Free Radicalz: 9/14/10

I found out about the Free Radicalz from my old housemate Ember back at Pine Street. She was friends with them from back in Portland. They ended up coming down to play at Pine Street House in Summer of 2009, which was the only show I got to book at Pine Street while I lived there, and actually one of the best house shows ever, but that’s that’s another story. Anyway, the Free Radz came back down, and I booked them a show in Oakland. Acts of Sedition played, so I didn’t review it. You think I’m hard on other people’s bands? I can’t stand my own. But that Oakland show was the first time I got to actually watch them play, not just listen from outside. Anyway, they’re great. Even if they weren’t adorable punk co-eds, the music stands up all on it’s own. Let me lazily refer you to Terminal Escape so you can get the demo.

So anyway, I went to lend my support, such that it is, to the band for their SF show, Sub Mission Gallery. Fugitive Kind, Thrillhouse Punx, still reaching for the top. Face The Rail getting more of their Aggression out than ever, and by the way I was drunk. And stoned.

Nuclear Family, Jucifer: 8/20/10

At the time of writing this, August 20th was the last time that I drank Ancient Age whiskey. Once a favoured beverage in the realms of Boca de Fuma, the A.A. has fallen from grace and become a poison to my body which cannot be tolerated. Maybe they changed the recipe, maybe it's the shitty plastic bottles they now use causing a bogus chemical reaction... maybe I've become a pussy. Anyway, I think I'm done with that shit.

But it was with a bottle of said beverage in hand that I approached the inaugural show at the Shirley Temple of Doom. When I got there Fugitive Kind was playing. Last time I saw them, if it wasn't their first show, it was a very early one, and let's just say that a year and a US tour can do wonders for a band's talents. Now this whole time I was hanging out, drinking a lot, and not paying too close of attention to the bands. I don't know who came next, but let's get to Nuclear Family. I'm going to be extremely lazy here and use someone else's description of the band which I happen to very much agree with:

Sometimes you don't have to push boundaries, you don't have to break new ground, you don't even need to do something different - you just have to do it right. That's what Albany's NUCLEAR FAMILY do, and I watched 'em do it last night.Jen's vocals and Zach's guitar don't compete for your attention, but they do both command it from start to finish, and it's easy to alternately get wowed by either. -Robert Collins on Terminal Escape

These guys seemed really cool. Just regular everyday people, showing that Albany is a world away from NYC, not doing punk to rewrite it's rules or to have a cool punk look, or rule the downtown scene, or have a hip international label put out their limited seven inch singles... just doing it cause it's fuckin' fun and they want to!

I'd seen Daylight Robbery a few times before, Acts of Sedition has played with them in Chicago and Milwaukee on past tours, and they continue to get better and better! If you're a fan of X(US), Gorilla Angreb, or Masshysteri you should check this band out. If they were Scandi and didn't sing in English they would probably be three times more popular already.

After this, the Ancient Age was really starting to take effect, and I ended up down a the Victory Warehouse, where Dirty Marquee and Hooray For Everything were playing. I honestly cannot tell you if I actually saw either of these bands play. I know I had a good time hanging out and saying "what's up doooooooooood!" to people and that's about it!

After that, I somehow ended up at the Uptown, and I didn't even remember this until days later when I was reminded, but I caught at least most of Juicfer's set, which when the memory seeped back into my mind, like a wretched monolith appearing back out of the fog in the distance, was rad. Cause I'd never seen them before. And I almost missed out on remembering even seeing them this time. Drink and be merry my friends!