Review: Funeral for a Friend/A Thorn for Every Heart/No Warning/The Break 01/11/05

Funeral for a Friend/A Thorn for Every Heart/No Warning/The Break
Studio Seven, Seattle, WA
January 11, 2005

The Break
I had never heard of/heard these NJ boys before, but I could never dislike a man in a 'St. Pauli' hoodie and in fact, I didn't. Straightforward emo-rock these guys are on the same US label as FFAF (where's my kickback, Ferret Records?). Why I didn't ask them where they were hanging out afterwards is still a mystery to me (I may have had too many PBR specials to think clearly).
4.75/5

No Warning
Did you ever see that episode of CHiPs where Ponch and John have to break up the punk rock riot and there are some bad punk dudes who commit a hit and run after stealing another band's equipment from a van and Grossman demostrates 'slam dancing' on the lockers at the police station? No Warning reminds me of the 'punk' band from that episode (though they're not as bad as the punk band from that old Quincy episode - they were truly horrible). I still hold out hope that there is better music in Canada than Nickelback and Avril Lavigne, but No Warning isn't about to reclaim Canada's place of musical honor (at least not in my book).
2.5/5

A Thorn for Every Heart
Now I thought this was going to be total emo-crap, but I actually really enjoyed it (although it could have been all the PBRs). Engaging emo, they put on a good show for the small crowd and I think just about everybody was rocking out to them.
4.375/5

Funeral for a Friend
Of course I love these guys so much personally, they could do nothing wrong musically in my book, but it was a lot of fun to see them headline (esp. since it was the 10th time I've seen them). They're out here in Seattle to record their new album, but they only played one new song live since Matt's vocal chords are "fucked" (his words). I enjoyed it immensely and I'm hoping that some of the photos turned out (I was having a hard time working my camera which I've owned for more than three years - again I blame PBR). I was happy that they played for almost a full hour and they played my favorite song - "The Art of American Football" - which is probably the heaviest of the old songs.
5/5

Studio Seven is a cool little club south of Safeco field here in Seattle. Excellent sound system, 21+ balcony/bar with $2 Pabst Blue Ribbon on tap. A great little place.
5/5

Seattle overall - I love it! It meets all of my requirements in a city - lots of live music, large international population, OK weather. Tuesday I spent all day in the U-District around the university where there were lots of Asian restaurants (from Himalyan to sushi), used cd and used bookstores, and other funky little hippy college-y places. Seattle is Tashkent's sister city. Wednesday I went to Pike Place market where cute boys throw fish (really!) and all kinds of people sell hippy handicrafts. I also rode the monorail (Monorail!), went to the top of the Space Needle (which is actually only around 57 floors or something like that), and checked out the Experience Music Project and Sci-Fi museum. So many Simpsons references...monorail (I drank a 'monorail' in the bar at the EMP too), Space Needle, Dr. Zeus costume... The Sci-Fi museum has a dystopia exhibit!
So Seattle is hella kewl and I could totally see myself living here and studying Ancient Turkic at the University of Washington, riding the monorail, and 'catching' fresh fish at the Pike Place Market.
Also I got my haircut at a punk barbershop where they were blasting the Ramones and they also sell concert tickets so I picked my ticket for the Funeral for a Friend show since the one I bought online never came before I left on Monday.