On Friday night I saw a left coast band from the left coast and a Chicago band from Chicago hosted on their respective tours by Brooklyn's finest left coast band, Shellshag, and their little Brooklyn buddies Marvin Berry and the New Sound at Don Pedros, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, United States of America, Earth. I went for Shellshag and I got some damn good bands from out of town.

Marvin Berry and the New Sound was the first I saw. Before I ever saw or heard them, I loved them. I never get excited about a band's name, but this one's that good. Unfortunately, pre-judging is bad because they were not as good as the band name. I guess that's how it goes. They are very new, but they don't need any handicapping. They have their shit together, just it's pop pop punk desperately needing a little more bite. The best part of their set was this guy standing directly in front of the guitarist, critiquing every one of his guitar solos. He was never impressed, and neither was I really, but it's a pop punk band so what do you expect.

Next was PIGS from Oakland. The crowd thinned, which was unfortunate because I would have loved to see a lot of the cooler people who were getting really into Marvin Berry listen to 10 seconds of PIGS and run for the door.

I liked every part of this band. Excellent and interesting metal guitar doodling by guitarist Jack Doff through his hilariously green painted Orange amp, complete with a redone logo: GREEN. The bassist, Rachel, was a force. I was definitely afraid of her and her big flopping hair, which makes the band very bad ass (How many people in metal bands are you really afraid of nowadays? Kerry King's a teddy bear!). The drummer, Hammy, was relentless, pounding away when the rest of the band was taking it easy. PIGS has the "using all the classic metal clichés but not sounding like some shitty tribute band" down pat. I call me' left coast because they are definitely from the same coast as Kyuss. I am afraid to say it, but I believe Californians get Sabbath better than we do.

97-shiki from Chicago came up next. Steve Albini is from Chicago. Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac are based in Chicago. Is there something in the water in Chicago? In the same case as PIGS, I don't at all think 97-shiki is a ripoff. They do enough interesting things to follow through with a style that ain't exactly theirs to make them worthy of attention. Herky jerky guitar, solid bass, a whiny Steve Albini styled singer who picks up a trumpet when needed. All Burma/ Minutemen/1.6 Band and the aforementioned Albini-universe fans will have a good time with this band.

Last was Shellshag, one of my favorite bands on the Earth and a band I've written about a lot, but never too much. The set was a usual Shellshag set, but a usual Shellshag set is killer. Shag's drumming impresses me every time I see her bash away at her 3 drum set. Shell's guitar playing is sloppy and amazing. I like noise and he makes a lot of noise. Their records are good, but this band is definitely a beast that must be witnessed live. Shell's singing on "Resilient Bastard" alone is worth it. He bellows and snarls each line. And maybe it's the drinking that makes it that much different than the record, but it's beautiful.

To end this on Adam looking like a real big idiot, a friend of mine, a Shellshag virgin, pointed out that one of the songs I'd heard Shellshag play a bunch of times is actually "The Promise" by When in Rome. So I went home and I clicked it on and realized I do know that song, but I never put the pieces together. In their cover, though, Shell sings the line, "Sometimes if I shout" and Shag sings the original's ultra-reverberation out loud: "Shout shout shout shout!" I finally get it! Now the world makes a little bit more sense.

Shellshag 

97-shiki 

PIGS 

PIGS 

Thanks to my cousin Chris McShane for the pictures.