Live: Mindside 19, the God Awfuls, GBH
July 10, 2005, Recher Theatre, Towson, Maryland
Fifteen to twenty years ago, I would have looked forward to this show with unbridled enthusiasm. Sunday night, I was excited to see hardcore legends GBH, but only cautiously optimistic. Would they still exude the energy of their great 80s albums or would they just seem like old men going through the motions for fear of having to get real jobs. Well, to find out, I had to get through the two openers first.
Local punk rockers Mindside 19 went on first. Before the first song kicked in, the singer accosted the crowd with a canned punk rock tirade about getting up front, but Darby Crash he was not. They had not played a note and already lost me. However, over the course of the set, their brand of lite hardcore/hard pop punk started to win me back. There were enough pace changes as they wavered between flat out hardcore screamers and more melodic breaks. The set hit its high point with their cover of "Call Me." When then announced it, I thought, "Do we really need another punk cover of an 80s new wave hit?" I mean, there's whole CDs of that stuff, right? Well, they went through a credible, if unspectacular, version of the Blondie hit, but then they actually did something cool in the last chorus that made the whole thing worthwhile. While the band sang the chours, the singer went off about why he hated the 80s. Contrived? Sure. Credible? Maybe not, considering the singer was maybe in 1st grade as the 80s came to a close. Funny? Totally! All in all though, Mindside 19 was tight and energetic, despite near-constant heckling from the spikey-haired, I-wanna-be-English crowd. The downside was really the self-consciousness of the singer as a frontman. As a vocalist, he was fine, but he clearly thought about every jump, twist and contortion. I swear I saw him pull his pants up before leaping around at one point and at another he removed his glasses and carefully put them aside for one song in which he planned to whip his head around. These were dead giveaways that he was trying too hard, but that's not exactly the rock n roll crime of the century for a young local band.
GBH's touring partners were LA's the God Awfuls. I hadn't heard them before the show and, as a friend put it, I hoped they wouldn't live up to their name. They were clearly American, but they still bore the mark of thier British hardcore influences. Their set stayed heavy thoughout, but they did a good job of mixing in some more melodic stuff with their all-out attack that kept them from being stale. The difference between the God Awfuls and Mindside 19 was clear in both their stage prescence and their sound. They managed to mix things up more than most bands without compromising the sponanaity of live music. Another thing that made the God Awfuls cool is that, unlike their peers the Casualties, they don't wear their influences on their sleeve. The influence of bands like GBH is clear, but they aren't just a GBH clone. And they don't feel like they have to dress up like Wattie to be a punk band. The God Awfuls are a far cry from being legendary like their tour mates, but it's very clear why they're not stuck in their local scene too.
That brings us to the night's main attraction: GBH. These guys have been at it for 25 years and their sound has hardly changed. The last GBH album I've heard was 2002's Ha Ha. It's good enough, but they didn't do anything significantly different than they did on 1982's City Baby Attacked by Rats. Sadly, I'd never seen GBH live before Sunday night, but I had seen a few live videos from the mid-80s that gave me an idea of what they were like in their heyday. The real question was whether same-as-1982-in-the-studio would translate to same-as-1982-on-stage. Frankly, it didn't. What it really translated to was old-guys-with-young-hearts-doing-their-best. Colin wasn't quite as dynamic as I remembered, but he sounded good and was rather funny between songs, which made him pretty engaging all in all. Ross and Jock were stoical, but tight, making them perhaps the closest thing to the GBH of old (they didn't move much then either). Drummer Scott Preece is the only change in the line-up from the old days and he's a welcome one. He injected a lot energy and played with more skill than all previous GBH drummers combined. They had a little trouble with the sound, but it was straightened out by the third song, so it wasn't a big problem. Besides, they were newer songs. The vast majority of the set came from the first three albums, making the songs older than the half of the audience with Xs on their hands. Needless to say, GBH wasn't all I'd hoped, but they were a lot better than I'd feared. When they announced their last song, the crowd complained. Colin's response, "C'mon, give us a break, we're old," might seem kinda lame, but I thought about it and they really do deserve a break. They weren't what they were two decades ago, but after all these years, they weren't too bad either. It just shows that punk rock isn't about your chronological age.
Fifteen to twenty years ago, I would have looked forward to this show with unbridled enthusiasm. Sunday night, I was excited to see hardcore legends GBH, but only cautiously optimistic. Would they still exude the energy of their great 80s albums or would they just seem like old men going through the motions for fear of having to get real jobs. Well, to find out, I had to get through the two openers first.
Local punk rockers Mindside 19 went on first. Before the first song kicked in, the singer accosted the crowd with a canned punk rock tirade about getting up front, but Darby Crash he was not. They had not played a note and already lost me. However, over the course of the set, their brand of lite hardcore/hard pop punk started to win me back. There were enough pace changes as they wavered between flat out hardcore screamers and more melodic breaks. The set hit its high point with their cover of "Call Me." When then announced it, I thought, "Do we really need another punk cover of an 80s new wave hit?" I mean, there's whole CDs of that stuff, right? Well, they went through a credible, if unspectacular, version of the Blondie hit, but then they actually did something cool in the last chorus that made the whole thing worthwhile. While the band sang the chours, the singer went off about why he hated the 80s. Contrived? Sure. Credible? Maybe not, considering the singer was maybe in 1st grade as the 80s came to a close. Funny? Totally! All in all though, Mindside 19 was tight and energetic, despite near-constant heckling from the spikey-haired, I-wanna-be-English crowd. The downside was really the self-consciousness of the singer as a frontman. As a vocalist, he was fine, but he clearly thought about every jump, twist and contortion. I swear I saw him pull his pants up before leaping around at one point and at another he removed his glasses and carefully put them aside for one song in which he planned to whip his head around. These were dead giveaways that he was trying too hard, but that's not exactly the rock n roll crime of the century for a young local band.
GBH's touring partners were LA's the God Awfuls. I hadn't heard them before the show and, as a friend put it, I hoped they wouldn't live up to their name. They were clearly American, but they still bore the mark of thier British hardcore influences. Their set stayed heavy thoughout, but they did a good job of mixing in some more melodic stuff with their all-out attack that kept them from being stale. The difference between the God Awfuls and Mindside 19 was clear in both their stage prescence and their sound. They managed to mix things up more than most bands without compromising the sponanaity of live music. Another thing that made the God Awfuls cool is that, unlike their peers the Casualties, they don't wear their influences on their sleeve. The influence of bands like GBH is clear, but they aren't just a GBH clone. And they don't feel like they have to dress up like Wattie to be a punk band. The God Awfuls are a far cry from being legendary like their tour mates, but it's very clear why they're not stuck in their local scene too.
That brings us to the night's main attraction: GBH. These guys have been at it for 25 years and their sound has hardly changed. The last GBH album I've heard was 2002's Ha Ha. It's good enough, but they didn't do anything significantly different than they did on 1982's City Baby Attacked by Rats. Sadly, I'd never seen GBH live before Sunday night, but I had seen a few live videos from the mid-80s that gave me an idea of what they were like in their heyday. The real question was whether same-as-1982-in-the-studio would translate to same-as-1982-on-stage. Frankly, it didn't. What it really translated to was old-guys-with-young-hearts-doing-their-best. Colin wasn't quite as dynamic as I remembered, but he sounded good and was rather funny between songs, which made him pretty engaging all in all. Ross and Jock were stoical, but tight, making them perhaps the closest thing to the GBH of old (they didn't move much then either). Drummer Scott Preece is the only change in the line-up from the old days and he's a welcome one. He injected a lot energy and played with more skill than all previous GBH drummers combined. They had a little trouble with the sound, but it was straightened out by the third song, so it wasn't a big problem. Besides, they were newer songs. The vast majority of the set came from the first three albums, making the songs older than the half of the audience with Xs on their hands. Needless to say, GBH wasn't all I'd hoped, but they were a lot better than I'd feared. When they announced their last song, the crowd complained. Colin's response, "C'mon, give us a break, we're old," might seem kinda lame, but I thought about it and they really do deserve a break. They weren't what they were two decades ago, but after all these years, they weren't too bad either. It just shows that punk rock isn't about your chronological age.
posted by bob_vinyl at 11:49 PM
2 Comments:
I still think the God Awfuls should change their name to the Just Alrights because that's what they were.
I thought GBH were fun and that's all I asked for. I think they got better as they went along. The highlights for me were the stepped version of Drugs party in 526, No survivors, Give me fire and Generals. Sadly, the City Baby title track duo lacked the punch that I have heard them have on some live recordings from the 80's.
I almost pissed myself with your "I Wanna Be English" line! This a much better concert review than what I turned in to Live4Metal.com. Congratulations, great job!
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