20 February, 2006

The Hate Game, Pennyred, Scars Like Ours, Eulogy XL

The large room stuffed with comfy couches and tables slowly filled with goth and emo kids dressed in black and ready for some head-banging.
The Hate Game played first, starting off a little hesitantly, but quickly launching into their fun and fast catalogue of tunes. What they lacked in popularity they quickly made up for with stage presence and spunk, and the dance floor soon had small crowds of dark-clothed teens nodding their heads in approval. The first act is always a tough one, but the Hate Game did an excellent job revving up the crowd for the rest of the show.
Pennyred was on second, playing from their 2005 CD The Citystate Falls, a conceptual album following the Greek myth of the gods Apollo and Saturn. Although the concept is a little over the top it works for the band, who took their melodic punk-rock to an intellectual high as they played out the Greek dramas.
Scars Like Ours the locally well-known hardcore band played third. Everyone found a place on the small dance-floor to watch Max (guitarist) play barefoot, Glen (vocals/bass) smash around and jump on tables, Chuck (vocals/guitar) scream into the mic, and Gabe (drums) smash out some excellent rhythms. The boys put on quite a show creating an atmosphere dark, angry, and sarcastic and reminding me more than a little of the Alkaline Trio. The highlight of the show was definitely the end of Scars Like Ours set where all hell broke loose, the mic Chuck was singing in died and Glen threw his bass to the floor and dove into the drum set while Gabe was still playing the drums. Talking to Glen and Max after the show I found out that they’re working on their second album right now (they played a few new songs during the show) and won’t be playing shows regularly until about April.
Euology XL put on quite a good set too, slowing the music down a little after all the excitement of the Scars Like Ours set. The band has an album out now with a dark sound that reminds me of Nine Inch Nails. Ironically (or appropriately) enough the best song in their set was a cover of “Terrible Lie.”
Altogether an excellent show where four local bands showcased their talents and proved that punk rock is certainly not dead.

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