On the Scene - Acid Tiger/Ringworm/Blacklisted @ The Roxy

I can't possibly write about different scenes without occasionally delving into them.  That's why I jumped at the opportunity to nab some free tickets to see such an eclectic loud music lineup.  Ranging in genre from progressive punk rock to more traditional hardcore, the scenes were sure to vary...and vary they did.  It was apparent as soon as I parked.  Swarms of pierced, tattooed and band swag wearing anti-fashionistas were everywhere.  What suprised me even more was the range of age groups...but more on that later.  The first band up was Acid Tiger.  Somewhat of a super group (members of Converge, United Nations ect...) from Brooklyn, NY.  Playing a mix of hyped up progressive rock, with spazzy guitars and everywhere-all-at-once drums, these guys have quite the following on the East Coast.  The same can not be said for the West.  As soon as they started playing it was evident.  The crowd stood around, arms crossed, and nary a head bang was to be seen.  After they finished their first song a scream was heard from the crowd, "hurry up, we want Ringworm!"  And from there things went downhill.  Heckling continued throughout their set as the older, tougher crowd that had showed up for the recently reunited hardcore stalwarts, Ringworm, became tired of the more spaced out and dynamic AT.  The band even lamented at one point, "well, we wish their were a few people from Brooklyn here..." Here's a song from their set.  If you like what you hear download their s/t debut here.

Next up was the band that seemingly had the biggest scene present,  Ringworm.  Now you way venture to guess what band named "Ringworm" might sound like...and your probably right.  They've been playing the same aggressive mix of metal and thrashy hardcore since the early '90s and their fan base is a loyal legion of scary brutes.  This is where the older crowd became apparent.  Lots of big, hairy, tattooed, aggressive looking 30-somethings who, although a little past their show going prime, went nuts.  I tried to capture the violence of the dance floor in the video but it's a little dark.  Just know, those things thrashing around in the shadows are the fists and feet of hardcore Ringworm truants.



Pretty intense stuff...And then there was headliner's Blacklisted.  These guys broke down a lot of musical boundaries with their newest record, combining melody and a more solid rock approach to their traditional hardcore background.  The scene?  A lot of young kids, looking suspiciously like the mainstream emo/punk crossover's this scene has been so saturated with in recent years.  Although, as you can see in the video, the crowd went nuts.  These kids new every word and weren't hesitant to jump over the heads of everyone in front of them just to get a chance to sing them into an outstretched mic. 




The mix of young and old was a surprise in this scene but overall the feel was one of unity.  Everyone was bonded together over their love of loud music and getting rowdy.  Although this scene often gets recognized for overtures of violence and rebellion, from what I saw there is also a tremendous amount of respect.