The (International) Noise Conspiracy, Rival Schools, The Hives & Pipedown

Dinner at Panama's is always a good way to start an evening. Once I had the double-cheeseburger comfortably stuck in my belly, I meandered next door to The Brick Works to check out Pipedown, the first band of the night. The first thing I noticed was a severe lack of energy from the crowd. Now, I'm not the guy who jumpstarts a pit at every show, but damn if someone didn't need to do something to get everyone into it. Lord knows Pipedown didn't do shit to get the place going. I heard one hardcore type song and split. I should've stayed since they covered Billy Idol at the end and I like Billy Idol. Maybe they could be a Billy Idol cover band.
Next up were The Hives. I've wanted to see this band for a while, so I was pretty excited when they finally set up and got going. This five piece out of Sweden (wahoo) rocked in a straight-ahead Beatles-esque kinda way. They were so punk that they played out of tune, out of time and maybe out of their minds. My friend Emile loves that kind of shit; I was thinking he should be here to do the review, not me. The Hives got the crowd going more than anyone else that night, which is not saying much at all. Is this how it is at indie-rock shows? Nobody moves, nobody gets hurt kind of thing? The girls in rimmed glasses are great, but after this review none of them will like me very much, oh well.
I did like The Hives and many of the people I talked to came to see them, not the (International) Noise Conspiracy, which made me wonder why a headlining band would bring out a band more popular (and in this night's case a better band) than them. Whatever, the set was short and sweet and I soon found myself next door drinking with the boss.
I popped in for Rival Schools and quickly left. They sucked. Slow emo-type sounds were leaking out of Rival Schools and I was having none of it. I honestly don't know how many songs they played and if anything changed in their set because the first ones were so bad I couldn't take it. Some bands should stay in the garage or, in this case, the local coffee shop. Wouldn't that make a better world?
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the (International) Noise Conspiracy took the stage. There appeared to be some electricity in the air…was this going to be a (finally) good show? Were they going to be as good as they were the last time and was the keyboardist still in the band? No, no and yes. The band played a lot of the old favorites, but played them slower than usual and without energy. Maybe the Bay Area shows took it out of them. They played a few songs off the new album which the crowd seemed to like and they all rocked in choreographed unison so that was cool, but it was flat. Nothing like the last time. It is good to see and hear political punk still being played today. We need it, but you gotta play that shit with meaning and intensity, otherwise it's not believable. I know you can't be angry all the time but if the songs are supposed to be passionate than you better think of something fucked up (like this review) fast and get pissed. Otherwise, you look dumb and no one will buy your merch.
All in all I have nothing good to say about this show other than it was cool to see some friends and get out of the house for awhile, if only to hear bad music. I hope these bands (The Hives and (I)NC) come back and leave the others behind. I think if those two came alone and it was an 18 and older show it would be good times.
- Marcus Dorin
- Photos by Alyssa Starkey

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