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Does local rock need a headline?
Josh Gamble, Online Intern
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Pop quiz time: What gets bigger as it gets drunker?
COURTESY/JOSH GAMBLE
Gatherings of Boisean punk rock fans, evidently.
Thursday night at The Knitting Factory, five Treasure Valley punk bands took the stage to celebrate the release of P36’s new album on 1332 Records. Last week’s preview of the show was inspired only by the music posted of each band’s Myspace page, but in order to get the real vibe of these bands, most of them must be seen live.
The first act of the night was Backhanded Compl!ments of Boise. This power- trio put its best foot forward to start the night, throwing the audience solid beats, fast, tight guitar and a great dual-vocal setup. The whole group had great stage-presence, playing with high energy and engaging the audience, often comedically.
After receiving a compliment from an audience member, which I was unable to hear, the singer replied, “Why thank you. You have beautiful hair. You’re a beautiful man.”
Incidentally, I could not tell the gender of the complimenter from where I was sitting, though, he or she did have rather lovely hair.
The next group to take the stage was Ontario-natives Free Willy and the blowholes.
Although extremely comfortable on stage, the band tried in vain to get the audience moving. Alas, their indie-like brand of reggae-influenced punk rock lacked the special something it took to get the audience to start waving their arms and legs violently about the way later bands did.
Free Willy’s front-man played some interesting guitar solos and despite his nerdy indie kid aesthetic, he had a fantastic voice. Unfortunately, due to the fact that some of the members are going to different colleges, this was the last show for Free Willy and for the Blowholes. To celebrate their run, they spent the second half of the set throwing tee-shirts into the audience.
Next up was the Nyssa-based seven-piece IP- Address. Now you may be thinking, “Nyssa? Where the heck is that?” but I assure you, it is a place, really. Their audience was a good deal louder than the previous crowds and started the first mosh pit of the night. The band played an interesting blend of skate-punk ska and screaming “hardcore” punk, delivering a high-energy performance with varied sounds, including a brass section and a lightning-fast bass solo, but not a lot of audience interaction until near the end of their set.
The band with the most excited crowd of the evening was The Useless. This heavy-edged ska group has five members, none of which take what they do seriously featuring songs about pirates, Paris Hilton and even Christmas. At one point a pair of panties ended up on every mic stand, right before the punk-rock Idaho hoe-down, featuring the world’s first square-dance mosh pit. The Useless put on the best and longest stage show of the night, keeping the audience entertained to a full hour. By the time their set was over, most concert goers decided to call it a night.
By the time P36, the band the concert was in honor of, took the stage, the audience had diminished to maybe 30 people.
“Guess it must be a school night,” the lead singer said.
P36 was by far the most aggressive band of the night, featuring hardcore punk and even heavy metal guitar riffs. Providing the bands back-bone was their extremely talented drummer, who kept up high tempo on double bass drums for their whole set. Despite a hard edge to the music, the band members seemed to be having a lot of fun.
“They’re very nineties neo-punk” concert-goer Randy Evans said.
As if to reinforce Evans’ assertion, the trio then launched into a Sum 41 cover. The last song of the night sounded more like a heavy metal song, featuring razor-sharp guitars and throbbing percussion. However, the audience was too tired to mosh by that point, but delivered a hearty round of cheering as P36 exited.
Overall the night proved local bands can bring down the house just as well as any national group. Despite the presence of the unavoidable, unimpressed hipsters, over-excited teenagers trying in vain to start a mosh pit during every song, and that one kissing couple, every band met with a strong audience. Jason, of The Useless, said it was the best he’d seen all year. In return each band put on a solid show of original content mixed with covers, including Phil Collins, the Vandals, Night Ranger, Sublime and Anti-flag.
If you missed this one, you missed out. Keep an eye out at the Venue, the Knitting Factory and local bars for a chance to see more of Boise’s homegrown talent.
Have you ever attended a local music show?
- All the time (50%, 3 Votes)
- Never (33%, 2 Votes)
- A couple times (17%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 6
AH HA HA HA HA!
Local punk? Leather and spikes doesn't do it; you're not a punk because of your hair cut.
Which brings me to my point: these bands aren't aren't aren't local punk, at least outside the prefabricated image that fasion afficianados tote about. There are local punks, but they are much harder to spot and don't push out derivative polished lumps of shit they'd have you think is punk. Nice try, though. The attempt at journalism was well recieved.