Let me just start off by saying the month of October was
exceptionally busy (and exhausting) for yours truly. Started off with a trip to Colorado and experienced the
effects that being 10,000 feet up for a few days has on one’s body. From there went straight to New York
for a week to visit family and also played a weekend full of shows with
Dialysis (screaming and jumping around for three days straight after not doing
that for over three years can really wear you down). Once back in Portland I barely had time to slow down and
collect myself before flying down to Texas for the annual No Coast Fest at the
end of the month… which brings me
to now.
I’m tired. But
I am going to rally in order to regale you with the events of this year’s fest,
which was a hell of a good time.
DAY 1
I had to get up stupid early in order to catch a flight down
but was able to catch some zzz’s on the plane. Once in Dallas I met up with someone I connected with to
share a ride into Denton (it’s about 30 miles south of the airport). I stopped by the spot I was staying at,
a solid 2+ miles from the venue, so I just walked from there to the show.
Immediately upon arriving I ran into a bunch of people I
hadn’t seen in ages and that’s one of the best parts of this thing- seeing tons
of old homies, bands and otherwise, that I rarely ever get to catch up with.
But you all want to hear about the bands…
T-Tops opened the whole thing up. They delivered some rock solid riffs, burly and chunky and
not a bad way to kick off the weekend.
Their bassist looks like Taika Watiti.
Bring on Bummer.
I’ve got to say, if you’ve ever seen Bummer you know what an audio
ass-whooping they lay down. But if
anyone was at No Coast last year you know just how awesome they were. To me that was the best time I’d ever
seen them as there was a vibe in the air, like ‘yes, we have arrived’ and
everyone knew it. This year was
just as sonically crushing but it lacked a little of the crowd energy from
previously I thought. Also, they
were acting like it was their last show.
C’mon, we all know better.
You all got like two records worth of stuff recorded. Get it out there, play a couple shows,
and give the people what they want.
Cherubs
Cherubs were a semi-late addition to the fest, but not a
single person is going to complain about the pride and joy of old-school Texas
noise rock. I friggin’ love
Cherubs and was happy to see them again, even if they rarely ever play the
songs I want to hear (why no “2 Ynfynyty” tracks? ) and often go with a lot of
their more trippy spaced-out craziness rather than the ham-fisted dirges. They also seemed a little rusty, but
hey, they haven’t played a show in a few years and this was the first live
performance with new bassist Pete Shore (as in, the OG Unsane bassist Pete
Shore), who definitely looked like he was out feeding pigeons in the park
before their set.
Young Widows closed out the night ad while I always know
exactly what I’m in for whenever I’ve seen them it doesn’t change the fact that
every time I’ve seen them they execute their songs perfectly, sounding
precisely like they do on record, just a hell of a lot louder. And I haven’t seen them in like 6 years
or something. But they were incredible
as always, mixing in a few songs from the last three records (I’m pretty sure
we will never hear “Settle Down City” tracks ever again).
Young Widows, good to be back
DAY 2
It was crappy and rainy all day, which I’m used to living in
the Northwest, but I was sort of hoping to get away from that and into some
warm, sunny weather that I know Texas has in spades. So what gives?
It definitely put the kibosh on doing fun, outdoors stuff. So my man Steve, who was helping me out
all weekend with the Hex Records table picked me up and we went out to Spiral
Diner for breakfast because it’s right near the venue and has basically been my
go-to spot the entire weekend. You
noise rock weirdos and your crappy Waffle House. Get some actual good food and go to Spiral Diner when in the
DFW metro area. Then we drove
around for awhile checking out Recycled Books/Records and a couple other spots
before getting to the show that evening.
The intention was for bands to go back and forth this
evening between the indoor stage and the outdoor courtyard stage, but due to
the rain only us distros, labels, and band merch folks were out there… under a quite large awning
thankfully. The intended outdoor
bands played in the nook of the bar area on the floor, which was not at all
ideal, but ended up being kind of awesome when they got rowdy.
The first band I really caught today was Big Hand/Big Knife
who I’d heard a little bit of and was quite intrigued. I was curious how they were live and I
was thoroughly digging it. It had
some math-y parts, but almost buried under big piles of heavy grungy sort of
racket. They seem a little shy
with their online presence so here’s hoping they get their new stuff out there a
bit more because I don’t have a working tape player.
Neckbolt's handy use of a stage chair
I was curious about Neckbolt as well because the music I
heard wasn’t necessarily doing it for me, but Bill from Exhalants is in the
band and I wanted to give it another try.
Live it was really cool though.
The weirdness definitely comes from the vocals as their singer used a
bunch of pedals and stuff to manipulate his voice making for some really
oddball layers to the music. And
yeah, musically it was in the realm of post-hardcore rhythms meets bizarro rock
in the realm of Editrix or Big Ups.
Hammer Party I had been a bit dismissive of when I first
heard them and it just wasn’t connecting for me. But when they played on the floor in the bar it was a
totally different story of intense riffs, mean-sounding heaviness, and some
burly vocal intimidation from the frontman who looked like he could have been a
gang member extra from The Warriors.
I’d known about the band Microwaves for some time, but had
no idea what they sounded like.
Seeing them it was off-the-wall semi-metallic wildness and lots of abuse
of their instruments. It turns out
one of the members was in Creation Is Crucifixion and we talked about
Pittsburgh stuff for awhile and Hellfest memories.
OK, I’m biased, but USA Nails had the best set of the
weekend. It’s not like I’d been
waiting 5 years to see them or anything, or that they played on the bar floor
to a manic crowd and dished out a dozen songs in about a half hour. Or that I put out two of their
records. Basically everyone in
attendance agreed that they completely killed it and hopefully they get back
here again soon. They’re all lovely
people and extremely gracious too and sound awesome live.
USA Nails- was having too good a time to get any decent pics
I’ll admit to not being in Psychic Graveyard at all. I mean their music is sort of
intentionally annoying, I get it.
But watching them live was definitely a spectacle as their singer
gravitated around dudes with noise tables on either side (instead of
guitarists) freaking out with their buttons and knobs while their drummer
provided a steady pulse to the anxious-frenzied mantras. It’s cool to see for sure.
Child Bite was another high up on my list to see because a)
it’s been awhile, and b) they always put on an incredible live set. They also played on the floor and took
total advantage of that by heavily engaging with/fucking with the audience and
just going off as hard as humanly possible with their thrashy punk freak outs. It was loud, abrasive, and fucking
wild. You all need some Child Bite
in your lives.
Child Bite and multiple microphones
Tropical Fuck Storm closed things out and I’d never seen nor
heard them, but was familiar with the name. I guess I didn’t know what to expect and I’m not sure what I
ended up getting. They covered The
Bee Gees if that tells you anything.
It was great catching up with people late into the night and
then walking back to my place in the cool night. I also found $20 on the pavement during my walk so, ya know,
bonus.
DAY 3
Did I mention this fest was four days long? I think that’s kind of pushing it for a
man my age (or, should I say, half the people there), but I digress. I started the day with a little walk up
to the university area to get some coffee and grab some tacos from Pequitas and
also found a little vegan grocery store that made killer subs. Denton is a small town but has
surprisingly numerous vegan options in town. Would recommend.
Also, a lot of people seemed surprised that I spent most of
my non-show time in town just walking around but it gives me the chance to see
things I would overlook were I in a car-
a turtle swimming around the aqueduct creek, a possum late at night
scooting around almost oblivious to me passing by, various turkey vultures
about four times the size of crows just hanging out in people’s suburban yards,
and, of course, trying to make friends with every cat I see. Denton is also full of super cute,
picturesque houses and neighborhoods and between those, the little neighborhood
farmers market, or the Halloween-themed street fair in downtown it was nice
just being on foot. Tiring, but
nice.
So before the show I went for a run. Yeah, I brought my running gear with me
on this trip, what of it? It was
kind of cold out though so I kept it to about a half hour.
So today they were able to do bands indoors and outdoors
like originally planned and it made things run pretty smooth overall.
Chicago's own Heet Deth
Heet Deth opened things up with some hot rock action as the
duo had matching outfits and face paint for their set. Props for committing to the act the
entire rest of the day by keeping the make-up/outfits going too.
Venus Twins kind of got off to a rough start by freaking out
right when they started causing something to break or malfunction and delayed
things a bit. But I gotta say,
excellent drumming throughout. I
also admittedly didn’t realize the duo were actually twins until the next day
when they were standing side by side.
I took a little food break and then watched New
Primals. I’d seen them before and
they were great. Admittedly I was
initially skeptical because they are one of the wackiest-looking bands you’ll
see and I thought they were going to be one of those groups that puts fashion
ahead of the music. But they’re
all exceptionally excellent musicians who very much go off when they play and
honestly, as striking as their image might be it takes a back seat to how good
they are live. They kind of go for
that sassy-chaotic punk thing, but way more interesting. Extra points to the drummer who played
most of the set while wearing a trenchcoat and just killed it.
New Primals getting all colorful
I was very curious to see Bulls. They released a very good record a couple years back and
then went silent. I think they
were sort of broken up so this show was either a reunion, or a formal last show
of some kind. They pull from that
classic Midwest indie sound a la Mercy Rule, Germbox, Boys Life, etc but with a
layer of heavy noisiness to compliment the plaintive emotive parts.
Bulls (please play more music and make new records)
Bend, Oregon represent! The Kronk Men made the journey from central, OR’s high desert to crank out their instrumental power jams. A little Keelhaul minus the metal, some
prog minus the jerking off.
Oh man, my eardrums were not ready for the crushing
heaviness that was The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. Monstrously heavy.
They began pulverizing the audience without warning or hesitation. I love that they just go for it. Also, 2/3 of Pinko were holding down
the rhythm section so I got to hang with those homies for part of the weekend
too. Tight.
When your sneakers match yr guitar cord. The Grasshopper Lies Heavy color coordinate.
Child Abuse was a band I knew nothing about, but looked like
the bastard spawn of Voivod mixed with future bounty hunter warriors. Apply that look to sick metal and
grating noise and you get Child Abuse.
Man, Big’n has been around forever on and off always keeping
a mysterious low profile, despite how incredibly energetic and super tight they
are. So this was a real rare treat
getting to see them. They lay down
the well-worn Chicago noise rock in it’s purest form- tight, precise, vicious,
and heavy. They were fucking
great.
Big'n really know how to lean into things
The last time I saw Protomartyr was in a tiny music store to
about 10 people and that was a long time ago and I thought they were really
dull. Now I ‘get it’, but it
doesn’t entirely translate to being my thing. It’s definitely music for a certain mood and I think that
mood involves being an alcoholic English professor who chain smokes at foggy
piers while contemplating their third divorce. So, you know, not my world but good at what they do. I realized later that the very suburban
mom-looking person playing second guitar with them was Kelly Deal (of The Breeders)
after seeing numerous people go up to her later asking for a picture. I would have never guessed.
Metz closed things out and my review of them is… duh, it’s Metz. They kill it each and every time. They are consistently one of the best
(and energetic) live bands on the planet.
If you’re not having fun when they play then you’re probably a
Republican or something. They had
to cancel a bunch of shows leading up to this but they still came down from
Ontario just to play and that’s awesome of them. Great guys, great band, never a dull moment.
It's Metz! Get wild!
DAY 4
Last year when I was here I had this great experience on my
last day in town where it was beautiful out and I went down to Spiral Diner in
the morning and had breakfast on their deck with the sun on me and just soaking
in the day. So I wanted to
replicate that this year, which I did because it was once again really nice
out. And then I ran back to the
place I was staying because I like going for runs. So not a bad start to the last day of the fest, despite by
all accounts I ought to be completely exhausted by this point.
So once at Rubber Gloves it was very clear that opening band
Strays had an unenviable task ahead of them- be the opening band at a matinee
show on the last day of the fest.
No one wants to open Sunday afternoon of a fest. Everyone is tired by then. It’s quite possibly the worst slot you
can get. So Strays did their best
stoner-doom riff freak out to wake the neighbors.
Almanac Man brought some people in by this point though as
the Denver dudes laid down some mathcore vibes but more on the heavy rock side
rather than just goofing off on a fretboard. It’s cool stuff that’s pretty hard for me to describe. It just rocks, how about that?
I’d never heard of Pollen (this one anyway, as there’s
probably at least 6 other bands with the name at any given time) but they
brought some wild and spazzy Q and Not U style that was a little more on the
math-y side and with really great drumming. Neat!
If the first part of the day was a little less heavy the
second half, kicking off with BLK OPS, was dense on the metal side. These locals did a whole power
electronics meets double bass pedal, heavy fucking metal. It was evil man.
Moon Pussy can limbo way better than you
Moon Pussy were fun to see again. They’re doing good things and are wonderful people. They write really strange songs with
totally unique sounds, but it all still kicks ass. They got a great reception again this year and had some
great between-song jokes to boot.
Everyone was hyped to see Chat Pile. I guarantee there were people who
showed up this day just to see them.
I was also curious because I missed their set last year. So I witnessed the hype. I really dig the new record and hearing
some of it live was cool. The bass
dominated the sound though and essentially controlled the room while the guitar
was a little on the quiet side unfortunately. Their singer sort of just paced back and forth while they
played but had some really funny banter though. Overall they were pretty good. They most definitely brought the push-mosh.
KEN Mode closed things out for the weekend and they’re so
freaking professional it’s ridiculous.
They sound amazing, they all have their sound perfectly dialed in, and
it’s absolutely crushing. The new
stuff from “Null” sounded menacing as fuck. The addition of the saxophone and synths/electronics was
awesome as well. It was a good way
to close things out because if you weren’t completely exhausted after that then
you really have problems.
KEN Mode's alright if you like saxophones
I got a ride up to DFW afterwards because my flight was
again so stupid early it just made more sense for me to camp out in the airport
overnight. But ya know, long
layovers between flights really made a ton of sense. So here’s to completely screwing up my body clock and the
next couple days trying to re-set and decompress right? It’s all for a good cause I guess. I was able to see so many faces I hadn’t
seen in forever and make some great new friends as well in a very fun and
joyous environment and that goes a long way. Gotta give an extra big shout out to all us old label dudes
who got to hang out and support one another throughout the weekend- Bobby at
TGIC, Chris at Reptilian, the folks from Skin Graft, and Lee from No List.
