Not So Aggro
The Aggrolites have a sound that took a little more for me to warm up to a few years ago. They are a ska band with the more traditional, older rocksteady sound. For whatever reason, I initially did not get into them. The first time I took a hard look at their music was when I saw Jesse Wagner play with Vic, from an all-time favorite ska band the Slackers, at a Punk Rock Bowling pool party. The duo was amazing and left me questioning why I hadn’t listened to more of the Aggrolites or watched Yo Gaba Gaba more. While I still haven’t watched a lot of Yo Gaba Gaba, I dug in and enjoyed the music of the Aggrolites a bunch more after that. Lead up to tonight, and we had ourselves a good mix of Reggae, Ska, and that Aggrolites’ sound.
That reggae sound came in the form of the local guys calling themselves, Mind Upside. Throughout their set, I was going back and for on if they were more Reggae or Ska with that brass section. They have a saxophone player and a trumpet player that is more than some Reggae I have listened to. Though the song composition and overall sound lead me to say Mind Upside are like the Expendables or the current Captain Squeegee. There is a Jazz influence I noticed in some of it too. I enjoyed it a bunch, and happy I now know they are amongst this large music scene.
From here is our blossoming ska band, Bowcat. We had a personnel change on trumpet tonight, but just as good. I see them a lot, so I write this a lot, but I think they are coming into their own with a tighter, better sound after the last year of playing. They are not afraid of moving around. We had dancing up there, and Dane and Steven come off stage for the final song of the set. I enjoyed their set as always, and having a Crescent burrito during it made it all the better.
Then we come to the band I already hyped up at the top, The Aggrolites. This ranks up there in one of the top sets I’ve seen them play. There was energy, and enjoyment emanating from on stage. There was movement and dancing on the floor. They were paying tribute to older ska and rocksteady throughout down to their set. The show was interrupted once due to the fight with a guy who looked as if he had too many drinks from the first time I saw him during Mind Upside. Jesse only got the crowd more involved and singing on the next song to move minds on from it. They ended up playing an hour and a half set, including an encore with two covers in it. Roger Rivas, organist, emphasized that they hold high respect for any band they cover. They ended on “Banana” and “Don’t Let Me Down” for a strong finish.
From here I jumped over to Yucca because my friend Evan, in Skull Drug, was celebrating his birthday with a show too. I made it in time to find myself catching more than half of the Skull Drug set. It appeared that Evan was more sober than I expected for a known birthday at a show. Didn’t matter, this crowd was clearly full of a bunch of friends and family just looking to have a good time celebrating his birthday. Don’t let me forget, they put out a new EP this night while started a new tour with Terminally Ill. Make sure you go check out the new Skull Drug EP after you read this. A fun night in both places that I hope to continue the momentum into Friday with.
