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 Iâm very brave so I persevered. Iâve sat through bad bands all for Diztort before and Iâll do it again, but luckily it wasnât 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 bandâs last show took place there way back in 2012 and we crammed 200 people inside, âeasily.â Due to scene beef and hotheadedness, itâs been a decade since Iâve attended anything there and itâs probably twice that since anyoneâs 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 canât pretend I didnât 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, itâs a style of hardcore that doesnât quite move me but I understand why people enjoy it. Bonus points to MoF âcause doors opened at 7 and they were done by 7:15. Canât ask for more.
My dude Jimmy Two Kicks drums in Contempt, a band which boasts the world famous Crucial Kyle on guitar. Iâm not sure how aware of this he is, but he can claim bands as far as Hattiesburg and Atlanta as musical offspring. Iâve 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 didnât recognize) and done real quick like.
I honestly canât 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 youâd see Terror and Tragedy listed side by side, but youâd never see a chain punk bandâs guitarist in a Hatebreed shirt. This is relevant because I think if youâve spent any amount of time listening to Tower 7, the only reason you wouldnât 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. Iâm so sorry, itâs 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 fuckinâ around, the promoter wasnât 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. Iâm not straight edge anymore but god do I never ever want that.
- Itâs 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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