Show Recap: 10 for $10 Tour

So at last, the 10 for $10 came and went through Denver. I usually have pretty positive reviews of shows, i think i'm easily entertained when it comes to live music so the fact that i was not impressed with the 10 for $10 should say something. But i have to admit, over the years i've slowly moved away from "tough guy" hardcore bands like Bane, Champion, Madball, and therefore i was a little bit out of my element last night.

the 10 for $10 Tour is basically built on the idea of 10 bands for $10. When this tour was announced it was advertised with Poison the Well as the headliner, and Madball, Bane, and Vision of Disorder supporting on different legs of the tour. The tour had a pool of bands that were supporting at different stops along the way and at first it was not certain which bands would be coming to Denver. Obviously i was hoping to see Madball and Vision, along with This Is Hell, Crime in Stereo, Bane, and War of Ages, the rest of the bands i didn't know a lot about.

Well, it probably couldn't have gone much worse. Madball and Vision weren't playing the Denver date, therefore Bane was the headliner with Poison the Well. I've seen Bane before and they were good, but i've never really become a fan. i've never listened to Poison the Well so i wasn't excited to see them. Basically i was paying $10 to see War of Ages, Crime in Stereo and This is Hell, which is definitely worth the $10. War of Ages is a band i've been wanting to see for a while, and although they played at Sonshine in Minnesota when i was there, i had to miss the last night of the concert therefore missing War of Ages.

The doors opened at 3p, which meant the bands would start just before 4p. Since the first 6 bands on the tour were rotating every night, it was impossible to predict when War of Ages would be playing, so i played it safe and got there early (4p). As i walked in on the first band i immediately recognized them as Denver's own Crooked Ways. Right at the end of their song they announced that they had been a last-minute replacement for War of Ages, who had left the tour to go home to handle some family emergency.

bummer.

That basically ruined my night, so i had a pessimistic view of the rest of the bands. so let me start the negativity with Crooked Ways. I'm always down to support local bands, but i just cannot get into these guys. i've mentioned them before, i just think they're uncreative and trying to hard to "validate" themselves as hardcore kids, and it gets annoying.

After them we saw another Colorado hardcore band, from Ft. Lupton, Come Forth By Night. They were pretty bad too. The crowd wasn't really into them, unfortunately, and they just didn't seem to be playing well, the guitarist was having all sorts of trouble with his equipment. but the killer for me was their last song, a cover of Pennywise's Bro Hymn. Now i think this is lame on many levels. first, Pennywise is an active punk band, skate punk for that matter. even though the cover had a hardcore twist to it, it's still a skate punk song from a band that most hardcore kids would never associate themselves with. its almost like saying you liked Blink-182 at some point *gasp!. secondly, the song is a hit for Pennywise, it's their most recognizable song. you don't take the one song that has made a band popular and use it to incite a crowd response and use it as your closer. i just don't get it, i thought it was lame, and weak. i'll probably be hunted down for saying it.

After that we saw Trapped Under Ice. they were terrible too, energetic though, but i just didn't get it, maybe i'm getting too old for hardcore.

After that was our big surprise of the night, A Ghost Inside. Wow, they were incredible! ton of energy, great sounding songs, very tight band that seemed to know what they were doing. i'll be checking these guys out for sure.

Then it was Crime in Stereo, who everyone apparently really likes (including myself) but they always seem to be playing on wierd lineups that doesn't really fit their style. CIS is much more melodic, and slower paced than hardcore bands. i loved them though, the singer was on key this time (unlike this time) and they were really tight.





After that was Death Before Dishonor. Solid tough-guy hardcore, they were good, but didn't blow me away. this video i took is great, some kid stage-dives and then apparently didn't get up, the band stops to check on him, and then starts back up, check it out:



After that we saw This Is Hell, a band i've been wanting to see for a long time yet i always miss their shows. They were a little bit of a letdown, but i don't think it their fault. it appeared that the crowd was starting to get tired and just didn't have the energy for TIH. I have to say their drummer is ridiculous, he was amazing. my buddy Isaac Fratini told me awhile back to check him out and he was right, the dude is solid!





After This Is Hell we left, i would have liked to see Bane, but i just didn't have much interest in the other bands and i was hungry.

Show Recap: Death By Stereo @ Marquis

Isaac and I went down to the Marquis to catch punk rockers Death By Stereo the other night, us and about 50 other people total. Death By Stereo has never really had a big following, at least nowhere else except their home of SoCal, and every time we see them in Denver there's never a big turnout. This night was the same, especially since the show was only announced a few weeks ago, and there wasn't anything but local bands on the tickets (Killings Kings, Crooked Ways, and Boldtype).

i don't want to spend too much time on the local bands, but they weren't impressive. Crooked Ways seems to have an identity crisis and can't tell what kind of punk band they want to be. not to mention they really have no talent on guitar which makes the music way too predictable and boring. Boldtype is sort of like your non-serious punkers like NOFX, Blink-182 or the Vandals. I don't like those bands, and i don't like Boldtype.

Death By Stereo on the other hand is amazing! I don't know why people don't get into these guys, they're just amazing musicians and very energetic. They have a punk sound, with a big dash of metal thrown in thanks to the finger-tapping of the guitarist. even finger-tapping while having a High Life poured down his throat by lead singer Efrem. impressive.

Anyway, Efrem is one of the best frontmen i've ever seen. not only are his vocals pretty good, he is quite a showman, always running around and making ridiculous faces. He is great at passing the mic, thankfully, and that gave Isaac and I a chance to share our amazing vocals with everyone. He runs around in the pit, mic chord and all, making people have to duck to keep from being decapitated. And he's always pointing at people and making eye contact, which i thought he was only doing with his friends until he gave me the wink the the gun!

They played all of the usual songs and two news, they're currently finished recording in Fort Collins. They also playing Emo Holocaust and mentioned that they had re-recorded the song for the new album. Maris the Great was also on hand, and his introduction was hilarious. the last time DBS played Denver was about 3 years ago, and Maris was understandably upset that they hadn't been back sooner. He announced that he was planning on "killing" DBS the next night before their Colorado Springs show, and that we were the last audience to see them alive. If you don't Maris, he's an old punk rocker, dressed in crazy garb, and he interviews bands before killing them. i don't really know what else to say about that.
Anyway DBS played a longer set than usual, it felt like they played for an hour, but i think that had to do with the fact that 2 separate fights broke out. This is what i love about the punk/hardcore scene, and what most people don't know or understand. While these shows can get pretty crazy, and there are bodies running into each other and people sometimes getting hurt, its almost never with intent and never encouraged, by the band or the fans. As soon as the first fight broke out (i'm assuming the combination of PBR Tall Boys and more room than usual due to a small turnout) Efrem stopped the band immediately and called for the fight to stop. he stated that if you wanted to fight you had to fight JJ the bassist for the band. He made the point that we needed to be united and together we needed to fight "them". After his little speech the band busted right back into the song as if they simply pressed pause.

Probably like 1.5 songs later another little fight broke out a little to the side of the room and Efrem stopped the band again. He asked everyone what the deal was, and stated that they just wanted to have some fun and that there was no reason to be fighting. This is a common view by most punk bands and a lot of hardcore bands. While the music encourages people to run around and go crazy, it doesn't encourage fighting or punching people. if you don't want to be bumped or kicked, you need to move further away from the stage, and if you're looking to throw punches to purposely hurt people, well, you're going to have to answer to the bands, or a lot of the band's friends. If you want to hurt people go to a Slipknot concert, get drunk and high, and get your jock-mosh on.

Anyway, DBS was great. They finished their set and left the stage. Thankfully they didn't play an encore because they are lame these days. Instead the next thing i know Efrem has his arm around me and Isaac and is talking to everyone still left in the pit. We talked to him about their upcoming show with Suicidal Tendencies and why they hadn't played Denver in such a long time. It was pretty cool to get to talk to the band so easily, another great aspect of punk rock and small venues.

I'm sure Death By Stereo will be back in Denver really soon since they'll have a new record out pretty soon and i'm sure they'll tour it for the rest of the year. Here's a song off their live record Death Alive:


Death Alive

Set List (in no particular order):
The Plague
No Cuts, No Buts, No Coconuts
Beyond the Blinders
Looking Out For #1
Forget Regret
This Curse of Days
Sing Along With the Patriotic Punks
Shh, it'll Be Our Little Secret
Let Down and Alone
Emo Holocaust
I Give My Life
Holding $60 on a Burning Bridge
Wasted Words (last song)

2 New songs that i don't know the names of

Show Recap: Comeback Kid @ Marquis 3/3/08

Oh man, i haven't been to a show in a couple of months, and it was worth the wait

Last night Isaac and I took in a great show at the Marquis Theatre in downtown Denver, Comeback Kid and Crime in Stereo. i'm hurting today.

First Band - Crooked Way: These guys were alright, they're from Denver and you could tell that they were a little raw. They were taking the place of Daggermouth who dropped off the tour about a week ago. Anyway, they were reminiscent of old Comeback Kid, Bane and Champion, good vocals, average guitar work/riffs, and pretty week drumming. They just didn't have any creativity and lacked energy.

Second Band - Steel Nation: Brutal. typical tough-guy east coast hardcore, and man this set was intense. Isaac and i feared for our lives when a fight broke out about halfway through the set between some tough-tattooed dudes. The music was heavy and thumping, and the vocals were very intense, but i wasn't able to identify any of the words. These kinds of bands are what turn people off to hardcore/punk music. They had a pretty good crowd response so apparently they've got a following, i'm just not tough-enough for them

Third Band - Crime in Stereo: I was impressed with CIS. Definitely the most laid-back band of the night, apparently CIS had some van trouble and arrived at the venue about an hour before performing. This band is more pop-punk than hardcore, but they have a pretty good following. they played well, the singer's voice was pretty tired and he failed to hit some notes which came across pretty bad but besides that they played most of the good songs like Sudan, I Stateside and others.

Last Band - Comeback Kid: This was the 3rd time i've seen CBK and it might have been the best. This was their first headlining tour in Denver and that made a huge difference. Andrew has totally improved as a frontman, and he was able to maintain energy throughout the entire set despite the altitude and sheer energy CBK requires. the set featured songs from all three albums and it was almost obvious that the new album hasn't quite hit it off with fans, they played Broadcasting, Defeated and Giv'r and those were the 3 weakest songs of the set. highlights woulds have to be All In A Year, False Idols Fall, Talk is Cheap and the closer Wake the Dead. I was planning on bringing a lot of people to this show since CBK is the shining example of great sing-along hardcore, but that didn't happen.

All in all it was a long wait for one great set. i should have stayed home to skip the first 2 bands but whatever. Keep your ear out for Comeback Kid, they've made some appearances on MTV2 and i'm sure they'll continue to gain momentum.