Night of The Mostly Dead

The Mostly Dead live at DC9

Whenever I go to a show, there always seems to be that one kid in front of the stage, screaming every lyric of every song. You can see on his face and in the pump of his fist the intense effect the music has over him. On Saturday, Nov. 14, that kid wasn’t in the pit. He was on stage. His name is Zak, Kurt, Mikey, and Eric, and they are The Mostly Dead.

My first experience with The Mostly Dead, was not the best. Without naming names, I was at a venue that wasn’t exactly equipped for hardcore punk. After a couple of songs, I gave up attempting to actually listen to the music because of the venue’s poor acoustics and sound engineering. Thankfully, I got my chance to see The Mostly Dead again, this time at DC9 where they opened for The Scare and Gallows—a Brit-punk band. It was an all-ages show with real hardcore punk fans­, which in my experience is a rarity in DC.

They opened with “Slugger”—a classic short, loud and hard-hitting punk-style song—that got my blood flowing. In my head I thought, “Alright, I like where this is going; give me some more.” The next few songs didn’t disappoint. All were all high-energy, fast-paced, and loud-as-hell songs. Unlike the previously un-named venue, I could actually hear the guitar riffs and melodies, not just some muddled echo-y sound. I could even hear him scream, “Let’s burn this whole place down!” during the song “Stutter”.

As with all good punk shows, the band’s energy matched the intensity of the music. It was like a mosh pit on stage. At one point during “You Mean That”, I thought the singer, Zak, and bassist, Mikey, were going to start throwing punches. I could tell they were having a blast up there, but were probably a bit disappointed in the crowd. I agreed with that mentality. The singer tried to get at least a small pit started by jumping off the stage and into the crowd, but to no avail. However, what I’ve realized over the past few years is that it doesn’t really matter how amazingly talented and energetic a band is, if they’re the first ones on stage, it’s almost impossible to get the crowd moving.

Soon after I saw a large wad of mucus drip from the bassist’s microphone, the band announced that they were going to play two new songs. After losing interest in too many bands because of a drastic change in music style, I braced myself for a sound that might be completely different from what I just heard. Fortunately, they didn’t pull an A.F.I. “Brutal Ground” and “Cephalopods” didn’t stray from the melodic raucous, but added a maturity that can be likened to a band that’s been together for a decade, even though The Mostly Dead only just formed a little over a year ago. Needless to say, I am greatly anticipating the release of their new album, The Day They Turned Us All Into Slaves, to be released sometime early 2010.

If you are the kind of person who likes their music fast, loud and obscene, I highly advise you to buy their EP’s, Slightly and Alive, both available at Amazon and iTunes. Even better, go see them live, but come ready to fucking move!