Hardcore: Sunami, Never Ending Game, D-Bloc, Ingrown, Torena, Bad Beat.
Bad Beat at The Tangent Gallery - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
This was the second night in three days, and the third in ten days, that I attended a hardcore show at The Tangent Gallery. Every band, at all three shows, killed it. I still can’t get enough, and will be back as soon as the next one is announced. Taking photos at hardcore shows is no easy task though, and I’m honestly thankful that I came away mostly unscathed. This show was by far the closest to selling out, and with the most brutal pits. I didn’t take a single video the entire night, there was just no place where I could safely stand for an entire song with my phone held up. I was glad for that, it was intense and that translated to fun.
For the past several years, I have been reviewing at least 100 new punk rock albums a year and counting them down right around New Year’s Day. Last year, my #1 album of the year was by a Detroit hardcore band called Strange Magic (“This Is The Future They Wanted” is fantastic), who unfortunately have since broken up. Several of the members, however, have started a new hardcore band called Bad Beat. They are also fantastic, and they opened this show (even though I would have put them higher up on the roster).
Bad Beat blazed through a 7 song set that was over almost as soon as it started. All of the songs came from the new album “L. P. 2024”, and this was my personal favorite set of the night. The crowd knew all of the words, and were frenzied from the first note of the first song. Singer Jimmy Lawson at one point had to kick someone back from the stage. The venue wasn’t quite full yet, but it seemed hard to believe that the show could get any more crazy than it was for Bad Beat. But it did.
Next up was Torena from Oxnard, California. In the 1980’s, Oxnard spawned a large number of hardcore bands that ended up with their own sub-genre “Nardcore”” many of which are still active. They came up in an incredible scene, so I had high expectations. Torena is more metallic hardcore than I usually like, but they fit into this line-up perfectly, and the crowd (as well as myself) loved them. At first I thought they may have been Ingrown due to the logo on the drums, but apparently all of the bands were sharing a drum set belonging to Ingrown (which was great, as it allowed the night to move along with only short breaks between bands).
After Torena, I headed outside to get some cool air, and I noticed that the first aid station was getting some action (bloody nose). As I mentioned earlier, the crowd for each band was getting crazier and crazier. I wasn’t even sure I would be able to continue going up front for photos.
Ingrown
Ingrown were next, finally the band that owned the drum set taking a seat at their own drums. There were a few nods to Negative Approach over the course of the night, but the biggest was the bass player for Ingrown wearing an NA T-shirt. Before the show, I’d taken some time to check them out and really liked their original demo, “Dirty Demo” (2015) which may have only been released on cassette (but it can also be downloaded from Bandcamp). I love how all of their songs are short, and over the years they slowed down just a touch, improved the quality of their recordings, and added a slight hit of metal. I like all of it though, and I was not disappointed by their live show either. I also got a guitar pick from the stage that had their logo embossed on it (which I collect).
Although I was very familiar with Bad Beat, this was the first time I had seen Torena or Ingrown. Next up, though, were bands that I had seen before and was looking forward to. D-Bloc and Never Ending Game are both Detroit bands, and NEG played our Black Christmas festival the past couple of years. The headliner, Sunami, I had just caught at Riot Fest (in the rain, for a mosh pit full of mud).
Never Ending Game
The crowd finally got to the point where it didn’t seem like another person could fit in the room, with there still enough space to have (or avoid) the inevitable mosh pit. Although Sunami were the headliners, it seemed like this was the pinnacle of the evening. Singer Mikey Petroski took the stage wearing a Detroit Lions hat. If you aren’t from Detroit, or aren’t into football, they are hot right now (although I get the feeling that these guys are not just fair weather fans). Never Ending Game opened up with a Metallica cover and screamed their way through 12 songs of pure hardcore.
Sunami wasted no time in taking the stage once Never Ending Game were done and absolutely killed it. A perfect ending to a long night of hardcore. I’m already planning for the next one.
