Gallows shred. - Oh My Rockness

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Gallows shred.

February 4, 2008
Shows don't scare me too often (unless bassoons are involved), but when I saw Gallows play at last year's SXSW festival at a tiny club in Austin, I was scared. Scared of being pummeled, not only by the crazy crowd (who knew grown men still liked to "mosh" so much), but by the band members themselves.

Between songs, Gallows seemed like very nice guys, but once they began to play, the demented ROCK came out from all of them and I was afraid one of them would slug me or spit at me or something. And it was kind of awesome in a terrifying sort of way. If Johnny Rotten knew how to love anything or anybody other than himself, he'd probably love these guys.

Of course, I only stayed near the front for one-and-a-half songs into their set before moving back to a much safer distance way away from the stage. But that's because I'm a wimp. And I don't like elbows grazing my cheekbones. But I do like it loud sometimes, and that's why I like Gallows.

Seriously, where the hell has this band been all my life? Oh right, England. Upon my very first listen I knew that there was still plenty of hope for the state of punk rock. They even sounded explosive on a MySpace stream. Now THAT'S saying something.

I could've sworn from their sound that Gallows were from San Diego (they sound very similar to Drive Like Hot Snakes Crypt) but I was wrong. They're from a town called London. But boy, do they sure scream and riff and straight-up rock out like they're from that mighty southern California scene of yesteryear.

These five Brits have potential to take over the world with their insanely catchy spazz-pop-thrash. If you like hard music meant for guitars and vocal wails, you'll love Gallows. Just come to this show fully padded. And we'll see if I have enough guts to stand at the front for the whole set this time. But I doubt it.

BUY TICKETS TO SEE GALLOWS AT THE MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG!


BUY TICKETS TO SEE GALLOWS AT THE BOWERY BALLROOM!


Gallows play The Music Hall of Williamsburg, on Friday, February 8th, and Bowery Ballroom, on Saturday, February 9th.

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