First things first. The show was at The Knitting Factory here in NYC, on Friday 10/24/2008. It was a CMJ showcase for Panache, which is some sort of booking agency and a magazine (weird combo right?). For those that have not been to "The Knit", a brief description is in order. The club is housed in a building in lower Manhattan, and has three floors with three separate stages/performance areas. The main room is on the smallish end of the scale with a little balcony that runs around two sides. It holds about 250 people in total. The other rooms, which are located below street level, are much smaller, holding maybe 75-100 each. Sometimes the club has two or three shows happening at once, requiring separate entry for each. The Panache showcase was an "all club event", meaning one ticket allowed you access to all performance areas.
Panache put together quite a lineup for their event: Akimbo, Aa, DMBQ, An Albatross, The Mae Shi, Homosexuals, AIDS Wolf, Yip Yip, Fiasco and headliners Monotonix. Me and my friends bounced around the rooms taking in all we could before heading upstairs for Monotonix. We got up there just as they were finishing their setup, which was on the floor in front of the stage. As soon as the band launched into their first song, their insane singer guy dove into the crowd and the place just went bonkers. Beer cans and water bottles began flying around the room. The singer made his way back to the stage only to throw himself AND a trash can back into the audience. The trash can was bandied about and hurled back and forth across the room. Insane Singer Guy then scurried up a column in the back of the room, and freaked out on a little platform he discovered near the balcony. When he made his way back down, he again rode the crowd back to the stage. He then grabbed a drum (floor tom) and surfed the crowd as he pounded the shit out of this drum (a trick he stole from openers DMBQ). All the while, beer cans and water bottles and shoes and all kinds of stuff were still flying around. ISG then brought out DMBQ and both bands crowd surfed whilst playing their instruments. For a big finish, ISG invited all members of every band that played that night to do one huge stage dive together. This was a hilarious conclusion to the night, as the whole lot collapsed into a big sweaty pile in front of the stage. Needless to say, it was a completely gonzo performance. It was also the first time, in a long time, that I felt real danger at a rock 'n roll show. I thought someone was going to lose an eye, for sure.
The only real problem with Monotonix was that their music was pretty forgettable. If I had to describe it, I'd say it sounded vaguely like MC5 or Zen Guerrilla, but devoid of any memorable tunes.
Still, they are something to see.
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