Cro-Mags Show Last Night at Europa

Seeing the Cro-Mags slay play last night at Europa in Greenpoint still has me sore as fuck. In case you were wondering, NYHC is still very much alive and kicking. Last night the Cro-mags (w/JJ, minus Harley) tore through pretty much all of Age of Quarrel and a couple of choice cuts from Best Wishes at full speed to a crowd of young, old, male female, black, white, latino, Jewish, Christian, small, big, and fucking huge (good ol' NYHC linebacker looking dudes) hardcore fans. Even with this pretty diverse crowd on hand as soon as the Mags got on stage it descended into a massive brodown throwdown pit. As a kid I was into pretty much traditional punk and ska (yeah fuck you I like ska, still) and a lot of the shows I was at would have some overflow with the 90's NYHC scene. I was pretty much entirely turned off to that crowd back then because it basically looked like the football team was out to kick the shit out of each other. And when you're 15 those dudes look like fucking skyscrapers. Seriously, a 6'3 225 dude might as well be a fucking backhoe at that point. Well, now as a fairly large dude myself, they still look like fucking Mack Trucks with arms. Fortunately the bro percentage was fairly low comparative to the entire crowd and people were able to all mosh around and have a damn good time.

Other than the fact that I'm sore as fuck and have been totally chilled the hell out all day I can totally throw my weigh behind this line up of the "no-mags". As you might have figured out I'm pretty fucking uptight and elitist about certain things in the music I listen to and in general, like every music snob asshole in the world, I tend to like "original lineups" best. However, when it comes to a small venue show it's really all about the vibe between the band and the crowd and the band with itself. This line up was all about giving the people what they want and having a good fucking time while doing it. I'm sold, go see the "no-mags."

PS: JJ gave me the number to his temple and invited me to join him for "the feast" on Sunday. Anybody want some kool-aid?

Cro-Mags - Before the Quarrel

Finally back to the business at hand. Music. Ahhh.
For your kick off to the week I offer up "Before the Quarrel" by the Cro-Mags. This isn't technically an "album" so much as a collection of the demos for the classic "Age of Quarrel." Though it may be blasphemous to say, I think I like this more than AOQ... well, at points. BTQ is a pretty awesome snapshot of the Mags completely off the leash. The recording is raw as hell, the band is a little looser, a little faster, and a little rougher around the edges. What really makes it for me though is that JJ sounds completely at the end of his rope. Just unhinged all the way and on full tilt. AB the BTQ version of "World Peace", "Malfunction", or "Signs of the Time" with the AOQ version and you'll really hear what I mean. AOQ is amazing and set the tone for the beginnings of crossover and NYHC but compared to a lot of BTQ it sounds genuinely overproduced (hard to fucking believe).

I'm not really sure why but for some reason I hear a lot of euro-punk discharge/oi influence in here. Might be the singalong choruses or something.

Take a listen, hell take 10. The minute "World Peace" hit I was a convert.

Cro-Mags - Before the Quarrel