Chaos in Tejas 2011 in pics & review (part 1)
photos by Tim Griffin & BBG, words by BBG
Cro-Mags
The Chaos has begun! Chaos in Tejas, which runs through Sunday, kicked off officially yesterday (6/2) with shows featuring headlining sets from Converge, Hooded Menace, The Spits, White Lung, and Cro-Mags.
My journey began with a few minutes of Crazy Spirit from NYC (who were awesome, and sold-out the inside room at Emo’s) before heading to catch Trap Them as they kicked off the show at Mohawk. There was some trepidation in the room considering news that a Converge member had a health issue and would cancel the remaining dates of their tour, but Trap Them made sure to reassure the crowd that the band was on hand to play Austin last night. Converge news aside, Trap Them played another excellent set that saw Ryan McKenney open up his face (again) while climbing the PA, walls, and everything in between.
Trap Them
Cult of Youth were already playing at Emo’s by the time I reached the venue, and the band’s energetic folk peppered with violin was an excellent contrast to the rest of the night’s speed demon punishing, but also just plain excellent. Vile Gash followed on the indoor stage shortly thereafter, playing a short set of pissed-off hardcore that got the pit moving. Their material on Youth Attack was represented well in the live setting. I caught the tail-end of Bone Sickness shortly thereafter. Their awesome and brutal death-metal was an another excellent contrast to the rest of the night.
Veins
Veins was next, and this hardcore crew comprised of members of Charles Bronson, Das Oath, Castevet, and more was fantastic. From the opening note of their set (the first song from their self-titled debut), the crowd was unhinged, and only got crazier when the band covered Sick of It All’s “Straight Ahead”. One of the highlights of my night.
After a set by The Slowmotions on the large stage, Double Negative opened up the pit again with their unique take on punk/hardcore. The North Carolinians had a helluva task to follow Veins, but were completely up to the task. Awesome set by these guys.
D-Clone
The crowd ate up Asta Kask‘s crusty confections on the main stage, but it was D-Clone (who headlined Emo’s indoor) who brought us back down to hell. The Japanese band lives by the mantra “Noise Not Music”, and their furious and high-energy hardcore was atonal, screeching and amazing. Sooo loud… their piercing noise lead to, according to an Emo’s staffer, “the most earplugs we’ve ever sold”. The last three sets at Emo’s indoors (D-Clone, Double Negative, Veins) were total highlights for me.
Cro-mags finished off the crowd with classic NYHC material that included covers by Bad Brains, Leeway and others. The band’s energetic set was amazing, and it’s hard to argue that Jon Joseph is not one of the most energetic frontmen in hardcore. Bodies flew (see above) (and below).
After Cro-mags, I was still a bit restless so I sauntered on over to Broken Neck to catch Tragedy (again) with Origin of M… but I’ll save that story for later (stay tuned).
Read about future CiT happenings in our guide. Our first set of pictures from Chaos in Tejas, all taken on the first day, continues below…
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Trap Them by BBG
Cult of Youth by BBG
Vile Gash by BBG
Veins by Tim Griffin
Veins by BBG
The Slowmotions by Tim Griffin
Double Negative by Tim Griffin
Double Negative by BBG
Asta Kask by Tim Griffin
Asta Kask by BBG
D-Clone by Tim Griffin
D-Clone by BBG
Cro-Mags by Tim Griffin
Cro-Mags by BBG