Spitvalves / Folly / Whole Wheat Bread

live in Orlando (2003)

Michael Bowman

From the minute I got to the House of Blues you could tell it was going to be an interesting night. The crowd of guys and girls, anywhere in age from 14-28, was already starting to gather outside the door. After getting felt up by the burly female, if you could call her that, security person I went inside to grab a drink.

Right after getting my first beer, or many that night, the opening band Brownie Points came on. These guys are a mix of straight up rock & roll, ska, and pop punk…Kind of like Less Than Jake meets John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band (for those of you who don't know who that is, they did the music for the Eddie and the Cruiser movies). Unfortunately the crowd wasn't into them at all, which told me that was going to be a hard core crowd tonight. I have seen Brownie Points a few times now, and they always put on a good set. I suggest if you get a chance to see them you do.

The next band of the night was Whole Wheat Bread. These guys are a 3 piece punk band from Jacksonville, Fl. When they first came on stage I was surprised to see that the group was 3 black guys. I had never heard of them before, but they put on a pretty good show. Their sound was alot like older Green Day. After their first song their lead singer started to get the crowd into a shouting match, telling everyone, "You might not like what we do tonight, but I want to hear you all say, that WE LOVE BLACK PEOPLE." The crowd really started to feed off of his energy and crowd interaction throughout the set.

The third band of the night, Folley, was my least favorite of the night. This was a show that the Spitvalves had booked for them, that they came all the way down from New Jersey for. Now don't get me wrong, their drummer was pretty good at double bass, and their guitar work wasn't band, alot of interesting split and syncopated rhymes, but their sing drove me nuts. I couldn't understand one word he said all night. Everything was a scream as loud as screechy as he could, the whole time prancing around the stage with no shoes on.

After a long break, the The Spitvalves took the stage. I have had the pleasure of seeing these guys many times over the past 6 years since I first heard about them. First time I saw them live was in Deland, FL at a small club called Happy Daze, and I had to assist in putting their drummer, Tito, on his stool to play a show because he was drunk… For those of you who haven't heard of them, they are a 6 piece ska-core outfit from Orlando, FL. Their sounded, and I am sure everyone will give me crap for this reference, is somewhere between the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the Voodoo Glow Skulls, and Finch. During the course of what started out a great set, they went through songs such as, "Both Shoes Untied", "Love the Kids", and "Skaboobidibobididska". This was also their bass player Jeremy's last show with the band. Unfortunately, Tito had a little too much Crown Royal to drink, and stopped playing midway through the last song. At this the lead singer, Charlie, kicked him off the drum set, and took over drumming duties himself. They finish the set with a final rendition of "Mr. Man", during with Tito flailed around the stage, and into the crowd.

Over all it was a good night though, just hopefully next time, Tito can finish the show.