Bad Religion, Propagandhi, Iron
Chic, Masked Intruder & More
The LKA
Longhorn in Stuttgart, a venue which is “older than Bad Religion” according to
lead singer Greg Graffin, is the location of the bands first European
performance of 2013. The former factory, which has been converted into a music
hall, is also hosting the 3-day long ‘Pirate Satellite’ festival, which brings
together many bands that play various styles of punk music.
The Longhorn
In late
2012, when the line up was announced, the appeal of attending a concert that
featured Bad Religion AND Propagandhi playing on the same day was too much for
@Vegetauren and I to resist. We had to take a stance, and take up this rare
opportunity. Given the longevity of both bands careers it comes as much of a
surprise to hear that they have never shared the stage together in the past.
Only the world-renowned efficiency of the Germans was able to make this happen.
The day
started off in a nearby hotel with a bottle of Flensburger Pils for breakfast –
the hoppy and herby taste of this beer represents the ‘True North’ brewing of
the Schleswig-Holstein region.
Morning drinks cabinet
The opening
band of the day was Gnarwolves from the UK: an insipid, dull, and ‘langweilig’
performance that failed to make much of an impact with the German crowd. Gnar
wolves? More like Nah Mate! Laters. The UK representation carried on with
Apologies, I Have None, a band that @Vegetauren assured me were worth getting
out of bed for. Three guys, all with good voices, leading the songs – rocking
out to music that isn’t that rocking – nice guys I’m assured by the folks from
my hometown of Leeds who run the ‘Out of Spite’ collective, yet come in the
category of the Frank Turner posh boys public school of punk. @Vegetauren, where is my apology for having to endure this?
Still, they were good coffee table warm up music that was leading to up
to a dual assault from two of the world’s punk-rock masters.
We took a
break to drop off our newly acquired records back at the hotel, and stopped off
to consume our last meal of the day. We couldn’t manage to finish off our
pizzas without feeling sick, which lead @Vegetauren to picture us post-drinking
session, throwing up all our cheese at the feet of an angry Chris Hannah from
Propagandhi. I managed to lighten the mood by improvising with my German skills,
and asking the waitress “Over here, can we have the final score please?” Making
reference to the bill.
Shai Hulud
stuck out like a sore thumb on the bill – whilst at times they can be quite
melodic, they are easier to pigeonhole in the hardcore category – and their
plethora of chuggs and breakdowns seemed to go down well with their small and
rabid following. Note to self: Not worth bothering to watch again. And then it
was time for the main event of the mid-card…
I’ve always
been in awe at the passion of the crowds at ‘gruff-punk’ gigs: seeing them all
singing along down at the front, knowing every single lyric, and contributing heavily
to the bands sound. Secretly I always wanted to be part of one of those occasions
but never enjoyed any of those bands until @Vegetauren put me onto Iron Chic.
After stumbling into a Letterman gig late last year, I instantly noticed the
distinct guitar sounds that rings out in the first song Cutesy Monster Man off the Iron Chic LP,
‘Not Like This’. This is down to the legendary Phil Douglas – a man looking
like he’s in his middle ages, baggy trousers strapped at the waist, a bald
patch shiner to be proud of, and a dress sense and style akin to Paul Caporino
from M.O.T.O. – somewhat lazy drifting pop-punk rhythms intertwined with solos that
instantly warm me up and make me smile like someone with special needs. Combined
with this are the slightly brooding, slightly melancholic, yet realistically
reflective and positive lyrics of Jason Lubrano. They’ve got that classic ‘duality
of man’ happy/sad combination that great pop bands such as The Smiths and The
Pet Shop Boys have pulled off in the past. It was half an hour of pure pop-punk
joy from the ‘Chic’.
Iron Chic getting ready
The world
normally rejoices at Germany for it’s wonderful beer, yet we became merry
gentleman that night by enjoying the joys of the liquor and energy drink mix.
On legal speed the German way! Here are the chart positions after the festival:
1)
Relentless Green & Vodka
2)
Red Bull Cola & Jagermeister
3)
Club Mate & Jagermeister
Liquor Energy
Next up was
the final installment of the UK contingent, a band that go by the name of Pure
Love. Just because they feature the former vocalist of the commercially popular
hardcore band Gallows meant that they had a high spot on the bill. They were by
far the worst band of the day – some kind of bluesy rock n roll band. When they
hit the stage the singer exclaimed “I wish we’d have come to Stuttgart sooner”,
which was followed by a cold silence from the crowd. Yeah right mate. We left
after three songs. When we returned at the back end of their set, the guitarist
was being crowd surfed and the singer was leading the crowd in a ‘woahs’
singalong. All style, no substance.
After
another gas station booze stop, we returned to catch the last few songs of The
Menzingers. A catchy, standard pop-punk affair, good at what they do, yet
nothing special. It was a hard task to convince the crowd, who were clearly in
attendance to witness the next two bands. However, to be fair to them, they
sneaked in a cover of ‘Roots Radicals’ by Rancid at the end of the set, which
got the crowd warmed up for the ensuing assault.
Propagandhi
are a unique band in punk-rock – they are hard to pigeon hole, and it’s hard to
compare then with other bands. There are elements of thrash metal, straight up
hardcore, punk-rock, and emo – all combined together in their output. Their
latest release ‘Failed States’, out on Epitaph Records due to their public beef
and subsequent split with Fat Wreck Chords, is an example of a band still at
their peak.
One massive
plus for the set was the excellent sound in the venue, I heard every note and
every melody - these Germans certainly know how to do live music. When the band
opened up with the intro to ‘Coaches Corner’ the place went nuts, and we we’re
straight in the pit for the rest of the set. They treated us to a full-on
one-hour hadron shredding collision course on how to master the punk-rock
genre, playing a mixture of songs from the new album, popular songs, and obscurer
songs from the back catalogue. Towards the end of the set when my tired legs
had run out of steam, I could do nothing but stand at gawp at the amazing
guitar skills on offer, whilst they still managed to sing the songs. The hairs
on my back were on the rise. I was left shell-shocked, thinking how the hell
can people play music like that?
Propagandhi
(still making me feel guilty for wearing sweatshop t-shirts, and still making high guitar straps cool)
Moving on
from the best technical punk-rock band of all time, it was then time for the
best melodic punk-rock band of all time, Bad Religion. We’d heard a rumour earlier
that day from their German tour driver that Greg Hetson was not with the band.
This was confirmed when they stepped onto the stage as a four piece, leaving
Brian Baker to take on the whole of the guitar playing duties. This situation
didn’t sound good on paper, yet we we’re soon proven wrong. This rare
opportunity to see them as a four piece brought a whole new dimension to seeing
the band live (something that @Vegetauren and I have done on way too many
occasions). It felt and sounded
like Bad Religion of the past: the songs sounded more urgent as they weren’t
able to let the songs be carried by the usual depth of rhythm and melody, and
this resulted in a purer punk sounding Bad Religion, akin to their sound we’ve
all heard on the bootlegs from the earlier days. Brian Baker was hitting note
for note, and holding it strong, and Jay Bentley owned that stage, moving
around like a punker is his twenties, not forties. Thankfully they’d also mixed
their set up a little since their last visit, so as well as playing the usual
classics, we were treated to seven songs from the latest album True North
(which is testament to how much of a great record it is), none from The Dissent
of Man (!), and a plethora of rarely played live songs, such as Beyond Electric
Dreams, Against the Grain, and Submission Complete. Greg Graffins’ usual dose
of dry humour between songs was also on fine form, when he was teasing the
crowd about the rain, finishing with the words, “the easiest thing to do, is
say fuck you”, a line from their last single that was specifically released on
the day of the US presidential election. By the time they had finished their 90
minute set with the ‘Department of False Hope’ I was shattered, yet full of
faith that Bad Religion still are and always will be the best punk-rock band of
all time. And if you don’t believe me you’re a schmuck, because the trend won’t
die out without any luck.
Bad Religion
The day
didn’t need to be anymore complete, yet Fat Wreck Chords’ latest signing,
Masked Intruder, were playing a free after show in the centre of town. We
managed to get on a tram, and make the show just as they had started to play.
The small basement club was already kicking off, and we just had to get
straight into the pit and summon that last bit of energy from the depths of
reserves.
Masked Intruder
In case you
aren’t familiar with the band, it’s basically four dudes who wear different
coloured masks, and go by the names of Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. They play
straight up pop-punk akin to The Lillingtons, This is My Fist, and Screeching
Weasel. The singer has a strong voice, and all the lyrics are about stalking
and having pretend girlfriends. They totally smashed it, played way faster than
they sound on record and the pit was insane throughout the whole set. They had
to play two encores, as the crowd were going so wild. They even treated us to
covers of Green Days’ ‘She’, and Teenage Bottlerockets’ ‘Repeat Offender’. A
great end, to a great gig.
Best merchandise purchase
Our voices
were gone, adrenalin was drained, and our bodies were stiff from so much
moshing. It was worth every penny and all the effort to get there (two hour
traffic jam on the M62 to the airport! I just made my flight by 5 minutes!),
and we’ll never experience such joy (the only joy that punk-rock can bring) like
that for a long time - until the next show of course.
Extra notes:
If you want
to view the setlists from the show, then they are available here:
If you get
chance, go and see Iron Chic, Bad Religion, and Masked Intruder who are all
still on tour in Europe.
Follow me on
Twitter @Schwarzbrennen