Friday, July 16, 2010

Ratas Del Vaticano: Mocosos Pateticos LP




Probably one of the finer bands coming straight from the south of the border, Ratas Del Vaticano are a band not to be reckoned with, and honestly, who would want to even doubt that?

I stumbled across this group while engaging myself in once-a-week radio show brought to you by the folks in Maximum Rock N Roll. Yea, it's pretty damn easy to say "FUCK MRR!", considering the older generation of punks had a distaste for their politics and close mindedness and a bit part of kids new to punk take those words to heart and start stating these reasons without really seeing why these points were made in the first place. None the less, It should be recognized for bringing various artists from the underground to our ears, whether from distant countries or even from our own backyard. Aside of that, They happened to play "No Busco Problemas con la Autoridad" from Ratas Del Vaticano and I remember being startled by their sheer attitude displayed. Translating the song title only made sense to the sheer attitude and I put Ratas in the bands to watch out for pile, along with numerous others too long to put into said post.

Hailing from Monterrey, Mexico, the band reminds of another Hispanic punk group, Los Ninatos, mainly for the production on their LP. It gives off this snotty, careless, noisy, don't give a fuck sound to their tracks, which also makes sense to why their sound startled me. However, it is why this makes this LP worth a listen too. Lyrics maybe hard to translate but that's beside the point. Roughly lasting about 35 minutes, the band goes through 23 songs in the good ole hardcore fashion. A standout on this LP is "Olvidalo", with it's hypnotic guitar intro that draws you in from the get go. From there, you either get lost or get sucked right into it's sheer aggression, emphasizing how Punk should sound like, instead of relying on the look.

I must say that this band is quite a treat to listen too, I mean, I don't honestly find anything terrible with their sound, lyrics, anything at all. I must say, I'm actually quite anticipating on where they will go with their next LP. Hopefully, they will stick with their guns and try out another direction to their sound. Until then, I'll have to stick this fine piece of wax.

Cheers!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Ronny's 7/9/2010

I've been anticipating this show for awhile, considering I've been on a dosage of Youth Attack! bands the past few months, including Failures and Raw Nerve. It seemed right to finally witness these two particular bands in person, instead of just continuing to replay their records on repeat and not have a clue on what I missed out on. So doing what would make sense, I went for a little ride on the CTA and headed out to Ronny's.

It took a good while for the show to actually set up; exploring around the venue and watching the first band set up their equipment. I watched the small crowd of maybe a dozen people reach to an estimate crowd of 60-70, engaging in their own realm of conversation on music, all while counting just how many kids in Black Flag or Minor Threat shirts would appear. 3 for Minor Threat. By the time 7:30 reached, the first band finished doing sound check and the show began.

Razorfade started the show with a bit of a comical inside joke, as the guitarist played a Red Hot Chili Peppers track and the singer joking sang along. For those not in the know of the Chicago scene, Razorfade display an intense ferocity, unmatched since the dawn of original hardcore in regards to the newer bands in the limelight now. They had actually released a demo cassette on Youth Attack at one point, emphasizing a point made by naysayers who complain about "crappy demo tapes that sell out within an hour". Despite criticism mainly to the label, I was impressed with their set. Much like their description, the band was in-your-face throughout their set showing aggression as they ravaged their instruments intensely. A few audiences members were the same; showcasing their "hardcore dancing" and dog piling on one another. Even once their set was over the drummer had thrown his snares and symbols all over the place and angrily got off the stage. I managed to actually cop a copy of said demo cassette talked about above, righteous.

Raw Nerve, another local Chicago band, came up afterwards, and basically show up the entire venue in all of their set. The band played a majority of their catalog from their recent LP released earlier this year, as well as their earlier records. In my opinion, I have yet to see that kind of chaos in any show that was displayed during Raw Nerve's set. One particular moment was the build up to one of their tracks "Crossed", with the audience actively matching the tempo of the song; slow pace but strong once a move was made, similar to a rattlesnake's bite. Their set was paralleled that night except for the headliner but damn impressive for a second band playing. Kudos.

After Raw Nerve's set, Red Dons were up; mixing up the vibe at Ronny's. The group is more powerpop-ish, playing more in the vein of the '77 bands, yet still maintained the same attitude of aggression found in hardcore music. Red Dons sounded very great; not missing a beat or losing their cool while playing, however they didn't make quite an impression the audience compared to Raw Nerves, with a majority of the crowd standing still. Red Don's singer complained about the lack of movement in the crowd, but the crowd didn't follow through until the singer himself had to come in and make some movement occur. Despite his failed attempt, the band was not the weaker band that night. It would have helped them a little more had the audience really came through, but none the less, they were great.

Vaccine's set is probably the most shortest set I've heard in a live show, not so much surprising consider their songs barely reach the minute mark. This powerviolence group grabbed a good portion of the audience's attention with their try-to-keep-up-with-us sound in all of their songs. Vicious, malevolent tracks at a speed unimaginable to the human ear in an estimate of 10 minutes. It's quite difficult to really "bad mouth" the group, but it sort of was the same particular tone that had occurred with with Red Dons.

Failures were probably the main reason why a good portion of the crowd was there. Much like Vaccine, their set was considerably short yet grabbed a majority of the crowd from the get go. It was hard to keep with the band, as well the audience members themselves; dog piling each other, running into each other, getting up on stage and almost knocking down one of the speakers crucial to the sound system. It was chaos at it's finest, undoubtedly. A moment that rings to mind was when vocalist Mark McCoy played a Negative FX cover and the crowd instantly chanted the words to "Might Makes Right". The band didn't even miss a note and barely stopped at all in this ongoing chaos. Of course, I didn't doubt this sort of thing would unfold in front of the my eyes but to actually witness it in person was remarkable. Once the set was finished, McCoy jumped offstage and immediately went through the door and the set was finished. A good note to end the show.

There are quite a lot of bad mouthing around, at least in regards to how the current Hardcore scene stands up to the original squad of bands, such as Black Flag, Minor Threat, and Void. Most naysayers would say that the current scene is a lie or even state it doesn't display the same amount of excitement or danger than the major hitters. My view on it; You just have to find the right bands to really feel that same tone that most describe. Till then, Cheers!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Rearing





Ronny's- 8$

Failures
Raw Nerve
Red Dons
Vaccine
Razorxfade


Failures will pay Chicago a visit, one of few shows planned prior to Dude Fest.
My Advice; be cautious.