No Age, live @ Six D.O.G.S (Athens, April 28, 2011)

As the buzzing in my ears finally subsides, let’s take a look at some of the best photos we were able to capture right at the forefront of the mosh pit of the packed Six D.O.G.S club where No Age played their first ever Athens show on Thursday with support from local acts Monovine and Zebra Tracks.

The LA noisemakers brought the house down with an ear-splittingly loud 80-minute set which was based mainly on their last two albums, "Nouns" and "Everything In Between". The mustache-sporting punk duo of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt was augmented to a trio with the addition of another mustachioed member handling the samplers and adding a third layer of noise to the proceedings. Dean’s voice was almost inaudible, buried beneath Randy’s thick guitar fuzz and his own thunderous drumming, but what was lost in sound subtlety was more than made up for through the euphoric energy that the band emitted from the tiny stage. No Age is channeling the original punk spirit of great bands of the '80s US underground like Husker Du and Black Flag (a cover of the latter’s "Six Pack" was the highlight of the set’s encore while, if I’m not mistaken, they also performed the former’s "Green Eyes" or something that sounds a lot like it) and as last year’s "Everything In Between" proved, they are perfectly capable of creating their own future classics that could serve as an inspiration for the next generations of punk disciples. The explosive live renditions of tracks like "Fever Dreaming", "Depletion" or "Glitter" just adds more weight to this theory.

 

 

Set list: Life Prowler, Teen Creeps, You're A Target, Every Artist Needs a Tragedy, Fever Dreaming, Depletion, Common Heat, Losing Feeling, Cappo, Glitter, Valley Hump Crash, Eraser, Brain Burner, Chem Trais, Sleeper Hold, Shed and Transcend, Miner, Six Pack, Ripped Knees

No Age and loyal dog fan on the stage of 6 D.O.G.S (Athens, April 28, 2011)

The night of blissful guitar shredding and punk noise started with energetic sets by Zebra Tracks and Monovine.

Zebra Tracks, live@6 D.O.G.S (Athens, April 28, 2011)

Zebra Tracks, who recently stirred international interest with their free new EP featuring "Bicycles" and "Isabelle Creeps", the two tracks that bookended their performance (which you can download from here), are influenced by the funk-punk of Gang Of Four and like to spike their pop melodies with copious amounts of guitar distortion. Despite the shoegaze elements of their sound, their on-stage presence was very animated (no staring of the shoes whatsoever) despite the fact that it's not easy to fit five guys on the tiny stage of Six D.O.G.S.

Monovine, live@6 D.O.G.S (Athens, April 28, 2011)

Monovine sounds like the type of band who could be discussing backstage with No Age about their favorite North-West American groups from the late '80s - early '90s. The grunge era has certainly left its mark to the power trio’s music while the genre’s loud-quiet-loud dynamic is put to good use in several of their tracks (listen to them here). Certainly a good fit to a night of loud guitar noise and thunderous drum bashing!

No Age - Depletion, live @6 D.O.G.S (Athens, April 28, 2011)