A Wilhelm Scream, Girth Control, The Grandstand Jockeys, Senior Living
Empire Underground, 12.14.23
It was a bit of a spontaneous decision to go, but I heard one of my favorite local bands (Senior Living) was on the bill. I haven't seen them perform live in a while, so I thought, "why the hell not!". I carpooled with some friends over to the venue because parking in downtown Albany is shitty.
Senior Living
Senior Living is a hardcore/slowcore band local to the area. I've seen them multiple times by this point, so I kinda knew how the setlist would go a bit. It's a bit interesting how it usually goes. It's generally the same but something crucial is always different. They might add in more loudness and drone, use different pedals, get a sludgier sound, etc.... The list goes on.
Despite the set being short, it was absolutely fantastic. The current bassist they have wasn't available to make it to the show so they had the lead for Everybody That Loves You to be their bassist. I think it gave them a more harsher sound. Empire Underground is generally a loud venue so it was hard to make anything out even with earplugs in.
The Grandstand Jockeys
This band sucked ass. It was some like boomer jam-band-basic-ass-rock-and-roll-brainrot that had little substance. The crowd seemed bored of them, too.
Girth Control
Me and my friend were debating over whether or not Girth Control were a ska or a pop-punk band. I thought they were certainly pop-punk, however, they had some little touches of Ska thrown into their set. Their bandcamp says they are a ska band, so I'll go with what the band has.
Yknow what? No. They're a ska-core band. Ska and hardcore.
They had some funny little quips between their sets, including one about a guy named Jeff. Seemed like an inside-joke. One of my favorites was one before they just started their set. The first song they played was saying "fuck you!" to your mom as she throws away your band shirts and tells you to straighten-up, and they were like, "Y'know when your mom throws a way your band merch and tells you to fuck off, and you're like, 'fuck you mom, you fucking poser!?' This is for you!"
I left when A Wilhelm Scream played. Wasn't totally interested but they had a pretty good metalcore sound. Didn't get any photos or video of them playing, but I get why they're so liked.