F-Minus / Street Trash / The Orphans @ The Huntridge Theater

by GE 138

Really really bad turnout for this show. I completely forgot about the show at the Saigon Café, which was happening across town, and I wasn’t even planning to go to this show, but since Mike from Clit 45 was going to be playing drums for Street Trash (when does the guy sleep, for Christ's sake?), I made the effort to get my ass down to the Huntridge to see the gig. Chatted with Tom and the Security guys about the low turnout. Ran into Pitt and Hank. We were just hanging out when we ran into Mike from Street Trash, and he put us on the guest list (Thanx!) and we wandered in just as The Orphans were starting, and I’m sure glad I did. Obnoxious, scary, confrontational punk rock that left the U.K. Punk kids kinda scratching their heads and leaving. The singer Jenny reminded me of that parody that Gilda Radner did of Patti Smith, ya know...all "Punky" and jumping around and rolling on the floor and dry humping some dude (lucky Hank was the guy this time... closest he’s gotten to getting laid all year I bet!). The singer from The Orphans... she was fucking awesome! The band’s sound reminded me of the Dwarves... mixed with the Avengers maybe? I don’t know. All I know is that they were great to watch and that I almost got hit in the head with a flying trashcan that the bass player Wade threw into the crowd. Punk Rock.

Next up was Street Trash. Never heard of them. Didn’t know what to expect. But with Mike in the band, it had to be worth checking out, right? Right! Street Trash play a style of Punk that’s very rooted in bands like Gang Green, early Corrosion Of Conformity and Negative Approach. The sound is terrible in these lobby shows that the Huntridge does, but what I could make out sounded good. Mike was just thrashing about and tossing his drum set around mid song and just fucking shit up behind the band while they played. The guitar player Cody looked like the Karate Kid with his kamikaze headband on and shredding away. They ended with a cover of Battalion Of Saints Second Coming which sounded excellent to my ears. The crowd loved it and so did I! Great set from Street Trash.

F-Minus were up next and all I kept asking myself was "This band got signed to a label?" Pitt summed up their sound with just one word: Amebix. And just like Amebix, after the first 10 minutes, it got boring. Real boring. People seemed to dig them though, so what the fuck do I know? All I know is that I don’t know nothing.