It’s pretty rare to come across a new venue and a relatively new bands; though I won’t invoke the classic static versus fluid existence (in this example, whether bands and venues should be changing or unchanging), but that’s what it boils down to. Sometimes it’s the same bands at the same venues; though I love these venues and bands, they grow dull through prolonged exposure, and soon lose their charm. So this opportunity was not one to miss; three bands I had not seen yet (granted, one was a band no one had seen yet), and two I’ve seen just once before. It was time to open up a punk rock investigation…
First on the line-up was newcoming/ freshman band Scum, who has members of Live to Kill and Cocaine Orgy. These guys are traditional, stereotypical, (yet) awesome D-beat straight out of Europe (Sweden, Britain, Japan, they’re all better at D-beat than the U.S. is), at least sound-wise. Half of their set were covers, half originals, all done with the angry energy D-beat requires. To top it off, the band is new, and NOT played out enough to get boring. I hope they never get boring, because if this set is anything like the future for them, I’m looking forward to seeing a resurgence of anarcho, crust, D-beat, and DIY punk rock return to Detroit, both in touring bands and hometown ones.
Second was local blackened thrash-tards Perversion. Once a four-piece that had disbanded a couple of years ago, they returned as a three-piece only recently (within the last year or so). Sounding like a mix of early Venom and early Sodom, with a shit-ton of reverb, the band is pretty tight musically; it’s a headbanger’s heaven for those who enjoy the double bass drums with echoing vocals and ricocheting riffs. Though the band doesn’t play out often, members are often seen at local shows, and the band has begun (in the last few months) to incur some hype; suffice it to say that all hype is well-deserved. Perversion is a blackened thundering cloud ready to unleash a fierce windstorm, and now is sudden drop in temperature before a storm is unleashed on the unsuspecting world.
Next was local metal-punk group Shitfucker, who have released a fresh 7” on Black Shit Noise called “Sex Maniac”. With nods to black metal, old-school D-beat, and Japanese hardcore (G.I.S.M. being a strong, apparent influence), Shitfucker is a strange, yet highly enjoyable and euphonious group. Singer/ bassist Dik-Beat mixes European D-beat and black metal, and adds reverb to his vocals, uttering the occasional grunt and the ever-favorable false falsetto. To sum it up in short terms, the band is very bass-heavy, opting to use Tim Shagrat’s guitar sounds for background fuzz as the thumping bass guitar and rolling bass drums take center stage. Oddly enough, this band has a very dedicated out-of-area fanbase; though still a major player in the Detroit crust and punk scene, the higher numbers of their fans and the strength of their fanbase is undoubtedly outside of Michigan. Very entertaining, somewhat sloppy, and approved by me.
Next on the bill was Black September, a group of Chicago crusty black metal-heads. They took after Shitfucker’s sound, in a way, as their sound was incredibly cranked on the low end, on every cylinder. The female vocals, the guitars, the (probably single-bass) drums, and the bass guitar, all were cranked on the low end of the heavy metal spectrum, like most black metal. However, much has been done to separate the band from most of the black metal “scene”; though the songs are very epic, the sound very dark, and the band very blackened (in terms of dress, they are not dissimilar from metal-punk crusties minus the studs), something is just different about them, and it makes the band work. Most notable about the band that clicks is the female vocals that are not too much higher than standard male vocals; there’s a sense of pissed-off-edness only able to emanate from a female with something to say, and that is definitely a positive trend-setting action for both crust and black metal.
Closing a show at 2:15 am (holy shit, work in the morning, Batman!) was Texas anarcho (not peace) punk group Vivisect, whom I had inadvertently met three months earlier at Midwest Hell Fest as attendees. The heavily…heavy British-style anarcho punk kicked into gear, and the first four songs were definitely ragers; their anthem “We’re Keeping Our Teeth” is the ultimate mission statement, one that goes in the right direction for anarcho punk as a whole. “This ain’t peace punk, we mean war!”, uttered in the guttural vocals styles of the bassist and drummer (who switch off lead vocals), is the ultimate fuck you- a declaration that something needs to change in the way that we try to bring change. It’s got both middle fingers firmly pointed at the conventional normality within punk AND within the normal society with which most are accustomed. In any case, after four songs, I noticed it was 2:30 am, and having to arise at 9:30 to be a worker be once again, I high-tailed my lethargic ass out the door, not far behind those in the more adult world of punk rock. Still, the band was fucking sweet just for those four songs; I’d like to see more shows like this pass through Detroit, since we clearly have the space to host them. Profane Existence bands, heed this call: come to Detroit, the land of wasteland anarchy!
-Aunty Social
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