“We’re 43” was one of many first issues singer Johnny Whitney stated when the Blood Brothers took the stage on the Black Lodge on Tuesday night time for a “secret,” all ages, $5-at-the-door present introduced on Instagram solely a day earlier.
Regardless of the quip suggesting the band had aged, they then tore into “Set Hearth to the Face on Hearth,” off their 2006 album Younger Machetes, and Whitney instantly grew to become one with the gang, driving the ocean of individuals. Followers packed in tight to the 120-capacity room, with everybody singing and screaming alongside—it was as warmly chaotic as when the Blood Brothers performed comparable DIY areas many years in the past. “I’m tied to a seagull’s again / Yeah fireplace, fireplace, fireplace!” Whitney screamed as co-vocalist Jordan Blilie held his floor, lurking the stage together with his model of the identical firey vitality.
Tuesday night time’s present was the Blood Brothers’ first present in Seattle in a decade, and followers began lining up as early as 11 am for a uncommon likelihood to see the band as they have been again within the day. By the early afternoon, a stream of individuals wrapped across the block. The road was filled with heat vibes—folks held spots for one another all through the afternoon if somebody needed to take a break, and others ordered pizza for everybody. Buddies throughout.
Like many late-’90s hardcore bands previously few years, the Blood Brothers reunited on a wave of late-millennial nostalgia and youthful generations discovering their music for the primary time. For me, a 43-year-old dad, it introduced again being 19 and taking a Greyhound from NYC to Columbus, Ohio, to see them on the Extra Than Music Fest in 2002. Whitney was stage-diving and sweaty as all hell inside 30 seconds of the primary notice—nearly no separation between the band and their followers. On Tuesday, it might have been the identical time.
The Blood Brothers fashioned in Seattle within the late ’90s when Whitney, Blilie, Morgan Henderson, Mark Gajadhar, and Cody Votolato have been in highschool—Blilie and Whitney have been mates for the reason that first day of seventh grade. They performed small reveals at legendary Seattle spots just like the Velvet Elvis, the Previous Redmond Firehouse, RCKNDY, and the Paradox earlier than going off on their first tour in 2000 when Votolato—a yr youthful than the remainder of the band—graduated from highschool.
After I first noticed them, I didn’t know what to do with their screechy, sassy mix of punk, hardcore, and even dance. I kinda simply stood there, whoa’d by a sound I hadn’t skilled earlier than. Although I’d seen loads of bands who have been simply as loud, it took me a minute to get it, however they quickly grew to become considered one of my favourite bands. It was a sound that may quickly bridge youngsters throughout music scenes—from DIY punk to arena-nü-metal—and finally acquired the band signed to a significant label with a file produced by Ross Robinson. They even carried out on Jimmy Kimmel Dwell! however have been by no means invited again as a result of they didn’t give in to strain to play the extra “radio-friendly” tune. (Iconic.).
What has all the time been so endearing concerning the Blood Brothers is that, whereas their music and stage presence are so loud, heavy, and wild, and the pit is simply as loopy, their reveals by no means felt unsafe. Folks dance and slam into one another, however not like many hardcore and steel reveals, you by no means really feel like some douchebag goes to throw a roundhouse or that you simply’ll be pummelled by a Wall of Demise. Everybody appears like a good friend, all the time prepared to choose you up in case you hit the ground. And the steadiness of males, girls, boys, women, and nonbinary folks is, and all the time has been, there. Tuesday was no exception.
As Blilie and Whitney screamed their dada-ist off-kilter phrases, the remainder of the band was persistently cool. Henderson hypnotically performed bass and typically keyboards. There’s a laid-backness to his vibe, much like his calm when enjoying for Fleet Foxes. And Mark Gajadhar continued to pound the drums, the spine of all of the wild. Guitarist Cody Votolato largely stayed towards the again of the stage, strumming mathy, frenetic riffs, however he often discovered himself on the ground and within the crowd.
The Blood Brothers’ practically 30-song set lined all ends of their discography. At one level, somebody shouted “Physician Physician,” among the finest songs off of their first album, This Adultery Is Ripe, to which Blilie responded, “You solely get one outdated tune. Simply kidding—half this set is outdated songs,” earlier than shortly leaping into “Jennifer” and the tune’s most memorable line, simply in time for Halloween: “You don’t want a physician child, you want a mortician.”
In a latest interview with Stereogum, Blilie described “coaching” for the reunion reveals. He and the remainder of the band felt like in the event that they have been going to reunite, past enjoying tight, well-rehearsed units, it was additionally their accountability to maintain the identical hardcore vitality alive. As 43-year-olds with full-time jobs—a lot of whom are additionally dads—whether or not they’d stay as much as this promise was of venture, however they introduced it with fireplace, fireplace, fireplace.
