Must've Run All Day.

November 21st, 2009 // GlassJAw & Brand New.
Kool Haus : Toronto, Ontario.














It’s been three years since a band of ruffians and I drove down to see Glassjaw headline the Saints & Sinners hardcore festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Glassjaw had been disbanded for two years already following their third record, Worship/Tribute in 2004 but had recently got together to play three shows scattered across the United States. So naturally, when they decided to open up for fellow Long Island hardcore aficionados, Brand New in Toronto, we had to be there.

I hadn’t heard much from Brand New aside from that one track they released a few years back, but if I could drive the 12 hours to Jersey, I could make it to Toronto to the Jaw play one more time.

For those of you who don’t know, here’s the rundown for Glassjaw. They’re a five piece hardcore punk band from New York – although now they’re classified as a post-hardcore/screamo group. I say ‘now’ because at the time and peak of Glassjaw, those two genres didn’t exist, it wasn’t until their demise some jackass came up with the term screamo and made me want to hit people in the face every time I hear it; but then again, maybe that’s the point. Needless to say this is the stuff your mother warned you about. It’s angry, load poetic music based mainly on vengeance that steams from love, lust and angst; Without a doubt in my mind, the finest example of guitar driven hardcore rock and lyrically quite diverse and profound, blending metaphors and clichés into perfect hate filled harmony – see their second album, ‘Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence’ for more details. Although, for diversity and more commercial sake, I also suggest the third album ‘Worship/Tribute’ (nominated for best/most creative art work at the 2003 Grammy awards).

"I'll hold my child's head underwater.
If it's a boy, I was joking
If it's a daughter, I'll say I did what I did
Because I had to...
And if you find my kid later
Tell her I laughed too."

So now back to whatever I was saying … oh yeah, this is where the story gets fuzzy. You see, that show in Jersey, as cool as it was, was a little disappointing. The group had gone through member changes and it seemed as if they didn’t really want to be there. I mean, it was awesome but lacking. As a headlining band, they didn’t play and encore, didn’t say much; just finished up and walked off the stage. It was intense, the crowd got crazy and a riot began to ensue. Luckily, we were at a metal show so it really wasn’t any different from the rest of the day – although I had missed the other acts because I had spent the rest of the day drinking in the filthiest motel known to man … seriously, we were so close to the venue, bands would come and party at our motel room. Then the bed broke, and the sink too I think. Needless to say I slept fully clothed and with a bottle of Black Velvet whiskey. That’s right, so dirty I needed to drink BV whiskey.


Anyways, the point is my expectations weren’t too high. But then again, it is about the seventh time I’ve seen them so, whatever.

Despite technical and attitude difficulties, the show was intense. The first few tracks, singer and songwriter Darryl struggled to hit his mark and at most points didn’t even recite the actual lyrics to the song. If it wasn’t for all of us hollering out the words and hitting each other, it might have been tough to follow along where the song was amidst the haze. I’m still not certain of whether it was by choice or not but, the five piece group appeared to be missing a key ingredient … their second guitarist – which proved to be the vital in capturing the wall of sound that Glassjaw is known for. And because of this technicality, they couldn’t play many of the tracks from their first two studio albums. But when they did manage to, it was heavy. Remember in ‘Back to the Future’ when Marty heads to the Doc’s house to play with that huge amp before school and it blows, sending him straight across the room and into a pile of boxes. It was like that, except the boxes were gurmans and other drunken hooligans.

"you ask me when do I stop / when the bottles empty."

Afterwards, we all discussed it and some had mixed feelings about the whole adventure. For the most part we were all just happy to see them play again, and play new material at that. We were also quite curious to see what had become of them and more importantly, what we can expect from a new record. A new tour. But despite how anyone felt about their performance and their struggle during it, the main thing is that when Glassjaw has it, they have it. When the track ‘Siberian Kiss’ broke in, you couldn’t help but feel the energy, the magic and chaos that made Glassjaw great and epic in hardcore music’s journey to the forefront. Both musically and lyrically, I find that they along with another hardcore group, Every Time I Die, carry most the most merit and intellect that hardcore has seen since the Swedish revolutionaries, Refused had back in the mid-90’s. It was definitely worth the wait, and with that Glassjaw proves that they will remain what most hardcore wishes it could be; thought provoking indiscretion for misguided angst.

Oh, and Brand New was pretty good too.

GlassJAw | www.glassjaw.net