Images: Banner Pilot, Holding Onto Sound, TheCore., Deadhand, Murder Majesty February 5, 2012 at the Bunkhouse Saloon

Vegas natives like myself that fancy themselves fans of gruff-vocaled, aggressive and frequently-bearded midwestern pop punk are often left with far too long of a lull between shows. Luckily the dry spell was broken (sans beard) on February 5th when Minneapolis-based punks Banner Pilot played the Bunkhouse with locals Holding Onto Sound, TheCore., Deadhand and Murder Majesty.

The crowd was quite a bit smaller than I’d like to see for a band as good as Banner Pilot, but being that it took place on Super Bowl Sunday right after a majority of the population partied on chicken wings, pizza and probably more than their fair share of alcoholic beverages, I’m not surprised that many couldn’t bring themselves to leave the couch. The band itself just finished a long drive and longer tour so banter and stage antics were absent on their first Vegas show. But Banner Pilot is a band that plays the kind of music that doesn’t need the extraneous, letting the music do the talking as the foursome successfully plowed through a solid set of Midwestern punk rock from their three Fat Wreck releases.

Unfortunately, the crowd itself was mostly lethargic during the set, content to hang back and enjoy the music with friends and beer, though a small fraction of fans that clearly came out specifically to support the quartet sang along with every word to tracks like “Spanish Reds” and “Alchemy.” It was pretty much a perfect lazy Sunday night, allowing us to get lost in the music for a few more hours until the work week started again.

-Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/