Covering all the shows in this town is trying sometimes, so we sent our good friend Phil Baier, of Summer Salt, out to cover US Weekly and Parquet Courts at Mohawk last night. Here’s what he had to say.
“It’s muggy as fuck,” said Ryan Fitzgibbon, guitar player of Us Weekly.
“It’s kind of the perfect weather for this,” said fan in the crowd.
Both were right. The steady rain complemented the dystopian drizzle of Us Weekly. They played discordant mid-tempo music with hardcore punk vocals, yelling lyrics like “set me on fire” and “American hate.” The packed crowd loved the dark forces behind the band, and happily nodded as the sun went down.
Right when Parquet Courts started, the rain picked up. Their perky chords quickly initiated wet crowd surfers, leading to the retreat of skittish old people (and Chaco wearing me).
Playing songs mostly off Human Performance, they sounded just as crisp as the record. Their guitar sound was as expected, D. Boon (The Minutemen) style with the treble all the way up, bass all the way down. Andrew Savage and Austin Brown’s signature voices kept the energy going, even in the “muggy as fuck” weather.
Brown and A. Savage’s stage banter was a sarcastic loathe towards Texas, targeting wall building, the death penalty, lack of Uber, sports, etc., but no one took it offensively.
The edgy vibe matched their trademark sound, noisy yet damn catchy. They thanked all their friends for coming, and didn’t play an encore.
It’s that time folks; Halloween is a few days away. With that, it’s time for the Mohawk’s annual Goblin a Go-Go gig, and we’re happy to have a hand in it, letting them use Basketball Shorts to guarantee a night of fun. But, you also be treated to Too Built to Spill, a cover band of superheroes, who may or may not also be affiliated with ATH Records. In the end, it’s a chance to try out your costume in a room full of strangers, and if you pull it off, you could be the winner of a free pair of Sound on Sound tickets!
