D.R.I., The Hoods and P.A.W.N.S.

I found out a few things last Wednesday. Girls that go to P.A.W.N.S. shows are tougher than you, The Hoods are very angry with you, and D.R.I. plays fucking hard despite being older than your dad. I was surprised that there weren't very many mullets in attendance; I would've thought a D.R.I. show would bring all the cranksters out from under whatever rock they were smoking. But alas, all I saw was one of those "fear the mullet" shirts. So, on to the review. This was the first time I got to see the P.A.W.N.S. play. I'd heard all about what they've done for their scene and how much they toured so I was pretty sure I'd like 'em. I was not disappointed. P.A.W.N.S. reminded me a little of DK in that they play with a lot of emotion and actually take the time to educate their audience. They seem to have a lot of fun doing it, too. Ray DeHated on guitar, LDB on drums, Rob on bass and St. Anne fronting a good old fashioned politi-punk band who's straight ahead style of playing is nicely complimented with some timely breaks and crescendos without kissing too much ass. I think I can safely say that this band is good for Chico.
The Hoods came all the way up from Sacto just to hurt our pretty little ears. My friend Matt was scared of them when they started playing. "They're too tough," he said. The Hoods are one of the hardest working hardcore bands out there and it showed when they put the pedal to the metal and belted out song after song, barely stopping for a breath or a drink of water. This is music to beat up your best friend to and actually, by the amount of bloody people stumbling out of the pit, I'd say the message got across. Heavy and fast guitars, fast thumping bass, solid fucking drumming and growling vocals mixed in with a whole lot of attitude are what make The Hoods a band to be reckoned with.
Last up was D.R.I. and it was about time. Due to lagging on someone's part (maybe it was the singer who had to sell all the merch as well as entertain), but whatever, I had waited 12 years to see them, what was a few more minutes? They started their set in true D.R.I. style: messy, fast and loud. When the first chords of "Flesh Heart" started I saw some bald guy's mouth get blown by a random elbow. That was pretty cool (for me, not him). They ripped through the set playing old and new songs and you know what? When they play live it sounds just like it does on the albums. Break out "Four of a Kind" for some dirty fun one day soon to see what I'm talking about. The crowd went a little crazy when they played "Madman" and went fucking ape-shit (that's really crazy) when they played "I win-you lose." After the first set, D.R.I. came back on stage to the whole crowd screaming their name. You could tell it meant a lot to these guys who had dedicated their whole lives to thrashing to still be thought of as a great band. They finished off with a lot of songs in a row (something like six, I couldn't really tell) and packed it up quickly to get over to the merch booth to sell some more pins and t-shirts. Ahh, the glamorous life of rock 'n' roll.
- Marcus Dorin
- Photo by Jeff Shaner

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