Zero Boys at the Record Bar

Zero Boys‘ frontman Paul Mahern stood on stage as the band prepared to start their set, and told the audience that the band was a little nervous, and to go easy on them. There was no need: the band was given love from the crowd from the first note.

That’s surprising, because the band started their set with all-new songs. All of them were a little more melodic, and the tempo wasn’t slow, but it wasn’t near the blitzkrieg attack the band’s older material was. The songs were damned good, however, sounding a lot like Lords of the New Church — not gothic in atmosphere, just in terms of pacing and delivery.

After the new songs (for which the audience was immeasurably polite, if not very enthusiastic), Mahern made mention of the fact that they were “starting you off with some new stuff,” and then the band launched into “Vicious Circle.” They played damn near the entire album, and the audience went off for each song like they’d been waiting for years — which, of course, they had. Fists pumped for “Trying Harder,” fingers pointed for “Civilization’s Dying,” and everyone lost their collective shit when Zero Boys closed with “Mom’s Wallet.”