The first show to start off the summer season was at United Bakery or simply the Bakery, in the Bywater on May 31st. Thou, local doom metal band, put on a rather intense set as an opener. They play a very heavy, sludgy style of doom. Bryan Funck’s vocals proved to be rather unique in metal and the band’s musicianship was top notch. I don’t even listen to metal, yet I love Thou. The next band that played was folk band Pygmy Lush, consisting of ex-members of screamo band Pg. 99. I wasn’t surprised when they started their set with a dreamy folk tune and continued to play similar-sounding songs. What did surprise me was when Pygmy Lush transitioned into playing an atmospheric, experimental, instrumental jam for the remainder of their set. Pygmy Lush definitely left an impression on me. Headlining the show was Brooklyn 2-piece Japanther. They played through 30 minutes of noisy punk similar to No Age, creating a rather mosh-friendly environment, compared to the two previous bands. Many people were slamming and dancing around; this was refreshing to see because often these types of shows seem to consist of people standing around with folded arms. Japanther didn’t throw any equipment at anyone this time but they did put on a good show indeed.
Less than a week later, I saw one of my favorite bands—possibly my favorite band—Ceremony play at the Cypress. This show was quite the departure from the previous one I went to at the Bakery. It was 14 dollars, in Metairie and the crowd consisted mainly of suburban hardcore dudes from Baton Rouge. I normally wouldn’t pay 14 dollars for a show. The other 6 bands all played some form of generic tough guy hardcore. Not to say that’s a terrible genre of music, I just find it rather un-exciting and am not a fan of the people associated with it. I like my hardcore rooted in punk and dangerousand sometimes smart. Still, it was nice to see about 150 people going to see a style of music closer to punk roots at the Cypress rather than metalcore. Throughout the show people were swinging their arms and kicking the air, also known as hardcore dancing. I don’t feel like going into too much detail, but I’ll say it usually looks pretty stupid. I wanted to push some out of the way, but you’re practically risking your life when huge jock dudes in their 20’s are hardcore dancing. Many of them run into the sides of the pit while swinging their arms in an attempt to hurt anyone. I even witnessed one of them high-fiving his friends after hurting someone on the side.
Ceremony finally took the stage. They started a bit later than scheduled, which was destined to happen when a show has 7 bands on the bill. They played a variety of tunes, ranging from ‘70s British punk to old school ‘80s hardcore to thrashy faster hardcore. It was almost unreal to see a band this good playing the Cypress, of all places. The guitarist made a remark early on in their set that went something like, “Stop punching each other!” Someone finally told this violent crowd to dance a different way! It was somewhat ironic considering Ceremony’s first album is called Violence Violence and they have lyrics like “Pack your fists full of hate” on that album too. Well the band’s definitely toned down since then.
Not too much later on, MP3s were playing through the PA while the band was still on stage. What is this, I had never seen this happen? The Cypress cut the mic on the band less than 25 minutes into the set because Ceremony was supposedly breaking equipment and over their time slot. They played one last song while an MP3 of some metalcore song was playing at the same time. I found this to be especially awesome. After a crowd encore proved useless, I got hold of their setlist; they only played 9 songs, which was less than half of the set! The only thing that made up for this was vocalist Ross Farrar hanging out on the side alley and chatting with me and some friends for a good bit. As bad as this show sounded, the 25 minutes Ceremony played was very exhilarating; bad circumstances made it less enjoyable.
After going to that show I feel as if there’s a barrier between hardcore and punk. Hardcore and punk were once one; now the two genres seem to be separated. When Ceremony played some of their newer, punker songs the crowd didn’t seem to get it. On the topic of hardcore I suggest checking outTrash Talk, Dangers and Code Orange Kids.
Not too long after that I awaited Tennessee thrashy ska band Stuck Lucky’s re-appearance in New Orleans at the Big Top, after playing Block Party. The show started off with pop-punk band Rubrics and picked up with a new local band All People that mix equal parts ska and dub. The Lollies played next. Everything I liked about the Lollies when they played Block Party isn’t evident anymore. Now they play softer and the lack of backing vocals doesn’t help either. I only saw about half of Stuck Lucky’s set, which ruled anyway.
Onto Punk Fest. If you don’t know, Punk Fest was a festival raising money for local college radio station WTUL. 17 bands from Mississippi to Chalmette to Monroe, but mainly New Orleans played the festival. I don’t have enough space to write about every band, but I’ll say they all put on a solid set, especially Dummy Dumpster and Vapo-Rats. Rats Vocalist Brett LaFrance often jumps in the pit, pushes people around and hands the mic to people who know the lyrics.
This festival symbolized the unity and community in the punk scene. I sometimes wonder if people from other cities realize that New Orleans even has a punk scene. We certainly listen to bands from New York and California but have they even heard bands from New Orleans?
I’m really looking forward to catching Black Breath (thrash metal) on June 30th and Crucial Dudes (pop-punk) and Republic of Dreams (hardcore) in July. I have one request: turn your internet off and go read a book, go watch a movie, go to a show, get involved, listen to some music or just go do something!
For more information on all ages shows in New Orleans and beyond, (briefly) check out facebook.com/NOLA.ALLAgesShows and noladiy.org.
