Anyone who has lived in Western New York for a good portion of their lives knows what this time of year is like. As someone who has booked hundreds of hardcore shows over the years, I would always keep my fingers crossed when having touring bands come here during the winter. I honestly can't think of many instances where the bands didn't make it in bad weather. I do remember shows maybe not doing as well during snowstorms a couple of times though. The funny thing about last night was that the snow wasn't projected to hit Rochester until midnight, which was right around when I figured this mini-fest would end anyway. Six of the seven bands ended up playing and of course the show started late. Somehow it ended up a little earlier than I thought, around 11:15 was when Naysayer got off the stage.
After a few too many negative instances, Rochester has recently been put on somewhat of a tight leash as far as venues are concerned. It sucks that three or four dickheads have to go and ruin things for everyone else. Anyway, luckily Dub Land Underground was willing to hold this show, provided there was no violence of any kind. Luckily, on this evening everyone complied and there was no problems whatsoever.
These Eyes kicked things off first. I've always enjoyed watching Chris Pogue lose his breath singing for hardcore bands and this band is no different. I would say they got a good reaction for a first show, kids were going off and Pogue even bloodied up his forehead with the microphone early on in their set. This band has quite a few area shows coming up so I would definitely keep your eyes open for them.
Next up was Death Camp. This band has been making a name for itself in the Rochester scene for sometime now. This was my first time seeing them. I really liked what I saw, they even had me two stepping for a minute with their Cro Mags cover. No complaints here on that one! This band is good crossover hardcore/metal with some good breakdowns. Definitely a fun band to watch live.
Violent Side was up next. I was starting to feel pretty stuffy so I went for a walk and checked out our city as it was starting to get covered by snow. Today I plan to walk around the same areas and snap a few pics. Anyway, the couple songs I did see from Violent side seemed pretty good- standard Syracuse Hardcore.
Take Offense was the band I was most excited to see on this bill. They didn't let me down by any means. They came out and ripped through their set, reminding me of what Agnostic Front might have been like live sometime after VIP came out. Really good crossover hardcore from California. My hat goes off to these guys for driving to Rochester in the snow and then driving all the way back home. God bless hardcore. Take Offense just put out an LP on Reaper Records. I highly recommend checking that out.
Next up was Rhinoceros. This band has been touring around the area for years, yet somehow this was only my second or third time seeing them live. I liked Infamous more. Having not seen them in a while, I wanted to check them out and see what their newer stuff was sounding like. Plus I've always seen Joe Riverside around as long as I've been going to Buffalo shows so I have somewhat of an unwritten respect for him. That and he has pretty good presence for a hardcore band I think. My favorite part of the night actually came during their set. Now most people that live on the internet know that Joe and Rhinoceros have somewhat of a "thug/gang" rep. Having only ever spoken with Joe briefly, I really don't know him all that well. But he has always seemed like a decent enough dude to me. Anyway, as I said before there was some violence at some Rochester shows last year and this was our last shot with Dub Land. Joe could have gotten on the mic and talked all this shit about going off and fucking shit up and whatnot. Instead, he kept saying "squash the beef" and making positive statements. He even mentioned that at one point Rochester was a great place to go to for shows and that people in Buffalo and Syracuse loved it here. As one of the three or four main people involved with the scene in Rochester at the time he was talking about, that made me really happy. Ok, enough posi crap, like I said it had been a while since I had seen Rhinoceros. I was enjoying this band a lot more than I remembered. It was also good to see kids from all three cities moshing together. I haven't seen that in a while. This band has some really good breakdowns. I would now like to see them on a much bigger show, just sit back and watch people go off.
Naysayer closed the night off and didn't waste any time, ripping through a blistering set featuring mostly songs off their No Remorse EP and their forthcoming 7", both on Reaper Records. It seems as though this band is always on tour, yet they are always so energetic live. I really respect that. After this show, they were driving back home, then basically going right to Europe to tour some more. Again, a lot of respect goes out to them. While hardcore has risen in popularity in recent years, I can't imagine any of these dudes are getting rich off of this music.
One great show with no drama, I feel good about that. Not only that, but I saw at least five people that I have been going to shows with for 10-15 years! Imagine that, after all the ups and downs, I am still here.
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