Poison The Well
		November 28 @ The Boiler Room POISON THE WELL Unearth Sworn Enemy Spark Lights The Friction Scatter The Ashes
			Yeah, it's been a long time since this one, but we're really hurting for content these days, so what the heck?  Okay, back in November my friend Jared and I went to the Boiler Room in B'ham for my first hardcore show (!).  The first band to play was Scatter The Ashes.  They looked like they were still in high school, but they actually weren't half bad.  There songs weren't really distinguishable from each other, but a lot of hardcore bands are like that live, especially if you've never listened to them before.  I actually talked to a few of the guys from the band after the show, and it turns out that they are still in high school (at least the ones I talked to) and that they had to drive back to Nashville for school tomorrow.  The next band was Spark Lights The Friction.  These guys were really good; they had kind of a melodic punk/hardcore sound that stood out completely from the rest of the bands on the bill (and they're actually on Trustkill Records, home to bands like Poison The Well, Nora, Brother's Keeper, etc.).  Up next was a band called Sworn Enemy, who weren't really my thing.  They had that old-school HC sort of image; I think their singer was some guy who was filling in for their regular singer, and they were naming the bands the guy had been in (I don't think I had ever heard of any of them) and then acting like we were supposed to clap and show our respect or something.  Nice.  Plus one of the guitar players was playing a freakin' Charvel (don't even get me started...).  But hey, they were selling Sworn Enemy panties, so if you get the chance, pick some up for your sweetheart for Valentine's Day and make her feel all special.  Anyway, the next band was Unearth.  They struck me as being pretty much standard-issue metalcore, but I thought they were good.  The guitarists played seven-string guitars, but it wasn't like nu-metal or anything.  At one point, the bass player's strap broke (he said he had bought it that day), and they had to stop so that one of the guitarists could take one off one of his guitars and put it on the guy's bass.  After Unearth came Poison The Well (finally).  I had been listening to their mp3's lately and I had really been looking forward to seeing them live; they did not disappoint.  Well, there was one disappointment.  I was standing at the very front of the stage on the left where Derek, one of the guitarists, was standing.  I said "Hey, will you guys take a request?"  He said "Sure," so I asked him if they would play their cover of the Smashing Pumpkins song "Today" (it's sick; download it).  He told me that their bass player was new and that he didn't know the song.  Oh, well.  I stood there for a minute and happened to notice that Derek had a Smiths sticker (!) on his amp.  Anyone who knows me knows that I love The Smiths, and I was like "Hey, how 'bout a SMITHS cover?!"  Derek just kinda laughed and started playing the opening lick from "This Charming Man" to tease me.  He was like "So are you into them?"  I was like "Yeah!" and he said "Yeah, they were awesome."  After I thought for a few moments about how cool it was that there are other people in this world who can appreciate both The Smiths and hardcore, Poison The Well started their set.  They played the other songs I was hoping to hear besides "Today" and completely tore the place up.  People were practically piling up on each other to get to the mic and the whole set was amazing.  I bought a Poison The Well CD and a Poison The Well shirt; the CD is great (metalcore with some good melodies) but the shirt looks way too "metal" for my tastes so I think I might sell it on eBay or something.  Or maybe I should just wear it proudly and let people think I'm a hardcore kid; I don't know.  Anyway, the show rocked and I got a Poison The Well setlist, but it's basically just song numbers so I won't even bother scanning it.  Until next time... ~matt pictures (coming soon): Poison The Well Unearth Sworn Enemy Spark Lights The Friction Scatter The Ashes