One of my bands (OPT OUT) played a show last night at Submission, we were one of three locals playing with a Portland band I had never heard of called FREE RADICALZ. Our set was a wash of feedback, a total blast, and lasted for about 8 minutes, FUGITIVE KIND and FACE THE RAIL were great as always, but then we all went to school. Earlier yesterday, I got sucked into listening to one of my current favorite albums (I feel like "favorite" albums tend to rotate and fluctuate...except for a certain few), DAVOVA PSYCHOZA's Antropofobia - it's a near perfect blend of ultra simple 3 chord riffs and subdued but hopelessly catchy leads and charismatic vocals, it's ultra fast bare bones punk that gets stuck in your head for fukkn days but they take such a simple recipe and turn it into a gourmet platter - and I was thinking, "I wanna see a band do this, this is the kind of punk I want to hear right now," and then I saw FREE RADICALZ. See above description, but modernize that shit and inject just enough Portland into their veins. I mean old Portland, like WIPERS, with guitar leads reminiscent of the early '00s PDX melodic crust wave seeping into songs that are straightforward punk with charismatic vocals (see above accolades) and a steady pace that gets me completely wound up when the final descending chords of "Unspoken" fall into the single note feedback that indicates to me that it's time to flip the tape and start again. I wanted to see a band like this last night - NEEDED to see them - and there they were, right in front of me. Fukkn perfect, fukkn punk. Maybe 20 people paid to see the show last night, but we all left walking on clouds.
Running in circles is just driving me insane // Everyone's so content I can't relate // Cuz nothing changes in this town // And I won't waste my life just hanging around // Break free from Doom Town // Radical New Kids // Won't stand this shit for another day...
FREE RADICALZ
5 comments:
Great band, right on with the speedy post!
Last year, I was living in the teetering tower at the edge of West Oakland, at the edge of all civilization it seemed, at times, the Pine Street house. One of the house mates, Ember a Portland native wanted to add a friends band from PDX onto a show I was booking in the house. It turned out it was only their fifth show or something, but they didn't want to waste any time getting out of town.
So we ended up with Free Radicals, Rayos X, Tuberculosis, Brainkiller, Desperate Hours and Streetwalkers that night, and it was a hell of a show! The craziest house show I've ever booked.
I didn't even get to watch the band that night, it was so crowded in the living room, and I was outside trying to prevent "problems," so I didn't even know who played what instrument in F.R. until I saw them again finally in Oakland last week, and again last night at Submission. Awesome. Everyone should download this.
excellent!
do they have an address for ordering this tape?
Like a great mix between early Poison Idea with those Wipers leads.......this is fucking awesome.
Yes! we played with them last year at some house in pdx and they destroyed. totally. the guitarist is the shit!
freerads@live.com to order the tape. Thanks a bunch for the awesome reviews! Up the punks!
--FRz
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