Tools
w/the Gossip, Ursula and the Androids, Jackie Hell and the Control Tops (all ages, Pho Bang) Fri March 7, Vera Project, $8.
w/the Gossip, the Bangs, Sleetmute Sat March 8, Crocodile, $8.
Stranger Personals
Shadows loom heavy in this city--such is the burden for bands forced to bear the weight of their pasts, as the annoyance of bulky parentheses with terms like "formerly" and "featuring members of" stalk like a venereal disease. It is important, then, that when dealing with the new four-piece punk rock band known as Shoplifting, preconceptions be placed aside.
Upon the dissolution of their former band Chromatics in August of last year, Hannah Blilie (also formerly of the Vogue, Soiled Doves), Devin Welch (ditto), and Michelle No reconvened with associate Christian Pugmire under a new vision--one that communally reconciled the misgivings each had about the pratfalls of the past. It took about 45 seconds into their first show last month to make one fact remarkably clear: The past was just a dress rehearsal.
The band is a chorus of intergendered vocals, erratic, extemporaneous distortions, and throbbing, urgent rhythm. To say that Shoplifting are a progression from their previous projects undermines the true artistic leap represented in their still unripened seed--it's as if the past has been soaked in acetone, melting away all of the pomp and artifice, leaving in its place a seething, pulsing open wound. In place of sonic comparisons, it's best to enter their fray in terms of ideology, as their urgency screams (and screams, and screams) the strains of Huggy Bear's politics of personal aesthetic. Theirs is a utopian vision of reciprocal dialogue, a post-Riot Grrrl sensibility of inclusive social responsibility.
"This isn't about just getting on a stage and playing music anymore," explains guitarist Welch. "It's more about harnessing the power of that position. What do you do when you're on the stage and you are suddenly louder than everyone else in the room? What are you going to say?"
This is punk rock with a heart and a set of lungs--you can see it on their faces when they play, you can hear it in their tones as they squelch. There is something important at stake. Shoplifting is a way of life.
Share via
Buy Tickets for Other Events
Also by Zac Pennington
In the wake of punk rock's latest boom, seemingly every band with a modicum of influence is reforming, rereleasing, and rehashing the music that made them famous. On this summer's Warped Tour alone, you can catch a Darby Crash-less Germs or emo trailblazers Lifetime—all of which makes Mission of Burma's latest release so refreshing.
Post a comment »
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (0)