Tuesday night at The Maywood was a totally killer show. Featured on the bill were Abuse. (Raleigh’s own power violence trio), Child Support (Raleigh hardcore – first show), Pennsylvanian straight edge-cool-dudes  Hounds of Hate, and U.K.’s straight edge punks Violent Reaction.

Child Support were not bad at all for it being their first show. They definitely ruled and brought a decent mosh! Probably the coolest first show I’ve ever seen. The vocalist is a high school kid who goes nuts running around, pushing everyone violently away as he rushes through the crowd. Definitely looking forward to future shows.

After Child Support were Violent Reaction, a straight edge hardcore punk band from the UK with a hint of Oi!. Glad to see a band bringing a taste of their homeland sound over to the States. This band ruled!

Violent Reaction – Photo by Will Butler

After Violent Reaction were Hounds of Hate. These dudes bring a fresh  sound to oldschool 90′s NYHC. Reminded me a lot of Cro-Mags or Sick of It All. They have their new self-titled LP out on Painkiller records. Check it out!

Last but not least was Abuse. These dudes always put on a great show, pumping out song after song of brutal, unforgivable power violence. Abuse. just put out a 7″ on Hygiene Records, owned by Jordan of Priapus. Be sure to check that out!

-Possessed

For those of you who have no idea about modern punk bands, there’s an insane fest coming up that definitely destroys most punk shows I’ve seen popping up recently. Damaged City Fest is a huge fest taking place in DC (get it?) on April 12th and 13th at St. Stephen’s Church. And coolest of all, Double Negative (Raleigh hardcore) is playing.

At the top of the poster is legendary hardcore punk band Negative Approach, whose song ‘Ready To Fight’ has been covered by literally half of the good bands I’ve seen in my life, if that says anything. Dropdead sits at the top as well – their plain-looking logo says nothing about how brutal the band is. Last time I saw Dropdead was in DC with Magrudergrind – they definitely play harder than most younger dudes.

Double Negative (Raleigh’s own hardcore outfit) earns a top spot as well on the poster. Their psyched-out style of hardcore has earned them a much-deserved, worldwide reputation.

Prisoner Abuse, a band that has been receiving a lot of hype recently, is playing as well, featuring the vocalist from Think I Care. Other bands I’m definitely looking forward to are Sick Fix, Tenement, and Ilsa.

This fest is being put on by cool dudes for cool dudes, so if you’re a cool dude, it would only make sense if you went and supported the Raleigh and DC scenes.

Here is a link to the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/512544085444884/?fref=ts

And here is a link to the poster (of course I do not claim any sort of rights to this awesome poster):

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/17639_10200110418417024_1819221175_n.jpg

-Possessed

Months after the tickets rapidly sold out, the weekend for A389 fest had finally come. I was stoked to say the least that I would finally get the chance to see Canadian hardcore legends Left For Dead, along with one of my all-time favorites, Weekend Nachos. This highly-anticipated event served as a birthday celebration for the owner of A389 records. Dom, A389 Records owner, is also a member of the hardcore band Pulling Teeth. The show was at The Ottobar in Baltimore, Maryland.

The show opened with Sick Fix, a brutal female-fronted hardcore act from D.C. It was the first time I had ever seen them. Having been a fan of the demo and EP for quite some time, I was not that much into their new album at first, considering it’s pretty different in style. However, seeing them live instantly made me change my mind. The new material is definitely killer (out on A389 records). All of their stuff is great and I highly suggest them to anyone.

Pick Your Side played after Like Rats (who played a decent set). The vocalist of Pick Your Side is also the vocalist of legendary Canadian hardcore band Haymaker. Pick Your Side sounded a lot like Haymaker, but not nearly as brutal; however, I still enjoyed it. Their album is also out on A389 records.

Weekend Nachos stole the show (up to that point) with killer mosh riffs and brutal fast-paced power violence riffage. After many years of listening to Weekend Nachos, I was very excited to finally be seeing them. The crowd action was intense – arms were flying and I almost got kicked in the face about 50 times. They opened with “Pain Over Acceptance,” a truly punishing classic.

After Weekend Nachos were California power violence legends Lack Of Interest. Unfortunately, they were not even close to being my favorite band of the night. My friend, who had seen them other times, told me that it was certainly an off night for them. Regardless of whether or not they sucked, they played an Infest cover, which ruled.

Despise You, who came after Lack Of Interest, totally killed it. Despise You has always been one of my favorite power violence bands. When I saw them in Raleigh last year, I was not very satisfied. This time the crowd was crazy and the band seemed a lot more pumped to play. They played all the hits off their infamous old splits as well as tracks off their newest split with Agoraphobic Nosebleed.

After Despise You was the highlight of the night – Left For Dead. It was the first show since the early 2000′s (which was also a reunion show). Lack Of Interest was a band I came across randomly one day and immediately fell in love with. Their brutal and extremely raw approach to hardcore was something I quickly grew to appreciate. Right when they started playing their first song of the night, “Eight Floors Above,” someone jumped off the balcony and the floor became a sea of people. I found myself gasping for air at times because of the intense heat in the room. It was pretty much impossible to get to the front of the stage if you weren’t already there to begin with. It was definitely a killer show – anyone who didn’t nerd out on getting tickets within the 3 hours before they sold out definitely missed out.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take any pictures or videos of the show, but you can see a few clips at the follow links (I claim ownership to none of the following materials):

Left For Dead - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATHkS8tCsVI

Despise You - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olr2cuMQJ6A

Weekend Nachos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnZL3ypSJgU

-Possessed

For three days I hit the road with Raleigh’s own Abuse., a vicious hardcore act that plays brutal power violence with no time left between songs – just a stripped down, speedy hellstorm of chaos. Being one of my favorite Raleigh bands, I knew I had to hit the road with these dudes once they announced that they would be going on a 3-day mini-tour over winter break. The dates were announced: the dudes would first play in a basement in New Brunswick, New Jersey, another basement in West Philly, and a record store in DC by the name of Smash Records. After the out-of-town dates, they would play a homecoming show at The Berkeley Cafe.

The first day we woke up at around 8AM and filled up the van the guys had borrowed from a friend. After 2 1/2 hours of listening to nothing but black metal and hardcore, we were in Richmond. Richmond, being an awesome place for records, was a stop we had to make on the 9 hour trip to Jersey. After scoring a bunch of sick finds, we were back on the road.

Making hardly any stops, we took on the next 6 hours of the trip and landed ourselves in a residential area by a university in New Brunswick. The guy who lived at the house helped us bring in all the gear and get familiar with the house. The bands that played that night were Godswallower (NJ), Loose Ends (NJ), and Abuse. Moving between the merch table and the show room, I was able to catch most of the sets. Godswallower played a nice mix of blown-out grind and heavy doom. Not bad at all for a first show! Loose Ends was a local hardcore act that drew in a lot of local ragers. Abuse.’s set was super tight and brutal. Considering the show was in a basement, the sound was pretty good!

After the show in NJ, we went and got some of the most delicious (and cheapest!) Mexican food I’ve ever had with a friend who had been selling records out of his distro at the show. He was nice enough to let us stay at his swanky apartment and use his shower. He kindly sold me an awesome old Green Day EP. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to flip through his extensive record collection – we had to get up early the next morning to go to New York City.

Although there were no Abuse. dates in NYC, we found it necessary to go since 2 of us had never been before. Driving in Jersey was difficult, but finally we made it to a small parking lot by the Newark train station where we could park for 12 dollars for the whole day. After much confusion, we managed to make it on the train to Brooklyn from Newark. Though cold and drizzly, we all managed to have a great time in NYC. We went to Generation Records, Trash and Vaudeville (some “punk” store we had heard about on TV that we wanted to visit for laughs), Times Square, and a whole bunch of other places in the city. Times Square was incredible – I found myself constantly taking pictures, not caring at all that I looked like the biggest tourist ever. We took a bunch of funny pictures, one being a picture of all of us in Times Square with the Marines. A friend commented on the picture when it was posted on Facebook: “The few, the proud… Abuse”.

Abuse. , Me, and The Marines

This LED-flag in Times Square was SO bright that it sucked all the light out of the picture – this was taken outside in the middle of the day!

We made it out of the city at around 3:30 PM so that we could make it to the Philly show. Although we didn’t see Fresh Prince, we did manage to have a great time at the show. It was in a basement with a bunch of awesome local bands: Callous, Congenital Death, and Bad Side. Callous played grimy sludge, Bad Side played fun hardcore punk, and Congenital Death had a great mix of crushing female screams and speedy fastcore. The crowd turnout and reaction were both GREAT and I can honestly say it was (crowd-wise) the best night of the tour. After the show everyone came up from the basement and danced to Funkadelic. I would definitely like to go to Philly again, especially since by the time we had arrived there that afternoon it was too dark to get a good look of the city.

Click here if you want to watch the full set from Philly!

After Philly, we had plans to stay at a friend’s house in D.C. 2 1/2 hours later, we finally made it to D.C. and crashed immediately. We had plans to see a little bit of D.C. and take a look at the record stores in Baltimore the next morning. Waking up at about 10 AM, we headed straight to Sticky Fingers Bakery after having a nice chat with one of the dudes who lived at the house. I got myself a delicious quesadilla while the other dudes had some bagels. Sticky Fingers is definitely a must-stop in D.C. for vegeterians and vegans!

After getting a bite to eat, we made our way to Baltimore to check out Celebrated Summer Records. To say I was astounded by their selection in vinyl is a total understatement… From new releases to the rare record you always wanted but could never find, Celebrated Summer has it. Shout out to the owner for having the coolest record store ever and to the super nice employee for giving us the inside-scoop on the Baltimore music scene.

Spending most of the day in Baltimore, we tried our best to beat traffic so that we could make it to the D.C. show at Smash Records. On the bill was Vile Faith (a bunch of cool high school kids playing their first show) and raging hardcore act Human Shield. The turnout was great and we had the opportunity to check out the records. Alex, Abuse.’s vocalist, got a superb copy of Bathory’s “The Return…”, which I was (and still am) extremely jealous of. Human Shield’s drummer got Morbid Angel’s “Domination” – also an awesome find! Smash Records is definitely one of my favorite places to go to whenever I visit D.C., so I was glad to know that the show was there. The set Abuse. played at this show (music-wise) was definitely my favorite of the whole tour. It was nothing but pure, hateful hardcore. I shamelessly raged from behind the merch table. The dudes who lived at the house we had stayed at the night before were kind enough to let us stay the night again. After the show we got food and chilled.

The next morning we left bright and early at about 7AM because the vocalist had to make it to work by 2PM. In addition to that, Abuse. also had the homecoming show that night with touring bands Recide (TX), Breakout (TX), Manic (GA), and Desist (local ragers, first show!). The show that night was awesome! The touring bands were super nice guys. I missed Manic the last time they came through Raleigh… that was definitely a mistake. Recide, Breakout, and Manic were some of the best hardcore punk bands I’ve seen in a long time. Desist put on a great show as well. I can’t wait to go to future shows with them on the bill.

To round things up, I had an incredibly fun time being sweaty in a van with 4 other guys for 3 days. Abuse. are the coolest guys ever and I am very thankful to have been their merch guy on this tour. Thanks to everyone who gave us a place to stay, the other bands that played, and of course the people who came out to the shows. We had the best time going up north and being treated with superb hospitality. Thank you so much.

-Possessed

Both touring bands and local ragers destroyed Katmandu on Hillsborough Street the night of November 9th. The bill for this devastating display of hardcore and grind madness was BrainXToilet (first show!), Mad Dog, Last Words, and Cheap Art, from Atlanta, Georgia.

BrainXToilet – Photo by Will Butler. Used by permission.

Opening this killer show was BrainXToilet, a refreshing mix of blistering, technical grindcore and crushing breakdowns from Greensboro, NC. This band features members of another grind band from Greensboro, Priapus. Jordan, also the vocalist of Priapus, stomped in a fit of rage, pushing bystanders away as he yelled into the microphone. Jeremy, guitarist of Priapus, blasted away on his drumset while the guitarist shredded with ease.

Mad Dog – photo by Will Butler. Used by permission.

Mad Dog made the crowd go wild as Ira, Mad Dog’s drummer, unleashed his raw, speedy drumming. Mad Dog is a high-energy powerviolence act from Raleigh, NC. Being a year since their first show, it’s great to see how much they’ve progressed musically. Ace, the guitarist, also plays bass in Abuse, another Raleigh powerviolence band. Despite minor technical difficulties, Eli’s harsh vocals were loud and clear.

Last Words – photo by Will Butler. Used by permission.

Another Raleigh favorite, Last Words, played yet another unforgettable set packed with high-speed riffing and crucial moshing. Marina, vocalist, made it clear that not moshing was absolutely not an option! For not a single second did the crowd go dull.

Cheap Art – photo by Will Butler. Used by permission.

Cheap Art, a ripping hardcore band from Atlanta, killed their set with poser-crushing, chaotic female-fronted fastcore/powerviolence. The songs were short and sweet. A 20-minute set of high-energy, crushing blasts riddled with mosh parts was all they needed.

Hopefully there will be more hardcore shows at Katmandu’s. Really enjoyed this one.