Strike Anywhere @ Club Sound

Strike Anywhere
10.14.09
Club Sound
with Polar Bear Club, Crime In Stereo, Ruiner, Fail to Follow

I can't remember the last time I was genuinely excited to see every band playing as part of a single tour. Bridge Nine Records has done an excellent job of expanding its roster to further reaches of hardcore over the past few years, and even though this tour didn't necessarily feature the style of music that the label has been come to known be for, it was an excellent lineup. Sure, the label could've gone the easy route and put together a H20/Death Before Dishonor/Agnostic Front package, but solid as the lineup would have been, it wouldn't really reflect the risks that Bridge Nine has recently taken in signing bands that don't necessarily fit in with the established hardcore aesthetic. Strike Anywhere is at the forefront of modern melodic hardcore, Polar Bear Club is one of the most energetic and interesting bands to emerge from the pre-eyeliner post-hardcore/emo revival, Crime In Stereo integrate a melancholy sense of melody into their hardcore and Ruiner is just plain brutal. Yeah, I was definitely excited for this show.

By the time I arrived at Club Sound, a full hour after the advertised door time, there was, of course, a line of people wrapping around the building waiting for doors to open. Screw that. I went and got some food and returned about forty minutes later midway through local openers Fail to Follow's set. I've seen these guys a few times before, and they've always been pretty decent. They remind me of a less technical A Wilhelm Scream or a more aggressive Good Riddance. The crowd didn't seem super into it, but I thought Fail to Follow put on a pretty good set. However, I do think adding them to the bill was entirely unnecessary. Four bands is plenty, and even though each band tore down and set up very quickly, one can only take so much rockage.

Ruiner took the stage and set up quickly. I was surprised when they started their set only about ten minutes after Fail to Follow concluded theirs. Ruiner opened with "Dead Weight" from their recently released album Hell Is Empty and vocalist Rob Sullivan turned into a monster on the stage. The dude looks like he could've kicked the shit out of anyone who was in attendance that night and had a whole lot of intensity. A few hardcore kids got into it and started with the windmillin' and spin kickin' and what have you, but their ridiculous/violent dancing kept most of the crowd far from the stage. Between songs, Sullivan's stage presence was very different-he was soft-spoken and paced around the stage rather timidly, but when the band got into it, he transformed completely. Ruiner played a good mix of the old and the new and had a ton of energy, but most of the crowd was pretty apathetic.

Crime In Stereo was next. I've been a big fan of these guys for quite a while now, but I hadn't seen them live until this tour. They haven't played Utah in more than three years, skipping over our fair state during the entirety of their Crime In Stereo Is Dead tour cycle. Even though Crime In Stereo's style has changed remarkably over the years (think Dag Nasty meets Brand New), I was still interested in seeing how they would handle their live show. Predictably, the band drew heavily from ...Is Dead, it being their most recent release. This was disappointing, because though the songs sound good on record and offer a very unique take on hardcore and punk rock, they're rather boring live. Vocalist Kristian Hallbert's transition from harsh yells to nearly whispered melodic passages didn't come off well in the live setting, and guitarist Alex Dunne's technical difficulties throughout the CIS set also hampered them. When performing material from The Troubled Stateside, though, the band was incredibly. Their energy reminded me of Strike Anywhere's live show, and I was nearly hit in the head by bassist Gary Cionci's weapon of choice a number of times and Hallbert nearly even through the mic at my head during "Bicycles For Afghanistan." I still love this band, but hopefully they'll be able to create a more cohesive live show next time they roll into town.

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