Dillinger 4, Kosher, Johnny Black & the Assassins, Annie On My Mind, Stereotyperider
El Torreon
August 4, 2000

Review by Chris Wagner

Another punk rock Friday night at the steam bath that is KC's best all-ages venue, El Torreon. The evening's festivities took place on the more intimate second stage at the north end of the building, which was a bonus; the room sounds better with fewer people in it, and is better proportioned in comparison to the PA than the main room.

Phoenix, AZ's own Stereotyperider opened, vacillating between standard pop-punk and jittery stop-start indie rock stuff. Their stage presence was a bit uneven, as the stage-right guitarist was WAY more active than the rest of the band; but their delivery was earnest, and just sloppy enough to be endearing. Although STR can't seem to make up their mind whether to be emo or a happier brand of punk (there wasn't much blending- it switched pretty abruptly between the two), they were still an enjoyable listen.

I spent most of Annie On My Mind's set changing Ashley's guitar strings, but I still managed to observe the mayhem of KC's own (now newly-defunct) punk rock fiasco. The setlist included material off of their demo tape and new CD, as well as a new song, "Cocaine", the lyrics to which were reportedly completely improvised ("you demon bitch/you killed my goldfish/now give me my cocaine!"). Frontman Steve Orth was in rare form, sacrificing his body for the base entertainment of the crowd; a friend mentioned that "it was like a Black Flag show" in its intensity.

Johnny Black and the Assassins followed AOMM; they appeared to be a little rusty, but were in high spirits, and pounded out a strong set of dirty, mean rock 'n roll. By this time the room was a sauna, and sweat was flying off the guitars as JTBA tore through songs like "Shit for Brains" and "Drop Dead" as well as "Lost & Found" by Australian punk legends the Saints and "36-24-36" by the Violent Femmes (I still think they knock the ass out of that song in a way that the 'Femmes never could).

For some reason, the power in the building was keeping up quite nicely until Warrensburg's Kosher took the stage. Perhaps they were just too much for that particular breaker, but despite the repeated outages, the band played on. Clash-y, fist-in-the-air punk rock, lots of big rock moves (i.e. Trent's leaps and over-the-neck guitar playing)... seems like I roadied for everyone that night (I was plugging in their guitarist's pedal every time he dislodged the cords). They brought a sizeable hometown crowd with them, and everyone seemed thoroughly satisfied that Kosher rocked as hard as anyone could, especially in the face of adversity.

Closing the deal was the night's national touring act, Dillinger 4. Clearly they've been on the road long enough on this tour to have locked it in; they worked the crowd expertly between songs, and were comfortable enough with their songs to pick and choose who sang what. Like Kosher but faster, D4's songs featured fairly typical contemporary punk subject matter: songs about the kids, the working man, drinking, self-loathing, etc., with an alternately screamy/shouty delivery and furious, caffeinated drumming marred only by the occasional New York hardcore-style 1/2 time breakdown. The crowd was sated, everyone enjoyed themselves without incident, and I was wringing my shirt out in the parking lot before midnight.