Don't Turn On The Light, Leave Me Alone

This show was pretty good, although I can't think of a show I've ever been to at a record store that wasn't a good show. There's something about watching some bands while standing next to a bunch of records that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy like you're watching some bands while standing next to a bunch of records. It's just really cool to flip through the racks while listening to the bands, plus I bought a few things as usual, including a shitty Karl Hendricks Trio CD (guess which one) that I dropped three bucks on. I like Karl Hendricks Trio, they're like if Silkworm knew how to rock and sounded like Karl Hendricks Trio.

I missed Teen Destroyer (greatest most-generic-band-name-ever) and walked in just as Lost Riots (second-greatest... uh, never mind) were finishing up. Lost Riots is where Noel from The Field Recordings ended up, as the drummer, in case you were wondering. Then Birth of Flower played, and I swear I'm not just kidding when I say they're probably the best band in CT right now, although some of that is because the 5 or 6 of the bands that I used to like better have all broken up or slowed down a lot, so congratulations guys, really. Actually I should stop being such a dick because they were nice enough to give me one of their "Bristol Thinks We Suck" tour tapes plus a copy of "Deity" on CD-R, meaning I could finally listen to it without having to use Bandcamp all of the time. I rocked "Deity" in the car pretty much every day on the way back and forth to work last week, which is when it really sunk in how much the "Jesus died for somebody's sins..." beginning to "Shield of Achilles" rips off Patti Smith; they even snuck in the tune to "Gloria" in there. I was like, man, these guys got some balls for doing that, but then I read the part where it was intentional. Boy, I'm sure stupid sometimes.

Powerblessings played last (just like when they were in Little League), and I think their first three songs were all newer songs, and they all ripped. My guess is that the 12" that they just finished recording is gonna be awesome. Jon had a bullhorn that he kept messing with, but it didn't really work too well, you could almost hear him better when he was just shouting without using any mic at all. I guess that's a metaphor for the hopelessness and fruitlessness that comes with being the lead singer of Powerblessings. The bass player had on a Moving Targets t-shirt, which was pretty rad, almost as rad as when I went to Whitney House (I think it was the Slug Guts show) and there were two guys there, one wearing a Sockeye t-shirt and the other one wearing a Toughskins t-shirt. That was truly fucking brilliant.


Birth of Flower -

"Shield of Achilles"

I Like Where That Landed

A couple of weeks ago, or whenever it was, was the WristLikeThis "casette release party" in New London, which was kicked off by a bunch of us just basically standing around on Golden Street, listening to the tape song-by-song as it blasted out of a pickup truck with all the doors open. Eventually an old lady walked up (with her husband) and told us "I'd rather put a fucking bullet in my brain than listen to this stuff." I KNOW, RIGHT?!! And she actually said "fucking"! Old people these days, they got no manners.

WristLikeThis also played later on, and had copies of their debut tape for sale for five bucks along with some old-ass Walkmans that you could buy for five bucks also, just to piss off the naysayers. First, though, Powerblessings (one word you doinks) plowed through their own set, which featured a few new songs plus one kinda slow one which is sort of a set-killer but I can tell that it's gonna sound pretty decent on the record. They've kinda been needing something to mix up the tempos, anyway. The singer (Jon) offered a free copy of their 7" EP to anyone who'd take their pants off and then stand there with their shoes back on, to which Matt Potter promptly obliged, although he didn't really need to cuz he said he already owns the record. The other punchline is that he takes his pants off like that at every show, so he was gonna do it anyway. That's what I've heard, at least.

Other lies/less-interesting tidbits involve waiting outside the mens room for like ten minutes, wondering 'what guy takes ten minutes to use the frigging mens room', only to have two girls finally walk out. Matt Gouette was standing right there, you could ask him.


Powerblessings, "Go To Hell"



WristLikeThis!, "CLEEN"

I Don't Need Any Shit From You

Blessed State, "Ghost Front"



Solids, "Fog Friends"



Potty Mouth, "Shithead"



Slug Guts, "Howlin'"



Salvation -

"Intake"

California X -

"Pond Rot"

Lurve -

"Futures"