Saturday night The Bollweevils returned to action over at Reggie’s. I hadn’t seen the band play since last year’s Riot Fest which was already a year ago, so I was pretty excited that the band was doing another show. After a quick trip upstairs to do a little record shopping, I walked in the club to find the first band was setting up their gear and getting ready to play.
Government For Hire
Government For Hire
Government For Hire
That band was called Government For Hire and not only were they from around here, but one of the members used to be in Weedeater, a local band from way back who had a single released on Shakefork Records. G4H played some standard fare hardcore songs along with a couple slower punk numbers. They were pretty entertaining, but nothing about them really stood out from the countless other bands doing the same thing. Their bass player apparently joined the band only a couple days prior to this show and did such a good job you’d never have known that he just learned those songs for the show.
Secret Agent Bill
Secret Agent Bill
Secret Agent Bill
Secret Agent Bill quickly followed. I’ve seen these guys before so I knew what I was in store for. Actually I thought I did. I think the singer was a bit tipsy. He kept going on and on about how their set was dedicated to some Bill Brovlovsky guy (who he is I have no idea) and in between every song he was making up stories and getting other people to do the same. It was fairly amusing, and probably would have been a lot more amusing if I knew just who this fellow was he was paying homage to. I liked their more hardcore sounding songs and liked their light hearted, sometimes humorous approach more than their other songs that had almost a bit of ska influence in a couple numbers. I think their set felt a bit too long, but overall they were pretty entertaining.
Four Star Alarm
Four Star Alarm
Four Star Alarm
Four Star Alarm were third and I was actually kind of looking forward to seeing them. When I saw them the first time it didn’t do much for me but each time I’ve seen them play since, they have gotten better and better. This time was no exception. They are really gelling well as a band and their post-punk sound sort of reminds me of that peroid of time where Husker Du started straying from hardcore and writing actual “songs” that had the punk rock vibe with better muscianship. These guys are in a comfortable spot somewhere between punk and indie rock and the new songs they played sounded really good. I look forward to them releasing some new material in the future.
The Bollweevils
The Bollweevils
The Bollweevils
The Bollweevils
The crowd seemed to suddenly increase in size as The Bollweevils took the stage. Each member of the band had a t-shirt on stating their role in the band (Brains, Looks, Muscle, Wild Card) which I found to be hilarious. They wasted no time tearing into their first song and it sounded as good as it did when I saw them play those songs over a decade ago on a regular basis. Mixed in their set of the “hits” were three new songs that sounded easily as good as anything else in the set. If you told me those songs were on previous records I’d believe you as they still have that distinct Bollweevils sound and it made me look forward to a future with new Bollweevils records arriving in my mailbox again. After a few songs the crowd really started getting into it and a small pit formed mainly with kids who might not have been around during the bands active years. After getting beer dumped on me I opted to move off to the side to finish watching the band’s clinic in melodic Chicago hardcore and as they ended their set, I wasn’t the only one smiling, the entire rest of the audience was as well. The band hit one out of the park with their performance, and it made me very happy that they’ve decided to play shows again and once again be an active band.
The Bollweevils
Additional photos from this show will be posted later tonight on MXV’s Flickr Stream.
I see that someone in the Bollweevils must be a fan of “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”. All they were missing is “Worthless Chick”.