Wow, what a show! Dropdead/Wasted Time/Cough/Ilsa
Wow, what a show! is brought to you again this week by Will Butler of To Live A Lie Records / Fastcore Photos. If you take photos and like to write about punk shows (or if you and a friend wanna team up to do this) drop us a line at webzine@maximumrocknroll.com with a sample review and pics, and maybe you too can be a MRR shitblogger!
It has been a little bit since I’ve posted something for you fine folks. Of course, if you get the print version of MRR you can see my interview in issue #335 with the fine folks in DEVOUR. Speaking of a little bit of time, the almighty Providence grind/violence band DROPDEAD hasn’t played a show in DC in thirteen years! Well, on March 12th, 2011… all that changed when the band drove all the way down just to play DC and turn around and go back on with their normal lives.
Not sure if anyone likes a show review to be more like a journal or not but I think it makes it more interesting, and I’m the one writing here so you’ll have to deal with it for now. The kids of BURMA, a local Raleigh band, were nice enough to let me tag along with them on the way up to the show. Had an entertaining ride up. We then caught up with (sorry this seems to be shout-out heaven right here) Greg from DEATHRATS who was nice enough to show us around town for an hour or two before the show. We went to Smash and Crooked Beats Records, and then by Sticky Fingers bakery so that I could get a killer vegan cinnamon bun and some coffee to get me amped up for the night, and so that I wouldn’t crash early because I woke up at 9 a.m. As we roll back to the house, Greg starts to flip out as there is a van parked in front of the house. He looks over at me and says something to the extent of, “Please don’t let me flip out — Dropdead is over at my house now.” Awesome nice folks, I had met Ben a few times before as he has toured down with bands and when Dropdead played Richmond for Best Friends Day a few years ago. A quick aside: when they played Richmond it was one of the most insane house shows I’ve ever been to… The show got moved from a venue to a house; the house’s basement ceiling got ripped down during their set and I was clinging to the water heater for protection.
Fast forward to actual show time. The show was at a church a few blocks from Greg’s house and even fewer blocks from Sticky Fingers, where we had gotten some eats earlier in the day. Really awesome setup for shows. ILSA went on first. This is the only band I had no idea about before seeing them. Pretty good down-tuned sludge/doom. I noticed one person in that band that I recognized but couldn’t place it at all. I later realized he was in a two-younger-kid grindcore band I had seen maybe four years ago in Baltimore called WYLD STALLYNS. I had always wondered what happened to people from that band so was excited to make that connection.
Aptly, COUGH followed. Sludge jams, back-to-back. I saw the band five years ago and the singer was too obliterated to stand up, so the new configuration of the band was a huge improvement. I tried my darndest to get pictures of the band to where they didn’t have hair splaying in their faces but didn’t have much luck.
Next to play was WASTED TIME. The band rips every time. Slightly different than any band playing the night, but was somehow a perfect transition between the sludge and grind bands. I was standing at oh so the wrong place during their set and was about to get my camera smashed by a stagedive when the guy realized what I had in my hand and made a feline-esque leap right over my head. Later in the set I turned around and saw three different people holding their noses, people were in the pit crowd killing and freaking out really hard for the band. Later in the night I had the pleasure of meeting Mark and Alex for the first time, and got to say hey to the lovely Brandon as well.
Last was cherry on top of an already awesome show, DROPDEAD… lords of grindcore and purveyors of animal rights. During the whole set people were clamoring to share the mic with Bob as he was belting out song after song. I really don’t even know what to say that gives them justice. I felt kind of awkward as I was the only person on stage during their set but I had a bird’s eye view of the maniacs in the pit. I saw even more people holding their noses as if each person in the place was systematically punch squarely in the nose. I think they did their thirteen-year absence justice. Lots of video cameras — please do yourself a favor and lurk video sites for a recording of the set.
So I am one to harp on the good things during a show. There unfortunately were a few fights, mainly near the end of the night. Both Michelle from SICK FIX and Greg seemed to do a good job keeping things under control. I thought Bobby Egger from Headcount Records was about to jump in and break up one fight. I’m an outsider to things that go on in DC so I hope nothing was more serious than someone got hit wrong in the mosh pit or something.
My night concluded back at a house with DROPDEAD, eating the biggest piece of vegan pizza I have ever seen in my life. Amazing show, good town, good trip, awesome friends. Thanks to Chris Moore for putting the show on.
