Nautica, Black Rabbit, Wolvings, Blue Button And Laureate At The Monkey House February 14, 2014

Words by Tim Lewis.

I had a great time seeing music last night at The Monkey House. The theme was anti-Valentine’s Day and the 5 bands rocked loud, fast and hard. I knew from walking home from work that the walking to Winooski would be a bit rough, so I allowed an extra 5 minutes. I walked in just as Nautica were starting to play. I spent the first song settling in and listening from the back. They played high energy rock and roll with some nice melodies. I moved up front for the second song and started to find the groove for their set. The three piece, guitar/vox, bass, drum, played Song 6 second, and it put me in a happy place. Most of the songs in the set will be recorded on the upcoming Winter EP. All of the songs were good, and they and a crazy fun energy. The black X’s on their hands were a testament to their youth, but they had nice poise and have great potential for the future. Their set was short, but lively and the last song rocked just a bit harder than all of the others. After the set I chatted with Jeff LaBossiere and Phil Yates, but soon it was time for Black Rabbit. They hit the stage with a blistering Mark My Words and played a super tight, very intense set. Marc Scarano‘s guitar playing was stunningly fast, and the band had me rocking hard from first note to last. Tibbar Tibbar and Neutrino sounded great. In the middle of the set they played a song about lust. They followed with Carnage, and commented after that those two were a metaphor for marriage. Darlene Scarano seemed to rock even harder towards the end, and Mark Tomase’s drumming held the careening mass of music together masterfully. At this point, they are completely at the top of their game. They wrapped the set with New Rose and got cheers from the small but mighty crowd. Wolvings followed with a fun set of heavy indie rock. It wasn’t quite Sabbath, but was heading there, while being quick, nimble and fast. They were as good as all the other times I’ve seen them, and I’ve been trying to get a handle on them for a while. Last night I was toying with the notion that they play anti-pop songs. None of their songs have ever stuck in my head, but every time I hear one of their songs, I really like it. Labels aside, they played their hearts out and rocked the place hard. The only song I caught the title for was Teeth, but I enjoyed every moment of all of the songs that I don’t know. I should go see them more to see if I can fix this. Up next, a four piece Blue Button hit the stage with a wicked fast new instrumental. Frank was steady and determined on the drums, James Belizia and Eric Olsenswapped bass and guitar, and Jason Cooley played guitar and sang. Their fast heavy punk rock songs had me rocking from start to finish. Jake Styles and Samara Lark Brown were dancing hard for the whole set, but Luke Richer seemed to hang back a bit. My Bitter end rocked hard and highlighted the anti-Valentines Day theme. Hit was fun as always. I think the next one was new and it was really good. Destroying Everything They See was gloriously heavy. How it goes slowed things up a little, but We’re Closed might have been the fastest song played all night. Wow did they tear it up! Another really good new song ended the set, and I was in a complete state of bliss. Laureate came down from Montreal to close the set. They played as a guitar, bass drums trio, with bassist and guitar player alternating vocals. Again, the music was fast rocking indie but they had a lot going on in the music. They sounded really good but seemed to have a little something missing. Perhaps it was the other guitar player who was not let into the US. Anyway, they rocked hard with what they had, played a nice version of Epic and I had a great time. All in all, it was a really good night with really good people, playing and enjoying really good, really fast rock and roll. What more can you ask for?

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.