3/5 -Thieves and Assassins, Call it Fire, Nautical Mile, Everything Sucks, Stay Alive

Tonight's show was at the "new and improved" Village Pub South. Apparently there used to be shows here pretty often, and for whatever reason everybody absolutely hated the place. I don't know why, this was my second time at the VPS and while it is pretty small, I don't think its terrible. One bad thing about it is that just east of the venue (which is located in Amityville) is a really bad neighborhood that you don't want to walk around in alone. Oh yea, the Amityville Horror house is pretty much down the road, and guess what IT IS NOT SCARY AT ALL AND PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIVE THERE.

Opening the show was a band from Brooklyn called STAY ALIVE. This was my first time seeing them, and I think one of their first shows, and they were not bad at all. The singer, Frank, was jumping around all over the small stage and was definitely really into what he was doing. It always good to have an energetic vocalist, keeps things fun to watch. They played for about 20 minutes and they are definitely worth checking out. I got a melodic punk hardcorish feel. Getxfresh.com says if you like AVAIL, AGAINST ME, STRIKE ANYWHERE then you will like STAY ALIVE, and I guess thats about right. After they played Chris and I went to pick up a demo, and Frank ended up giving us demos plus a bunch of other free cds/tape, really nice dude.

From here on in were all Long Island bands, starting with EVERYTHING SUCKS. Obviously they are influenced by the Descendents, among others. EVERYTHING SUCKS are really fun to watch, Matt's dancing while he is singing is great. And the music is good too. I am almost positive that they opened with a FUGAZI cover, and it sounded pretty well done to me. If you have the chance, you should catch EVERYTHING SUCKS because they are good and I believe their demo is free.

Taking the mid-show spot were NAUTICAL MILE which has members of SILENT MAJORITY, CAPITAL and more that I can't remember. This was maybe my third time seeing them and the most I have enjoyed them by far. They play some awesome hardcore punk, and do it with drunken style. At one point the singer tripped and fell into a roll down the ramp off stage, and made it look good. They even covered CAPITAL "Live Damnit Live" because they had to drop the show for unknown reasons. They have a demo, so you need to go check that out immediately.

Next were CALL IT FIRE. This band is seriously awesome, I think if they would play more shows that they could maybe be the next BACKUP PLAN. They are awesome live, and at times remind me of MODERN LIFE IS WAR, AMERICAN NIGHTMARE, and THE BACKUP PLAN. There was some mic trouble during the set, but that did not phase their fast, powerful, and emotional hardcore. They just released a full length record for free on the internet, along with a previously available demo. Both of which are really fucking good, go download them now it doesn't cost you anything and I know you fucks love to get free music.

Picking up the slack for CAPITAL(who had to cancel a few hours prior to the show) were THIEVES AND ASSASSINS who I think are one of the best, if not the best band on Long Island right now. They opened their set with 3 brand new songs, all of which sounded fucking awesome. I can not wait for the new stuff to come out on a hard copy for me to listen to nonstop. They played a bunch of stuff off their full length "Martyr Brigade", and closed with "Swear to God", which got the most reaction out of any of the bands of the night. Duncan(vocals) did not have the sweet mustache that he had last time I saw them, bummer I guess Long Island doesn't do mustache's anymore. THIEVES rule, the lyrics are some of the best written. You need to check them out if you haven't, you are missing out.

whats good:
crucified demo
long island hardcore
grilled cheese

3/4 - Bouncing Souls, Envy Arcadia

So today was something special, a BOUNCING SOULS show at Nassau Community College. Pretty cool right? It was also at 11:30...AM, definitely the earliest show I have ever been to. This show was only supposed to be for NCC students, however I was lucky and my friend Sean was partly responsible for this show, and he guestlisted me!! Thanks buddy! Once again I had Rob with me, what a good sport. I'm given this cool laminated guest pass thing after waiting on line and we go in. One major plus about this show is the free pizza and drinks. All shows should have this, seriously.

The opening band was called ENVY ARCADIA. They had won a battle of the bands at NCC at some point and I guess this was their prize. This is the only circumstance that they would get to play with the BOUNCING SOULS, as they are completely different types of music. Oh yea and the Bouncing Souls are awesome and this band blew. They play typical what's popular music, just all those bands on mtv who are trying to be alternative and wear make up and tight clothes and make really shitty unoriginal music. The singer definitely idolizes the singer of GLASSJAW, and likes to sing random high notes that sound fucking stupid. If you like good music, do not check this band out.

Ah, the BOUNCING SOULS, that band that got me into punk and hardcore. I love this band, and I try to never miss a BOUNCING SOULS show. One thing over the years that I've noticed is you can gauge how good they are gonna play based on how drunk they are. They play the best on a buzz. Today was a early show, so I don't think they were drunk yet. Greg (the singer) looked like he could have been drunk already, but I think he was probably just tired. They played a 45 minute set(12-12:45pm) which included: The Gold Song, Leen on Sheena, Lamar Vannoy, That Song, Private Radio, East Coast Fuck You, Hopeless Romantic, Sing Along Forever, Better Things, and closed with True Believers. The Souls were definitely happy to be playing, and were all moving around. However, Greg wasn't too energetic, but he did some dance-shuffling on stage. He has a very laid back style of singing, and it always confused me how he doesn't open his mouth all the way when he's singing, I guess he must have learned how to project his voice. They stopped and talked for a bit about how 2009 is the 20 year anniversary for the BOUNCING SOULS, and that they are going to be doing some cool shit for it. Awesome, if there's 20 year anniversary shows I will not miss them for anything. The crowd was pretty tame, but thats because it was only promoted at NCC, and not everyone at that school is a souls fan. The only bad thing about this show was that there was a barricade about 3 feet from the stage. But Greg made up for that by coming down and singing with us a couple of times. During the closer, True Believers, kids decided to dance around and it was stopped by NCC Security. LAME. But you know what, all in all it was a good show and totally worth me missing my first class.

3/1 - Paint it Black Double Feature

So I was really excited for this day since the first show got announced, I love PAINT IT BLACK. And when I heard about 2 shows in one day, there was no way I could pass that up! The first show was to be at Generation Records in the village. To get in you had to be one of the first 50 people to buy their new cd at the store a few weeks prior. And the second show was them with STRIKE ANYWHERE and some other bands at the Knitting Factory. With me for this was Rob, Rob is a very good sport with me because I make him go to countless shows, and I constantly talk about reunions and other cool things that would never happen.

We got to Generation Records around 1:45 and after giving our names to the guy w/ the pad, and went downstairs. PAINT IT BLACK was setting up in the t-shirt area, and surprisingly there was enough room, I really didn't know how it was gonna work out before I got there so I was glad to see there was actually room to breathe. There was a decent amount of kids already there, and everyone was browsing the records and used cd's. Eventually they started to play, it wasn't on time of course, but this is hardcore so who the fuck cares. It was obvious that the band was super happy to play, and that at least half the kids there were really excited. They ripped through about 10 songs, making time for jokes and shit. At one point Andy Nelson, the bassist, started saying how much the Knitting Factory stage sucks to play on, and that he wanted everyone to do whatever they could to fuck the place up. I found it funny, but I figured nobody is actually going to do anything. Kids were trying to do the push mosh a few times, and some even crowd climbed, kicking out a light at one point. But thankfully no real damage was done!

After they played, we have a few hours to kill. Which consisted of walking around the village, going to 3 record stores, and eating at 5 guys burgers and fries. That place has the best burgers out of any chain. If I ever do food reviews, expect that to be in there. Eventually we met up with Brian, and the three of us headed to Soho for the Knitting Factory show.

We arrived before any band started playing. And did what we usually do for the first band, hung out in the merch area. They were called PITCH BLACK BLONDE and I didn't really pay attention at all, sorry. Next up were the RIVERBOAT GAMBLERS, I only watched a few songs by them, and by this point Erin had come so I was hanging out with her. They were entertaining to watch though, the singer LOVES to throw the mic in the air, just like the lead singer of TAKING BACK SUNDAY. They played a forgettable kind of rock'n'roll punk I guess. I didn't really like it, you might.

Next were fucking PAINT IT BLACK, they got such a good reaction. Kids were going nuts the entire set. Every time I see them Dan Yemin always has some positive things to say. Tonight he talked about how he hates organised religion, how this was all for us, and he encouraged stagedives and for kids to come on stage. And Dan always looks so mad when he sings, then once the song ends he will immediately have a smile on his face. Tonight's show was EASILY the best reaction I have seen PAINT IT BLACK get. They definitely bring a different crowd of hardcore kids, this was obvious because of the push mosh pit, which is pretty annoying. But that is the only negative thing I have to say. Another funny thing was that Andy called out CHICKEN MAN, who didnt make it because he is broke, then called him a poser for not coming, if you don't know CM then it sucks for you. They didn't close with Memorial Day, but they did play it second to last. And they did a good job of not making both sets the exact same set!(Robs biggest worry). If you missed this show, or don't like PAINT IT BLACK, well then I feel sorry for you.

Headlining were STRIKE ANYWHERE, this was my first time seeing them but I'm not all that familiar with their stuff. We watched from the balcony, and once again all the kids exploded with energy. The singer was full of it too, jumping all over stage with his really fucking long dreadlocks flying everywhere. They sounded pretty tight, but the his voice cracks and squeaks when he is trying to shout his loudest. They played the few songs I know by them and then we decided to leave early.

Plenty of people were taking pictures at both shows, im sure they will surface soon, I just cant find them yet.

Paint it Black @ Generation Records