Recap: The Points, Gut Reactions & More at The Vault, 10.18.09

Gut Reactions: Taking Hardcore Stage-Side

 

Photo of Gut Reactions courtesy of the band

 Words by Erin Wolf
Hardcore today isn’t your older brother’s hardcore: the days of Minor Threat and cold-sweating in someone’s basement watching a bunch of twelve year-olds vigorously thrash their guitars and drum kits into submission and screaming until they spit blood are not a distant memory, but the scene is definitely morphing. Milwaukee’s Gut Reactions are taking their basement-core to the stage for a rare appearance as different genres are getting better and better at ‘making nice’ at shows. Hardcore never has been completely at home on the stage, but the Gut Reactions’ natural confidence makes it that much easier to seem at ease next to bands they might not normally share a slab of concrete with. Gut Reactions are getting set to pair up hardcore with the underwater garage-rock of Rocktopus, the loud and drunk spinnings of the Get Drunk DJs and the odd phenomenon that is Nobunny, this Saturday at Mad Planet.

There have been several different descriptions for Gut Reactions’ sound. One reviewer called your music “garbage rock”: is that a good thing?

“Garbage rock” sounds accurate. It’s a lot of loud music with Lee (vocals) yelling. It’s been a bit less “garbage-y” since Jake (bass) joined the band a year ago and started writing real songs with structure and stuff. Jake’s a good guy.

There are a lot of hardcore bands in Milwaukee — do you feel the need to make the extra effort to try and sound different/do anything different to make yourselves heard, or are you confident that interest is just something that builds naturally over time?
No extra effort is really made to stand out; we try to write songs that we like and play on fun shows with other bands that we like and hope it goes well.

“Yer So Cruel” got a lot of good press — where’d you record it?
It was recorded in the basement of Best House Ever House in Milwaukee by Mr. Paul Kalfahs, released on Kenrock Records out of Sweden (copies still available!).

This is one of the ‘biggest’ shows you’ve played in Milwaukee in terms of venue and publicity — would you rather play stages with a PA set-up and everything mic’d, or are you more comfortable with doing basement shows?
I think we’re definitely more comfortable in basements where we can interact with the audience more but the few times we’ve played bigger venues, it’s gone surprisingly well. Lee has yet to fall off a stage.

Razorcake described you as a band that’s the ‘life of the party’, more or less. If you were throwing a party and playing at it, who would you want to be there?
Truthdealer, friends, pets and the E Street Band.

What’s going on, detail-wise, with the ‘party’ at Mad Planet on the 7th?
Nobunny is the nation’s premier rabbit costume-wearing artist and always brings the party. Yolks are fun rock-n-roll from Chicago. Gut Reactions play second. Rocktopus and the Scallywags emerge from the sewers of Riverwest to kick the night off with some aquatic rock. Get Drunk DJs will be spinning ear-numbingly loud tunes between bands.

Thanks Erin for the awesome write-up!!!

TERMINAL BOREDOM - Miles better than their debut 7", which was mundane at best. "Yer So Cruel" has a nasty-type Nineties-Crypt garage sting to it that seemed lacking from that first batch of bland tunes. This one has legs. "Jihad Blues" sounds like early Catholic Boys damp-basement-punk, "Happening" is garage-punk bitching that ain't too shabby. A marked improvement from that first EP, and while it's not a bona fide blazer, it's good enough to pique the interest of garage turkeys into Wisconsonian garbage-rock. I give it three cheese curds out of five, and a pat on the back for not playing folky-jangle-rock. Produced by Paul "Douchebag" Reject! Scum stats: 300 copies on black. (Rich Kroneiss)

RAZORCAKE - Stomp rock you can slam to from the place that inspired millions of Americans to drink their swill and get on the dance floor: ........Milwaukee, ....Wisconsin. Pissing in your pants optional. –Jim Ruland

SAVAGE - Meanwhile, the Gut Reactions show just how much better the Americans are at punkrock. Packing a punch, reeling and shaking like punkrock should and being trashy jsut for the hell of it. Cool stuff.

SORRY STATE RECORDS - Songs of hyper-energetic, fuzzed out garage stomp. Recommended if you like the garagier stuff on Fashionable Idiots like the Sinks or the Retainers. On Ken Rock Records so this is probably your only non-ebay opportunity to buy this, ever.

FRANTIC CITY - Punk Rock / Garage U.S. recorded by the guy from the Teenage Rejects & Catholic Boys, 3 cool tracks, it sounds like a mix of Reatards and Fe-Fi-Fo-Fums.

FLIGHT 13 RECORDS - 2nd EP oblique Gut Reactions from Milwaukkee. Three songs somewhere between Holy Curse, Bathtub Gin, and the Sonics on Acid Musisches as well as their musical skills to the test! Quick, how wildly distorted and desert!

SONGS up from "Local/Live" on WMSE 91.7

VIDEOS up here: http://www.wmse.org/index.php

(click on "Watch Live Videos")

Kenrock single still for sale ... yellow vinyl now available!

courtesty of our friend Dan Celebrity (thanks for the awesome write-up) and Fan Belt Milwaukee...

Why we love punk shows at the Dipping Station

The Gut Reactions take a break from chips, salsa and Port Wine cheese spread to rock a set at the Dipping Station in Riverwest.

Photo and words by Dan Agacki

I, like pretty much everyone, enjoy snacking. It is an enjoyable pastime. Punk shows, same deal. To combine the two seems all too logical. The guys at The Dipping Station know what I am talking about. Their shows provide snacking opportunities for even the pickiest of snackers. Last night I descended into the Station to munch on some pretzel rods and tortilla chips. There wasn't any Port Wine cheese spread this time around, but beggars can't be choosers, ya know.

Show openers Rapid Adapter turn garage rock on its ear in the same way that Wire did punk. Throw in a bit of Mission of Burma and Magazine and you have a small glimpse at the recipe for their sound. The songs cranked out at rapid fire pace. It was like a well oiled machine. There's really no other band like 'em in Milwaukee and that's why I've always held them in high regard.

The Thing That Always Explodes, from Little Rock, AR, assumed the middle position of the show lineup. Other than listening to their MySpace songs, I had no previous exposure to them. Their set was a bit constrained by the fact that the frontman was also the guitar player, a configuration that doesn't aid most hardcore bands. But their quality songwriting and 1.6 Band/Drive Like Jehu sound pulled them along.

Closing the night down were the Gut Reactions. Now here's a band that doesn't get enough love. Musically solid with an energetic frontman, their live shows are always great. Last night was no different. They cranked out the garage rock tunes in a straight up manner that bands just don't seem to do anymore. It makes me nostalgic for the mid-90s heydays of Rip Off and Radio X Records. As soon as you're done reading this, run on over to My Space and check out their show dates. You'll thank me later.