last night i had the fortune of seeing, in my opinion, the angriest, most teen-angst-iest band ever, violent femmes. the fortunato's brought me along to buffalo for this free show. although the band is a lot older and a little paunchier than they were in their heyday, it was great to see them perform some of my favorite songs. "you can not fuck with this band." i actually had no idea they were even still together, which means an opportunity like this couldn't be passed up.how can i say these guys are the angriest band? here's my thinking: sure, you can listen to nine inch nails and let out some of your aggression through their music; i'm not discounting mr. reznor's anger. but everything that ministry, metallica, nine inch nails, and scores of other bands do with volume and effects and growling and f-bombs the violent femmes take care of with simplicity (a guitar, a tiny drum kit and a bass), true grit, and lyrics that cut right to the chase.
where most "angry" bands rant and complain about bowing down to faceless evildoers, mr. gano's warbly and nearly-breaking voice packs so much hate and frustration into just asking dad for the car, or telling the listener that no one will go to the prom with him, that it's a wonder how violent femmes didn't get any bigger. although i'm glad they didn't, or they might have made a turn down the alley of the moxy fruvous, or some other like-minded idiocy; if they could bottle what mr. gano possesses, rivers cuomo would be buying it in bulk.
and a nice touch: instead of letting the song define them, they unassumingly played "blister in the sun" like, fifth, or somewhere thereabouts. for the casual listener of this band, there's sooo much more down below.
fuddrucker's afterwards. one of the best hamburgers ever.