November 14, 2007
Against Me! @ 9:30 Club
Against Me! – the most accessible folk-punk band in the world – took the stage around 7:30 yesterday and were all business, plowing through twenty or so samplings of their fierce, Guinness-fueled brand of melodic rock in around an hour and a half. Those who managed to sneak out of work early to catch a good spot in the not-quite sold out crowd left drained and ready for the caloric replenishment that only the venerable Ben’s Chili Bowl can provide – appropriately enough for a band who embodies the meat-and-potatoes punk rock ethos of beer, political awareness, and sing-with-me refrains.
It was apparent that being in the nation’s capital roused the easily-awoken political ire of the band, and they allowed their music to scream out in the chorus of songs like “White People for Peace.” Ferocious lyrics like “The President's giving a speech in Georgetown to remember the voice of a slain civil rights leader/ Do you understand what the martyr stood for/Oh Condoleezza, do you get the fucking joke?” in “From Her Lips to God’s Ears (The Energizer)” were sung with extra gusto inside the heart of the political America.
Even if you can’t stand the soapbox mentality, the band certainly didn’t fail to deliver on stamina, which, regardless of your preferred rocking out methodology, is always of paramount significance. The only drops in the set was when frontman Tom Gabel switched guitars about thirty minutes in, and then again, when he moved to an acoustic six-string for the last few tunes of the night. A smattering of older material from the band’s debut LP, Reinventing Axl Rose - including a ‘you must sing along, lest you drown in the voices’ version of “Walking is Still Honest” – placated those who think fondly of the No Idea Records days. But live performances of tracks from the band’s current major-label release, New Wave, prove how much the band has grown sonically while still maintaining the honesty and directness that forged their significant following.
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These guys are a joke. They build a reputation and a following for being righteous, then get all pissy when folks call them on cashing in.
"cashing in"? sellouts? maybe, but they still make some pretty righteous rock n' roll.
highlight of my evening, as expected, was World/Inferno - so short a set, but so brilliant.
I agree with Colleen, it takes a lot of balls to get up and sing "Baby, I'm an Anarchist" while receiving their paychecks from Warner Brothers Records. Plus, their newest album is a snore. Go support Ghost Mice or Defiance, Ohio! etc... Rant over.
avoiding the "sellout" issue, AM! was great. i had never seen them before, and their performance far surpassed my admittedly low expectations. the band was tight and tom's voice isn't nearly as grating live as it is on wax. and props to him for not preaching, or for that matter doing much talking at all, really. other political acts should take note: let your music speak for you; it's way more interesting that way. sage francis - the reason i went to the show in the first place - did the same set as the past three times i have seen him. not to say it was bad, but with a catalog of so many great tracks, i don't need to keep hearing sea lion, makeshift patriot, damage, etc. world/inferno: do people really think these guys are good? i guess one person above does. the frontman's sideshow/vaudeville-esque on-stage persona was fairly lame and obnoxious, and to me the music just sounded like shitty third wave ska mixed with equally shitty swing revival. not that the music is necessarily either of those things, but that's what i was reminded of. i was also painfully reminded of why i don't go to shows early anymore. overall, a good night that was def worth the $15 + ass-blasting fees.
ballsdudes - defiance ohio certainly rocks. i just have trouble taking the ideals of anarchist punks seriously; so i guess it does not bother me a great deal when they don't their own ideals seriously.
goatboy - i don't understand. i really don't. ska? swing revival? they are a bit vaudeville-esque in performance style, i suppose. they have a bit of throwback style, i suppose, but all punked up and, unlike your average punk or throwback band, they have actual musical talent in spades. lyrically smart. and how fricking great is it that they wrote a concept album about the life of peter lorre? to each their own, i suppose.
i can see why my description of their sound doesn't really make sense to anyone but me, since like i said they don't fit into either of those genres. when i heard them, though, i thought "this is like spring heeled jack meets squirrel nut zippers (and it sucks)", so that's the description i went with. they just sounded like disorganized noise to me. and the "they're really talented" argument means nothing since a lot of individually skilled musicians comprise a metric ton of crappy bands. like you said, to each their own. moving on and looking forward to the rev/hank 3/nashville pussy tonight....