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The Chrome Kickers,
Saint Cannabis, Dropgun, and The Antisocialists
The Beachland Ballroom
02-08-03
What a great night for fans of old school Cleveland
punk. The two headlining bands may have been relatively new, but their
between them they boasted past members of Agitated, The Defnics, The Pagans,
and The Plague just to list a few names from their respective résumés. And
that’s not to shortchange Dropgun or the Antisocialists, two relatively
younger bands who have been making an impact on the scene.
Unfortunately,
The Antisocialists
were not quite up to snuff this evening, due mainly to the fact that their
guitar player seemed to have consumed a few too many brews before hitting
the stage. Their set was pretty sloppy but not a complete disaster. A pair
of Ventures covers went over well with the crowd and provided a nice break
from the more political originals that make up the majority of the band’s
set. Still, I’ve heard this band sound better.
Dropgun was up next and delivered a kick-ass set of
straight forward punk that reminded me of early Social Distortion. Two of
the band’s members are employed by Akron’s finest, but this definitely
wasn’t ‘Cop Rock: The Next Generation’. Whatever your prejudices about
law enforcement, suspend your judgment until you actually hear this band.
The crowd had a good time with their set, and so did I.
Saint Cannabis features ex-Pagan and Defnic Robert
Conn. Although now based out of Texas, he and his band seemed happy to be
playing in Cleveland. They opened their set with an old Pagan’s number,
“What’s This Shit Called Love”. I’m guessing most of the set was new
original material or else I just wasn’t familiar with it. They also did
covers of The Velvet Underground’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll” and Rocket From the
Tomb’s “Ain’t It Fun”.
Conn stuck around for a couple of songs with The Chrome
Kickers, which includes his old Defnics’ bandmate Bob Sablack on guitar
number one, and his son C.W. DeGidio on the other axe. They did “Suicide
Trip” and another song I wasn’t familiar with before the mike was passed to
ex-Pagans and Agitated (and current Chrome Kickers, natch) vocalist Mike
Duncan. These guys are probably one of the best punk bands around Cleveland
right now. That either proves you get better with age or that kids today
are just listening to too much crappy pop punk to know how to play the real
stuff. Regardless, you should get out and see this band next chance you
get. (Bob Ignizio)
For pictures, click
here.
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