Affirmative Action Jackson
It had been a crappy two weeks. With everything else going on in the world, I could easily turn on the news and say, "Well, my problems aren't really that bad," but decided instead to turn to music, like many others. There was only one other dilemma: Do I want something that's funny, like the Descendents, or something heavier and rocking, like Manowar? Luckily, there's a perfect solution, and they were playing at ABC No Rio.
Now, if you've never been before, ABC is probably the closest thing to a house show in Manhattan you're going to find. Hell, it almost makes CBGB's look like Madison Square Garden. If nothing else, I can't think of many other "venues" where you'll find cats strolling around before the show while little kids skate around the floor. And if you don't like that, you don't even want to THINK about just what it is that's falling from the ceiling while the bands are playing.
I'm ninety-nine percent sure the first band was called Total Fucking Destruction, but I'm not positive because I don't think they actually said their name during their set. The funny thing was, they started off by swearing a lot and saying, "This shouldn't be more than thirty-six minutes," and I'm also pretty sure that they played for almost forty-five. Granted, I don't really go to many thrash/grind/etc. shows, but I always thought that bands like that play really short sets. It's all good, though. Overall, they played fast, brutal songs about hating everything in the world and dropping F-bombs, with lots of really low growling. Additionally, one of their guitar players had this multi-effects box, and would occasionally play these really crazy anime-sounding parts.
Affirmative Action Jackson
I first heard of Affirmative Action Jackson through Paint It Black, since the two bands share members (I actually thought AAJ was just a side project, until I realized that they'd been around longer). Despite searching around, I could never find much on them, until I saw they were playing this show, so I was pretty psyched to finally see them, and oh was it worth it. Trust me, this is where it's at.
I think the best way to describe them is to imagine Spazz if they were fronted by your favorite comedians. Allow me to recap nearly the entire set: you know how there's always a big space in front of the band, at pretty much EVERY show? They started off by challenging everyone to take steps forward or backward after every song, depending if they like it or not. "It'll be like a score card that way," they told us. Then first song was introduced as "a song about the workers struggle. If you don't like your job, you should just find a girl or a guy and just make out with them - let them kiss you."
So to recap, AAJ plays short blasts of punk songs that actually touch upon socio/political topics - and have as much fun as possible with them. I mean, how do you argue with a band who tells you to take action by being naked and eating pizza? You can't. Seriously, I think you could almost go as far to say that AAJ is the Philadelphia equivalent to Dillinger Four, which is to say very highly recommended. They have a split out with the Sound of Failure, so if you can find it, get it. If nothing else, see them on Myspace.
Rumplestiltskin Grinder
I had to be back to New Jersey early, so the last band I saw was Rumplestiltskin Grinder. I'd never actually heard of them before, but was also really impressed and entertained. They were a lot like AAJ, only more of a heavy metal band, so the songs were really good, but more about topics like crazy monsters and dead bodies. They were another band that can play really well and just genuinely enjoys themselves. I started to wonder if they were a joke band (especially with the singer performing a mock grave digging, and giving one of the guitar players devil horns during a solo), but they let me know otherwise when they had everyone chanting "NO - WE'RE - NOT - FUCKING AROUND!!!" "HELL YEAH," I cheered along with them.
Overall:
Total Fucking Destruction, recommended for people who are really into grind and/or power violence.
Rumplestiltskin Grinder, recommended for people who are just into generally heavier music.
Affirmative Action Jackson, recommended for people who have souls.
