Radioactivity, Bad Sports, All Blood and Nature Boys brought a mess of garage sound to MiniBar last night
Radioactivity with Bad Sports, All Blood, Nature Boys
Minibar, Kansas City
Thursday, June 19
I didn’t know until Dirtnap Records posted it to Twitter earlier in the day that this was the tour kickoff for Radioactivity and Bad Sports. It was kind of great for two of the finest garage acts plying their trade to drive up from Texas and team up with a couple of Kansas City’s best and brightest to get things going. Kansas City showed their appreciation: for a show that had to compete with King Khan and the Shrines at the Record Bar, there was a large crowd packed in upstairs at the MiniBar when Nature Boys took the stage around 11:00.
I’d never seen Nature Boys, as the band’s recorded output has never really grabbed me. Live, it’s the exact opposite. From note one, I was rapt, wondering why I’d not gotten what they were doing. It’s punk, it’s hardcore, it’s post-punk – rhythmically powerful, with an ever-so-slight hint of surf that pulled me in. Calling them a garage band is reductive, and completely inaccurate, yet that seems to be how they’re always pitched. Nature Boys are lockstep tight, and their sound doesn’t waste a note. I’ve never been quite so happy to have been proven wrong in my opinion.
All Blood is a nervy quartet of guys. I’ve been rocking their new album, The Kids Have No Taste, on Bandcamp quite a bit this week, and was eager to hear the songs live. They’re a little looser and rough around the edges than in-studio, but that twitchy edge comes through clearly nonetheless. I really wish the keys had been higher in the mix, as they’re an integral part of what makes this band so energetic. The songs, with titles like “I Am the Devil,” could easily be dark and brooding, but singer and guitarist JB manages to deliver vocals that come off as self-deprecating and humorous, making All Blood the fun kids at the party.
It’s been nearly four years since I last saw Bad Sports, and I was a little apprehensive. Their latest album, Bras, seemed to be an everything but the kitchen sink affair, in terms of styles and production, but their live show’s just as wonderful as I remembered. They bop like a Gene Vincent single, and their high-octane garage is exactly the sort of thing that makes a Thursday show seem like an early start to the weekend. It’s a cliche to say that a trio puts out more sound than you’d expect, but Bad Sports manage to blast out AC/DC levels of rock from two standard amps, and it’s astonishing.
While you couldn’t hardly move in the Minibar’s upstairs during Nature Boys’ opening set, Radioactivity’s rocket-speed garage rock was seen by maybe 30 souls. Blame it on Thursday, blame it on 1:00am, or whatever. The fact is, those who left missed out hugely. These songs are a mile a minute, and if you like the Marked Men, you should be worshiping Radioactivity equally. It’s the same stuff under a different name and slightly different personnel, and it’s so catchy.
You wouldn’t guess songs that blast by so quickly could be so infectious, but the harmonies grab you and pull you in by the ears, while the frantic riffs make the rest of your body shake and shimmy. It’s intense – the band doesn’t even bother with a perfunctory Ramones-esque “1234!” between each song, choosing instead to blast through cut after cut. When they actually pause, it’s only then that you realize how fast they were going, and it’s all you can do to catch your breath before they’re going again.
