SOUL BRAINS
At the Irving Plaza - NYC (11/13/03)
At 11:15pm, Soul Brains (aka BAD BRAINS) started
with a reggae-rock intro, featuring some smoldering bass riffs by Darryl
Jenifer and some fiery lead guitar licks by the madman, Dr. Know! From the first
riff, folks on the outer perimeter of the mosh pit could feel the pressure
building up from the moshers's pushing! It felt like a slow-motion yet crushing
force!! When the band, led by the animated
H.R. (Paul Hudson) broke into "Attitude"......BOOM!!!!!! The room
exploded into a frenzy of punk-influenced moshing, body slamming, crowd
surfing, convulsing, headbanging, and whatnots! The
high punk mood continued into "Right Brigade", with the hardcore,
marching drum intro (courtesy of Earl Hudson), matched by the similar rhythms
of the bass and lead guitars! "Sailin' On" was another punk scorcher
that drove the fans into a deeper frenzy! The band a reggae song about Jah
(their God), followed by "Let Me Help". Darryl threw down on some
thunderous bass-ics while Dr. Know added some interesting guitar effects for
another reggae song. Earl did some machine-gun-fire drum licks on a third
reggae song. "I & I Survived" was a beautiful piece of reggae,
with some great vocals by H.R.!! H.R. comes across as a very hilarious,
down-to-earth, "peace-loving hippie" person who refers to his fans as
his "children"! "Tongue Tee Tie" and
"Re-Ignition" were great, but "Pay to Cum" sent the moshers
into another frenzy that nearly cost yours truly his eyeglasses! (PUNK-ROCK CAN
BE DANGEROUS INDEED!) "I Against I" was the last punk-rock tune that
tore down the Irving Plaza.....the demolition ended at 12:20am. Currently, the
Irving Plaza is nothing but a huge crater in the ground, like the World Trade
Center bombing!!
LESSON FOR THE DAY, CHILDREN: IF YOU INVITE SOUL
BRAINS TO YOUR PLACE FOR A PARTY, MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE ADEQUATE INSURANCE ON
YOUR PROPERTY!!!
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com