Images: Direct Hit!, Lipstick Homicide, Deadhand, War Called Home July 13, 2013 at Bar 702

“Fuck You! Get Pumped!” I’ve been waiting years to get to shout Direct Hit!’s explicit catchphrase live and I finally got my wish when the party pop punk band rolled through Vegas on July 13th for a show with Lipstick Homicide and a handful of Vegas locals.

Starting out the night was War Called Home, a new-to-the Vegas-scene band featuring friend of the site and Ninja Turtles enthusiast Dave Bartlett on drums (playing the set on his lunch break from work). The band describes itself as “influenced by the 1990’s era Fat Wreck and Epitaph records” and that is definitely a fitting description. Their melodic skatepunk reminds me a lot of Lagwagon and Pulley, with an emphasis on fast beats, catchy riffs and vocal harmonies. I enjoyed their set quite a bit and am excited to hear more from them as they continue to develop.

Up next was the band with the biggest audience of the night – Deadhand. As reported here earlier, this was Deadhand’s last show for the foreseeable future due to drummer Aaron Weislogel’s relocation to San Diego. While the show wasn’t “officially” billed as their last, the rumor was widespread enough that most of the familiar faces from past Deadhand shows showed up to rock out with the group one last time. Deadhand always puts on a phenomenal show and as a photographer I can say they have been a particular favorite to shoot due to the high energy and even higher jumps littered throughout their sets (plus one ace Spider tattoo). It’s hard to believe this might have been the last “Places” sing along, but at least they went out with an awesome set.

Direct Hit! tourmates Lipstick Homicide were up next, but the crowd thinned out a lot after Deadhand (old people and their jobs, right?). To those that left, you made a huge mistake. The Coralville, Iowa trio play a style of pop punk highly reminiscent of early Lookout! Records bands like The Mr. T Experience and Kerplunk!-era Green Day. Not surprisingly, Lookout! founder Larry Livermore is a fan and included the band on the The Thing That Ate Larry Livermore comp that came out on Adeline Records earlier this year (check it out, it’s a pretty great resource for fans of that style of early 90s pop punk who are under the mistaken impression that every modern pop punk band sounds like All Time Low).

As it grew closer to midnight it was finally time.

“Fuck You! Get Pumped!”

Direct Hit! is a huge favorite in the PIV household, playing pop punk that is part Latterman, part Andrew WK and completely awesome. I’ve heard tales of the Milwaukee-based band being even better live and now I can finally confirm this as fact. While the tiny crowd was obviously not as rowdy as one would expect from seeing, say, a video of the band playing Fest, it was nice to see a few people besides myself and my spouse singing along with frontman Nick Woods on tracks like “Snickers or Reese’s,” “Satan Says” and “They Came For Me.” I was particularly stoked to hear “Werewolf Shame,” one of my top DH! songs that isn’t on their full length Domesplitter.

The band also played a new track “White Robes,” which is going to be on their upcoming sophomore album Brainless God. The song, which we’ll be premiering in acoustic form shortly, has a Weezer-esq feel to it (think “The Good Life,” not “We’re All On Drugs.” Never “We’re All On Drugs”). It’s a bouncy song and with Red Scare now backing the band, I hope more people discover them and that they are able to make Vegas and the west coast in general regular stops on future tours. And if you haven’t checked out Direct Hit! yet you can get two of their EPs for free right now via Death to False Hope Records.

Unfortunately, due to having work very early in the morning (surprise, I’m also an old person!), we had to miss the last 2 bands, locals Burning Agrestic and Lambs to Lions, but we heard they were great and look forward to seeing them soon.

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