by Tim Holsopple
Asst. Entertainment Editor
Excitement
Rock.
Rock.
More Rock.
Unrest.
Excitement
Rock.
More Rock
The End.
That was the 1997 Tompkins
Square Riot Gathering fairy tale,
as told by the participants. The
Riot took place March 28 and 29
at Carnegie Mellon University in
Pittsburgh.
The show was a complete
success in my eyes, but it was not
without its snags.
The unrest came at around 8:30
Saturday night. The members of
Piebald, an excellent melodic
rock band, were pleading their
case to Nate, one of the fest's
organizers.
They complained that they did
not get their fair share of money,
and that they did not have enough
money to get back home. Nate
calmly told them that he had run
out of money, and that he could
not help them out.
After about twenty minutes, the
discussion dissipated, and the
music began again.
That was the only snag in an
otherwise brilliant music festival.
The fest started off with a blast.
Behind Closed Doors was the first
band on Friday at 5 PM. Their
bassist was a southpaw, but he
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played a right-handed bass. I'm
not sure if that was their trick, but
they rickety-rocked.
The next band was Junta. I
really didn't pay any attention to
them, as I was busy perusing the
various music and fanzine stands.
The band after Junta,
Haberdasher, finished their set
with a brutal chugga-chugga
ending. The drummer pounded on
garbage cans and the singer
played the drums as they wrapped
up.
Other bands of note were
Pressgang (a Pittsburgh band that
sounds similar to Unsane), Shale
(another Steel City band that
sounds like no other, a post
hardcore instrumental machine
that brands cows everywhere with
their mark of tight, bruising emo),
The Great Unraveling (very
similar to Unwound, this Kill
Rock Stars band played with a
constant drone in the background
for 30 minutes), and Braid (a
rocking melodic band that boasts
two, count 'em, two good
singers).
That Friday went smoothly.
Bands played 30 minute sets, had
their stuff down in 5 minutes, and
the next band was ready to play
in another 5. I have never seen a
show in which bands were rotated
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Only one snag,
so fast. I immensely respected
that.
Friday's festivities ended at
12:00 in the morning Saturday.
My friends and I walked excitedly
back to our shelter for the night,
and we slept a mere 8 hours
before it was time to rock out to
more music.
At 1 I :30 on Saturday,
Midcarsonjuly kicked things off
with a wicked melodic raspberry
blend of Lipton emo-tea. They
sounded like Jawbox, a similarity
I enjoyed thoroughly.
The drummer from
Midcarsonjuly stuck around to
play in The Jazz Man's Needle,
an unscheduled band that equaled
the intensity of Midcarsonjuly.
Up next was The Jazz June.
Ooh baby, these guys were good.
Three guitarists created a wall of
melodic (notice a trend?) rock. A
sort of Samiam meets The
Promise Ring, The Jazz June
were brilliant, combining two
parts harmony and one part
melody into an ear-pleasing
mixture of rocking good music.
Following The Jazz June was
Judas Iscariot. Featuring a
drummer, a distorted fuzz bassist,
and a singer/trumpeter/spoken
word artist/bottom-tummy
screamer, Judas Iscariot played
not enough to hinder festival goers' spirit
short bursts of brutal energy.
They played about 25 songs in
their 30 minute slot, some songs
lasting only 20 seconds.
And the music continued.
The State Secedes was the next
band to play. They boasted six
members: two guitarists, two
singers, a bassist, and a violinist
(who could barely be heard above
the noise). These guys played
only two songs in their set,
extending their songs and
FRODUS!
JUMBO!
experimenting with various forms
of coherence. Their sound and
structure was similar to Six
Finger Satellite (a band on the
illustrious Sub Poop, I mean Pop,
label).
Next up was Closure, a band I
think I thought was very good.
With 26 bands playing, it's very
easy to forget those bands that
don't make an indelible impact.
Following Closure was Ethel
Meserve, a band from State
College.
Wow.
Ethel Meserve played flawless
melodic pop emo rock. I couldn't
help but groove to their tight
blend of healthy hooks and fit
guitar-picking. They completely
schlonged me, and when they
finished, I clapped longer than
anyone else.
And then, without further ado,
came Jumbo, the co-mutha of all
Pittsburgh bands (Shale being the
other co-mutha, I think they hand
out that award at the annual
Pittsburgh Music Mutha Awards).
1 11 4- I:.
Jumbo features the coolest of
all Pittsburgh musicians, Jason
Jouver. Jason has been in such
prestigious Pittsburgh bands as
Liquid Brick and Irwin. He helps
define the band's sound, which
embraces hardcore, emo, and old
fashioned crunch. Jumbo hook
you with their intensity and focus,
and reel you in with their
precision and tact.
Moloch was up next. I cannot
remember much about them, but
they did do a cover of the Blues
Brother's "Soul Man." Anybody
that does the Blues Brothers is a
friend of mine.
Then came Piebald. As I
mentioned before, they are a
melodic rock band, perhaps the
best at the entire festival. Their
finale was a rousing rendition of
AC/DC's "Shook Me All Night
Long." Everyone sang along, and
everyone was truly happy.
The originally scheduled band,
Franklin, did not show, so Puritan
played ahead of schedule.
Whoa.
Puritan put on a crushing show.
They played out-and-out tuff
hardcore, and they had everyone
screaming along. Their singer
was insane: he rolled around on
the floor and spazzed so much
that he cut his face.
A kid from the crowd
interjected between songs, and he
told everyone about his father,
who had just passed away. He
felt immense regret that he never
really connected with his father
before he died, and now he would
never have the Chance.
Thursday, April 10, 1997 The Behrend College Collegian - Page 5
Photos by Kenneth "Lopan" Hawk
As the crowd became silent,
and the boy broke down into
tears, Puritan funneled that
emotion into the next song.
Everyone was crying and
screaming out their sympathies,
and the energy was so thick you
could cut it with a piece of
cutlery.
That experience matched the
best emotional level that I had
ever reached at a show before,
and my heart ached afterwards. I
think a lot of kids left with
something after that performance.
Rent America was the next
band to perform. I was
completely uninterested in their
old-school punk style. The band
following them, Agna Moraine's
Autobiography, were even worse.
The time it takes to say their
name is longer than they actually
played, as someone said
something stupid and their was an
argument for the rest of their set.
After they left, that was when
the Piebald incident occurred.
Seeing that that was slowly
deteriorating the crowd's interest,
the next band began to set up.
The Sleepy Time Trio was the
name of that band, and they
rocked. They struck me as the
epitome of Shellac, a post
hardcore band boasting Steve
Albini, a man who has worked
with Nirvana and Bush (ugh, poo,
gunky). The Trio was very tigbt,
very poised, very intense, and I
was very pleased.
After Sleepy Time came 400
Years, a band flaunting the only
female musician playing the fest.
She was the bassist, happy was
the crowd, electric was the
performance.
Finally, finally, finally, the
Washington, D.C. fun-core band
Frodus played. Somehow, the
crowd still had energy at 12:00
Sunday morning, and they danced
mercilessly. Ending the fest on a
fun note was probably the
toughest thing to do, but Frodus
pulled it off without a hitch.
I really, really, really enjoyed
myself. I expected 5 or 6 bands
to be pretty good, but about 23 of
them were amazing. Twenty full
hours of music were more than
my wimpy emo-frame could take,
and I was exhausted, but I was
the better for attending. If there is
a 1998 Tompkins Square Riot
Gathering, I will definitely be
there.
NOTES: On January 13, 1874,
the original Tompkins Square
Riot took place. As unemployed
workers demonstrated in New
York's Tompkin's Square Park, a
detachment of mounted police
charged into the crowd, beating
men, women and children
indiscriminately with billy clubs
and leaving hundreds of
casualties in their wake.
Commented Abram Duryee, the
Commissioner of Police, "It was
the most glorious sight I ever
5aw...."-from the Tompkins Square
Riot program flier.
The fine boys that put this show
together (Nate, Paul, and Elad, I
don't really know their last
names) did an excellent job.
Without their efforts, I don't think
I would have ever been exposed
to so much fine music.
If you are reading this, you're
either on the final leg of a long
toilet trip or you're really into
bands. Either way, I applaud you.