No Gods, No Vegetables: Tragedy/Morne/Brain Killer/Brainhandle live in Brooklyn 7/12/09

Last Sunday was apparently the last show ever at Studio B in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Now, as an opening line, this may sound all kinds of dramatic and sad and shit but really, who gives a fuck. Studio B was(/is still? Who knows, this place has been "closing" for over a year now.) usually some shit üntzüntzdiscodancepartyfunkytime club that usually attracts the santorum of Brooklyn (read: coked out Royal Oak rejects and thickneck fake tan Jaegerbombs dudes) that featured the occasional rock/punk show. That being said, due to it's status as like Dubstep discodanceland, they have a fucking annihilator of a sound system featuring like a fucking wall of massive subs. Shit is epic. Anyways, to close they doors I guess they figured they'd go out on the crustiest note they could muster and managed to snag Tragedy for one US date before they head off to Europe for their summer tour.

When I first heard that Tragedy was coming to town I was totally fucking stoked. They are the Amebix of this decade and easily one of the best bands around. Then I remembered the kinda meh last Tragedy show I saw (my first time seeing them...) at the Knit last year some time and was a little hesitant. I mean this show was the first of the tour, that one was one of the last. Either way I was gonna fucking be there, especially with Morne and Brain Killer playing.

I was not let down. At fucking all. Not even a little. Brain Killer, Brainhandle, and especially Morne and Tragedy turned it in to a slaughterhouse. Brain Killer and Brain Handle are both definitely acts to catch. In fact, I'd say that BK at 538 Johnson was easily one of the best house shows I've seen in ages. Morne was way more monstrous/epic/heavy/etcetcetc than I was imagining. Actually kind of reminded me of Amebix in a few ways (you know, more than just the obvious influence on their songs). They had a great balance between slow, doomy parts, and crusty hardcore parts. The sound was excellent and they sounded like the end of the world live. Dual vox/dual guitars approach really laid down the weight.

If you're paying attention, you'll notice that I haven't really mentioned blacklisted. There's a reason for that. That reason is because brocore is fucking lame. Especially when it brings out the thickneck throwdown crew to an otherwise friendly affair. If I had to write a letter it'd prolly look something like this:

"Dear Blacklisted, while your music isn't the worst thing I've ever heard, in fact it occasionally borders on the enjoyable, your fanbase of collarwearing khaki short roundhousing kids, thickneck pound-the-shit-out-of-little-kids-for-no-reason linebackers, and awkward Boston post mall-punks isn't exactly the most enjoyable. Keep up the good work... back in Boston.

Love and Cheek Kisses,
Crank"

Anyways, it all came down to Tragedy at the end of the night. They did not disappoint. Lemme just put it this way. I usually follow the "No crowd-surfing/stage-diving for kids over 175lbs" rule pretty fucking strictly. It definitely makes the show more enjoyable for the majority. For Tragedy, I smashed that rule to fucking pieces for the first time in years. I definitely heard "Not Fucking Fodder", "Call to Arms", "The Day After", and "The Ending Fight". They also played one, possibly 2 new songs as well. Could this mean a new album? Who knows?! Shit dude, for a bunch of semi-drunk dudes they were tighter than Nancy Reagan's asshole and heavier than a 10 ton weight. EURO-FRIENDS: GO SEE TRAGEDY.

Here's some shots from the show. Sorry I don't have more of the FSU dudes trying to bludgeon my friend Matt's Gold lame clad ass. Oh yeah, and sorry I don't have better pics of Tragedy, I was busy losing my shit and going buckwild.

BRAINHANDLE