tour diary – friday 03.21 – allentown, pa
it was the best of shows, it was the worst of shows – a hackneyed description yes, but the most accurate one of which i can think. i should have known that things were going to be a little less than cool when one of the members of one of the bands had an altercation with the house’s neighbor. the guy was beligerent and angry because he accused someone of pissing in his driveway and accosted brodog band guy about it. while i’m sure the encounter was unpleasant, bro dog’s response wasn’t so cool either. “i thought he was going to kill me, i would have fucked him up … that’s why i carry a knife.” and when he informed his bandmate about the encounter i was terrified of bro dog mob justice when his buddy said “duuude, that’s fucked up, let’s go find that guy.”
the first two bands were really lame. i know a lot of kids aren’t so down with the melodic hardcore that’s labeled “emo” these days by many, but I have a pretty high tolerance level for it. these bands were lame not because of their sound but because they were shitty people. so shitty, in fact, that even i feel that i am in a position to assign that label. during the first band’s set the guitar player lost his pick and got seriously agitated and had a little mid-set squabble with the singer. he got so angry that he eventually shouted some pretty choice explitives at the singer. when one of the kids watching the show asked why he didn’t just use another pick, the guitarist replied “this one was custom made” and “if i don’t find my pick i’m not playing”. it got better when before one song the singer sneered, “this song is for all the guys with girlfriends … i am sooo sorry” and later “we’re going to get naked and you’re all welcome to join us,” which mikeal informed me was not said in the hey, we’re going to run around naked and crazy in the streets (which i’m ok with), but in the staring at the teenage girls “how you doin'” sort of way.
the next band to play was even worse. before their second song, the singer announced. “this song is about spies. it’s for our bass player because he’s a spy and a fucking homo”. i went upstairs. i guess you can lead a jock to hardcore but you can’t make him drink. jordan talked to those guys after they played and told them how that kind of talk was unacceptable. the guys in the band sort of wavered and said that “it was just their way of saying ‘jerk'” and that people shouldn’t be so “pc”. fuck them. i’m so sick of people being down on being pc. it’s not about being elitist or correct. it’s about having empathy for other people and treating them with respect and trying to shake all the prejudices that we’ve been brought up with in our culture.
the other thing that really bothered me about both of the bro-dog bands is that they left with all their friends after they played and I absolutely hate that. when jordan told them not to honk their horns and to try to be less noisy in the interest of neighbor relations they completely ignored them. enough shit talking – the bad was soon to be replaced anyway.
a band from nyc/philly called “x the owl” played next and they were interesting, energetic, and sincere. they proved that people trying to do interesting things musically and playing sincerely will always be more interesting and entertaining than buildups, breakdowns, jerking your guitar back and forth and jumping off the drums. the kids in this band were some of the nicest guys ever too. one of them was a teacher, another a law student and it was interesting to talk to them about how they balanced playing music with the other things in their lives. we ran into one of the guys in new york and he gave us a copy of their cd and a mix tape! what a swell bunch of guys! check them out if you get a chance.
we played next and by that time more kids had arrived including the kids in “kiwi” and “the lazer” and this kid nick who grew up with jimmy turri. so we played and of course it was rough because we hadn’t practiced together for weeks, but it was amazingly fun. people danced, and clapped, and had a generally good time.
“kiwi” played next, and this band is awesome. politically minded pop-punk with keyboards instead of guitars. i had heard some of their songs on a mix tape and was really into it, and seeing them play live was no disappointment. tons of energy and that nice pop/new-wavy edge that the keyboards bring but without any of the usual hipsterness that seems to accompany keyboards. they even did a “fifteen” cover. the kids were all extremely nice when we hung out with them afterwards.
“the lazer” played last and despite equipment troubles and a little sloppiness were brash and energetic. i really enjoyed it. after the show, one of the guys in the band offered to cut my hair into a mohawk and I obliged to make will and ryan shut up. I don’t really mind, but it’s funny that my hair always ends up in a mohawk on tour. we tried to spike it up with glue, but the hair was two heavy and it ended up in sort of a dread-hawk which wasn’t so cool. we hung out for a while and then when i went to bed, will went on a dumpster date with jordan and dumpstered cookies! yay!
we slept in late and after making some food, saying goodbye to jordan and kyle, and stopping at the record store made our on the short drive to philadelphia.