Young Punks On the Rise
Here is a show making amends for not seeing Doll Skin sooner, despite all the good rumblings I’ve heard all year about this group of young punks. Following their Instagram you will find some awesome pictures with some big musicians, and, of course, the Fat Mike one drew my attention. They’ve been out touring and making a name for themselves thanks to another famous name, David Ellefson of Megadeth, managing them. If you haven’t heard of them yet, you might start questioning why not at this point too.
The show was a “punk” Winter Formal that Sunlaand kicked off the festivities. These guys and gal remind me more of the Jeff Rosenstock and toyGuitar side of punk. Sara, on guitar, looks to be their main vocalist, but their bassist also takes on lead vocal roles on a couple songs. The dynamic works great on stage. Some first bands struggle having a crowd, but they were able to attract a good amount of people watching through the entire set.
I have spent the last two days seeing some great guitarists on stage, and Sol Drop, from Flagstaff, just put another one on the weekend list. Kathryn their lead vocalist, and guitarist, plays some amazing guitar on that stage while singing. The band is a cross of a punk band with some soul and blues, even mixing some of that within a single song. It is one of the more dynamic sounds I’ve heard, and I loved the entire set last night.
The four local punk girls from Doll Skin graced the Winter Formal next, mic stands adorned with flowers of various colors. This is the first show since a Aquabats show back at the Marquee a decade ago that made me feel a little old in that crowd. The twenty one and over section appeared it was parents and relatives, plus me.
The amount of fun these girls are having in this band comes across in volumes. Sydney, lead vocalist, loved moving around the stage and standing atop the front of the stage for parts of the vocals. Being punk didn’t stop them from squeezing in Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” as a way to engage the crowd further with lyrics everyone should know. There’s a great sound to this band, including great vocals from all four of them through the set. They had the only mosh pit going of the night in the all age’s side of the barrier.
I was more impressed when they hit the song “So Much Nothing” pointing out how it was about Sydney’s feelings when she came off of anti-depresents. It wasn’t just all fun in the songs they write, and they are using the band as a way to express the harder things in life they are dealing with. I really enjoyed what I heard of the young punk band, and am excited to see Doll Skin more going into next year. They are part of a great set of up and coming younger punk bands I’ve seen through 2016.
