I’m not the biggest fan of package tours under banner names. Sure, I’ve been to everything from Ozzfest to Sno-core, but I always find myself lost in a sea of mediocre music played by fly-by-night bands. I didn’t know this was the Taste of Chaos tour before heading through the Nokia Theater’s plush vestibule. I just knew New Jersey’s perennial hardcore legends Thursday were making a comeback and I wasn’t about to miss it.
And there’s no denying that Thursday is still on top of their game, pumping out volumes of melodic hardcore that sounds as good today as it did in the ’90s. The band took stage with little lighting and a ton of energy, pumping out tunes from all eras of their career, including tracks from their new Epitaph release “Common Existence.”
“Do you want to hear something old?,” singer Geoff Rickley asked the sweat-soaked crowd three songs in. “We’ve got a long set tonight and we’re going to be here all night.” The band tore into “Understanding in a Car” as rabid fans tackled security to touch Rickly as he pressed against the barrier.
The band’s new material is a bit complicated and you kind of have to work to love it, but live, the songs take on a whole new dimension. The layers of guitars, keyboards, and convulsion-producing strobe lights blend into a mesmerizing wall of beautiful music. Calling the band a hardcore Radiohead would be a generic comparison but it’s one that’s hard to ignore. Read the rest of this entry »
Biggest news for the day is that Jerey’s own Thursday have signed to Epitaph after their short run on a major label. Life In A Bungalo talked with singer Geoff Rickly a few months back at Jonathan Levine Gallery and he pretty much alluded to the fact that the band was looking to gt back to one of the larger indie punk labels. The band was originally on Victory, but abandoned the metal-core label for greener pastures. Then the record industry collapsed. The band is working on a new record, but nothing has been announced yet. This is the second big pick-up for Epitaph in the last few weeks, having just signed New Found Glory. We’ll try to get an interview with Thursday ASAP.
Fat Wreck Chords just released a bunch of new records from the likes of Star Fucking Hipsters, Lagwagon, and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Most importantly, The Swingin’ Utters’ “Juvenile Product of the Working Class” is getting repressed on limited yellow vinyl.
Slayer is giving away a new song to people attending their upcoming Unholy Alliance dates. Too bad all the tour dates are overseas. Word on the street is that the new album will be hitting stores some time next year. Prepare to be slayed.
Finally, the Satin Peaches have a new video and it isn’t that awful. It would be cooler if their name was Satin’s Peaches.
Bastards of Young is a feature-length that sadly has nothing to do with The Replacements (even if it does borrow its name from their classic single). Instead, the documentary focuses on the New Jersey punk-emo scene that spawned in the ashes of the 1994 punk revival. While I could care less about the bands featured in the movie, the director does a fantastic job showing how different growing up punk in New Jersey is from the rest of the world.
New Jersey has a different kind of scene, a different kind of sound, and unity that seems to exist way after punk died off in the wake of the rap/rock movement. The film talks in detail about the New Brunswick basement show, mentioning the birth of the scene at Handy Street and the part The Bouncing Souls played in uniting punks throughout the state. Read the rest of this entry »
