Last Saturday I headed back to the Highline for a sweaty, rowdy night of pure punk rock. Headlining the event was Moral Crux, a band I’d seen once before and was totally blown away by. They blew me away again. Front man James Farris is the quintessential punk. Sporting short platinum spikes, tight leopard print pants and shirt with a patch saying 99%, he’s punk like Billy Idol from his Generation X days combined with the theatrics of David Bowie.
Then there’s the band (Jamie Jaspers on bass, Jeff Jenkins on guitar and Scott Rozell on drums). There are only three of them playing music, but they packed so much raw power I half expected the entire building to crumble. Besides playing their own brand of pure punk, they did justice to a couple covers, the Buzzcocks Teenage Kicks and the Clash’s White Riot for the finale.
Preceding Moral Crux was Seattle punk outfit Die Nasty. Lauren on lead vocals was part Joan Jett and part GG Allen. She strutted about the stage, belting and growling out song after song. Often she leaned into the crowd as if beckoning them into her lair only to chew them up and spit them out. Bass player was so active he was dripping with sweat about half way through their set and lead guitarist Steve looked like a Brit rocker — sort of Rod Stewart/Billy Idol. Meanwhile drummer Eric slammed away like a madman, yet never seemed to break a sweat. When they finished their set I almost imagined them stamping out the flames ignited by their music.
Prior to Die Nasty was Terman Shanks. This Seattle punk quartet also ripped the place to shreds. Guitarist/lead vocalist Josh Iverson didn’t sing as much as he grunted and growled often with bass player Ricky Gonzales and guitarist Spencer Heller adding perfect growl harmony. Combine all this with shredding guitars and slamming drums (Josh Dale) with elements of old Black Flag thrown in. Great band.
Opening the whole evening was a trio calling themselves Fallopian, though they’re changing their name to Babe Waves (I far prefer the former name). Two women and a male drummer, these guys kicked a**! This was in your face punk rock very reminiscent of X-Ray Spex.
What a night this was of solid hard core punk rock, played the way punk should be played. How the neighborhood wasn’t shattered to smithereens after the night was over is beyond me. It’s heartening though to see punk is alive and well in Seattle.
– Holly Homan
Moral Crux
Die Nasty
Terman Shanks
Fallopia
