Lone wolfed it to the Diztort gig in Chicago last night, as the majority of my friend group are not two-steppers (and neither am I, truth be had).
35 years old and the prospect made me a little nervous, but I’m very brave so I persevered. I’ve sat through bad bands all for Diztort before and I’ll do it again, but luckily it wasn’t like that this time.
I strolled up to Lot 49 a little early and was struck by how small the place feels to me now. It used to be called the Mouse Trap and during that tenure hosted some of the biggest and wildest shows in the city. My old band’s last show took place there way back in 2012 and we crammed 200 people inside, “easily.” Due to scene beef and hotheadedness, it’s been a decade since I’ve attended anything there and it’s probably twice that since anyone’s done any work on it. Great place for early 20s folks to practice their shmoves and for a bunch of Union Guys to wax constructional, but I can’t pretend I didn’t flinch every time a the duct work swayed with every cab dive or braced myself while the floor shook.
Matter of Fact was decent enough, it’s a style of hardcore that doesn’t quite move me but I understand why people enjoy it. Bonus points to MoF ‘cause doors opened at 7 and they were done by 7:15. Can’t ask for more.
My dude Jimmy Two Kicks drums in Contempt, a band which boasts the world famous Crucial Kyle on guitar. I’m not sure how aware of this he is, but he can claim bands as far as Hattiesburg and Atlanta as musical offspring. I’ve picked Poison Planet riffs out of Judy & the Jerks records. They were really good: fast, mean, straight edge, three covers (AF, Straight Ahead, one more I didn’t recognize) and done real quick like.
I honestly can’t remember what Enervate sounded like. Seemed heavy, played a little too long.
I had a brief chat with Jimmy Two Kicks about the MySpace era of capital H hardcore, where bands would list their influences and you’d see Terror and Tragedy listed side by side, but you’d never see a chain punk band’s guitarist in a Hatebreed shirt. This is relevant because I think if you’ve spent any amount of time listening to Tower 7, the only reason you wouldn’t like Collateral and Diztort is aesthetics.
Heavy, nasty riffs, the both of them, though Collateral is faster and feels a bit more visceral. Not to over-intellectualize a band that inspires 20-somethings to arrhythmically flail their arms in a circle, but Diztort always felt like the sensitive, introspective ones on that side of things. Even the crew photos evoke more somber than sinister vibes. Anyways, Diztort is like if ALL of the slow Cro-Mags songs were actually good. I’m so sorry, it’s time for us to be Seekers of the Truth.
Show +/-
+ Show was run by dudes who have to be up for work at 5:30am and it showed. There was no fuckin’ around, the promoter wasn’t drunk in the backyard instead of running things, and no one was left wondering when the fuck things were gonna start happening.
+ I purchased or was given 4 different physical zines. All black and white, cut and paste, no Instagram formatted junk.
+ Diztort was great. Collateral was great.
- Smoking inside honks man, get it together. I’m not straight edge anymore but god do I never ever want that.
- It’s to be expected at this point, but I was one of two people wearing a mask inside.
https://chicago.askapunk.net/event/diztort-live-in-chicago
#punk #hardcore #hardcorepunk #diztort #showreview
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