Hammered Hulls at Union Pool
photo by Kate Hoos

pics/review: Hammered Hulls (Mary Timony, Alec MacKaye, etc) & SAVAK @ Union Pool

Fake Names’ live debut were by no means the only exciting thing at Union Pool on Thursday. The night’s headliners were Hammered Hulls — who were making their NYC debut and have only played a handful of shows total — that includes Alec MacKaye, brother of Ian and member of Faith, Ignition and more, Mary Timony (Helium/Autoclave/White Flag/Ex Hex), Marc Cisneros (Medications/Des Demonas/Chain and the Gang) and Chris Wilson (Ted Leo + Pharmacists, Titus Andronicus). Very much in the Faith/Ignition mold with maybe a little AmRep noise, Hammered Hulls were very tight and hammered through 10 or so songs in about 20 minutes. Toward end of the set, tempos and styles fluctuated just a little, including my favorite song of the night that had a great bassline from Timony, reminding me a little of Fugazi’s “Waiting Room” or Buzzcocks’ “Why Can’t I Touch It.”

In between Fake Names and Hammered Hulls was SAVAK, which includes Sohrab Habibion who was in DC band Edsel (as well as Obits), as well as Schulz (see Fake Names), as well as members of The Cops, Monsterland and New Radiant Storm King. True vets of the night, SAVAK just released their third album last year, played the longest set of the night and were terrific, pulling from post-punk, punk, prog and more.

Hammered Hulls and SAVAK play Philly tonight and DC on Saturday. Pictures from Hammered Hulls and SAVAK at Union Pool show are in the gallery above, and a few fan-shot videos of Hammered Hulls are below.

Check out pics and video of Fake Names’ debut performance here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bse1YaSASEU/

photos by Kate Hoos