Friday night was the Panache Showcase at Public Assembly, with their fun and eccentric roster of bands ranging from Dent May to Violent Bullshit. I ended up only seeing enough of the latter to see front man Jayson Green getting in a heckling war with a dudebro. After realizing the futility of what was becoming a pointless heck loop, he cut the dude off to begin the next song, dedicating it “to the guy in the North Face jacket!” and then bellowing into the mic. A meager mosh pit began and fizzled, and that was the extent of that.
A couple hours before, Dent May had the ladies swooning over his indie bubble gum tunes in Public Assembly’s front room. He’s long dropped the ukulele in favor of an electric guitar, but the melodies are still feel good jams with catchy pop hooks. He sang on his tip toes, and called out to the “Ladies! Ladies!!” to provoke the fans in front, who responded with cheers of tweeful glee. The ladies really do love him. It must be the glasses…and maybe the smooth croon. There was also something about the way he gracefully fell back into the drum set, then propelled himself forward to the edge of the stage, jousting into the crowd with his guitar. I don’t know, he’s got moves.
Speaking of moves, the always fun rock and roll studs Turbo Fruits were up next, with all their southern punk swagger. This was their third show of the day, but they showed little signs of fatigue. Their showmanship has only improved, and they pull the energy from the depths of their punk rock souls to swing those axes and growl those lyrics. Bassist Dave McCowan swung his bass every which way, snarling into the mic and then kneeling occasionally to pour beer into his mouth. Jonas Stein had more than one jump split in him, and he even marauded down the steps on the side of the stage to plow into the crowd, whilst soloing on his American flag painted guitar. Both dudes and gals quickly descended upon him, so it was hard to make anything out of a blur of hands and hair.
“Volcano” was once again a crowd favorite, and “Mama’s Mad Cos I Fried My Brain” was closer to “the sound man’s mad cos I fried the speakers.” Almost all the other songs were off their latest LP, Butter, which I just learned that the cover art of the butter stick was hand-carved by drummer Matt Hearn. These guys just keep getting better and better.
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