Cut Throat Tactics

This came in the mail for me the other day. I was really excited. The End.

Nice Try

Been working on cutting and shaping my paulownia wood into a fishy-handplane type deal. I'm not a very good shaper, but I feel like I have the outline where I want it, and the rails are getting close to being turned up and down in the right places. Even got a little flip in the nose. Trying to get some concave in the tail and get the two sections of the cut-out to be symmetrical, but overall, it's coming along and the flaws are becoming less noticeable to my eye. Should be ready once the water has warmed up.

Tough Love

Sometimes, New Jersey

Headed up for the Flesh Temple, Mob Mentality, Give, Stick Together, Rival Mob gig at Asbury Lanes last Friday in beautiful Asbury Park, NJ. Arrived early to be informed that the Rival Mob hadn't left Boston until 5 so things would be getting started later than expected. Headed out for a bit, only to realize that we missed Flesh Temple. I really would have liked to catch their set, but nothing you can do about shitty timing.

Mob Mentality was on next. I had listened to the demo and dug what they were doing, but I wasn't too impressed with their set. I dug the early 80's vibe mixed with slower breakdown parts that they were trying to pull off, but it was kind of sloppy and other than the frontman who was going off, the band lacked energy. All the elements were there, it just seemed off in terms of a cohesiveness that will probably come from playing more. The crowd seemed to share my sentiments, and just kind of stood there. I think under the right circumstances they could destroy, just not tonight. Hopefully, they'll be on a future bill and I will get a chance to see them again.

Stick Together played next and played a good, shorter set. The crowd responded early, going off for the the breakdowns and sing-alongs and the band had energy to spare. Hoodrack's comments were the usual stream-of-consciousness randomess that was pure stage-banter- gold (straight edge hockey mask gangs?). They only did one cover (SSD's Glue) which was kind of a bummer, especially after I read that they did a side by side cover the next night. From the bands they choose to cover, from the sound and style of artwork, Stick Together doesn't pull any punches when it comes to their influences. They say and play the way they want to and with a consistently good live performance, it's working. No "The Real You", which I was hoping for, but did get to hear "For Myself", which was a plus. Such a tight set that I hope they had back to New Jersey soon.

I had seen Give once before and liked a couple songs, but nothing really stuck with me. I had made up mind before there set to be open minded. I don't think it would have mattered, because the band blew me away. The band put out such a good set from start to finish, with energy to spare. It's clear they're going for different: flowers, more melody almost rock vibe and I have heard the whole Revolution Summer thing thrown around a bunch of times when people talk about them. You can definitely hear elements of Rites or Embrace, but I think at the same time, they've created a really unique sound and I was really into what they were doing: songs off the album and 7 inches. I'm really psyched to see them again and hope to see those Painkiller and Youngblood seven inches soon.

Finally, The Rival Mob took the stage as a four piece and I was surprised at the lack of the fifth member did not affect their sound, which is pretty much a testament to what a juggernaut this band is. At this point, you know what you're getting with a RM set as far as quotables and setlist. This one was slightly different, being that it lacked a cover, but despite the late arrival and getting thrown on stage, the Rival Mob managed to turn out a good set. Despite all the craziness of actually getting to the stage, the fact that the band was able to turn out a good show is pretty awesome. I felt the end of the set kind of fizzled out, with no mention of a last song and Brendan requesting to go bowling, but that was a minor complaint. If shows like this happened in Asbury Park more often, I'd imagine I'd find myself taking that drive up the Parkway a lot more often.

Land of the Free

Seems like there is a million shows tomorrow night and and half a million decent ones. This is the one I'll be at. Rival Mob and Stick Together are the two best bands in HC right now (imo) and I'm stoked on seeing Give again and Mob Mentality for the first time. Flesh Temple's playing too.

Rise & Fall

There are many good things about fall: hurricane swell, emptier breaks, pumpkin coffee, playoff baseball and of course, Halloween. Here are a few more reasons to love fall:

Don't Even Bother Saying Goodbye...

Photo: Jamie Heim

Saturday was Floorpunch's final show at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, PA. Well, final US show was how it was billed. I thought the word "US" getting thrown in was kind of odd, maybe hinting at some more shows abroad; but I don't care either way. Porter even joked about playing Canada next week leaving the crowd looking around laughing, but I'm sure some were thinking, "Is he serious?". If they want to have 20 final shows, go ahead, because frankly, I'd go see them once a week if I could. Call 'em all your final show, as long as you play all the songs on the demo.

It was a million degrees outside the church and the show had been incredibly hot inside. Despite the terrible outside temperature, as you entered the basement of the church, it was like walking into a wall of heat (Killing Time, anyone?), 100 times worse than outdoors. Without moving and just standing there with my arms folded, watching a couple bands, I could feel the sweat pouring off of me. I couldn't imagine what actually moving around for Floorpunch's set would be like, but there wasn't really a choice, I guess. So sing-a-long and sweat it was gonna be.

Once everybody had arrived from the traffic nightmares north of Philly, Porter gave a couple quick thank-yous and they broke into Warzone's "Intro/Bust", which I was completely stoked on, and apparently the crowd was,too. Even with the time constraints and the obnoxious temperature in the basement of the Church, it was a quality set. I dug the order of things, mainly because it didn't follow the same format of the last two times I saw them, which kept things fresh while still hearing all the jams. All the usual tunes were played and a couple of surprises thrown in for good measure. A girl came out of the crowd to sing "Wall of Hate" by Killing Time and she brought it; a really good job on her part. Geoff was also called out to do Agnostic Front's "Last Warning", and destroyed, upping the intensity of his last AF performance at the Stelton, which was out of control good. Getting to hear KT, AF and Warzone along with the Floorpunch songs was just incredibly awesome.

Other highlights for myself were, of course "My Path" into "Intro/Changes", "Blondie" & "Let It Ride" including the other jams, like "Always", etc. They closed with "Let It Ride" which always has a special place for me living so close to AC. Besides the insanely good setlist was Porter's stage banter filled with the usual good one-liners. One of my favorites: "Then he started listening to weird stuff...like Lifetime." Hilarious stuff.

Towards the end, it was full on, VH1 Storytellers, Floorpunch style, with Porter explaining the details behind the Earth Crisis beef, the Rick-Ta-Life beef and explaining to one young man in the crowd the truth behind the yogurt at the Middlesex show back in the 90s. Even though it was super hot, the crowd was into it, diving, finger-pointing and getting a quick mosh in on the breakdowns. There were lots of familiar faces all up front singing along from the start to finish of the set. The stage dives were much improved over the Rival Mob's set, where it appeared that kids were going to split their skulls or shatter a bone at any moment. The mosh was brought early, but by the end of the set, the heat had taken its toll, leaving most moshers exhausted, but still trying to give it a go.

Never before have I left a show with my shirt and pants completely soaked, but walking out of the Church, sweat was dripping from my clothes. It was a great set to end on even with it being 1,000 degrees and all the headaches of getting everyone playing the show there and then getting everyone off the stage in time for the next church function. For as satisfied as I was with the final, final, final mosh, I can say I woke up the next day with a footprint on my shoulder, a sore body and wishing that there'd be another show in the next couple months, preferably at the Jersey Shore.

As far as this being the last show, it's easy to argue that it's not their last. Since the final mosh at CB's there's been a handful of different line-ups and a couple of reunion gigs in a variety of spots. Based on the amount of merch at the FP table, it seemed like a whole lot for one show. The longsleeves had the 6/26/10 date on them,indicating this was it; but there were a whole lot of zip ups in different colorways, which was kind of odd for one final summer show. Not that merch is any indication of a band's intentions, but by now, people seem to think it won't be their last. I've got no complaints either way. If they're done, so be it. If another show pops up in a couple years, months or weeks, I can't say that I'd be upset about it. I'd only be upset if I couldn't go.

Floorpunch from KO Films on Vimeo.

Gene Pool/Cess Pool

My reaction to watching flawless waves roll in on the surfcams all day at work, only to show up late afternoon to a dead low tide and a much smaller size. Still paddled out and threw myself into some closeouts.