VFW

Three Fifteen demolished Saturday night at Pittsfield, MA's Linden Street VFW, playing everything one would need to hear while inducing battering force from everyone willing to try their hand at being near the front. The white fluorescence of the room, provided by sterile ceiling lights, was replaced with a single warm yellow lamp, hardly illuminating but wholly better than the institution glow. The band doesn't seem to have missed a beat since their previous "last show." The drumming is still the tightest, the guitars and bass still rip, and Joe Wilk's convulsive presence has not ebbed in the slightest. He flails, barks, screams, throws himself into others, whips his mic around, and pumps his fist triumphantly. Also, it doesn't hurt that the show was in their hometown with all their fans itching to freak out to one of the most beloved bands to come out of Pittsfield's once active punk scene. These guys really should keep playing. Listen to their anthology for free.

Gift Horse played before Three Fifteen and they were quite mediocre. Bands playing this kind of show should probably have some sort of edge, even if its a gimmicky one. Mudlark preceded and impressed, churning out well-crafted guitar songs, some with vocals, which came off as a sort of tame Dinosaur Jr junior, to good effect. Brain Fever (formerly Zombie Assault) opened with unintelligible words (not a bad thing) and an attention-grabbing (and eardrum-weakening) wall of punk guitar noise.


Three Fifteen


Three Fifteen


Three Fifteen


Brain Fever


Collection