Awful People/Raging Nathans/Wonk Unit and more

Sunday, October 25th 2015

Xtra Medium Video Productions, Largo FL

Originally published at Suburban Apologist

It’s been 15 years today since I went to my first gig.  It’s also my first official day of unemployment in a long time.  These occasions are to be marked in an unlikely venue in humble Largo, smothered in an international punk atmosphere that I aspire to have in the rest of my life.  Xtra Medium is a venue within a business inside a living room. Just two nights earlier, they showcased the band Carb On Carb from New Zealand, and tonight's event is something of a pre-Pre-Fest for bands that have travelled from Europe to Florida.  If this keeps up the warm-up shows will keep moving south until Hot Water Music are playing spoons in my kitchen.

The lineup has a geographic trajectory too.  Überyou from Zürich have already been on tour for over ten weeks, starting in Cuba and going throughout South America.  They don’t need any tax-free rides bankrolling their ventures.  Their solid punk set comes with a gravelly singing voice and a thin Zach Galifianakis on bass.  “Let’s have some beers later,” says the hardworking vocalist, sounding like he could do with one now.  Or maybe the lack of alcohol license in a video conversion shop should be considered a blessing after some three months on the road.

From Lodi, Italy comes Red Car Burns.  Another burned voice soothes us (it’s ironic, how that works), right in the Stubbs sweet spot but with pretty hard backing music.  Their backup-singer/guitarist moves gingerly from foot-to-foot as they perform, hinting at the delicate souls underneath the hum. Even though Red Car Burns appear to write primarily in English they speak very little in their set, but that’s okay.  I sure as fuck can’t write their review in Italian.

Power-poppers Personal Best have a singer from Wales (Newport), an English bassist, and an English touring drummer who lives in Brooklyn.  They are also fantastic. I love simple songs about buses and work, and if John Peel was still around he’d be having them in for a session.  A flowery purple amp that may well have been there all night comes to my attention and fits perfectly. Singer Katie’s voice stands atop the melodies just right.  Listen to ‘If You Meet Someone In Love’ and try not to love it. I dare you.

When you’ve lived over here for a while, it can be easy to forget just how laughable certain aspects of American culture are.  Londoners Wonk Unit (new album here) remind me, telling us how they drove all the way from Alabama, praying to the baby Jesus as the billboards no doubt instructed them.  The last laugh might be for the theists, though: Alex has lost his voice en route, resulting in an unwanted gravelly delivery. Coincidentally, many of Wonk Unit’s songs are about laying gravel, plastering, and the like.  Alex explains it all in spoken word intros, apologises for his state and gently lambasts the drummer for not doing the “woos” in ‘Nan’. It’s a rubbish shame but still a pleasure to see a band associated with the scenes back home, and that’s saying nothing about guitarist Benny’s Stone Roses hat.

Wonk Unit are on tour with Ohio “No Coasters,” Raging Nathans.  They connected through Wonk Unit’s current label -- Drunken Sailor Records -- which is funny, as The Nathans bear a most positive resemblance to Wonk cohorts Revenge of the Psychotronic Man and the associated TNS Records.  The three-piece play what might accurately be called “lightning fast” punk live (with perhaps Kris Roe on vocals) and run a distro/label (Rad Girlfriend).  I picked out a 7” by a band called Couch, though I’ve yet to confirm whether it’s the group that were a big influence on fellow-Fest performer Andrew W.K.  These friendly Ragers tell us how unfortunate we are to have missed the full Wonk Unit experience, as this is the first night on tour where “they’ve made us look good.”

There’s a nice poetry and holisticness to having the newest, most local act play last after all of this. Awful People are a tight and melodic Pinellas band with former members of Arm The Poor, Feral Babies and Criminal Culture.  They pay it backwards, suggesting support of all the touring acts, as they “don’t have anything.” Nothing except a chugging punk sound and much potential.  

This daring, unique and globe-spanning event was made possible by the accommodating and friendly Savage Beat flyer-drawing company.