If you’ve been to Hopscotch before, you know that sometimes the best shows are the ones you weren’t planning to go to. The bands whose names your eyes skipped over when perusing the schedule, simply due to unfamiliarity.
Washington DC’s Priests probably don’t care if you have no idea who they are. In the 80’s, DC gave rise to a legendary punk scene – but that doesn’t matter because Priests’ members (vocalist Katie Alice Greer and hip-name band mates Daniele Daniele and G. L. Jaguar) weren’t born yet.
Priests are a relatively new band, with only a few releases since 2012, most notably a full length release this summer, ominously titled Bodies and Control and Money and Power. While punk bands are a dime a dozen these days, and at times the genre can seem played out, Priests have gained some well-deserved attention for their energetic live shows and their politically charged lyrics.
Bodies clocks in at less than 20 minutes but it doesn’t let up once. That’s the same kind of overt energy and in-your-face attitude that you can expect from a Priests live show. Greer takes the stage like a woman possessed (is there an exorcism joke in here somewhere?) while her band mates contort and exhort their respective instruments with an eerily focused intensity. Punk done well is a visceral, raw, crazy experience, and Priests will surely deliver when they play at Deep South on Friday.
-Meggs Benedict