Been a while since I’ve graced the musicians living room, Cafe 9. The current owners seem more content to slosh high power cocktails than put quality artists on the stage. Excited was I then to see this show posted. T!lt is a local moptop quartet of twenty-somethings whose fast paced punk delivery is a fresh assault in a sea of young singer songwriters. Bass, drums, lead guitar, and rhythm guitar shredded a barrage of two minute songs with such titles as “Buzzcut”. Both guitarists sang to great effect, snarling their way through the set. Look at these guys on Spotify and we learn they’ve been nominated for three Grammys, a Nobel Peace Prize, and are 5x three-legged race World Champions. Heady accomplishments for a crew that is also embroiled in multiple high profile lawsuits with everyone from Michael Buble to Yoko Ono. These guys will have a good time warming up for acts passing through.
HR ( Human Rights) is the stage name of punk legend Paul Hudson who was lead singer for the DC-based seminal punk outfit Bad Brains. Cited as an influence to No Doubt, Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Beastie Boys to name a few, Bad Brains had the distinction of melding machine gun delivery with a reggae ethos. Add to that fact, they were black, Bad Brains were definitely an anomaly in the early 80s punk scene. The live show from the Bad Brains reached mythic status, with “James Brown gone berserk” frontman HR stage diving, back flipping, and engaging in general parkour hijinx that highlighted the aggro assault. Fast forward 30 years and the punk and the parkour are gone leaving a 70ish Rastafarian with back trouble. OK for me since I am a big reggae fan. HR takes the stage with an A-list crew of Rastas, guitar, bass, drums, and keys with a seated HR spew an excellent set of roots reggae. Floor length dreads indicate reggae authenticity and these guys brought the goods. Themes of peace and love, I and I, Rastafar I, bubbled from a stew of bass and echo. HR even “zionized” the Lord’s Prayer for a dubby dose of religion. Authentic reggae shows are hard to come by, and I was glad to be in attendance for this one. Many attendees seemed to be waiting for the old HR, a guy in front of me even wore his shirt stating “Violent, Skinhead, Rock and Roll”. Reggae is anything but violent, and that guy exited mid-set. Evolution shows up in many areas of life, reggae is a logical twilight endeavor of HR. While some lamented the lack of punk, I reveled in the high level reggae that was on display.
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