Images: Be Like Max, The Anchorage, The A-Oks and more January 10, 2014 at The Artistic Armory

Being that this was my first time at The Artistic Armory, and knowing only that it was an art gallery, I was curious as to how the venue could possibly hold the 150+ people who RSVP’d on Facebook. As it turns out, the art-adorned warehouse is a very nice size for shows, cozy enough to provide an intimate setting, but large enough to alleviate my fears that the place would be too tiny to hold the skanking that was about to ensue.

Unfortunately, the commute from work didn’t allow for me to see The Troobadours but I did arrive just in time to catch the end of local bluegrass band Bogtrotter’s Union. This was my first time seeing them live, though I’ve spun their Call It What You Will EP a few times since its digital release late last year. The band reminds me a lot of recent cowpunk acts like Larry and His Flask and Old Man Markley with their folk roots and Americana influences, plus their use of the mandolin and banjo. If Gogol Bordello, Flogging Molly and Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution had a baby it would be both a strange miracle of science and Bogtrotter’s Union.

Now in their sixth year of treating us to a frenzied blend of punk, hardcore and ska, Hard Pipe Hitters continued the party vibe. If you turn your iTunes to “R” and play Rancid’s two self-titled albums back-to-back, you’d have a decent idea of what Hard Pipe Hitters sound like (but if you’re going to do that, you might as well just turn to “H” because you should already have their 3-song demo, right?). I’ve always been impressed by how successfully they blend their various influences, from nihilistic to jubilant, from Municipal Waste to New Found Glory (check out bass player Rory Child’s sweet NFG/Adventure Time hybrid shirt in the gallery and join me in being jealous) into a unified sound all its own. They were the first band of the night to incite a circle pit and had the whole crowd singing along to the lyrically minimal “Chicken and Waffles.”

The first of the night’s touring bands, The A-Oks came to us via Denver to play a brand of rambunctious, youthful ska in the vein of, well, the bulk of the mainstream 3rd wave. But to be more specific, for a moment there, I felt like I was whisked away by a blue police box and dropped off in the mid-to-late 90s to see one of the earliest shows by pop/ska acts like The Hippos (before they went new wave) or Telegraph and Slapstick, or maybe a few years later when High School Football Heroes were still doing their thing. Seemingly suffering from a fear of gravity, these guys and girls spent most of their swift set with all feet in the air. After claiming to have invented the circle pit, vocalist Mark Swan and trombone player Matt Sanchez split their time rocking out up front and joining the dance frenzie. Between The A-Oks’ boisterous performance and the set put on by their fellow Denverites in The Potato Pirates at last year’s Viva Ska Vegas I have to imagine some svengali is up in Colorado teaching a seminars on stage presence. If you like fun and they’re coming through your town, I highly recommend checking them out (and in the meantime, give their new live LP a listen over at For the Love of Punk).

Salt Lake City’s The Anchorage was up next, falling at the opposite end of the ska/punk spectrum. They remind me a lot of The Resignation-era RX Bandits, especially vocalist Derek Harman’s Matt Embree-esq voice. There was an overall chill vibe while they were playing, with a smattering of voices singing along to their cover of “Dead Man’s Party,” but for the most part there was a lot of head-bobbing and a small, laid back skankin’ pit.

Finally it was time for the band of the night. Be Like Max has come a long way from their early days as Everyone Meltdown, both as musicians (the new album is catchy as hell) and as performers (the rhythm section is now a well-oiled machine), quickly becoming one of my local bands. Be Like Max’s tireless effort to bring the local ska community together has obviously borne fruit, with one of the biggest and most disparate crowds I’ve seen coming out to support their homegrown musicians. It’s the kind of diversity I’d like to see at every show – male and female, people of every ethnicity. Punks with big mohawks singing arm-in-arm with young kids decked out in checker-print Vans, and music scene veterans smiling and joining in on the fun.

The wall-to-wall fans danced and sang along loudly to cuts from the band’s previous LP Play in the Mud like “Bobby Got a Van” and “Sheep,” the latter of which had the circle pit acting as gospel choir for the refrain of “whoa oh oh oh” reaching numbers not seen since the heyday of Vegas ska legends Attaboy Skip and their shows at the Huntridge and Sanctuary. New cut “Bring on the Suits,” the opener of Just Trying to Fit in… Ur Mom, fittingly opened the release show and had kids crowdsurfing their way up front for a chance to sing along. After a few falls, BLM frontman Charlie Fine decided it would be easier for him to crowd surf out to the fans and allowed himself to be carried – mic and all – back towards the pit. I was happy to hear my new favorites, “Peace Is Uncool” which is reminiscent of Hello Rockview-era Less Than Jake and poppy earworm “Skankin Joe,” the latter of which featuring a special appearance by the titular Joe. Not enough people sang along to the band’s cover of Kid Dynamite’s signature anthem “Cheap Shot Youth Anthem“ (kids! fix this right now and go listen to one of the best songs ever) but the song’s end –  “So, come out and raise your fists high, Stage dive, and forget about what they say, Dance the night away” – very much described this release show and hopefully many more shows to come.

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