Antiseen, Bad Vibes & The Workhorse 3 @ the Balcony July 10 2010 (review & pics)

Wow, another Philly Antiseen show! That makes two in the same year, before that it was five fucking years between shows! Do you know how lucky you people are!? And a Bad Vibes reunion!

We did roll in late because the Phils went into extra innings so we missed The Workhorse 3 unfortunately. Heard they were great and the CD on DRP is cool.

Anyways, we got some Guinness and ran into Seth from the old days of WKDU, The Dreck Merchants (!!) and the Astrocade, a most awes surprise indeed. And we talked about Bill from Harry Pussy who is playing at Brickbat Books on July 22nd. Yeah! So we moved to the floor for the Bad Vibes as they started my fave BV jam "You're My Fucking Problem" (again, you can download all their stuff here). Unfortunately there were some sound probs, but it was a great opener. More unfortunate was the big baldy guys just ramming into people and making us spill our Guinness. What the fuck!? I am somewhat torn about bitching about people doing the punker dance and such, not to sound like an old fogey, but there is definitely a difference between a 16 yr old kid running around, stage diving and a bunch of 200 lb grown ass men running full blast into your faithful editor. And the "put your arms around your buddy and run into a bunch of spectators" was always gay. Even at Kitschchao shows! So yeah, beers spilled and a foot stepped on, but no real damage, but completely annoying. But in spite of that silliness, the Bad Vibes were fucking great. The bass player is just killer, those are the riffs of the band, and Gavin is a scary as fuck front man. I know they were under appreciated when they existed but damn, what a killer fucking bummer punk band still flying and frying the (black) flag.




And after a quick smoke and another beer, it was time for Antiseen. They keep on keeping on and all those cliches and such... but really, in this era of hardcore bands doing reunions and shit (not that I am against that at all, see ya at the Pagan Babies show in Sept!), Jeff Clayton and Joe Young have keep the Antiseen death train on the tracks for over 25 years! And damn, it has been an incredible ride. One of the frustrating parts of being an Antiseen fan is that they have so many good songs that often get ignored from the stage, but tonight they opened up with two I hadn't seen them do yet, "Death Train Comin'" and "Alpha Male." I definitely was losing my shit for "Alpha Male" from their last full length, Badwill Ambassadors. That is another key to the Antiseen puzzle, they have somehow beat the odds and continue to release vital music without watering down their "brand." Hell their records keep getting better and better in my view and who the fuck else can you say that about?



The new drummer and bassist are no longer new and sounded great, the well-oiled machine we have come to expect. Ya know Clayton and Joe aren't going out with any hacks! The hits continued with "Queen City Stomp," "Cactus Jack," "Nothings Cool" and the new jam "Curses." Luckily the excited dudes from earlier calmed down or left and the floor was a relatively safe place to watch the destruction. Right as the band was playing Nice Pooper/summer of beads fave "Hippy Punk" the fucking Cosmic Commander of Wrestling rolled in in all his glory. Perfect! Rest of the set was fucking great, killer renditions of "Today Your Love -> Stormtrooper," "I Don't Like You" and of course the real deal anthem "Fuck All Y'all." Sure, I woulda loved to have heard "Run My World," "Sod," "Talk Show Trash," "Walking Dead," and probably like a dozen more, but I am not complaining at all. If anything, this was an 80% different set from the Khyber show a few months ago, right fuckin' on!






After the show, blabbed with Cosmo (he had just come from seeing Further!) and Clayton, but Seth had skipped out, hopefully back to his lair to get those Ascension and Dreck Merchants tapes. An easy drive and a night of ringing ears awaited us, but I am quite ready for the next Antiseen show, and if I was a super hack this is where I would say "Y'all Come Back Now, Ya Hear?" so count yourselves lucky I am only a general issue hack. Bang Bang!!