Show review:
The Repos/Auslander/Known Abuser/Cleveland noise act, at the Bunker, September
5th, 2014
Now, this was a weird show, and it would eventually
be in a good way. I spent 3 hours driving around at my job, and another 3
driving to Grand Rapids from Detroit- the long drive was enough, not to mention
the freak storm that knocked out a bunch of power all over the state later on,
that I drove right fucking through. Eventually, I made it to Grand Rapids
for a record store trip (got a nice haul), a stop at a local pizza place
(surprisingly good), and a show.
The show starts around 10:30, which is way later
than usual for a Grand Rapids show (usually, these are dead on time, short
sets, everyone's up and out of there in time to get 8 hours of sleep and go to
work in the morning). The first band (not sure if it was Broth or if it
was a band who replaced them) was some noise project that seemed like it was
straight out of a college art class- take elements that don't usually mix
together, and mix them together, and call it art. The problem with this,
is that it sucked, even from a "broaden your horizons"
perspective. Some noise isn't too bad, some of it is even good- but this,
this seemed so contrived and by-the-book for a musical endeavor that I couldn't
take it seriously, but they did leave me a nice opportunity to nod off and get
some rest.
The second band went on maybe 10 minutes after the
first one, so I thought it might be flowing really well, as per usual for a
G.R. show. Known Abuser went on, and they did a fucking HAUNTING cover of
"How Much Art Can You Take" (by SSD) that rivaled the original.
The originals were not far removed from the style of the Repos, to the point of
where I thought I was watching the Repos and was waiting for them to do some
songs that I knew, which never happened outside of the first song. So,
with this in mind, I was kinda bummed, and wandered around looking for people I
knew, only to find that there weren't much of any friendly faces at that point.
I retired back to the couch for the third band,
Auslander, who played this really rhythmic "out with the boys" kind
of Oi! Not bad for what it was, but given that I was very tired and the
music was kind of dry and mundane (like most Oi!, mind you), I quit paying much
in the way of attention. I'd like to see these guys in Detroit, I feel as
though they'd have quite a bit more ability to interest the crowds here.
After an hour and a half of waiting for the Repos
to go on, I was about to leave, since I had to work in the morning and had a
2.5 hour drive ahead of me. I noticed that a drummer was setting up
equipment, but it seemed like everyone had filed out like the show was over, so
I went upstairs to piss to see if that was indeed the case. It kind of
looked like it, but I held out hope for a few more minutes until I could buy
some much-needed Repos merch. I did this, and I noticed more people
filing back down and more band members setting up. FUCKING FINALLY!
The Repos were going on!
They were of course the last band of the night, and
there was no explanation given as to why they went on late. They went on,
and blasted away their demented 80s-style fast/faster/fastest hardcore punk,
the way I've always envisioned it. Though I didn't know a few of the
songs they did, I did know a few of them, "Valium Coccoon", "Pig
Acts", and I think they also did "Kids Don't Care". It was
brief, but energetic, volatile, yet friendly and welcoming, the way a
hardcore/punk set should be.
Also, after the set was over, I ran into the folks in
Snakes and Detain (some of the nicest folks I know, and some of the only Grand
Rapids people I'm fond of), and had a merry time with them until I had to
depart for Detroit. It was worth the long drives and sleep deprivation
the next day.
-Aunty Social
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