Against All Authority / Brain Failure

live in Covington (2006)

The full lineup of this show from opener to headliner was the Black Tie Bombers, Crime in Stereo, the Code, Brain Failure and then of course, Against All Authority.

Black Tie Bombers opened up, and I have seem them before and enjoyed them but never paid too much attention. Apparently one of their original members isn't in the band anymore, and thus they had a new guitar player, but it sounded fine. They play fast melodic punk rock, I guess in the midwestern vein. They also played a new song, which sounded more aggressive and was quite good, and had some of the best energy out of any band the whole night. They could definitely go somewhere outside of the local realm.

Crime in Stereo played next, and they were one of the main reasons I went to this show. If you don't know, Crime in Stereo play fast melodic hardcore / punk rock. They played some songs off of their upcoming Nitro album, The Troubled Stateside, which comes out this month, and the songs sound amazing live. Definitely catchier all around from the riffs to the vocals, with seemingly more background vocals added, but still fast and aggressive. They also surprised me with a second-to-last-song cover of Gorilla Biscuits' "Start Today." And not only did they play it well -- their guitar player busted out the harmonica and flawlessly played the breakdown, which was completely unexpected and awesome. I had never seen Crime in Stereo before, and I was definitely completely happy with their set; check them out this summer when they are on tour with Guns Up!.

Up next was the Code, who I haven't seen in a few years and apparently have a little bit of a style change. When I saw them before, they were very Operation Ivy-influenced ska/punk with a heavy political influence. Although definitely still political, they seemed to have ditched most of the ska and now sound much more akin to Strike Anywhere or even Crime in Stereo. I honestly don't know much about them, so I won't act like I do, but they played really well and a lot of people seemed to be into it.

Brain Failure was up next and I didn't know anything about them beforehand, but I definitely left a fan. Brain Failure is a band from China who play poppy almost-street punk with a little bit of ska; not too far from And Out Come the Wolves-era Rancid. They are super catchy and fun to watch, and you can tell from watching them how much fun they are having on stage, and they turned a crowd from having no idea who they were to moving around their entire set. Once again, if you see them coming to your town I highly suggest going to watch them.

Finally came Against All Authority, who managed to rock even though there was a tornado warning and the weather outside was downright scary. AAA haven't been around here in a couple of years, and it was awesome to see them again because they never seem to dissapoint. They were right on point tonight, and talked political intelligently and briefly (hey lots of bands, take note). They played a good mix of songs starting with "All Fall Down," with the set including in no order "Toby," "Justification," "Sk8 Rock," "At Our Expense," "Another Fuck You Song," "Dinkas When i Close My Eyes," "Pestilent Existence," "Whistleblower," "Holiday in Cambodia," and more that I can't remember right now.

The band has beeing doing this for a long time and shows no signs of slowing down, which I say because they had great energy and played a new song that sounded amazing. Their new album comes out this month as well, and I can't wait.

This show was awesome overall, and all of the bands were solid.