Friday February 22nd six bands threw down their best punk/hardcore /thrash performance bringing back the original spirit of the early 80’s rebellious alternative scene. Spikes, studs, leather, patches, tattooed faces and 12 inch Mohawks were the lay of the land tonight as every Dirty Rotten Imbecile showed up to mosh, thrash out, surf and tumble their way to a good time. Winding Hollow Productions’ second showcase at Dayton’s house of rock proved an initiation of cardio for the more ambitiously exercise minded in the crowd and an all-night free for all for extreme music.
Dayton’s Abortive Issue opened with the pretty, prim and proper Miss Ashley who danced around onstage like she was in her own private padded luxury cell, complete with open sleeved straightjacket and it was playtime. She embodied the spirit of Wendy O Williams fondling the mic like a plasmatic doll. She’s a raging tattooed Pat Benatar screaming in tune with schizophrenic movement, devious eyes and a psycho friendly smile warming up for mosh pit gymnastics. They play with a smack speed and lots of American Pride but those are just their Minor Qualities, and they Trash Talk too, Just for Kicks.
From the snow covered wastelands of Illinois come’s a modern day version of Bad Brains and Fear in hardcover form in the Hard-Onz. Making the treacherous 7 hour trek from the dark, dank back alleyways of Lake County to defeating mother-nature’s fury and passing several overturned semi’s on the way to be here tonight, bringing the smell with them. They earned their way to the McGuffys stage bringing out the old-school noisy but rebellious conglomeration of punk and hardcore that made the sound of the early 80’s the forerunner of the movement. They spent time falling over each other and even turned a few technical mishaps in their favor adlibbing a song or two. Playing a song with a broken string totally fits the hardcore work ethos. With Leo on vocals the band jams on songs ramming us with colorful tunes about weekend beer, bitches, pigs, unidentified white powder and tramps also hitting Rock Bottom waking up to find a meth lab in the garage and a Hard-core twist on a Minor Threat classic. They also made the pit user friendly sending their mascot, Richard Hardon the 1st to stimulate crowd participation in the vintage creepy crawl and classic circle dance moves. What they lack in prettiness and grace they make up for with drive and passion, even if they were influenced by the naked talent of GG Allen and they always towel off after finishing.
The m-m-m-m-m metal shop opened for business with Grim State combining thrash, grindcore and just flat out pounding molten metal. It’s a loud noisy state of the union address and it’s Volatile as hell. All the Deadbeats followed the imbeciles in ready to cause/spread Illness. Turbine engines kicked on in Solitude and the Madness began as people got a little Absent-minded after a few pit hits.
The Legbone’s connected to the knee bone before a slip and slide beer on the floor disconnection. They’re a nice even groove of punk rock and metal with a packed crowd and filled pit showing a more friendly side of hardcore. With the spirits flowing there’s no Pressure. They dedicated an explicative laden crappy tune to the hard work of the Hard Onz. They’ve too happy and fun loving to be pissed off punks, too heavy to be just punk and punk enough to not just be metal. They do Swallow Razors just to prove their baddass’s though. There’s plenty of time for California dreaming after the screaming over. They cover I Drink too Much by The Give Ups who they’ll be sharing an upcoming split release with. Next up, the prettiest girls in the ugliest town get some love. Troy gets a unique tribute on Drunk Favors for Beer. Judging by some of the crowd at this point What You Are is one dumb, drunk belligerent degenerate waking up Saturday morning saying I Got Pains, with a Two Day Hangover, so you’re at the right place and basically had fun. They officially break out the metal, throwing up the beer after beer after beer after beer… and the devil horns. They sing a double bandaged, double dose of skater tunes about skinned knees, scraped elbows, broken bones and cracked craniums after 6 foot ledge jumps onto soft concrete. If there’s nothing else you remembered from tonight’s intoxicating show remember this…. B stands for belligerent, E stands for every time I get drunk, E stands for everyone I’m hanging with, R stands for ruthie and the process.
The unholy Dayton Architects of Doom were ready to spread fury and filth with a trigger happy mutiny of loud angry aggression. They open pulling The Trigger on their own loud heavy breed of Iron Maiden meets Arch Enemy with ‘up tempo’ Morbid Angel gathered in the mix. Keith Hamilton’s vocals are a mix of Zakk Wylde and sonic screamers Randy Blythe and the equally bearded Amon Amarth’s Johan Hegg. Danny definitely has some of Eddie’s influence in his fingers powered by Dragonforce. They start a fierce Mutiny playing the Martyr’s dishing out the Ritual Punishment Under a Black Flag of Bloodshed. Black Flag was dedicated to anyone in music or in any kind of art. The Architects earned the night’s most vicious pit… so far. They played new tune Awaken for the first time and new tune Bloodshed. Their sound is a delicious mulligan stew stricken with cool melody with munchy pieces of scrap iron riffs floating in the swirling muck.
The 30th Anniversary of those Houston crossover hardcore punk’s with enough thrash to insight a yard full of angry attack dogs DRI began as the Thrashard opened and In The Pit everyone went. A large perpetually moving group of sweaty, hot, stinky bastards and ladies annihilated the floor and each other spreading bloodless DNA everywhere. Kurt and the boys played all the hits and some crowd surfers barely missed hospital time thanks to the heroic patient efforts and skill of the front stage security team. Classic crossover records Four of a Kind, Thrashzone and Definition were well represented also borrowing from the old school pre-hybrid success and some tunes from the mid-nineties. Brecht and Co played with syringes, discussed the Modern World, As Seen on TV with those annoying Suit and Tie Guys. So get Beneath the Wheel and accept your Manifest Destiny because it’s too late to Do the Dream. Brecht still has that raspy angry spoken word delivery surrounded by the punk-thrash pollutant mixture of the man of a hundred expressions bassist Harald Oimoen, drummer Rob Rampy and original guitarist Spike Cassidy. They’ve brought out the punks, skinheads and metal heads in droves from the early 80’s to present day earning them the status of being the major ‘crossover’ band of the movement. Judging by the crowd of flailing, flying, flowing and falling bodies both standing foot strong and airborne the band can still cause a Molotov Cocktail reaction in people. We’re all family in the pit anyway. Sweat and BO is the indoor version of Acid Rain. Original drummer brother Eric came up and played a few tunes from the very early days. They’ll be touring with fellow hardcore pioneers Suicidal Tendencies in April and Slayer for a few dates in May.
