Hammerlock, The Shankers, Shivaree

This one's a twofer. I went to the East Bay Rats party on Saturday, Jan. 15 and ran into some Chico kids, some of who I used to play with, who were headed to a show down the street at Copland where some of them were playing. The Rats show was some shitty Pyrate Punx related bands so I ended up heading down to Copland after doing some flyering and watching some of Hammerlock's set. Hammerlock play weak "metal" that sounds like it's influenced by classic rock. They do have a cute bass player though. Here she is:



Not the douchebag with the hipster mustache in the foreground, the hot chick in the back. I swear, you can't just snap a picture of a pretty lady and leave to hang out with your friends without some dipshit walking into the frame.

Down at Copland the Chico bands were shunted to the end of the bill so the lame hipster bands could play together. The other bands were terrible so I just hung out upstairs until the hipster element had cleared the building.



The Shankers are probably my favorite band in Chico despite being a rockabilly outfit. There isn't any of that punkabilly or psychobilly shit in their act. They play old school proto-rock 'n' roll and cover people like Jerry Jeff Walker. Johnny the guitar player used to play in a punk band with me and the guy is the best musician I've played with and a rad dude. I would want to play bass in this band if it wasn't for Kerra his girlfriend who plays better than me and looks better in a dress. The last couple years when I see them I've noticed that Kerra sings more songs than in the early days, which gives the band added depth. I was also stoked to see Christine back on drums after a few drummers had cycled through in the past couple years. She plays a stripped down kit standing up and it's cool to see live and adds a crashy simplified element that some of the dudes who have played in the band who play full kits lack. With this kind of band, less is more. Stoked to see them again.


Last was Shivaree which features another old friend who I used to play with on drums. Sean looks about as stoked on his band as I am in that picture right up there. It's a folk punk band more in the style of the Pogues than Defiance Ohio which doesn't really make it fun to watch but at least they picked good material to rip off. I'm just over folk punk in general unless it's Mischief Brew. The shit is played out and that scene is filled with douchbags and scumfucks. Sean argues that they aren't a folk punk band but there's a dude named Rat that sings and plays guitar and a fiddle player with dreads.

And the backpatch of the week award goes to this guy:

And yes the dude was of African descent.