Week 26, 2016 - American Punker

Ahoy my friends and welcome back! Ringing in the second half of 2016 was a MEGA week in music for North Avenue, wall to wall rock n’ roll as shows kicked off on Monday and just kept rolling. Tons of bands from all over the country (and Canada) stopped by our small corner of the Earth to share their music and throw down on some pizza, so let’s get to it people!

Monday 6/27/2016 - Lié // Surfbort // Violet Ripken // Short Skirt

Cheetos, Mountain Dew, Tattoos and Sunburn. This week started off with some good ol’ fashioned crusty punk! Vancouver’s Lié and New York’s Surfbort joined us DownSquared on their joint tour to ignite us with their angsty brand of rock n’ roll. Along with Baltimore's Violet Ripken who were releasing their debut tape, and a brief (very brief) set by the furious Short Skirt, the night was rife with high energy attitude and aggression. Had this show gone down in a dive bar or basement and not our nice little pizza place, I’m sure there’d have maybe been some bloody noses in the crowd and on stage. It was loud. It was awesome.

Short Skirt

Violet Ripken

Surfbort

Lié

Tuesday 6/28/2016 - Max Pain and The Groovies // Slurred Words // Colora

If you like stuff by Ty Segall, FIDLAR, Wavves or other similar modern surf/ garage bands, then Tuesday was definitely the night for you. Max Pain and The Groovies from Salt Lake City (of all places!) offered up some fantastic psychedelic garage and I instantly became a fan. Along with our city’s own Colora and Slurred Words, the night was drenched in reverb-heavy vocals and jangly electric guitars. It was epic, and I don’t know whether it was the 9% stouts or not, but I ended the night talking to my roommate’s cat Bruce on our kitchen floor for a few hours. Holy Donuts Batman what a Tuesday!

Colora

Slurred Words

Max Pain and The Groovies

Wednesday 6/29/2016 - Canker Blossom // Leche // Borzoi // Auxiliary Mammals 

Wednesday was a slow day of recovering for me after all that feline conversation, but that didn’t stop Joe Squared from hosting another sick lineup of loud music. Austin’s self-described cow-punkers Leche, and scum-punkers Borzoi landed in town to join forces with our very own punk heroes Canker Blossom and Auxiliary Mammals (Noisy! Awesome!). The night was a continuous onslaught of killer riffs, screaming, harmonica, and some bizarre dancing to Tiny Tim. If there’s one thing I learned from the evening’s events it’s this; Cap’n Crunch isn’t really a Captain. His military rank is more likely Colonel. Cheers friends!

Auxiliary Mammals

Borzoi

Leche

Canker Blossom

Friday 07/01/16 - Bad Canoes // Saddle of Centaur // Short Skirt

The amps showed no signs of turning down for Friday's lineup of killer fem-punk. Short Skirt returned for their second appearance in a week for another incredibly short set. I think their combined stage time this week was maybe 10 minutes. Baltimore’s own power duo Saddle of Centaur brought the thunder, and offered up a hearty serving of badassery to the gods of rock n’ roll in their debut set DownSquared. By The time the Bad Canoes played the crowd was pretty thick, and it was near impossible to find a good vantage point for pictures. Luckily there was a guy in the crowd who was no shorter than 7 feet tall! I asked him to help snap a few shots and he gladly assisted. So shout out to you giant stranger, and thanks for the pics! Blood and berries everywhere.

(The Return of) Short Skirt

Saddle of Centaur

Bad Canoes

Saturday 7/02/2016 - Brenden Kerwin // The Meer

Saturday was the last show before the 4th of July holiday, and what a way to close out the week! Between the blues and folk prowess of Brenden Kerwin, to the Melvins meets Cranberries vibe of The Meer, it was a night of incredible music. Seriously see The Meer if you get a chance, there's some fantastic songwriting and arrangements going on there that shouldn’t be missed. By the end of the night the week’s madness had caught up to me, and I grabbed some chicken wings and rolled out of there pretty quick. Immediate coma upon returning home.

Brenden Kerwin

The Meer

And on the 7th day he rested. Hardcore chillaxing Sunday so this wraps up my entry for this week. Tune in next time for what’s sure to be another riveting episode of Music & Pizza. Until we meet again!