Fields of Fire, Martyr, Good Clean Fun, and Brothers Keeper – by Johnny Mack
Fields of Fire started the night off with an energetic blast of old school style hardcore punk; they played a couple songs off their 7”, “the kids can’t be bought” and a couple new ones. Despite the fact that they played first, they still got the crowd moving. Up next was Martyr, keep in mind they have never played here in southern cali and i don’t think very many people knew about them. After the first or second song the floor was packed with kids going crazy. Martyr played really heavy metallic (almost death metal) hardcore with brutal breakdowns and a thick, heavy sound. With not much time to waste in-between songs they flew through their set leaving everyone in shock. If your a fan of any style of heavy music and you ever get a chance to pick up their CD or see them, do so and i assure you, you will not be let down. After Martyr comes Good Clean Fun. They are from DC and they play your typical “youth crew” style hardcore punk. Of course they got everyone singing along and dancing and in between every song they’ll make fun of someone, which is weird because they go on and on about being “posi” (positive) but what is “posi” about making fun of everyone?
Whatever, Good Clean Fun…. they rock but can be annoying. Finally, the reason why I came, Brothers Keeper! They totally rocked playing some of their older stuff as well as some of their new songs; the crowd participation was awesome. Everyone was having a good time, singing along and dancing. Since their new record wasn’t out yet, no one knew the lyrics to the new songs so before their set and throughout the whole show they passed out flyers that contained lyrics to the songs and insights into what they are about as a band. They played really well and had a great set. After Brothers Keeper played Throwdown came on. This was pretty much a typical show for them so there isn’t very much to say. Throwdown plays heavy and brutal hardcore with a breakdown or two in every single song and pretty much every kid on the floor is moving as hard as they can. They are from Orange County so if you are ever interested in seeing them, do it! They are good live and they play often… Ok now comes 18 Visions, probably the most talked about band in the whole southern California hardcore scene. They are a sexy heavy metal band that gets everyone fired up to go crazy and dance and all that. Since they’re one of the locals, it was nothing new to see them either but they also played just as well as anyone else that night. The show was awesome; there weren’t any fights or stupid kids or anything, just a good fun hardcore show.
