CHEST PAIN

A couple of weeks ago, I went to see the SF band PUNCH play a show, the first time I'd seen them in several months. I knew nothing about any of the other bands playing the show, which makes show-going a new and exciting experience, right? First band was pretty good, I was looking forward to listening to their EP that I was gonna buy, but after hanging out by the merch table for 30 minutes waiting for someone to sell it to me, I figured it was time to either steal it or go without...and like I said, they were pretty good, but not good enough to steal a record. That's money I spent on 2 extra beers kids, your loss. The next two bands were pretty terrible, it was like a tough hardcore dude singing for MUDHONEY first, and the next one sounded like the shitty bands that played the frat bar down the street from my house in Oklahoma (bands like THE NIXONS, BLEMISH and WAKE, truly some ass awful shit) and I couldn't believe that I was at a hardcore show in the Bay Area, circa 2009. Then CHEST PAIN came and saved my fucking night! Crushing powerviolence from Texas, and they delivered a set in about 13 minutes that was honest, to the point and had no frills whatsoever. They played fast, they played hard, and when they were done I was grinning from ear to ear. So I bought a demo, and it would seem that these kids might even be better than I thought..just as fast and just as heavy as I remembered, but add intelligence and wit to the mix, and I'm fucking sold! Extra points from me for the two color screen on the cassette case, in addition to the nice artwork on the tape cover...spend a little time, and people will surely take notice. And, in case you were wondering, PUNCH was amazing. But they are honestly so damned great that it's hardly worth mentioning. It's like saying "apple pie tastes good with ice cream," or "being hungover is not fun," we all know these things, right?

CHEST PAIN

Cheers to Matt from CHEST PAIN for writing, and especially for sharing the CHEST PAIN side of their split with fellow Texans NAW DUDE, available right here:

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