The Panic, Gage, Second Story Window, M Blanket, Antioch Arrow, Indian Summer @ Gilman St., 4/9/94

by Graham Spencer (graham@CS.Stanford.EDU)

* The Panic: The lead singer was trying way too hard to be emo. He rubbed his body and tore at his clothes a lot. He danced goofily, a lot like the guy from Beat Happening. I liked them even less than Beat Happening.

* Gage: Srini (ex-punk-lister badbrain) called them "Gage Against The Machine", which is an accurate description of their sound. Or maybe that was Andrew (fourfa@leland.stanford.edu). Anyway, they were really bad. This singer was trying way too hard to be "hard". Not to be confused with Ga*u*ge, a much better band.

* Second Story Window: ex-Heroin guy in a band playing Heroin-ish music. It's good stuff. One singer has a really shrill, hoarse voice, the other has a more normal screaming style. Most of their songs were pretty non-melodic, but a couple of tunes sounded just melodic enough to be one of the chaotic parts of a Jawbreaker song (c.f. "Bivouac").

* M Blanket: By this time I really wanted to see Antioch Arrow, so I just wasn't in the mood for pop-punk. These guys were pretty good, although I didn't like them as much as, say, Everready. They definitely have that Crimpshrinish sound. My friend Ben noted that the lead singer looks just like the guy from Smashing Pumpkins.

* Antioch Arrow: They took a really long time to set up. They had a lot of equipment. Their lead singer looks like he was in the Beatles: 60's style clothing, bowl haircut, etc.

Once they started playing -- wow. I literally spent the whole concert in open-mouthed amazement. They are uncategorically the weirdest band I have ever seen. They were fantastic. The singer was insanely energetic, jumping into the crowd, jumping around on stage, sticking the microphone in his mouth, etc. They were a lot more noisy in concert than on vinyl, and a lot faster. It didn't sound at all crusty, though -- just very chaotic. The singer was *really* weird. He kept saying things like "Let's freak out!" and "OK, cowboys and cowgirls".

My description doesn't really do them justice. If you get a chance, definitely go see them.

* Indian Summer: Unfortunately I had to leave before these guys played. I like them, though... last time I saw them they had a slow melodic sound, heavily influenced by Rites of Spring and Moss Icon.


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