Update and a Show Review...

Check out the review of  THE DOPAMINES' album, "Vices", on Jadedpunk.com if you haven't yet.  I saw a quote from it in the latest Citybeat and promptly looked for it.  It did not disappoint.

In case you missed it, THE DOPAMINES, THE LOCKLAND BRAKES, LOUDMOUTH, and BOY MEETS WORLD played Fountain Square last night.  It was the first time that the "Indie Summer Series" had a "punk night" and the "M.C." was nervous as hell about it.  He did everything from apologizing for having to read a list of thank-yous to the corporate sponsors to saying that hoped everyone would be cool.  Even one of the bands said "This is the first time there's been a punk show here and hopefully it won't be the last time."  I caught most of the bands' sets, with the exception of Loudmouth, because I had to make like a treebeard and leave.

 First up were BOY MEETS WORLD, from Cincinnati (like all the other bands who played that night).  They were enjoyable until I took my earplugs out (I'm not kidding).  I can't remember what the name for what type of punk they play is, but they tried to mix really slick pop punk, mediocre metalcore, some sprinklings of techno? and poor attempts at rapping.  There were some dropbeats that came out of nowhere, which I have to respect them for.  Their set probably would have been better had they been tighter.  Their singer had a sore throat (which he repeatedly apologized for), though, which I'm sure affected things and made feel bad for him.  A friend of mine who hated it asked me, "Are these guys Christian???  Please tell me they're Christian...".  That gave me a good laugh.  Some of the bands I've heard play this sort of stuff have pulled it off well, but the majority have not.  They're pretty new and may have been rushed into this, so hopefully with time and practice, they'll improve.


THE LOCKLAND BRAKES were next.  They were my favorite band of the night, playing a mix of street and pop punk that grabbed my attention and held it.  Good hooks, good energy, very tight, and a tougher sound than most bands playing this nowadays.  It had more "meat" to it and I don't necessarily mean sausage by that..  Definitely managed to right the ship after the previous band's set.  Full disclosure: one of my friends is a member, but if you know my reputation, that sort of thing doesn't make any difference in my opinion of a band in the slightest.  Which might explain why I don't have many close friends...

I didn't get to see much of THE DOPAMINES', who played after them, but I liked what I got to hear.  What they play isn't my kinda thing (they have the whole Look-Out Records sound going on), but they do a good job at it and have a lot of energy.  They've toured Europe at least twice now and they've definitely earned it.  It's great to see a band who isn't lazy with their songwriting or not caring about what they make reaching the level of success that they have.  Especially since they're not people who got pushed around in school and now take it out on people by trying to out-cool everybody and make women, homosexuals, people who are overweight, depressed, poor, physically weak, or socially awkward feel like shit.  There was way too much of that shit in pop punk in the late 90's and early 00's and I'm happy that people lost a lot of their interest in it.  Full disclosure: I'm friends with one of the guys in this band, too.