Punk Music Concert Review

Peeking into the Punk Scene Punk music is a unique form of music that incorporates heavy, raw and distorted guitars; intricate, deep sounding bass lines; high paced, pounding drumbeats; and vocals that throw ideas of a world run by anarchy. Punk is a form of underground music that appeals to people who are either bored or dissatisfied with the way the world works. In The Merriam Webster Dictionary the definition of the word punk is; a young inexperienced person or a petty hoodlum. This is the typical stereotype which is associated with punk. This definition is far too vague and neglects to mention that punk is also a form of music. Last Thursday I attended my friends’ punk band practice.

The Pathetics is a band comprised of four local San Luis Obispo residents; they have been playing together for five years and have three recorded albums. Devon plays the drums and is back-up vocals, Mike and Travis play guitar, Mike is the lead vocalist, and James plays the bass. Last year they played at a Cal Poly U.U. hour on the stage by the bookstore, this is when I first met the band. They have two scheduled practices a week every Monday and Thursday. Practice is in a storage room out on Broad near the airport, which they share with two other bands. The room is just big enough to fit a drum set, mini stage, and four speakers larger than myself. The walls are covered with carpet, eggs crate foam, and other various sound absorbing materials to soak up the deafening sounds generated by the band. Last Thursday was my second time attending one of their practices; and after being absolutely miserable the first time I went, this time I had two thick earplugs.

The band enjoys when they have an audience at practice and there were about five of us crowded near the door of the crammed room. Therefore true to punk tradition it was a stand up comic show between songs as the members cracked jokes into their microphones. Most of the songs had a song with distorted amps, catchy choruses, and an extremely vivace tempo. They played their own compositions, punk covers, and songs from other punk bands popular to this time such as New Found Glory, Blink 182, and The Ataris. Punk covers are songs that are anything but punk soundings to begin with, and then the band re-writes them to fit their own style. Songs which The Pathetics played that night include Britney Spears “Hit me Baby one more Time”, and Bryan Adams “Everything I do, I do for You”.

Punk music becomes terribly annoying to me if I listen to it for any long stretch of time, after a while it all sounds like repetitive noise. However I do on occasion listen to the music beyond music appreciation concert reviews. Usually I’ll have a punk song dispersed amongst my rock playlist. I can appreciate the melodic guitar, upbeat rhythm, and wacky lyrics to lift my spirit once in a while.