Unwritten Law, Home Grown, Riddlin' Kids & Indecisive Youth

Though somewhat tarnished by misinformation and the consequences of, Tuesday's Unwritten Law show -the band's first ever Chico appearance - nevertheless proved to be an enjoyable affair for most if not all of those crammed into the steamy confines of The Brick Works.
The satisfying aspects of the evening were only augmented by the fact that the show itself nearly did not happen: a few days prior to the show-date, a message appeared on the Unwritten Law homepage announcing that guitarist Steve Morris had been the victim of a bomb attack - no shit - and that all tour dates were cancelled until further notice. This information prompted the Chicolist (www.chicolist.com) to announce that Unwritten had in fact cancelled their Chico appearance. Needless to say, this announcement was met with a not insignificant degree of personal torment. Fortunately this torment would be short lived, as a call to The Brick Works confirmed that yes, Unwritten Law were here and that yes, they were going to be bringing the new-school anthem rock sound that has made them so popular with high school girls and me. But confusion was not yet entirely eliminated. Previous promotional materials, as well as The Brick Works homepage, had led me to believe that the show kicked off at 8:30 PM - a time that suited me quite nicely. However, when I strolled in fashionably late at 8:45, I found the evening's third act, bro-school campy-punkers Homegrown already up on the stage. Nick from Indecisive Youth informed me that they began their set at around 7:00, meaning that I had indeed missed both Indecisive Youth and Riddlin Kids. I was penalized 500 punk points.
Though saddened by this immense loss, I nevertheless endeavored to thoroughly bathe in the night's remaining two performers, cleansing myself of my journalistic sins. Homegrown, however, are not the type of band one feels inclined to pay much attention to, let alone enjoy. Playing an archaic brand of new-school pop-punk, made all the more giddy by their ceaseless antics and permanently grinning countenances, Homegrown make Blink-182 seem stoic. Their music is like an excuse to be on a stage horsing around, only occasionally necessitating their attention. The addition of a guitarist, making the band a four-piece this time around, did little to thicken the sound, but only seemed to excite the band's kitten-like playfulness into an utter stupor. The crowd, consisting mainly of 15-year-old girls, dudes from Diego who live in the dorms and kids who "drove all the way from Redding," seemed to eat up Homegrown's antics with sickening pleasure. Thankfully, after an extended rendition of "Surfer Girl," Homegrown quit the stage in favor of the evening's headliner, Unwritten Law.
Spawned out of the San Diego pop-punk scene, Unwritten Law has of late, as exhibited on their latest album Elva, found a more mainstream-rock, metal-esque power-pop sound. But judging from their almost hour and a half set, this has both invigorated the band, who sounded amazing, and the crowd, who all the while remained in a frenzied state of adoration. Though mixing in the occasional antiquated tune ("World War III" off the album Blue Room) the band mostly stuck to material off of their self-titled 1999 record, and the aforementioned Elva. Frontman Scott Russo played off of the energized audience, taking requests, singing to the occasional swooning youth and seeming to enjoy himself thoroughly. "That was fun…I'm really stoned. Chico has some ill weed," Russo quipped after a particularly smiley version of "Cailin," off of their self-titled release. Drummer Wade Youman also appeared to be under some sort of nefarious influence; his face painted pale, and eyes ringed with eyeliner, he seemed to draw the occasional dirty look from his band-mates with ill-timed excursions into poly-rhythm and often just plain ill improvisation. But this infrequent sloppiness only served to accentuate the overall tightness of the band. Ending with "Harmonic," my personal fave, and their latest radio single, "Up All Night," Unwritten Law proved themselves to be more than worthy of their recent mainstream success.
- Daniel Taylor

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