Standfast & Seven Dollar Jacket

To coincide with the new image and patronage of Riff Raff, Wednesday night’s attendees were treated to some actual local punk rock. My complete indifference to either of the bands on this bill was evidenced by my late arrival to the show. But wouldn’t you know it? I arrived 20 minutes late and they were still setting up. The audience was a mix of bro-core studs, mohawked punk parodies and indie emo twiglets who most likely had no idea they were attending a show featuring a Christian band. Nevertheless, Seven Dollar Jacket assumed their spots on stage to a half capacity crowd. This five-piece punk group possessed all the necessary ingredients to get your toes tapping and your fists pumping in the air. I spent the entirety of their set outside the front window, just behind the drummer because, frankly, it sounds better outside than it does inside. The group’s breakdowns were perhaps the most enjoyable part of their set, as was apparent by the many heads bouncing in unison. I wasn’t sure what they were singing about, but I was willing to bet that the religious undertones were kept subtle so as to thwart would-be loudmouths who might snap at the mere mention of Jesus. The five young lads ended their set after about 8 or 9 songs and made way for another Chico punk rock band, Standfast.
Drinks were consumed double fist style by many of the barflies who waited for the next band. Perhaps they knew that the group would justify this behavior. As in they needed to be hammered to get through it. Such was the case as Standfast took the stage. They played a sort of tired, early Face to Face style of rock that really couldn’t keep my attention. The songs were pretty well structured, but it seemed as if they could benefit from a little more practice. To fabricate a story about how I hung in there for them and rooted them on until they killed their last bar chord would be a sin (trying to keep with the religious theme), so I won’t do it. I left about two-and-a-half songs into their set along with a lot of other folks. All in all, it was a shift from the hyped up shows of Chico’s past, and a look at some new bands that just may turn out to be local favorites.

– Ryan Prado
– Photo by Matt Beier

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