Artists: SKIMASK, Double Nines, Subclinix
Venue: Western Front, Cambridge, MA
Date: 1/13/12
Comments:
Act I: Subclinix- – A nice journey back to 1979 LA. Though I was never there in the first place! Subclinix definitely had some strong punk, early hardcore elements in their sound with a tinge of Gentlemen Jesse and His Men and The Carbonas, espcially The Carbonas. I swear Jesse was haunting Boston on this evening. He possessed all the musicians at the Western Front and his aura seaped into the audience. Some nice moshing ensued, also helping me get a good old punk feel. I fell on the floor twice, always a good sign that the crowd is moving and shaking, and not stiff. Save that shit for later.

Act II: Double Nines– Not as frisky and relentless as Subclinix, but in many ways they followed a similar trend as Subclinix; they had a fairly loud, rocking approach, more Gentlemen Jesse than Carbonas. So yeah, by now I have bestowed Atlanta great Gentlemen Jesse as my comparsion for the night. And in this case, Double Nines are more akin to Gentlemen Jesse and His Men, whereas Subclinix were more reminiscent of Carbonas and early hardcore. Safe to say? I sure hope so. Double Nines definitely had more of a power pop feel, though they did perform an impressive cover of the Bad Brains’s “Banned in D.C.” Right now, I’m wearing a Bad Brains shirt and I’m thinking more local bands should cover Bad Brains songs. Maybe, maybe not, BUT if you’re going to toss in some cover tunes, go out on a blast and start at the top.

Act III: SKIMASK– We the KLYAM, the proud, the few, rarely venture out to local shows for no reason. It’s not like we sit around with our thumbs up our asses, looking aroud for something cool to do for the weekend. Nah, we don’t have time and money for that. So, it takes a special band to make us journey from the vanilla suburbs of Wakefield out to the city to see some kick ass local music and that is exactly what we experienced. Enter SKIMASK. SKIMASK is the band we came for indeed. A band we have been waiting to see for quite some time now. Just moments before the band is to begin to play, I hit up the bar to grab a tasty budweiser and some decenT looking femme smoothly articulates her distaste for my drink of choice. “Budweiser sucks! Wanna fight over it?” “Alright,” I respond, “but, I’m not a fighter,” so I place my hands behind my head, expecting her to wail away. She then states that she is in fact a boxer, so I invite her once again to slam me between the eyes. She starts fake throwing hits and then in my intoxicated state of mind, I realize this is all a joke. SKIMASK starts to play and now my mind is focused on the music, but the gal winds up again and hits me square on the forehead. “OHH my god!” she cries, kissing me on the head to assure me this wasn’t her intentions. I just laugh and ask her to hit me again and then kiss me AGAIN. Ehh, didn’t work. But, now when I sit here listening to SKIMASK, all I can think of is that incident. Anyway, when I finally left the bar area, I got a spot up close to the band. These three dudes can really fucking kill it. It’s kind of a noisy presentation, but honestly it’s more rock and roll than most bands I come across. For me, it’s really easy to get into and the groove is pretty tight, easy to dance to. Overall, SKIMASK is a fascinating, unique outfit, I want to see again as soon as possible.

NOT FROM THIS SHOW!