Smell what the
rock’s got cookin’

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

I guess, when digging out my trusted poison pen, I should dust off the ol’ thesaurus and try and muster up some sort of journalistic jargon, rich with metaphors, hyperbole and wit, but the only thing that hit the frontal lobes when witnessing Pierced Arrows at the Green Room last Thursday, March 4, was, “Holy crap… me like, very much… holy crap, me like!” Admittedly, not exactly Howard Cosell material, but that pretty much summed up this trio when they stormed the tiny Green Room stage for a little over an hour.

Warming up the stage were local ne’er-do-wells Ultrathin, who have garnered more effects pedals and have battened down the hatches a bit more. These “not really that weird” punks use the repetition and psych of Chrome and the flippancy of Flipper, and bring it all home with fairly straight-up punk rock urgency. Their set closer of Zero Boys’ “High Time” was a nice touch.

Pierced Arrows just brimmed and bubbled with honesty and purity, and were as good as it gets. Live versions of “This Is the Day,” “Ain’t Life Strange,” a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul” and show highlight “Paranoia” just stung and delighted. You couldn’t manufacture a band like this if you tried—this was just pure rock ’n’ roll served up directly from the heart. If I have one issue with this solid show, it would be the green fog of crusty B.O. that clung to the room and hung over the heads of the sold-out crowd like the sword of Damocles. There was definitely something funky in the air, and it wasn’t Bootsy’s basslines. I don’t want to get all tightass on this but is deodorant now made out of crude oil, Coors Light, a 12-year-old sweatshop urchin’s tears and baby sealskins or something?

Although Wednesday marks the celebration of the beloved saint of alcoholism, domestic abuse, mindless violence and public vomiting, most of the action this week is stacked on Saturday night, starting with the psych/ambient/doom/noise of Ghidrah at Casa del Popolo with the amazing looping wonders of guitarist Tom Carter. Make sure to pick up a copy of Carter’s excellent Shots at Infinity while you’re there.

One of the big gigs this week is reformed D-beat legends From Ashes Rise, who kick up a stench and pack ’em in at Friendship Cove with Mind Eraser, local power-violence miscreants Vile Intent, Kraken and Barrier. Also on Saturday night, Dillinger Escape Plan makes a quick return, after obliterating Foufounes a couple of months back, with Darkest Hour, Iwrestledabearonce and Animals as Leaders, at Cabaret.

Finally, Can-core legends SNFU sweat it out to the oldies at Katacombes on Sunday night with Revolted Vermins, Ab Irato and Talk Sick, while on Monday night, Katacombes hosts a screening of the film Open Up Your Mouth and Say Chi Pig, documenting SNFU singer Mr. Chi Pig’s descent into substance abuse, his subsequent recovery and his righteous return as one of hardcore’s greatest frontmen. Also happening on Monday night is the old-school thrash of Cauldron and Metalian at Café Chaos with DJ Maniks.

BLOW ME, I’M IRISH…JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM