So the day started out just like any other day except for the fact that it was my birthday (24th) and I had to work at 6am. Work wasn't too bad but that's a relative term when you work at a very busy vet clinic. A few people wish me a happy birthday and a few others, who will not be named, think it is a funny idea to post my phone number online. This leads to a person sending me a picture of their penis which is very frightening and almost caused me to wreck my car. Bastards!
I get home and eat left over birthday food from a family party the night before and commence to studying for an exam the next day. I only mention the bday food because I had Meatloaf cupcakes and they are very delicious. After a few hours of studying my girlfriend comes over and gives me a present and takes me out to an all you can eat sushi place. The food is great and so is having a new pair of Descendents Vans. Fuck Yeah!
After this we head off to The Milestone and go see Forgetters, Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil's new band. This is where my story actually begins, i only felt it necessary to mention it being my birthday because I try and interject myself as much as I can into my musings. The first band, Pinko plays and is really bad. Granted this is their first show so I shouldn't be too hard on them but I honestly doubt they will get any better. There seems to be a formula to being in a bad band. All the guys in the band are really talented and the set begins with a ripping solo. Solo intros are probably only a good idea if you are Yngwie Malmsteen and even that is highly debatable. They spend the rest of the set switching between grunge, dead milkmen-esque ramblings, metal and as mentioned previously, solos.
The second band is One Another (ex Minority Party, Columns) which fits nicely on the bill with Forgetters. They have similarities to Jawbreaker but just pigeonholing them would do them no justice. Definitely shows that they are a newer band but I really think if they move in the direction of what I thought were there stronger songs then they would be really great. Definitely a breath of fresh air in Charlotte where punk bands tend to be either weird or heavy.
Next is Forgetters. I don't know what to expect. Some of my friends think it is going to sound like later Jets To Brazil and say they don't really care. I like Jets To Brazil but I can see what they mean. On a side note, Neil Hamburger performed stand-up across town so some people I would have expected to see aren't present. When do you get a chance to witness a punk legend everyday? Alright tangent done. So first the line-up... Along with having Mr. Schwarzenbach , Forgetters also showcases the talent of Against Me's first drummer, Kevin Mahon and bassist Carolina Paquita, who from what I saw at the show is a very talented artist. So the band starts playing and it sounds as you would expect a Schwarzenbach band to sound like. Their sound and tightness was astounding and from little snippets I could ascertain his lyrics are still top notch. He didn't really seem to sing with the faux British accent like in Jawbreaker so that was cool. I remember being like 13 years old and asked if I liked Jawbreaker and my response was, "Yeah, but I'm not really into British singers." I was scolded and soon realized that Mr. Schwarzenbach was not in fact British. Bollocks. The music that Forgetters play is darker than Jawbreaker in parts and definitely not as poppy as Jets. To me it fits somewhere in the middle of those two bands. They don't have anything recorded yet so you are going to have to take my word when I tell you that they are definitely a band worth checking out and if you like anything he has done in the past then you won't be let down. I hear they have a 7" coming out this spring so I will be eagerly waiting for it.
Now I must go back to studying for exams and hoping that I have the chops to do well enough on these exams to graduate on Saturday. Yikes!
(note: the forgetters photo is not at the milestone and until a photo surfaces this is as close as you'll get)
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