AFI, Brand New Unit, Cigar & All Bets Off

AFI, Brand New Unit, Cigar & All Bets Off
at The Zocalo Room
Saturday, October 10, 1998

Saturday was one of those days. If I would have known that by 8 PM I would be drunk, have another new tattoo and be going to an AFI show, I might have gotten a little more sleep the night before. But I didn’t, so who gives a shit?

After my eventful afternoon and evening, I headed on down to the 6^th Street Day Care Center, a.k.a. The Zocalo Room, to see AFI, the East Bay punk crew that has been rocking little old Chico for a few years now. No disrespect to The Zocalo Room or KCSC—in fact, they threw one hell of a show—but the average age there was about seven (alright, that as a little sarcastic).

For those of you who don’t know about AFI, let me give you the lowdown: AFI is an East Bay-based, four-piece wrecking crew that has haunted the underground punk scene since 1991. The band’s newest Nitro Records release, Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes, is a collection of fast hardcore songs that pick up where their last record, Very Proud of Ya, left off.

The evening started with three openers. All Bets Off, Cigar and Brand New Unit, a punk outfit out of British Columbia that rocked. They were a great addition to the line up and I am glad they played before AFI, since I was falling asleep in the back corner after the first two bands. In fact, I was so out cold that I almost fell backwards out the second story window and splattered all over the 6^th Street sidewalk. I’m not bullshitting!

AFI came on stage and I cruised on up to the front. It was easy to stand where ever the hell I wanted, considering that high school freshman are generally shorter than I am. I stood next to a light fixture that I ended up having to hold onto the whole night since the mosh pit was out of control. I honestly thought the house was coming down, and the band probably did to. They were loving the scene and going with it until Adam Carson’s drum set got knocked over, which brought with it a warning from lead singer Davey Havok. They went on and Davey just ripped. His intense lyrics backed by the band’s furious beats had the joint bouncing off the walls and their addictive lyrics had the crowd singing along. Old stuff mixed with some off their new CD provided us with yet another good Chico punk show. Hey, if some of you folks need a place to dump the little ones for a good part of the evening, just drop them off at The Zocalo Room. We’ll take care of ‘em!

– Noah Beery

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