After opening for the hardcore supergroup OFF! last night at Kings, Phoenix noise-rockers Gay Kiss will offer an encore at an appropriately unconventional venue, Raleigh’s Nice Price Books. The used book-and-record shop on Hillsborough Street has become a reliable hub for van-bound punk bands looking for an all-ages space, and tonight’s triple-header is as fine as any they’ve hosted.
Gay Kiss, who fill the middle slot, boast an aggressive and agile brand of noise-rock. It bridges the splatter and sputter of fellow Southwesterners NASA Space Universe and Avon Ladies with leaner, driving rhythms. To wit, Gay Kiss’ two-song, tour-only cassette features a preview track from a forthcoming LP on Raleigh’s Sorry State Records and a remarkably faithful cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “March of the Pigs.”
New York’s Ivy, a much-buzzed new band featuring members of the late, great Brown Sugar, headline on the strength of a blown-out demo and a comparatively pristine self-titled LP on Katorga Works. Ivy shares a manic and malleable approach with some of New York’s best current hardcore bands. But they manage a classicist feel that lives up to both the sound and romanticized volatility of early hardcore icons like The Germs or Avengers, albeit scraped and scabbed over with the slop of low fidelity.
Raleigh’s Bandages, a belligerent new band featuring members of Future Binds, Double Negative and Shoxx, opens. Their disdain for convention ought to complement that of the out-of-towners nicely.
Pay $7 at the door for this 9:30 p.m. show.
