Swingin' Utters, Indecisive Youth and Pleasure Forever

I've been waiting for this show for months, because I like the Swingin’ Utters a lot and I was really excited to see Union Of The Dead make a triumphant return, so you can imagine my disappointment when I learned that they had cancelled. I hope they can come and see us soon, but I really hope I never have to see Pleasure Forever again.
Pleasure Forever…where do I start? The name is fucking lame, the drummer’s haircut looks stupid and a keyboardist should not be on a punk tour. I don’t know why the Utters would bring these guys along-possibly there is some relation or maybe a bribe was involved. The music was horrible; it went from slow and emotional to their best semblance of heavy. At times they sounded a little like Morphine, who I love, but they just couldn’t pull it off. The only saving grace was that the guitarist was really good; he should join a better band. I don’t really like to completely slag a band, it takes balls to go in front of an audience and play horrible music, but if they trade in that stupid keyboardist for a bass player, maybe they wouldn’t completely suck. I wish them luck. I was happy when the set ended and I was able to go get a beer.
Up next was Indecisive Youth. I’ve never seen them before and I had already decided I didn’t like them, but by the end of the set I was pissed when I had to admit they didn’t suck. They are the kind of band that attracts lots of young girls in red Dickies and spiked belts. You know-flavor-of-the-day punk kids. This is no reflection on the band-they just have kind of a pop sensibility, which inherently draws that element. I shouldn’t be so hard on the kids though. If it weren’t for their parents buying them tickets to every show, we might not get as many good acts as we do. Anyhow, back to Indecisive Youth: I don’t know the names of any of the songs, but a few were really good, and I was shocked when I found my head nodding. They’ve definitely earned my respect. I was so pissed about being wrong that I had to go have a couple more beers before the Utters started.
The Utters took the stage and before playing a note, the singer offered an apology, because, apparently, he had lost his voice the previous evening. He said he would probably sound “like shit,” but it was hardly noticeable - the last thing you expect from a punk band are good vocals anyway. They played an energetic set with lots of sing-a-long choruses and good between song banter. “When in doubt take some pills and smoke,” he said as an intro to “Pills & Smoke.” They played songs off most of their albums, but I was hoping to hear a little more from the new album. I did sneak over to Panama’s for a beer and missed a song or two, so I’m sure they played “The Note” while I was gone as that’s the song I wanted to hear most. Next time I won’t let my affinity for beer get in the way of a good show…yeah right. They ended with a rousing version of “Eddy’s Teddy.” I didn’t think they would be able to pull that one off live, but they did a great job. A few people screamed for an encore, but it didn’t happen and I was free to go get drunk.

- Jim Preston
- Photos by Myles Stenger

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