A night of spikes, assflaps and southern pride

I’m pretty marveled by the fact that the first time I saw both AVAIL and THE CASUALTIES was almost eight years ago. I can remember each show almost perfectly, and yet so much in between then and now feels like a blur. Within each of those bands and the present, not all that much has changed, except each probably has a few thousand more fans now. The turnout for this Saturday night show was larger than I expected, with attendance probably going past 800 people — thus, the mohican clad youth, usually sporting enough leather to reconstruct the animal it came from, was out in the full force. A fair number of people who were in DC for the protests this weekend made it to the show, and it was cool seeing a few people take care of each others’ backpacks, jackets, etc., while they enjoyed the mosh.

Philadelphia’s THE CURSE ripped things open, and they were an excellent starter for an aggressive evening to come. Fronting a sound that’s one-half KID DYNAMITE, one-third HOT WATER MUSIC, and one-third TRIAL BY FIRE, the hardcore element was in full-effect. Although the crowd probably wasn’t too familiar with the band, the reaction was intense and there was plenty of pit action. The band also showed a good deal of humor too when their vocalist asked the crowd, “”Does anyone here have our demo?…(silence. pause. silence. Beau Beau waving his hand)…anyone who’s not in Avail?”" THE CURSE managed to tear through about 10 songs in roughly 20 minutes, covering all of the material on their debut EP, out on Hellbent Records. I’ve read rumors about these guys breaking up, and I surely hope they aren’t true. Rock this stuff hard.

Ahhh, THE CASUALTIES…I admit, between the ages of 14-16, I was rabidly into this band, tried to see them as much as possible, and proudly sported my “”40oz Casualty”" patch on my backpack (granted, the only 40oz of anything I ever consumed was probably orange juice). But things change, people change, band members change, and so forth, but all in all, THE CASUALTIES still sound exactly the same as they did when they started 11 years ago. In that time though, they’ve gone from being scrappy, street-punk upstarts into an internationally respected act, and the professionalism in their set showed that they’ve come along way in that time. Just the mere fact that these guys are playing in a Clear Channel venue is a measure of that fact. I lost track over how many songs these guys played, somewhere between 1 giant song with many different choruses that sound the same, or like 30 songs that were virtually indistinguishable. My favorite CASUALTIES lyric set by far is still, “”Riot! Riot! Riot in your city, fuckin’ riot at your school, Riot! Riot!”" But the fans going crazy for these guys on this evening were not putting much thought into what they were screaming along to, they were just looking for a reason to pump their fists, pogo around in unity, and maybe get stabbed by spike or mohawk or two. And I guess, who can argue with that, right? These guys are actually pretty good musicians, as recognized from the scorching bass lines, wicked fast guitar work, and disciplined, but blindingly fast drumming. Now only if Jorge could make out a word or two here and there … Oh yeah, the cover of “”White Riot”" was pretty awful, but at least the crowd ate it up. Next….

After seeing AVAIL this past March at the smoky, but intimate Ottobar in Baltimore, I wasn’t sure AVAIL could top that kind of experience, and well, personally, I was right, as the band just wasn’t as ‘on’ during this 9:30 club show, but regardless, AVAIL can’t disappoint, as their live show is on that rare plateau that is always exempt from “”suckiness.”" Tim Barry’s vocals were pretty shot going into the band’s set, and he proclaimed such from the start, but Beau Beau made up for that slack on more than a few times, and the crowd participation was fairly rabid too. Unfortunately, a good chunk of CASUALTIES fans left the venue after that band’s set, and well, that was just stupid. Really stupid.

AVAIL opened up with “”Southbound 95,”" and that song set the pace for a rowdy final-third of the evening. As expected, the band parsed through most of “”Over The James,”" (including the title track) perhaps their strongest record, chunks of “”One Wrench,”" all of the highlights from “”Dixie,”" and “”Satiate,”" and entertained a few new tunes, including “”Blue Times Two,”" and “”East On Main.”" Surprisingly, the band didn’t break out “”The Falls,”" one of the strongest tunes off their latest release, “”Front Porch Stories.”" As part of the usual Beau Beau cheerleading extravaganza, the crowd was treated to two giant foam hands, a variety of helmets, football pads, Beau’s mic stand, guitar shredding, and some of the best, funky, redneck dancing I’ve ever seen. What’s scary is that even without the band exhuding so much fun on stage, AVAIL’s songs are so good, they’d hold up on their own, even if the band stood still and combed their hair in between tunes. These guys closed their set out with the epic, “”F.C.A,”" and like every time I hear that song, I just can’t help but scream from the bottom of my lungs (mentally playing back the drumroll), “”We Won’t Forget….We Wont’ Forget…We Won’t Forget…”" Plain and simple, AVAIL is not a band to miss live.