“Happy Mother’s Day to the mothers, and to the motherfuckers.” – John Stabb of Government Issue prior to introducing Salad Days headliners The Death Set
So, Sunday’s “Salad Days” Dave Nada x Stereo Faith x Mad Decent x Cmonwealth punk mixtape release event at the U Street Music Hall wasn’t a sell out as I portended. Yep, even Nada and Stereo, two of the city’s more consistent top draws couldn’t overcome the lure of buffet lunches with the ones responsible for giving life. Maybe I’m too deep into music to understand that yes, Sunday was Mother’s Day, and that as cool as most parents are, most parents aren’t cool enough to want to hear Millions of Dead Cops as played by a spastic, two-stepping and moshing DJ. Most parents don’t want to hear GG Allin’s brand of nihilistic and sadomasochistic punk madness either. A few Gay Cowboys in Bondage jams? Probably not on the menu either.
But for the thirty or so people in that room on Sunday afternoon, it was a catharsis. It was the return, for a second, and hopefully for many more minutes and hours to come to U Street, NW, of raucous, local punk energy. Yes, before you dare say anything, Positive Force DC still exists, and yes, they still put on great shows. Just last month at St. Stephens’ Church, Titus Andronicus came to town and blew many away with their Civil War inspired brand of intelligent disaster. But to see a band like the Death Set, lanky, charismatic Australian powerhouse Johnny Siera at the lead, Daniel Walker on guitar and Japhet Landis, as always keeping it all in time, with the ghost of Beau Velasco giving this all his blessing in this pristine venue, singing songs in DC extolling the virtues of PMA in a style Bad Brains wouldn’t be mad at, it felt right. Something about attempting to cause mayhem here made all the sense in the world.
Yeah, when Johnny walked on the bar and took swigs of bottles of booze, or swung like a spider monkey from the exposed pipes over the stage, stage dove into a small pit of gleeful moshers or invited us all onstage for a Nirvana cover singalong, it was fun. Simple, basic and real, a reflection of the ethos that the U Hall has set out in the first two months of its existence.
The concept of reviving the DIY afternoon matinee punk show in DC has merit. Mother’s Day was absolutely the worst day for this event, as likely had it been on another Sunday afternoon, it certainly would have been better attended. But as a test run, this was phenomenal. TGRIOnline.com’s own Denman Anderson staged a one man junta and infused the event with his own brand of true school punk enthusiasm. Yes, I know that people don’t feel the need to go out to either No Control at the Black Cat backstage or Fighting the World at Little Miss Whiskeys, the two punk, metal and hardcore parties that he spins monthly. Electro, funk, soul, disco and house are eminently more danceable. But just watching Denman have more fun playing a rock set than should be allowable by law is a draw unto itself and his love gives you reason to love what he’s playing. It’s an ultimate symbiosis, and may provide a vehicle to further marry the punk and dance scenes on a grass roots level again in the DC area.
Yes, punk rock karaoke (which I think is a terrific concept) was a dud as well, but as an entire event, there is a market, and a necessity for it as a Sunday monthly on U Street Music Hall’s calendar. Yes, I am perfectly aware that the venue cannot be everything to everyone in DC’s history. The jury is still out on live hip hop events. Tabi Bonney and Diamond District may have been a bit too low fi. Insofar as electro leaning rock acts, Bluebrain was okay, but their sound mixing was terrible and they sounded abnormally muddy. Punk, well, it was kinda perfect. The small nondescript stage with a bar across from it, it felt like what Max’s Kansas City probably felt like to many in the Bowery in punk’s heyday. Small, intimate and important.
Not every night at the U Hall has to melt faces or leave feet tired from hours of dance floor demolition. Sometimes you can skank your pain away too. We all have problems. Music, especially when filtered through the blessing of a soundsystem at the Temple of Boom is the best answer. Here’s hopefully to the start of an amazing event.
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