Glassjaw, American Nothing & The Blood Brothers

Being new to Chico I wasn't sure what to expect from this show. The only thing that was to be expected was a lot of rock. As The Blood Brothers set up, the audience had no idea what as about to hit them. With a flick of the wrist, Cody's pick hit his guitar strings and the chaos had begun with their song "Jennifer." Johnny and Jordan's dual vocals hit like a combo, a relentless beating of screams. Johnny's singing is very high and sassy, while Jordan's is a bit deeper, but still has the sass. Johnny pumped his leg up and down and had his left hand up on his hip like Mick Jagger. The timing of the songs would change continuously, and so did the movements of Jordan. One minute, he'd be bent over shrieking into the mic, and the next spazzing out with the blasting beats. Morgan would switch up the playing between the bass and keyboard, and the eerie sounds of keyboard added to the chaos. Mark would rock out while playing the drums, which gave him good stage presence. With a performance like this, it makes sense why they got signed to Artist Direct. The guitar riffs were similar to At The Drive-In, but with less structure. Right when the people started to understand the sound, they played their shortest and fastest song "Guitar Me," and finished.
Next up was American Nothing, previously American Nightmare. They started out with a crowd favorite, "Farewell." The dance floor became littered with black hair and Saucony shoes. AN isn't a breakdown heavy band, but when there was one, violent jump kicks and windmills would be thrown around. Wes would jump around and switch up between his desperate cries and letting the audience sing. Although many new "hardcore" bands have a big influence from metal, AN keeps it real with more of a straight up hardcore sound. Mid-set, they busted out an instrumental song that I've never heard before that wasn't very hard but definitely rocked.
After AN finished, the crowd died down a lot, and there weren't as many people for Glassjaw. The band pretty much just stood there and played. The only person with energy was Daryl the singer, and I heard that he was sick. His vocals were layered over upbeat hard alternative rock, with influences from Fugazi to Bad Brains. When Glassjaw would hit a heavy part in the song, the audience broke out with bro moshing, which is a bunch of people running around and pushing each other.
Overall, a very good show, and it's always a plus when the bands don't sound the same or even have a similar sound.
- Zed Brecherman
- Photos By Alyssa Starkey

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