“You can’t shine shit though” shrugged the sound engineer as the drummer began to test his battered set of toms. But maybe it was in the spirit of punk itself that their equipment was a bit ropey. After a solid line-up of local supports, we’re a little apprehensive about the final act, depicted so far in the press as single-handedly resurrecting punk in Brooklyn, late eighties Washington DC-style, putting two fingers up against the alt. pop of Animal Collective et al. It’s a bold statement for anyone to make. Comparisons are already being made to Black Flag, The Dead Kennedy’s and Bad Brains for their breakneck speed, dumb lyrics and old-skool attire; so when they started off with a “song about pizza,” we all step back a couple of paces in wary intrigue.
They all met through skating and partying; “We’re a heavy, weird fucking crew of kids that are ballzy as fuck”, and, inspired by their heroes, formed a band. There are a lot of references to that scene in their lyrics and fast, aggressive style, and just being young and a little crazy. They storm through their set, songs about gratuitous drug use and “drinking like you’re 15 forever” are rattled off in quick succession. A pit begins to form at the front of the stage, with the more hardcore among us throwing themselves at the speakers. Frontman Honor seems to be relishing the attention and duly whips his top off before making the moves on some of the ladies in the audience, “What’s up girl?” “Are you a girl?” “”well anyways take a good look at my nipples before I start this song.”
The Puke song comes next, and so does our conclusion that the Black Flag comparisons aren’t totally accurate. Sure, they definitely do hark back to another era with their music, it’s unmistakeably thrash, brash, skate-punk, but they’re doing it in their own, very literal (and not the least bit ironic) way. It’s fun to watch and, good or bad, this is the most energetic show we’ve seen in years. Who knows if they’ll be around as long as their forebears, but it looks like they’re enjoying the ride.
Cerebral Ballzy
Wednesday 24th November 2010
The Prince Albert
Words by Lydia Stockbridge
