Forward Ohio Fundraiser (Fumes, Slave Labia, Cop Hugger, Difficult Dogs and Emissions) / February 9 / Casa

By: Matt Bemer, PR Director

Editor's Note: Tonight on ACRN's Scene & Heard blog, we're trying out live-blogging, really just for the hell of it because we decided it would be fun. Stay tuned as I--Blogs Editor, Cassie Whitt--post Matt Bemer's texts from the 2012 Forward Ohio Festival fundraiser show throughout the night!

10:00 p.m.
Headed over to Casa. Thoughts? It's a bit chilly.

10:23 p.m.
Difficult Dogs sound-checking. Guitarist played a lick of American Football. Bring me some jazzy jazz, Cap'n.

10:28 p.m.
Melodic harmonies, FTW! here at Casa. Opening act Difficult Dogs slips up a bit, but it is only the first song.

10:36 p.m.
Difficult Dogs has broke out into a more melodic hardcore set. Which is cool with me--and the rest of the crowd. Head bops seem to be the way to go.

10:38 p.m.
Drummer Spencer has a Snowing shirt on, and I am okay with that. Heavy math rock influences...

10:42 p.m.
Two words. Cow. Bell.

10:43 p.m.
Casa is pretty full, and Difficult Dogs is only halfway through its set.

10:47 p.m.
Casa may not be the right venue for these dogs. It is their first time playing this type of venue and they've got the showmanship, but the crowd has held back from interacting by the stage. Still, solid set so far.

10:49 p.m.
The bass drum has fallen over. Actually, the whole drum set seems to be held together by a carefully positioned brick...

10:58 p.m.
Difficult Dogs' set is over. They're really a niche band. Midwestern '90s emo/math. That's basically my niche. I am content. According to the mumblings of this crowd, Fumes is next.

---

11:15 p.m.
Fumes equals pit at Casa.

11:17 p.m.
But not a dangerous one, mind you. Just watched a too-hardcore hardcore dancer told to knock it down a few notches. Safe environment here.

11:18 p.m.
Lead singer of Fumes has so much reverb on. That is all.

11:20 p.m.
Just the way I like my punk. Every song under 1 minute.

11:23 p.m.
Most of the time, the mic is being swallowed by the lead singer. That coupled with the reverb--it's getting tough in here.

11:24 p.m.
And that was it. How long was that? 12 minutes? Like I said: quick, fast, punk.

---

11:33 p.m.
Dion and the Belmonts' "A Teenager in Love" is on for listener pleasure, or just as a juxtaposition to Fumes' nightmarish screams.

---

11:40 p.m.
Pretty sure this is Emissions. More melodic. Still punk. Always punk.

11:42 p.m.
They have the crowd pretty riled up, but I'm not sure if that's a result of the previous set's energy. The bassist can riff, though.

11:53 p.m.
The pit is basically the size of the entire floor. Start the sets tough, end tougher.
---

12:15 a.m.
Slave Labia takes the stage. It's 3 girls from Columbus playing punk rock.

12:19 a.m.
Slave Labia lead singer is screaming, "Shut the fuck up!"

12:21 a.m.
Out of my niche with this band...

12:23 a.m.
The pit is primarily female at this point.

12:31 a.m.
Slave Labia's next song is called "Masturbation at Work." Lead singer asked the crowd how many people have masturbated at work. A surprising amount of hands shot up. Did I mention they were sexual?

12:34 a.m.
ACRN event photographer Katie O'Leary is being grinded on by a female crowd member. After numerous refusals, the lady spat beer out of her mouth and in our general direction.

---

12:42 a.m.
I've seen Cop Hugger numerous times, and they always put on a terrific show. Athens punk at its finest. I'll leave you all with that.

---

Great bands, great night, great cause.

Emily And The Complexes, Mom's Weekend & Difficult Dogs / January 27 / a basement in Athens

By: Cassie Whitt, Blogs Editor

"UP DA PUNX," the flier for this event jokingly advertised, something refreshing to see in the Athens scene, which is dominated by a more quiet, happy-go-folksy sound that just doesn't do the trick for me.

So, what could be a better environment for a punk show than a shady-looking basement filled to the brim with some of Athens finest shady-looking-but-harmless characters?

A late start, a full basement and a mob of people outside the house signified that not everyone would get to experience the music up-close, but few seemed to mind that as Mom's Weekend (who seemed to be having an identity crisis at the start when they introduced themselves as Sign-Off) took the floorspace designated as the stage area.

"You guys can get all up in my grill. I don't mind," the vocalist proclaimed, coaxing the crowd closer before they launched into a set riddled with a mixture of old-school punk flavor, something more reminiscent of bands like Touche Amore or La Dispute and plenty of "weird Freudian shit."

"Did he just sing, 'I hate my hot mom.'" Yes. Yes, I believe he did.

Following Mom's Weekend, unexpectedly by most of the crowd, Snake Head (or Snakehead, or Snake-head; get a web presence, dudes), a hardcore band that mixed upbeat guitars with earth-rattling guttural growls drove people out of the basement by the dozens. "Fuck that," a few muttered, as they escaped the small-but-rowdy moshpit that dominated the tiny basement space.

Many went outside, where a practicing vocal trio (or quartet; it was too dark to tell) in the backyard became a more interesting and safe focal point.

The screaming stopped, the old crowd parted and a new one packed in for Emily and The Complexes.



It's all fun and games, you see, until the mosh pit breaks the window. Mosh they did, and window-break they did, an incident that cleared the potentially-guilty from the basement at the halfway point of Emily and The Complexes' set.

That's their drunken, shove-happy loss; as, Emily and The Complexes as a full band is well-worth watching. Formerly in Athens, Emily vocalist/guitarist Tyler Verhagen had performed only as a solo act, working his way from acoustic at the Fern Gully to electric at Casa before filling out his sound by adding drummer Tom Konitzer and bassist Jordan Finke at this show.

Having seen them in Columbus over Winter break as a full band, I can say that since then they have improved greatly. Even in the sub-par basement sound conditions, they sounded great: hands-down the best of the night.

Along with past crowd-pleasers like "I Don't Want To Brush My Teeth" and "Styrofoam Plate Blues" (with a full-band-given facelift beyond the version one may know from The Efficiency Demo), the band debuted a couple new songs, one of which was titled "Trailer Home" and introduced by Verhagen as being about Nelsonville. They also did not disappoint yours truly, a hardcore Alkaline Trio fan, with their cover of "Fuck You Aurora."

Next time Emily And The Complexes are in town, be there. And don't be the window-breaking asshole who ruins it for everyone. Seriously.

I skipped out before Difficult Dogs, but I overheard recently that they "bring out the indie bitches" and evoke the mosh. So, there's that.