make Mommy Proud
The Misfits – Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?
Bouncing Souls – I Like Your Mom
Dangers – Stay At Home Mom
Screeching Weasel – Mother
Ceremony – Mothers and Fathers
More Mixes:

Scenester 101: How To Be A Modern Day Street Punk
Scenester 101: How To Be A 3rd Wave Ska Dork
Scenester 101: How To Be A Skinhead
Scenester 101: How To Be Hardcore

Buy:

Interpunk

Greetings and Salutations combines two previously released tour only EPs released in the past two years (Greetings From and Season Greetings), adds a few new songs, and makes for a surprisingly cohesive album.

Opening up with “The New Auld Lang Syne”, a song about personal perseverance, the chorus also serves as an analogy for these ska-punk lifers in a time when ska could be considered on life support: “Do your worst I’ll survive another year”.  From there we kick straight into good ole’ fashioned high energy punk with horns we love on “Younger Lungs”.  The third and arguably the catchiest song on the entire album “Goodbye Mr. Personality” is a mid-tempo ska jam that is all the proof needed that Less Than Jake can still write incredibly killer ska.

The album continues to barrage through the 12 tracks of solid ska punk, with some of the standouts being the very ‘whoa’ heavy “Harvey Wallbanger” or the circle pit inducing “Flag Holders Union.”

Now I’ve had friends ask me if Greetings and Salutations holds a candle to their classics such as Pezcore or Hello Rockview and that’s not really a fair comparison.  All of those albums have an incredibly nostalgic value attached to them, helping me get through some of the roughest patches of my teenage years (and admittedly, I’ll STILL listen to Great American Sharpshooter after a breakup).  Yes those albums are classics and will always be my favorite, and if you’re new to LTJ then I recommend checking those out first (even though they won’t have the same nostalgic value if you’re new).  However, if you’re looking for some solid ska-punk in the veins of their older work, definitely get Greetings And Salutations, I like it a lot more than I expected.

MP3:
Less Than Jake – Goodbye Mr. Personality

More:
Less Than Jake – Pesto EP
Less Than Jake – Pezcore
Scenester 101: How to Be a 3rd Wave Ska Dork

Buy:
Fat Wreck

Everything about the show reeked of Philly: almost all the bands (minus Blanks 77) and the crowd came out from Philly to party.  I unfortunately missed most of the openers due to traffic, but I got there at the end of Dopestroke’s set, which definitely had people dancing throughout.

Combat Crisis

The first band I was able to catch in it’s entirety was Combat Crisis, the Philly street punk band who’ve made quite a name for themselves.  Combat Crisis had people singing along and sporadic pits throughout their energetic and fun set.  Female fronted punk rock, definitely check them out if you get a chance.

Blanks 77

NJ’s finest party pogo punks, it’s rare for them to play a show these days, so I try to make sure to catch Blanks 77 whenever they come around.  It seemed like the majority of people there were for Blanks 77, and fairly so… these guys (and gal) have been inspiring pogo pits and sing-alongs since 1990.  Us in the crowd were in a frenzy from the opening note, and didn’t really let up for the majority of the show.

Apparently the band is working on some new material as well, which would be pretty damn sweet since their last full length came out in 1998.

Highlights:
I Don’t Wanna Be
Up The System
I Wanna Be A Punk
We Are The Punks
Radio Hits
Void (I think they played this one)
Losing My Brain
Party Train

I missed The Heels because I had to go grab some food (and from the sound of it, I regret missing them), but made it back in perfect time for the other reason I came to the show… Violent Society.

Violent Society:

Violent Society is another band that plays incredibly infrequently these days, and they always put on a damn good show as well.  Some of the crowd thinned after Blanks 77 and The Heels, but there was still a sizeable amount fixed in the basement to see the Philly street punk legends.

Singalongs abound, Violent Society played a bunch from all of their releases… including closing with one of my personal favorites “You’re Gonna Fall”.  Definitely a good time, it made me realize I don’t go to nearly enough street punk shows anymore.

Setlist:
Philly Shreds
I Wanna Know
It’s Only Your Life
Can’t Stop You
Sick Sick Sick
Fashion Song
Behind The Bullshit
Rise Of Punk
Call Me
Coming Back For You
Totally Fucked
We Don’t Believe
Consumed
Violated
The Problem
Alone
Time Of Distraught
Piss On You
Culture Magnet
In Crowd
Why Do You Deny
Mr Suit
Sarges Last Stand
You’re Gonna Fall

MP3:
Violent Society – I Wanna Know
Blanks 77 – Radio Hits

More Punk Rock:
The Unseen – Lower Class Crucifixion
The Virus – Nowhere to Hide
Minor Disturbance – Bullet For You

Buy:
Blanks 77
Violent Society

When I first heard Delaware/NJ’s Caseracer’s Self Titled EP some time last year, I was blown away by their cohesive melodic hardcore tunes, and anxiously waited for a new full length.  I’m still waiting for a full length, but in the meantime they dropped three new songs on a split with Tampa punks Ink and Sweat.

On the split, Caseracer opens up with “Uncomfortable Silence / The Death Of My Financial Security” which starts with a very Paint It Black-esque riff (which is NEVER a bad thing by the way), and immediately sets the tone for the split: energetic, melodic, and gruff.  Between “Van Envy” and “Untrue”, it’s sure to elicit plenty of two-stepping and sing-alongs (or at least it does in my bedroom.)

I’ve heard the name Ink and Sweat before but never actually heard them until this split, and their two songs definitely have me wanting to check out more.  Dual gal/guy vocals (although even the female vocals are pretty gruff) over melodic midtempo punk rock make for a solid listen.  They are relatively new and this split and their demo are all they’ve released according to their bandcamp.  If they keep it up, I can see them becoming a household name in our neck-beard, beer soaked music world.

Caseracer has it up on their bandcamp as a “pay what you want” download, and it’s definitely worth your time if you dig melodic punk rock.

MP3:
Caseracer – Uncomfortable Silence / The Death Of My Financial Security
Ink and Sweat – Brickwalls and Pitfalls

More:
Caseracer – Self Titled
Kid Dynamite, And The Art Of Moshing Everywhere
Go Rydell – Golden Age
Grey Area / Go Rydell Split

Buy:
The EP

While my favorite and the one I have the most connection with is their highly acclaimed Jane Doe, When Forever Comes Crashing shows us the progression of the band and what led to the eventual mastery of Jane Doe.  Incredibly relentless, Converge delivers 11 technical jams (12 if you get the reissued version) ranging from the breakneck speeds of “Conduit” to the slow, mellow, yet unsettling sounds of “Ten Cents.”

Life most of Converge’s music, WFCC is one of those albums that you really have to be in the mood to listen to in order to enjoy it.  However if you’re looking for aggressive yet skilled music, you can’t go wrong with When Forever Comes Crashing.

MP3:
Converge – Conduit

More:
Converge – Jane Doe
United Nations – Self Titled

Buy:
Converge