Snow Falling On Punkers

New York City’s Point Blank capped a five-stack bill of punk at Midway Sunday matinee, 15 January 2023.

Worm appeared with special guest Chris Doherty of Gang Green.

Circus Battalion, Working Poor USA, and Vermont’s Gone Wrong opened.

It wasn’t the first snow of the winter, but it was the first snow that stuck. After a string of unseasonably warm days through the New Year, Jamaica Plain had a string of seasonably cold days that froze the ground enough to accept an inch or two of the white stuff. Take a picture while you can because it will be back in the 40s next week, a winter of brown icy mush.

The weather delayed the start time of the Sunday matinee at Midway Cafe by an hour or so. Not that it mattered too much to the drummer of Circus Battalion, who lives a stone’s throw from the club. He was dressed like a Christmas Tree, and he had just finished teaching percussion to a class of toddlers at the local community center.

The “commute” was nothing to him on Sunday, but he commiserated with another punk in conversation about long drives he made to make other shows. There was a time when his band was playing too many, traveling too much, saying ‘yes’ too often. They were just playing the same set over and over, and didn’t have any time to write new material.

Sometimes you have to say ‘no’ for your artistic integrity and band well being. Though it’s hard to imagine a man dressed as a Christmas Tree ever saying ‘no.’

Circus Battalion

Circus Battalion opened, the frontman kicking off his shoes and requesting a fresh beer just as the set commenced. The four-piece gave a shout out to Artie before launching into a hard-charging chord progression.

There was a political edge to the songwriting, which picked a fight with everything from factory farming to the shutdown of local practice space Sound Museum.

Extra points for the intricate bass runs and the Christmas Tree on the skins. Circus Battalion has a new single coming out next week. Shades of a more metal-edged Moving Targets.

Gone Wrong

Vermont’s Gone Wrong warmed up as a two-piece through a few songs before you realized there were only two people performing in the band and you were, in fact, hearing the actual set.

Flights of kamikaze drums and a distorted bass poured out songs by the dozens in flash 30-second sprints. A few punkers in the pit were raring to explode, and did in quick hits, though they had difficulty keeping pace with the drummer’s fills for too long.

Shout out to the weird bass method: the bassist played with a dime-sized pick (maybe it was a dime?) that he scratched against the metal grain of his strings lengthwise to produce sound. Worked just fine.

Working Poor USA

Working Poor USA fielded the deepest roster of the night at five musicians: two guitarists, one bassist, one vocalist, and a drummer.

The double-stack of guitars allowed the band to build up thicker progressions, or let one guitarist fly loose for solos. At some point the band started shouting “armchairs and leg room” in unison. Presumably, an anti-airliner ballad.

Stay tuned, Working Poor USA have a new 12” coming out in March. Shades of Already Dead in their big band-mode.

Worm

The surprise cameo of the night was local hardcore legend Chris Doherty (Gang Green) sitting in for a vocal stint with Worm.

Doherty posted up at the bar with a friend and a Budweiser for most of the night, chatting up the bartender and taking selfies with punks from other bands.

Worm invited him onstage midway through the set, where he showed off his “Happy Gilmore” Bruins jersey and ran through a quick vocal number with the band.

Worm started the set with a string of mid-tempo strummers and finished off with a speed round of lightning-quick thrashers. The frontman announced that the night’s performance was dedicated to their original drummer, who passed a few years ago. Shades of Stray Bullets, if you dialed down the ska influence.

POINT BLANK

NYC’s POINT BLANK stormed through the speakers to close the show. Ken Wagner (vocals) is a force of nature, and Hump Day News has the pictures to prove it. Shades of SEIGE when they really get their motor moving.