Hit By A Semi, California Redemption & the In Crowd

There's a certain moral ambiguity necessary in the reviewing of live music in Chico for any length of time. When it comes to local bands especially, after a while you pretty much know everybody. Or at least you've seen them enough times to have exhausted every possible angle in talking about their set. You can do it in your sleep. Take The In Crowd, for example, I've known these guys pretty much the entire time I've been writing for The Syn - Bryce the singer and Travis the drummer specifically - and they're great guys. We used to run into each other at all the live shows I was reviewing with D.C., the photographer. We even went backstage at The Warped Tour last summer when Bryce knew the guys from the Deviates and we got to hang out on their motor home and drink the Long Beach Dub All-Stars' Zima while one of the Deviates expressed his admiration for me for getting into a fight with Fletcher from Pennywise and living to talk about it. It was a good time, you can be sure. The point is: now that these guys are in a new band and I've been sent to review them there's a certain friendly obligation to say things that are flattering and blurb-worthy - or stuff, at the very least, that isn't offensive.
But alas, I have no integrity (my editors will attest to that) and to this end I'll put the kibosh on the notion that you have to say nice things - about anyone - especially people you know. That said, let's talk about The In Crowd…
They suck. They're a disgrace to the sonic artistry that is music. They sound like a classroom of short bus-riding, Ritalin-deprived A.D.D. sufferers, who were let loose with pots and pans and large blunt objects in a Pottery Barn. Frontman Bryce sounds (and looks, I might add) like an ill-fated one-night stand between Johnny Rotten and Liza Minelli. And I mean this in the meanest possible way. They stank the place up. Their saving grace, and perhaps the only reason why they're allowed to pass their gig off as "music" in the first place, is that they call themselves "punk." I will say however, that they do sing some funny songs, especially the one where blue-haired Travis comes out from behind the drums and sings a song about his mama, akin to NOFX's "Together On The Sand." I'll also give them a little credit because they're still new to the live concert thing, and they buy me drinks once in awhile, which goes a long way in getting a better review (other local bands take heed!). Plus I like their name, The In Crowd. I mean, who doesn't want to be down with The In Crowd?
California Redemption blew up next. They sounded like Fenix Tx or 98 Mute, depending on what angle you viewed them at. I viewed them from behind a thick, glassy-eyed, blissful drunkenness from three or five Double Cap'n Morgan and Cokes, and they looked just fine. There were at least five or six of them on stage. I don't remember any horns, so that means there were at least two extra guys with instruments and / or microphones that shouldn't have been there. Their singer and guitarist did a lot of that punk jump-kick thing, you know the one where they jump and kick right when the drummer goes for the crash cymbal at the end of the riff. It worked for them, and they used it excessively. It was a solid set that was set apart by nothing spectacular.
Hit By A Semi graced the stage a short time later, looking dapper and quite full of panache in ties and button-down shirts. It being the CD release show for their scathing new disc, Friends, Booze and Tattoos, they were antsy to get started, but due to Murphy's Law, no doubt, Ryan had some kind of bass troubles and had to borrow CA Redemption's axe, which lent a sense of appropriateness to their CD title. Friends, booze and tattoos were in abundance and the sweaty Rich (guitarist/vocalist) took plenty of opportunities to salute all three between songs. Quite a furious mosh pit erupted on the track "When I'm Not Around" and much fist waving was witnessed during the song "Fucked Up," the chorus to which goes, "All I wanna do is get fucked up!" which was brutally appropriate.
Hit By A Semi rocked through a concrete set that made deer in the forest run for cover. They brought up the Harmless Cherries for vocal duties on a song that made L7 and Babes in Toyland look like choirgirl backups. They rocked and shook that voodoo that they do, so well. Buy their disc at finer adult establishments everywhere (ask for the D.V.D.A. section) or just go to Tower Records.

- M. Cameron Newell
- photos D.C. Ramirez

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