Zorch Radio Review: The Curs in a backyard

Written October 11th, 2008 as a post on www.wreckingpit.com
I’m visiting my sister down in Southern California for the weekend… and I thought I’d give it a shot and hit up a show while I was down here. Turns out I found this flier:

Friday October 10th
Vaughn High School Presents:
The Curs http://www.myspace.com/thecurs
Dr. Bizarro’s Victims http://www.myspace.com/drbizarrosvictims
The Pea Brains http://www.myspace.com/thepeabrains
The Riff Raffs http://www.myspace.com/theriffraffsband
6 Sick 6 http://www.myspace.com/brutalpsychobilly
The Grims http://www.myspace.com/thegrims666

I was mildly familiar with The Curs, but I liked them enough to sit through some (what I expected to be) watered down horrorpunk w/ metal.

The flier also said that it was a fundraiser and that there was strict security w/ absolutely no drugs or alcohol. Seeing that the show was at a High School, that was understandable.

Turns out it was a backyard show at some guy’s house next to the school, and a little bit more my style.

Throughout the evening, I met some people and made some freinds. I introduced myself as “Jacob” and a good number of people seemed disappointed by my name. These people had names like Lobo, Slink, Hoser and Droopie.

The first band I heard was 6 Sick 6 (I missed The Grims). They sounded like grindcore with an upright. Wasn’t surprised at all.

The Riff Raffs came up next, all dressed in baseball uniforms and face paint, not like DAG paint though, we’re talking about The Furies from the 1979 film “The Warriors.” The Riff Raffs blew me away! They were chill, had an old school style, good sense of build up, solid musicians, and did a cover of Batmobile’s “Kiss Me Now.”

After their set I was talking to a guy Robert and his girlfriend about the next band, The Pea Brains. He told me they were more on the “Neo-rockabilly side of things, like The Sharks or Restless.” His girlfriend chimes in with “I think they sound like Rezurex.”

The Pea Brains played an enjoyable set, in my opinion, people kept heckling them though, since they “weren’t playing fast enough.” They guitarist played like he really had his country roots down with a splash of garage.

Dr. Bizarro’s Victims was the hyped band for the evening that everybody seemed to be talking about. Apparently, they are putting out a Christmas song with the Tabaltix and LGL on some upcoming comp? But their set was short and wild.

In California, when a highly anticipated, engertic psychobilly band gets on stage, people start … circle pitting? But a circle pit turn into a wrecking pit pretty quickly when there’s somebody going the opposite direction. And yeah, I saw that machine-gun gut-punching thing happen, too… it was weird.

The Curs lived up to my expectations, minus a lack of vocals from a DIY sound system. They played a really tight set with a good amount of musical diversity. But what was great was that everybody there was having fun time.

But overall, I was surprised by the old-school sound of the majority of the bands that played. I was expecting people to be a lot less friendly and a lot more focused on image. I also realised that people “dress up” more in seattle for a psychobilly show than down here. There was a very chill, genuine and accepting atmosphere which did not include any form of arrogance or shallowness. And despite all the shit that gets thrown at Southern California and its “scene,” not everybody is in it for the fashion.

-NOTE- This review was written by Jacob, host/producer of the live weekly radio show Zorch Radio. Check out more of our reviews, subscribe to the podcast, or check out the Archive Page. Follow us on Twitter. Like us on Facebook. Contact us here.