retrospect: tigers jaw, hostage calm and o pioneers!!! at club lido and outskirts house

01.29.2011

I took the adventure out to Revere Beach's own Wonderland Ballroom, which is a part of the Club Lido complex. I dropped my brother off at 5 when the show was supposed to start, so that he didn't miss the opening bands of which he wanted to see Pat Flynn from Have Heart's new outfit Wolf Whistle. I went off to pick up some friends and returned just as the show was starting because apparently none of the opening bands decided to show up on time. The show was nothing less than a bother to get to and considering that I paid five dollars to park and twelve dollars for admission, needless to say I was not amused from the minute I entered the "venue". The opening bands didn't make much of an impression on me, as much of the excitement for the latter bands was building. Life and Limb were a local band that although they had three guitarists, didn't seem to make use of them as I would've liked to. At this point I was still taking in my surroundings; which I couldn't help but verbalize about the fact that this place was an odd venue for a punk show. The Stereo State were the next act who had quite a familiar take on "melodic hardcore", these were the guys that held up the show to the point where every set afterwards was cut significantly, so it kind of jaded my opinion of them. Wolf Whistle apparently dropped the show which we figured by the time that the touring bands went on, much to our disappointment.

By the time that my most anticipated group O Pioneers!!! hit the stage, I had realized that there was a stench that I just could not escape, that was undoubtedly from this venues main function, a latin dance club. I don't want to think about what kind of dirty dancing was going on after the show, but this is also the reason why time was cut so short. O Pioneers!!! are always known for having an ever changing line up revolving around guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Eric Solomon, but this line up was one that I have yet to experience. It featured his regular drummer who is a member of the band Junior Battles, 3/4ths of the band New Bruises and Cam Taylor, who guitarist for the band Senders as well as a part of the No Idea, Southern Comfort PR team. This was without a doubt the fullest I've heard O Pioneers!!! sound, with 2 drummers, 3 guitarists and a bassist, holy moly! They pumped through some of my favorite tracks off of their last full length release Neon Creeps as well as some of their new unreleased material with great strength. As Eric announced that they would play three more songs a light flashed from the side of the stage and this would be a reoccurring theme of the night. He corrected himself and thanked the audience as they would only be playing one last song due to the club's restraints and the obvious need to start bringing in the people who would be buying booze, as soon as possible. Oh, the irony of a room littered with Have Heart T-shirts. I just wonder how aware these people are that their twelve dollar admission would be likely fueling the promiscuity of sloppy and apparently smelly night club attendees.

Hostage Calm came on soon afterwards and got the crowd riled up, although the nature of the crowd's actions was quite confusing to me. When I last saw Hostage Calm in 2009, at a benefit for a friend Mitchell Dubey's father alongside The Flaming Tsunamis, they were a different band completely. The climbing and mosh made sense as they were channeling a lot of the conventions of the modern hardcore scene. As a near filled hall in their home state of Connecticut, prepared for this event, I had similar feelings of uncertainty and smattering of fear much like when I first started attending hardcore shows at places like the Cambridge Elks Lodge. The boogie boards that were present in the crowed calmed my nerves, but they still managed to bring quite an energy to their performance. The tune was one that might make yourself think you should put up your guard in hopes that you don't get trampled. The tune of this recent performance was one that I could only equate to a showtune that I felt should be accompanied by a song and dance. I wasn't familiar with their latest self titled release, but their newfound pop sensibilities definitely showed during this short set. The mix was really bothersome for me and made it quite hard for me to enjoy at some points. After listening to their latest release, I found that it didn't necessarily translate as much of the complexity and precision just got lost among the vocals which drowned out much of the performance. The crowd response was confusing to me as people climbed on one another to songs that didn't really incorporate any conventions that this behavior is known to be in response of.

Tigers Jaw played last and they played a bit longer than the previous two bands, but still the mix was bothering me terribly. It was really great to see this band because I have really been enjoying their latest release Two Worlds, but parts of their performance were overshadowed by the fact that people were climbing left and right. Don't get me wrong, I am all for crowd participation, but when you witness the disappointment of a musician who cant sing their own words because someone just kicked a microphone into their face and onto the ground, I feel for them. They played their songs without flaw and attempted to sympathize with those like myself who were offended by the ticket price, but the mix still made it hard to enjoy the show as the vocals rung through my head to the point where I wanted to leave during certain parts. Thankfully they announced that there would be a house show later. I caught up with Eric from O Pioneers!!! after the show, whom I've had the pleasure of helping in the past as well as playing on the same bill on multiple occasions. He gave us the address for the house show which instilled some confidence in me that this night was not completely lost.

After a forty minute walk from my apartment, we reached the "outskirts" house which is quite literal. O Pioneers!!! began playing "There's My Blood" from their recent split with backing band Junior Battles which came out when my band supported both bands as well as Bomb The Music Industry and We Are The Union last may. I have developed quite a positive relationship with this song, which is a great example of where Eric is taking the direction of the band and it was certainly great to hear. This show was a tag team performance, in which each band played two songs and handed their gear off to the next band in hopes that they would play as many songs as possible in the event that the cops showed up. When we first showed up, we could barely make into the living room, but as the show progressed, people cycled out until we were amidst the madness. Hostage Calm seemed to delve into some of their earlier material which was a nice thing to hear and Tigers Jaw brought an indescribable energy to a room that couldn't have fit more than 25 people. Surrounded by friends, the show wound on two by two by two until it got to be quite late and Eric stated that Tigers Jaw would be playing "Bikeage" by the Descendents. They closed out the night with a request from my friend Matt: "Thank You, Noah Lowry" which closes their latest release Two Worlds as well as the aforementioned cover song. I felt like at that moment I was transported back to an Allston basement where my friends in Kill Conrad would play this song regularly and my true love for one of my all time favorite bands Descendents developed. Aside from a couple beers that were flung all over me and a glass cabinet which I was pushed into, I think it is safe to say this was one of the most fun shows that I have been to in a while. You can check out a little promotional video of the fun that was had at outskirts house with audio captured by my friend Ali Donohue below.

Outskirts House Show from Angela Owens on Vimeo.