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Decent shows are slim pickings when your days off are Tuesday and Wednesday, so I was ecstatic when I heard about this particular night in Williamsburg. It would be my first trip to The Grand Victory, run by my old friend Sean Dougherty who used to run the door at Doc Holiday’s many moons ago. It’s a really nice bar with a WWII motif and a decent space in back for performances. Great beer selection, too. The bartender, Frank, was supercool, and we bonded over a mutual love of Merzbow, whose shirt I wore from my recently acquired Merzbox that night.
So, the night began with Eighty-Sixed, whose singer kicked things off with an idiotic anti-cop diatribe before the band proceeded to bore the audience with mediocre hardcore reminiscent of ’90s straightedge stalwarts Judge and Earth Crisis. They played one excruciatingly painful song over and over again, and it was quite a relief when they were done. If we’re lucky, they’ll become truly “eighty-sixed” and spare us of any more nonsense.
Up next, The Will. That’s vocalist Joey Steel pictured above. These guys impressed with their horror-themed hardcore that brought to mind Poison Idea and San Francisco’s Fuckface. A small TV broadcast old horror movie excerpts and trailers as the band blazed through numerous minute long recounts of their favorite horror flicks. As a horror fan, it was nice to hear horror-themed punk that came from an honest love for the genre and didn’t require silly corpse paint. (We’ll keep that for black metal, thank you.) Drummer Filthy Phill sings for World War IX.
By the way, their “Tradition” EP is just about 10 minutes of the best horror-themed hardcore you’ll ever hear that doesn’t involve Glenn Danzig. Pick it up and play it while you chug beer before watching your favorite horror flicks.
Upstate NY’s Cell 63 followed. Guitarist/vocalist Danny (and possibly drummer Jeff?) played in Affirmative Action before forming the almighty Crank, who put out a stellar CD last year, then changed bass players and morphed into Cell 63. Now, Bill Hunter from Sons of Shame (get the killer We’re From Poughkeesie EP here) heralds the four strings. As much I I loved Crank, this lineup blew me away. They played most of Crank’s set with a new song or two thrown in to keep things fresh, and these were definitely the best performances of the songs I’d heard yet. Upstate has a lot to offer and we folks in “The Big City” should pull our heads out of subways and take notice of what’s going on up there once in a while.
And finally, Miscegenator.
I played with drummer Tim McVicker in Maggot years ago and it was quite a pleasant surprise to see him again with his current band. Miscegenator play intense thrash hardcore in the vein of Rupture and early Bad Acid Trip. Songs barely last a minute and you feel like you’ve been pushed in front of a subway train and dragged for a bit when they end. It’s a powerful performance that leaves no room for disappointment, so be sure to catch them when they’re around.
And that was it: a great night of (mostly) great bands at a great venue. Who could ask for more on a Tuesday night?
