Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Massacre at Mode Palmerston North Nov 10 2007





Headed back to the hometown for this show. Hamilton band The Bludgers pulled out leaving the show down to four bands which is a better number in my mind. Bar Mode isn't really a great venue being a converted nightclub and having windows which see out into the carpark (parking lot for any Americans reading this). However I appreciate that there is the option of watching a band from an upstairs position. Bar mode really needs curtains across some of the windows when bands play as the cars outside can be distracting. I was far from being the out of towner.

Local boysThe Neckstretchers started the night off with their garage punk rock. First time I'd seen these guys. I wouldn't be surprised if these boys owned every Motorhead and MC5 album and I'd guess all the stuff by The Datsuns and The D4 too. The frontman's gymnast on speed antics were amusing. He kept doing handstands and flips. The lap of bar mode which included a bartop move which put those Coyote Ugly girls to shame. Really, it was just a bartop sprint which was part of a lap of the entire bar. It was something I've never seen any frontman do before.





Above: The Neckstretchers

The Neckstretchers song Astropoker Gimme The Future which sounds demo quality can be found on their Myspace page



Next up were more Palmerston North locals in the form of Black Chrome and they were great as usual. They do seem to be getting heavier with the two guitar sound now. I think they're now incapable of playing a bad show. Black Chrome play melodic Punk Rock. The band claim Turbonegro
,Social Distortion, Flesh D-Vice ,Leatherface, Ramones, Backyard Babies, AC/DC, Nashville Pussy,Misfits
and The Beatsteaks as influences.



Pic: Black Chrome

Here's a youtube clip of Black Chrome playing My Band at this show




Black Chrome can also be heard on their myspace page.


Horror Story from New Plymouth were great too. They played with their original bassist, Semp. Their type of Horror Punk has most thinking of The Misfits but there's definitely a Cramps influence in there too. Horror Story playing one of their slower songs that night can be seen in the youtube clip below.





Horror Story can be heard on their myspace page or their full 2001 album, Monsterpiece can be downloaded here

The cops showed up just before the local politically incorrect named The Bali Bombers played. As the terrorist suppression act doesn't work they used the city liquor band as a reason to do paperwork. Someone told me the Bali Bombers new guy, Jason on drums was awesome, I'd never seen The Bali Bombers before and I was blown away by the whole band. One of the previous drummers is now a guitarist in the hardcore punk band Gaylordz. I'd guess the Bali Bombers are influenced by a whole gamut of punk. Going on Band T-shirts you'd pick Arch Enemy, Sick of It All and Agnostic Front as influences but actually listening to the band you can hear Slayer, Black Sabbath, UK Subs; The Exploited; GBH; Discharge; Circle Jerks; Black Flag and Anti-Nowhere League The Bali Bombers can be heard on their



Pic: The Bali Bombers

A Youtube clip of the Bali Bombers playing at Massacre of Mode can be seen here.

It should be mentioned that Craig, the Horror Story drummer has an excellent streaming radio show of New Plymouth based punk and metal bands which can be found on his website.

Click NPROCKROCKNROLL radio. I highly recommend checking out 1080 and Nefarious.

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