Hardcore: CMI, Big Deal, Vigilante, Off The Wall, No Leash.
Adam Voss of Conservative Military Image - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
I love Friday night shows. Even though this was looking like a long one, with six bands starting at 7:00pm and probably going 4 or 5 hours, it was Friday night. It’s hard to think of a better way to spend it, than a hardcore show at The Sanctuary in Hamtramck, MI. I had made a playlist for this show in advance and had been blasting it all week, and I was really looking forward to H8, Inc. which is a local band I have not yet seen. They ended up dropping from the bill a few days before the show, which was disappointing but there were still plenty of good bands left. I had a friend who had recommended Vigilante in particular, so I decided to get there early and see them all.
The road in front of The Sanctuary was still under construction, so I did the usual weave through a few alleys to get to the parking lot of the grocery store across the street. People were parking all over, so even though there was no line to get in yet people were walking up from 4 or 5 different directions. I hate to carry merch around the entire night, and I also don’t like getting it at the end (when the lines are long and items are sold out). I started by grabbing a bunch of flyers, stickers, pins, and CDs and running them back out to my car. As of the time I’m writing this, I still haven’t played the CDs but I’m looking forward to them. I always like to support both local and touring bands, and my T-shirt collection is simply overflowing. This time I went for every CD on every table.
No Leash kicked it off with a really quick set, but it was intense, and the two step was in full force. I could already tell that this was going to be a night where I would have to be careful where I stood. There would be windmills, stage dives, and arms flailing with no regard for photographers. Of course, that is part of the allure of hardcore shows; it’s crazy and a little bit dangerous.
Off the Wall was up next, and it was more of the same but even amplified a bit. Crazy, fast, screaming hardcore, and the pit was filled with two stepping kids with more energy than I can ever remember having. They played a little longer, but the night was really moving along, and that was great for me. They did a couple of shoutouts to Detroit sports teams, which was especially cool since I had my Detroit Lions hat on and was looking forward to their game against the Packers later in the weekend. Detroit hardcore and Detroit sports teams just go together.
Vigilante
Half of Vigilante had shirts on representing another local band D-BLOC which I had seen recently at The Tangent Gallery. As a matter of fact, I had just missed Vigilante at the Terror/ Cro-Mags/ Haywire show there (I showed up just as Haywire was starting and missed two prior bands). This was a chance to make up for that. As expected, the bands were getting better and playing longer as the line-up progressed and Vigilante lived up to expectations. I had bought one of their CDs earlier, and I wouldn’t be regretting that decision.
A few of the bands throughout the night had guest singers. I couldn’t tell if they were legitimate guest singers, members of other bands on the bill that just knew their songs, or fans from the audience that grabbed the mic and seized the opportunity. Big Deal had by far the most, including a couple of girls that were so in synch that it must have been planned. This was another band that I had grabbed a CD from, so maybe I can listen to that later, check the liner notes, and figure that out. I enjoyed their set the most so far, and had luckily avoided any accidental injury, but I was ready for CMI to take the stage.
Adam Voss of Conservative Military Image
Skinhead/Oi! band CMI were the headliners, and singer Adam Voss brought out a small recorder to reproduce some of their sound bites. The show started with a chant to their trademark “Oi! Oi!, Oi! Fucking Oi!”. That eventually led into “Tragedy of the Commons." This was the fourth time I’ve seen them (Punk Rock Bowling, Punk Rock Museum/Pennywise Garage, and Detroit’s 2023 Black Christmas festival were the other three), and this seems to be their standard opening (and arguably their best song). It was a 13 song set with all of their hits. They did “Yard Hard," “Blue Boot," “Shirt Tucked Aggression," “One For The Old Boys," “Casual Violence," “I’m Not Your Skinhead," “Guilty Until Compliant,” and more, finishing up with “Mob Handed Violence.” The one song that I would have added is “Burberry Hat," but otherwise it was a near perfect set. Adam started out with his ever present boot stomping energy in a long sleeve T-shirt but quickly ended up shirtless and sporting his ominous muscles and tattoos.
If you follow my record reviews, you know that their “Casual Violence” LP from 2023 was one of my favorite releases of that year. This year they have already followed up with a 12” EP (“No Squares in Our Circle"), which is a contender for the best record this year. After the show I talked with guitarist Chris Cesarini, and he remembered me from Las Vegas. He gave me one of his custom made logo guitar picks and thanked me for the support. What a night, and I was back home by midnight!
