 |
| Two of The Women |
Before the ethereal joy of the eclipse, but after the depressing news of the past week, I was caught in a limbo of emotion, so Saturday night I carved out some time to hit Milwaukee Punk Fest, now in its 7th year, and by the looks of things, this was the year it truly exploded into a six day event.
Like the time I headed down to Kenosha for the Annual Punk Piknik (which is indeed happening again, ping your hardcore friends for location, since they're on Kenosha Blue's shitlist and the fewer "normal" people knowing about it, the better), I was good for about four bands before having to go home and rest up for what turned out to be a thousand mile trip through the seven rings of hell to reach heaven.
And four bands were good for me. Actually, great. I wandered into Club Anything (labeled The Local, and god knows what other names this place goes under) and came upon a trio of sludgy, droney, but most of all heavy, heavy dudes called The Women. I got exhausted just watching them. I was having a hard time shooting them at first because (dammit, where the hell are my high end filters?) I had to plug my ears to protect what's left of my hearing while I tried to shoot. The Size 5's Juan Avalos (whose band I was too late to catch) to the rescue: he offered some earplug putty that saved my eardrums. Anyway, I normally don't associate this kind of heavy music with "punk" per se, but this band had the attitude and energy that punk demands. By the end of the back room set, when the room had cleared, I noticed the drummer had this expression of absolute exhaustion on this face, coupled with a blank stare and nothing to say and it reminded me of what my kid looks like when he's been playing soccer on a really hot day. This guy's dehydrated, I thought to myself, and I instinctively pointed at him and said, "Whoa that was great, but YOU need to drink some water NOW." Somebody in the room asked me, "Are you his mom?" and I clarified, "No, I'm
A mom." If that actually
had been my kid looking like he was about to pass out, there would have already been three bottles of water up there, with two of them empty because I would have been riding his ass the entire set about it. But that's how heavy and intense this band was. (Also, that should tell you the average age in the place. If there were more than two people over 40 there I sure as hell didn't find them).
Best of all, their merch was this old school suitcase with some cassettes in it, hand drawn in 5th Grade girls' penmanship. I would have bought one except I'm not sure if my cassette deck still works. I'll download their stuff from Bandcamp instead.
 |
| Misunderstood |
Up next on the main stage, some trio of punk from Indiana called Misunderstood (not to be confused with
60s garage legends The Misunderstood) took the stage. First of all, I need say how filled with hope for the future I am that you can put these three words in a sentence together and have it describe something that exist: punk from Indiana. High energy, snotty, fast, punk from Indiana. They spent lots of time joking on stage, and the two front people were doing their damnedest to point out each other faults and foibles to the crowd. It was like watching this hardcore punk version of the Sonny and Cher show, and when they'd quit play-arguing like some old married couple, they'd fly right into another jumping, throbbing song. Terrific stuff.
 |
| RatBatSpider |
Back to the back room, where another heavy trio was setting up, this time a heavy heavy monster group that's been around for awhile called Ratbatspider. Seriously monster, this was punk of the horror kind, complete with makeup, hair, and vocals that vacillated between ear piercing screaming, cookie monster, and and good standard strong voice. While musically they were monstrous, they also started out sounding like they belonged in some underground London pub, circa 1979, opening for the early Jam or maybe even the Damned -- there was this musical storytelling feel to some of these songs. They clearly have a following, and they just released some new material that they pointed out is getting played on WMSE, so I'm actually surprised they're not playing out more often. And true to the community feel I love about good, nurtured punk scenes, they were careful to thank not only WMSE, but they named their makeup artist, their support, the organizers of the event, and just about anybody who ever said a kind word to them. These guys are beloved by their fans, and besides the tight, fun songs, it's easy to see why.
 |
| Some Kind of Nightmare |
One more band before glancing at my watch and realizing I was in for a long drive Sunday morning, and this was Some Kind Of Nightmare, out of San Diego, California. You'd think with that name they'd be another horror rock band, but rather, I suspect their nightmare was simply living in these current times. This is one of those bands that is constantly on the road (they're in the middle of yet another tour) so I was both surprised and happy to see that it wasn't just that they schlepped all the way from San Diego for little 'ol Milwaukee. Heck, they were in Harvard, Illinois (not thee Harvard) for their punk fest a little over a week ago. Lead singer Molly Mess has one of those great riot grrl voices that overcomes her bass, and the whole band hangs together well and
inspired plenty of mashing in the audience.
Ah, if I were a younger person and not such a mom, I probably could have stayed for the
remainder of the night, but like any good anesthetic, I can't overdo it and still function as I needed to the following day. Heck, I would have gone to Nights 2 and 4 as well, since like this night, there were plenty of old favorites (Floor Model and The Northside Creeps among them) I would like to have seen. In fact, this past weekend was loaded with lots of great goings on, and it reminded me of what Summerfest 20 years ago, when you couldn't decide who to see and who you'd have to miss. The Unheard Of were at Croatian Park that same night, and Friday night Detroit Jewel rocked the house at Club Garibaldi's, along with Alex Ballard and the Mercurys. But, I needed the soothing sounds of previously unsampled punk rock to give me positive energy for my drive the next day; and I didn't realize until then how much I needed it.
Comments