It's pretty infrequent when I go to punk house shows these days. It's now to the point where I'm twice the age of many of the kids there, which weirds me out, so I'm more into seeing bands in bars or small clubs. But I've been to a couple shows at a house in the U-District that's been doing shows regularly this Spring/Summer and they've all been excellent. Fun crowd and great energy, something about a house show always brings it out of the band and fans. Last night I finally got to see Anchor Down from Portland, who I'd been meaning to see for a while. They were excellent. Headlining was Bomb the Music Industry! who I'd been listening this past week a bunch. Damn did they put on a show packed with energy that got everyone dancing and singing along!
Bomb the Music Industry! is all over the place musically--from ska and pop punk to hardcore. I love that on their MySpace page, they really only feature bad reviews from music websites and fans, they have a healthy sense of humor about what they are doing that permeates through their lyrics, music and live performances. In the end though, they wear their hearts on their sleeves. Last night lead singer Jeff Rosenstock asked over the mic for donations for the show, thanked the kids putting on the show for letting the band into the house at 5am and letting crash on the floor, and repeatedly asked the crowd to respect the house and help pick up garbage after the show. That positive attitude is a way of life for Bomb the Music Industry!, who only play all-ages shows and offer all of their albums humbly just asking for donations. Fugazi-eque? The new Against Me!? Not really, Bomb the Music Industry! is really their own unique deal and they've been around since 2004.
Towards the end of the night, Rosenstock asked the band members to all play their favorite Seattle band song at once. It was complete noise. But out of it he lifted Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" and Nirvana's "Territorial Pissings," the band immediately launched into covers of both. I had to wonder if it was all planned out or completely impromptu, because both covers were pretty decent. Do they do that in other towns? Great show, you should definitely check these guys out if they play live in your town.
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I'm pretty sure the covers were impromptu. He said "I bet we could do flagpole sitta" and then turned around and showed the rest of the band the chords. I saw them play Sleater-Kinney in Olympia last year. That seemed pretty on-the-spot as well.
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