Gorilla Biscuits Weekend; Sat Feb 25 & 26 2023 at the First Unitarian Church in Philly. 

Night One:GB, Pagan Babies and Be Well. Night 2: GB, Kill Your Idols, Combust, and Raw Brigade. 

 Gorilla Biscuits one of the most successful and most popular HC bands to be born from the streets of New York City. They also happen to be one of my favorite hardcore bands, surprising I know. The first show that was scheduled for Saturday November 25, 2023 was so quickly sold out Joe Hardcore got a Matinee on the schedule for the following day. My dad already got tickets for the first night but I bugged him for a while to get tickets for the second show because if I'm being honest it was a better line up. 

Gorilla Biscuits Night 1:

Finally Gorilla Biscuits got on stage and were getting ready but Civ was not there. We waited for about 20 minutes before he popped out from behind a wall. The horns from the intro of New Direction started off the night. After that per usual was Stand Still. Civ had a nice speech about how he wanted to steal the church's candles then they played Degradation. Arthur was wearing an ascot and showed us what we were there for, which was the bass intro to Forgotten. A little later they made us the general population of the show vote if we wanted to hear a Civ cover or No Reason Why, for obvious reasons they played No Reason Why won. They played another Civ song that I forgot the name of. They played a pretty cool cover of Minor Threat's song Minor Threat and ended the night off with Start Today. I thought the first night was pretty cool but night two was better. 

NIGHT TWO:

Combust:

We got there just in time to see one of the best current hardcore bands from NYC Combust. They, thank God, opened their set with the Intro and Combust after that they played their LP's opener The Big Game.  Andrew, the singer, encouraged us to get the weirdos out of hardcore. They played a hard hitting cover of Seeing Red by Minor Threat and ended the night with, in my opinion, their best song The Knife. Combust were really cool to see, the only thing that would make the set better is if they played Another Life and some type of Killing Time cover. 

Raw Brigade:

Raw Brigade got set up in like 10 minutes and opened their set with Stomp – Kicking Your Face. The lineup for the night was Carlos, their usual drummer (I think) Juan, Avery Cutdown on guitar, and Andrew from Combust on bass. After the Stomp they played Latinos then Abused. Avery Cutdown's guitar strap broke halfway through the set so they found a chair for him to sit in but after a little Carlos took it and dove into the crowd with it. So then Avery just had to try to play without a strap. They played the sing-along song Terrorist and ended off the night with Straight And Proud. I've seen Raw Brigade 3 times but all their sets have been short and abbreviated because they were opening for a band or the show had to be over at a set time but I would really like to see them play a full set. 

Kill Your Idols:

Kill Your Idols played before Gorilla Biscuits but I didn't really watch them so I don't really have something to say here. They sounded really cool though and the crowd seemed really into it. 

Gorilla Biscuits Night 2:

Gorilla Biscuits once again took a while to set up and Civ wasn't there until he popped out from behind a wall. Night two also had 2 actual trumpet players do the intro for New Direction which was pretty cool. The set was practically the same but this show was way more crowded up front and people were having fun. Lots of dives, lots of dancing, and lots of singing along to songs. The public vote for the show was Civ song Do Something (I think) or Breaking Free from the 7". I think I was like one of 3 people that cheered for Breaking Free. Additions to the set were covers of Judge's song New York Crew, As One by Warzone, and Minor Threat again. One thing I've got to say about GB is I don't like most of Side B of Start Today. Start Today is a really good, great song (except for the harmonica). Two Sides, First Failure, and Competition are alright songs but I wouldn't be pumped if they came up in shuffle in my playlist. But I really can't stand Time Flies and Cats and Dogs. Cats and Dogs has a good message but I just don't like it.

Overall night 2 of GB was so much better than night one. Energy was up and the bands were better. 

Bloodclot:

We got there right in the middle of Bloodclot’s set, so around 8:30. I wasn’t really paying attention until they played Malfunction, a Cro-Mags cover. After that was a Bad Brains cover of How Low Can A Punk Get?, after that they played one more song which was You'll Be The Death Of Me. The best songs they played were the two cover songs and a song that was dedicated to Todd Youth and John’s brother who had both did from ODs called Prayer

Raw Brigade:

Next up was Raw Brigade from Bogota in Colombia. They’re first full length L.P. Aggressive City,  had come out on Cash-Only over the summer so it was still fresh and still good. I expected them to play before Outburst and after End It but that wasn’t the case. I was hoping to be up front during their set but instead I was all the way in the back by the merch tables. No one had any records which I thought was weird. I planned on coming home with a fresh new copy of We’re Not In This Alone, Aggressive City, and CutDown’s demo but no I was mistaken and only came home with an awesome blue/orange OutBurst shirt. Raw Brigade started their set off hot with Latinos and straight into Abused. Abused is definitely their best song and I’m not just saying that because it’s about straight edge. Their bass player wasn’t able to make it out for the show so the singer for CutDown played bass for them, I think he sounded good. The best songs they played were Abused, Aggressive City, and Run Away From Hell. It sucks I couldn't take any photos from their set. 

End It

At every show there’s a band I don’t care for. Tonight it was End It from Baltimore, Maryland. They had some cool mosh parts but I didn’t really like the vocals. It kinda sounded like Soul Glo but slightly better. I didn’t get to watch them much because I was in the little lifted part across from the entrance by the bathroom where the Hare Krishnas had some type of thing set up with incense and stuff. There was also a guy selling records and shirts up there too. He had a lot of good records but they were expensive. Project X 7”, Growing Stronger 7” comp., Token Entry Beneath The Streets, a bunch of Youth Of Today live bootlegs, but they were all like $30-$70. I’m not paying that kinda money to have the risk of someone taking them or having to hold them during OutBurst and Youth Of Today. Once they were over I made the short walk up front to wait around for OutBurst to start playing.

OutBurst

Before they even started playing, people were going off. The hype, the energy, and the place made for this one of the single best performances I’ve ever seen in my life. The guy who opened it all up stepped right on my foot and he wasn’t wearing any soft shoes, my foot still hurt ‘til Tuesday. Like Brian said, it's a physical sport this type of music, injuries may occur. Even with my foot throbbing I yelled along like everyone else to No Choice which was the opener for the night. I still think that bands with an intro should ALWAYS, with no exceptions (unless it sucks,) play their intro first. But I’m still glad they played it at all. They had the intro coupled with a hard hitting cover of The Executioner’s Tax by Power Trip. There’s a new style that you won’t see in old videos called either Side By Side or Side To Side where they kind of jump/knock/crash into the people on the edges of the pit. I really don’t like it. It’s just really annoying when you not only have to watch for people throwing dives and not you gotta worry about getting your head smashed in by some jerk running full speed into the people in front and to the side of you. Carlos the singer from Raw Brigade sang most of When Things Go Wrong which is with out a doubt one of the best mosh parts in all of hardcore. Everyone was moving; it was like a line dance but less coordinated. Ever since I heard those first drum beats on the Where The Wild Things Are comp. I was hooked on OutBurst. They’re still one of my favorite hardcore bands; they are hard to get sick of. Towards the end of their 30 minute set Brian was obviously getting a bit tired but the crowd helped him sing, it was electric. The best songs they played were When Things Go Wrong, Mission Impossible, The Hard Way, and of course the Intro. Once again I couldn't get any photos, I was too busy having a good time. 

Once again another song that I blew my voice out signing. Ray Cappo is for sure the best front man, his speeches before Make A Change and No More never fail to inspire me to think about becoming vegetarian, try for a day then forget that I decided I didn't want to eat meat and I eat a ham sandwich or something like that. Even 30+ years later Ray Cappo still sounds absolutely amazing and he still leads these songs better than anyone could.  During Potential Friends I saw Joe Hardcore’s golden grills smiling at me, he pointed up on the stage and I threw my first dive. After diving I got the mic again. I'm a bit ashamed of this but I did say the wrong words. I said we could be again instead of "THE BEST OF FRIENDS" which is what should've gone there. Unfortunately it's right there in the center of the video recording by Feet First Productions. A little later in the set during Youth Of Today I was pushed up onto the stage and dove, then was pushed back onto the stage with assistance once again from Joe Hardcore I went again.  Then I ended up on the stage again so I went off on the other side. 3 dives in 15 seconds as a 14 year old is pretty cool. A call was made by Ray to Kevin Seconds, sadly he didn’t pick up but Al B. from SS Decontrol did, sorry Boston Al didn’t pick up for you but he did for us! They played 2 covers that night before ending it off with Break Down The Walls. The covers were Glue by SS Decontrol and Young ‘Till I Die by 7 Seconds. 

I don’t think I’ve ever been more happy to get elbowed in the gut or hit in the head than that night. The Church is by far my favorite place to see a show. It has a nice low stage with monitors you can jump off of, it’s nice and small so you can get good sound. The best songs they played were Expectations, Potential Friends, Thinking Straight, and Glue. 

Krakdown Demo 1987 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUefFPLDh5g 

Revisited

Since I wrote my original review my opinions have changed. After adding their 2 albums to my main Spotify playlist for the first month or two it was fine then after that I just kinda got sick of them. I also figured out that they had the same singer as Ten Yard Fight and me thinking it was someone different was the reason for me liking them. After listening to them again recently I can clearly see why I liked them. They sounded like a youth crew meets Slapshot but not as good as it could have been. So I would like to change my review for them.

I’d give now more of a 4/10. I'll only listen if I have to. 

7 Seconds, Negative Approach, and Soul Glo live at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, PA on April 10, 2022

Soul Glo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urpJSkzp7rQ 

Soul Glo… don’t get me or Ari’s dad started on them. All I’ve got to say is that they need an instrumental and the guitar player to not play the same 3 power cords in every song. They weren’t my favorite band of the night but they clearly were someone’s. I’m talking about the guy behind me. I could tell he had been doing his studying. “Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?)” was the last song Soul Glo played and I’m telling you this guy could have sang it word for word if he wanted to. I wish I liked them as much as this guy did.

Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All, and Crown Of Thornz live at the House Of Independents in Asbury Park NJ on May 13, 2022

Crown Of Thornz

We got there about half an hour after the doors opened and the sound check hadn’t even started yet. Which in turn meant I had to listen to Crown Of Thornz. They’re not my favorite band but not as bad as Soul Glo. During and before their set my dad and I were leaning against the back of the club because the merch tables were up stairs instead of where they usually were by the back of the main room. Anyway a guy who was totally blasted before the show even started was talking to us. He was very impressed that my dad brought an almost 14 year old kid to a show. His kids didn’t like the music yet though. Crown Of Thornz played “Icepick” first and that set the mood of their set. I’ve got one thing to say about the show that I didn’t like. It smelled like pot the whole time and I came home with a massive headache. But that might have also been because of the eye squinting LEDs they had on the stage that made us blind for a good 3 seconds. They played “Juggernaut” last and our new friend had a blast dancing and singing along to that song. I think “Icepick” and “Juggernaut” were the 2 best songs they played. I would have loved to hear a cover of “The Hard Way” by Outburst like they used to play. 

Sick Of It All

Now onto the good stuff! I was already hyped as all hell for SOIA and the way they came onto the stage made it even better than I expected. My dad always said that SOIA played some of the best shows he’s ever been to and I can totally agree. They made me want to belt out the lyrics to songs I didn’t like or didn’t even know.They played “Injustice System!” first, a song I did know. Before that it wasn't my favorite song but it made me really belt out the first words of their set. “FREEDOM!” it shook the floor and made my head explode like Richie from Underdog in the Cro-Mags video. They played “Clobberin’ Time” next, followed by a song I didn’t know. I loved both of them! Both my dad and I agreed they should only play songs from the S/T 7”, “The Blood and The Sweat”, and the comp tracks. They played a lot more though. Everytime someone in the pit fell, which happened a lot, the security guards would all stand on their boxes and the stairs and shine a flashlight into the pit. Every time there was a circle pit there would be 3 people down all the time. During SOIA’s set I didn’t care if they had those LEDs shining right into the crowd. They played “My Life” which I was hoping they’d play and I think I lost most of my voice singing along to that and “Pushed Too Far”. But, sadly all good things have to come to an end and this was a really really good end. They ended the night with the power house song of a “Step Down”. Lou was off the stage doing a meet and greet and I told my dad I wanted a picture. I shook his hand, told him the set was awesome, got a picture, said they should have played “Pete’s Sake”, shook his hand once more and walked off. “My Life”, “Clobberin’ Time” and “Pushed Too Far” were my favorites. “Pushed Too Far”, “World Full Of Hate”, and “Scratch The Surface” were my dad’s top picks of the night. 

Agnostic Front

Now it’s time for Agnostic Front. They busted out all the oldies in the beginning. “Victim In Pain” was first and it blew out my voice and got a nice warm look from a guy in front of me when I had a voice crack that sounded like an old door. Next was “Your Mistake” and “Blind Justice”. Roger looked rough. He was on some type of medication that really didn’t sit right for him. That stunk cause AF was awesome. Like I said to my dad if I could rate them from most to least scariest Stigma would be number one for me. Oh and speaking of Stigma he sang “Power” while Roger pucked behind the drum kit. I think that’s gotta be one of the best songs of the night! Every single band had a part where they told the pit to do a clockwise circle pit. They ended the night off with an amazing cover of “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones. Our new buddy from the Crown Of Thornz set was still having a blast skanking, moshing, and singing during AF’s set. I still think that Sick Of It All should have headlined but I’m just a 13 year old sitting in my room scrambling to write about the set before everything about it escapes my mind. “Power” and “Victim In Pain” were my favorites. “Last Warning”, “Blind Justice”, “United Blood”, and “Crucified” were my dad’s top 4.

Circle Jerks / 7 Seconds / Negative Approach

The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, 7-13.2022 

Written by Tim McMahon, [@doublecrossxx] (Mouthpiece, Hands Tied, Triple Threat, Face The Enemy, Search)

This one was originally supposed to happen back in April, but was postponed due to a Covid outbreak among the Circle Jerks crew. Needless to say, I was excited to see this finally happen.

Negative Approach

Negative Approach opened and as expected, they were great. A barrier between the stage and crowd was a bit of a bummer and kept crowd participation to a minimum,  but sometimes it's cool to just stand back and take it all in. John Brannon never seems to lose a step with that voice, it just constantly amazes me.

Circle Jerks

The Circle Jerks took the stage last and came armed with a set list that was nearly the length of the stage. Keith's in-between song banter was entertaining and watching drummer Joey Castillo destroy the drums was mind blowing, but unfortunately the Circle Jerks seemed to suffer even more technical issues than 7 Seconds. Mics going out, monitors not working properly and sound mix being all over the place made things a little rough, but I could see through it all and enjoy the greatness that was the songs that they were playing. I want to say there were around 30 songs played, but don't hold me to that, It was a lot, but it was all great and I was happy to hear every one of them.

After the show

To finish off the night, I ran into Kevin Seconds on the sidewalk outside of the club and actually met him for the first time. Kevin couldn't have been cooler, friendlier and more welcoming. We picked up talking about the Dischord house like long time friends. 

Rage Against The Machine live at Madison Square Garden, August 14, 2022

This show/concert was attended with my mom and my mom’s friend for a change from my dad and his friends. The way I got there was my mom said RATM was playing but it was the sunday after I get back from Boy Scouts summer camp AND the same night as my dad’s birthday party/get-together so I was (rightfully so) kinda tired after camping but I had a good time watching the horse races. To this show I had to show off that I knew about Inside Out (Zach’s previous hardcore band) so I wore my dad’s Underdog shirt. Instead of driving to MSG we decided we were going to take the train into nyc. We were a tad late for the first train so we had to stick around for the next one at the train station and… the train was late. Gotta love NJ Transit. I was so nervous we were gonna miss the beginning of RATM. My mom’s friend Traci was giving us updates throughout the train ride. We got there just in time for the first RATM song but we weren’t in the right row so we missed it.

The Show

The first song that we actually heard was “Bombtrack” off of their self titled LP. It was freaking insane. The one thing that kinda sucked was it smelled like pot. Next after Bombtrack was “People Of The Sun” from the 1996 album Evil Empire. We were on the 3rd maybe 2nd level so we had a good look at the stage and the floor. Next was “Bulls On Parade” from the Evil Empire album. I think I almost hit the 2 people in front of us at the “COME WITH IT NOW!” at the beginning of this anthem. This was the first song that I actually screamed the lyrics for. Then I realized this isn’t a hardcore show and the people in front of me could probably hear me so I screamed the chorus even louder, voice cracks and all. Fast forward to “Guerrilla Radio” from the 1999 album “The Battle Of Los Angeles” this is one of my favorite RATM songs so as expected I was screaming. OH SHIT I forgot to mention that Zach hurt his knee earlier in the tour so he couldn’t stand up so he was sitting down doing his singing and during one song (sorry I don’t remember which one) he stood up and it was insane. He immediately fell but he did stand up. The last song they played was their hit “Killing In The Name”. Holy shit this song is so damn good. I was screaming FUCK YOU I WON’T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME! Definitely my favorite song of the night. 

After The Show

I thought this show was one of the best I’ve been to. My top 3 for the night were Killing In The Name, Bombtrack, and Bulls On Parade. My mom’s top 4 were Testify, Take The Power Back, Freedom, and Sleep Now In The Fire. Traci’s top 3 were Testify, Killing In The Name, and Take The Power Back. 

Verbal Assault and Soul Side at The First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia PA on September 22, 2022

Soul Side

After Verbal Assault finished and Soul Side was setting up their equipment I went back to my dad and he spotted Chris Jones at the merch table so we went over and talked to him a little. This was my dad’s first time seeing Verbal Assault (last time he was kicked out of CB’s because his friend used his ID. You can read about it in “Three CB’s Stories” in Hardware) he was psyched to see them and so was I. Then Soul Side played. I’m not the biggest fan of theirs but I thought the old, faster songs were great and the newer slower ones weren’t so great. I figured out that there were 2 other kids at this show. Everyone else was a 40+ year old man. Probably because of the show being on a Thursday night. I’m going to be average and say “Bass” was my favorite song they played. My dad’s favorites were “Trigger”, “Clifton Wall”, and “God City”.