It always sucks when the crowd at a show is more interested in
drinking than actually watching the bands play. On a recent Friday
night, my band (shameless plug, sorry) is playing at a house in the
Central District. All the other bands have played amazing sets, and
things are running smooth, when suddenly the party pops off.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the crowd is spilling out of the basement and
onto the lawn. We start playing, but most people don’t even make an
effort to come inside and check it out, instead preferring to noisily
drink and smoke in the yard. The house show has turned into a house
party. A little after midnight, things get so loud and so out of
control that the fun-haters with the badges and guns come and put an
end to the festivities.
Anytime you mix shows with alcohol, things have the potential to get
out of hand, for good and bad. Boozy shows may not be as focused and
deliberate as shows with a no-beer policy, but they can be the ones you
remember most fondly (if fuzzily). Still, really good times often carry
really high consequences. If you’re throwing a show in your home, it’s
definitely worth thinking twice about whether or not to allow
alcohol. Seattle’s sadly defunct Punkin House had a strict
no-alcohol policy, and it helped them maintain one of the
longest-running basement venues in recent memory.
Despite spotting a few beers at the recent New Bloods show at
Beacon Hill house the Monsterssori Observatory, the
place—hardly a party house—seems set for a good, long run.
After all, when was the last time you were asked to leave your shoes at
the door of a punk show? Hopping around to the Portland violin-punk
trio in the Observatory’s bike-filled basement with 50 or 60 other
kids in their socks was easily the highlight of my week. It was
the band’s first night of their tour, and I can’t imagine a more
successful send-off. Everything could have gone wrong—bassist
Cassia Gammill’s amp crapped out before the band played a single note,
and drummer Adee Robeson seemed sick and a little out of it—but
the band sounded great, broken strings, borrowed equipment, and all.
And what’s more inspiring: Everybody was there for the music. 