There was a strange feeling in the air of O’Brien’s on Sunday night, one of familiarity. In an extended time where everything has felt weird, wrong and bad, this was a night where things just felt right. After an ominously calm winter, it was a comfortingly cold night in Allston as I set foot in O’Brien’s – a pub I hadn’t been to since before COVID hit. It sits at the end (or beginning) of a two-block stretch of bars and venues I used to frequent in normal times, only half of which still exist. Behind the bar at O’Brien’s hangs a framed photo of the Great Scott, one of Boston’s biggest COVID losses.
This is also the first hardcore show I’ve been to in quite some time, and the smallest venue show I’ve been to since shows started back up. While I may be old and battered now, I grew up going to small-venue hardcore shows, and this brought back a different sense of familiarity, one that stretches back fifteen years instead of three. With the exception of the bar, O’Brien’s has the proper set-up for this type of show – a stage in the corner, roughly a foot off the ground and barely big enough to fit a band. The card’s first two bands, New Forms and Amitié, had singers who opted not to use the stage at all.
As I stood alone waiting for the show to start, a kind stranger from Providence struck up conversation. It was a kind of kindred barstool chat that, again, felt familiar in the sense that I used to be proficient at it. Now, I’m floundering for words. We talked about scramz, and the awkwardness of a late show on a Sunday night. He told me about a show the week prior where a crowdsurfer went too hard and ate shit, only for that total stranger to be standing right next to us.
New Forms
In true punk fashion, the show started 35 minutes late and one of the announced bands (Providence’s catalyst…) was nowhere to be found. Once it started though, it started with a bang, and a hum. Boston’s New Forms came out swinging with rapid fire emoviolence tunes, a set of songs that packed otherworldly intensity into their hyper-compact runtimes. After only a couple songs, they had an electric issue to deal with, as an amp started humming as loud as the band was playing. Expertly, the band blamed it on fatigue after spending the previous few days in the studio recording – spinning the malfunction into promotion. Once fixed, the band ripped through a handful more songs that were high-energy, high-screamed thrash-emo. It was an incredibly impressive performance for a band that has so far only released roughly six minutes of music.
Amitié was up next, and filled the shoes amicably. Like New Forms before them, their singer eschewed the stage to sing directly to the fans. The band wasn’t as singularly focused on intensity as New Forms, as they showed off a more varied brand of emo – the screamo energy sometimes gave way to quieter, midtempo moments; there was time for bridges and riffs. This made the louder moments all the more hard-hitting. They also teased new music, and had spontaneous pits open on multiple songs. The Providence group had a strong showing, showcasing a set of screamo tunes that were abrasive but patient.
Boston’s own My Fictions were the biggest outlier on this card, as they are neither a scramz group nor a fresh one, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t sound fresh. The band played some cuts from their 2021 EP “Time Immemorial,” as well as some older tunes dating back a decade. Naturally, they had the most contained and most mature set of the night, as they pummeled through a set that ignored the night’s genre-bending in favor of traditional hardcore. It was a blast, and the young crowd had nothing but deep appreciation for the local vets. And, like both bands before them, they also teased new music.
Foxtails
Sunday’s main even came in the form of Connecticut’s Foxtails, whose recent album “fawn” made our 2022 Staff Picks list. The group, like New Forms and Amitié, offer a helping of screamo twisted through other elements. But Foxtails have a secret weapon in Jared Schmidt, their full-time violinist. Jared adds a sense of realism to the phrase “Midwest emo” with their strings, that gives the band a slight folk-punk and even indie edge as well. The band as a whole plays very patiently; some songs are stretched out and jammed on, or start with tantric riffs that tease a wild conclusion – whether it actually happens or not. Of course, in a live setting, the band leaned heavily on their wild bangers. It was a ripping set with the band locked in, plowing through 9 songs in a short time. Singer Blue Luno Solaz is one of the scene’s best up-and-coming screamers and they proved it during this set. None of the band’s four members looked primed for a screamo showcase, but that only adds to their allure – a group of misfits refusing to hold themselves to any genre identity.
Hardcore is alive and well, and a local showcase like the one put on at O’Brien’s can only prove that. Hardcore and Boston are forever intertwined, and no matter how much the city changes, there will always be haunts for young bands to scream, slamdance and experiment. That is the biggest familiarity that can truly never fade away.
Foxtails, My Fictions, Amitié and New Forms are all on Bandcamp.