Preview: Fleatbite, Dent, Disipline, Phantom Rides, and Gender Meltdown [A Benefit for Smash it Dead Fest]

CupidWoellert

(Photo taken from Facebook. Matthew Woellert of Disipline as Cupid <3 )

It doesn’t matter if you think that Valentine’s Day is a sham created in a dingy corporate boardroom, or a genuine time to celebrate your affections. We can all agree that spending the evening with some of Massachusetts’s local talent shows more love than cheap chocolate and an overpriced dinner.

Ask a punk before Saturday evening to find the locale, and you’ll find a stacked line-up down in Allston. Gender Meltdown, Phantom Rides, Fleabite, Disipline, and Dent, will all be there to give some Valentine’s love to their fans and the unfamiliar alike. Plus, you’ll know that your patronage is for a good cause! This is a benefit show for Smash it Dead Fest, which raises money to support the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. So bring a few bucks, and you’ll know that you’ve done your part. Meanwhile, the five acts scheduled to perform will be filling the air with the sounds of Allston punk pure romance .

The lo-fi, fuzzy, alt-rock tunes of Boston-based Fleabite will get you into the holiday spirit… by reminding you how shitty your ex is. Their debut album Over It (released in April, 2014) was self described as “six songs of fuzzy pop about drinking & exes & cats.” With plenty of reverb, a chugging rhythm section and vocals reminiscent of the softer side of 90’s indie-rock/power-pop groups like Plumtree, Fleabite’s got the best medicine to mend your broken heart. Of course, that medicine is a mosh pit.

What’s more romantic than pop punk with a heavy dose of post punk influence? Nothing, absolutely nothing, and the fact was proven by science. That being said Phantom Rides draws on the riot grrl tradition for a classic, gritty, punkish sound, which creates a fierce, upbeat energy. Their five song demo has been on Bandcamp since this past July, and the anthemic “Social Climbers” has lingered around my head like an earworm since I first heard it. That’s a word you want to hear on Valentine’s Day. Earworm.

I’ll bet you anything that Displine will bring the most leather to the show. The BDSM-oriented, queer, hardcore punk group, which is actually the solo brainchild local Matthew Woellert, will be bringing the sexy side of Valentine’s to the front of the room. The five song demo that’s available on Bandcamp is intensely frenetic, and features songs like “Get Pegged (if you want to)” and “Tonight we cum alive.”

Do you need to get some anger out? Of course you do. Valentine’s is a Catch-22 where you end up alone or on a shitty date, or with a person you love but that’s besides the point. Regardless, Dent will be there to help with their unique approach to experimental hardcore that draws on thrash metal, noise rock, emo, and psychedelic rock. Controlling the chaos of so many influences is obviously difficult, but Dent does so with a level of polish that seems oxymoronic. The group sounds extremely in control of their performance, and the sheer level of noise makes this challenging.

Gender Meltdown consists of Gen Cayford and Jaclyn Walsh. But, only Gen will be able to make it on Saturday. To get your feels flowing Gen “will probably read poetry.” V-Day practically invites poets to the stage, or in this case basement, and anyone who describes their group as, “Roman Catholic Revengecore,” should have an delightfully idiosyncratic performance in store. Personally, I’m excited to see whatever shape the set ends up taking.

Gender Meltdown

(Taken from gendermeltdown.tumblr.com)

Now, since our landscape has recently looked more like Hoth than Allston, you might be wondering if the show will go on. Despite Saturday’s forecast, which calls for snow almost exactly when the show is scheduled to start, we just received confirmation that the show will go on regardless of weather. But, come on, can you think of a more fun place to get snowed in?