#phillyhardcoreshows

For those unaware, I booked a double header on Saturday. 2pm Matinee Hardcore shows 9 pm 21+ Skinhead party At first it was just going to be Slapshot matinee. The owner of the venue saw the chance to make more money on the bar and wanted to do 2 Slapshot shows, one all ages, one 21 plus but honestly Slapshot is still Straight Edge hardcore in my mind and not a band that should be on a 21 plus show. Some talking around and I thought of Stars and Stripes playing a later show to appease the owner. At first what started as Slapshot and potentially Vision with Hounds of Hate ended up being different but still very cool.

With bad weather all week and a chance for snow, I was uncertain on the draw especially with the 2pm time. I was wrong. We had a great presale and even better walk up and the place was packed. Old sketchy dudes, Not as old, not as sketchy but still familiar faces who don't grace our shows enough these days and a handful of the regular young crowd. The Last Stand from NYC, featuring Mike Scondotto (Inhuman, Confusion etc) opened up the show. Mike is one of the most underappreciated hardcore/metal guys in the scene. Been around forever, he is the 3rd of 4 amazing brothers. His youngest is the singer of Shutdown (mark) his oldest brother Kevin booked the legendary Castle Heights in the 90s and his other brother Jon plays in Lament and also co-owned the Monster Factory with Mike. Either way- Mike is just the most knowledgeable guy in late 80s to present NYHC and metal. I love talking to him daily about music on Facebook and I've never had a chance to put his band on a show that I didn't feel like the younger kids wouldn't give a chance. The Last Stand get up to a room of the kind of people who show up early and will watch every band crowd. None of the cool kids who were too cool for the show, and it was great for them. They played so tight and were awesome. Hopefully I'll have more shows for them. www.stereokiller.com/THELASTSTANDNYHC‎

Vengeance is members of Floorpunch with Donny Mutt (Philly HC shows/TIHC /One Up/ Public Urination etc) and Jay Pepito (Reign Supreme/Blacklisted) This was their first show. Jay was way less nervous then his last two bands "first shows" that I booked.  They were very tight and people seemed impressed with the combination of Jay's energy and the backing of a very tight band.  They have a demo online vengeancemosh.bandcamp.com/‎ Next up The Storm, straight outta Syracuse featuring members of Black SS, Forfeit and on the mic Pauly Edge from Meltdown.  Anyone who can recall seeing Meltdown knows Pauly gives 100% on stage. The Storm came out 3 years back and played TIH, ECT and has a record on FastBreak! With Pauly's contracting business, the band doesn't do big tours but work hard on weekends. So I try to put the Storm on at least 1 or 2 shows a year here. Very energetic again on Saturday but with a lack of young kids, the crowd was much more timid then their last show with Cold World and Rival Mob. Still a good set without the big mosh going on, which always tells me the band isn't halfassin' it.  thestorm315.bandcamp.com Pittsburgh's Hounds of Hate is a band that usually plays to the xvx/house I'm only into hardcore shows that aren't accessible online types. This was a bigger show for them. I really dug them when they were getting out 2 years back. When I drove home from California last year, we were listening to the BnB RadioTakeover and they were the guests. Solid kids and it was very cool to match them up with Slapshot. I love aggressive hardcore in all forms and I'm privy to angry straight edge hardcore so this was a great pairing of old and new in my opinion. They played tighter then alot of bands that are usually playing house shows in this area. As expected, they drew some people that are usually too cool to come to a show of mine and it was nice to see the older crowd really into them as well. Hopefully we'll have them back (TIHC) later this year.. houndsofhate.bandcamp.com Slapshot Growing up, sometimes you hear bands get shit talked by peers and you don't listen to them. Despite my love of NYHC, I can't tell you how disappointed I was when Slapshot cancelled a show with the business in 96. It was the only date that Slapshot ever had booked in philly in 20 years til their set at TIH last summer. One of the most angry, heartfelt aggressive bands, they are lost on the young generation because their songs are devoid of breakdowns. The sounds carry their own melody to it but the power of the delivery is in Choke's vocals and lyrics.  Standing in the middle of a room where I'm usually one of the oldest, it felt awesome with the lights out to see strange faces, skinheads, punk rockers and old timers all together anticipating the first Slapshot show in Philly in god only knows. Opening with No Friend of MIne and closing with Step On It, Slapshot delivered. It was incredible, the crowd pushing up front to sing every word, the band banging through 3 songs or so at a time. The floor wasn't a modern ninja mosh fest but a swirl of bodies shuffling just to do a few moves before getting slammed or pushed or tackled by someone else. I told Joey Ross, this is what hardcore shows was, Not a dance competition, but a grappling for your own 5 seconds to go off before someone knocks you down or gets you out of the way to do their thing. They played some new songs from an upcoming LP and they were great. Energy was high through, spirits were high, Choke was very happy smiling and joking about everything. Overall packed show, positive vibe, chaos on the floor. Perfect combination for a matinee show. vimeo.com/73994483‎ here's their video from TIHC 2013 Show ends around 7, we've got 2 hours to settle with the bands- see people out and get ready for the madness upstairs. We booked upstairs because the owner had this hip hop night that makes him money and gave them the downstairs.  So we booked a crazy oi! show that will now be in the upstairs of a venue. Picture it- long wooden stairs, small hallway, a bar maybe 10 feet long and 2 rooms the size of your bedroom. It was going to be chaotic. Some older folks stayed in the venue, others came later but by 9:30 it was so packed that there was skinheads in the downstairs dancing to hip hop in an empty room. Poor DJ didn't know what to think. We had an issue with a lack of drums and thankfully, though stressfully we drove around and got a kit and the show started a bit later. Which in the whiny world of hardcore would have been a problem, but in the world of streetpunk/oi! just meant more time for people to drink and socialize. Duffys Cut from Philly played first and they were awesome. They were in other philly bands like Violent Society, but this is more diverse and very modern day street punk. They have their record release this Saturday at KFN and it should be a blast. Duffy's Cut | Duffy's Cut - Bandcamp