Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Cream Calendar Folk Punks Defiance, Ohio Play Little Hamilton Tonight
Posted by Lance Conzett on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 2:37 PM
Folk punk fans, rejoice! Defiance, Ohio is bringing their brand of anarchist-leaning acoustic punk to the warehouse space at Little Hamilton tonight.
Defiance, Ohio is one of the key bands in the modern American folk punk scene, along with This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb, Andrew Jackson Jihad and a handful of other bands that can usually be seen riding tall bikes and giving vegan food to homeless people when they're not touring the country.
Folk punk sounds more or less like you'd expect it to sound -- acoustic punk built on a foundation of '60s protest songs and pre-war Southern country and bluegrass. Whereas the Pogues arguably founded the genre with a punk take on traditional Irish folk music, these bands are thoroughly American in their influences. Defiance in particular focus a lot of their efforts on social issues and extolling that DIY punk ideal that can be hard to swallow if you're older than 16.
About a month ago, when we were (admittedly) ripping off the Onion AV Club for that post on things we've fallen out of love with, I distanced myself from Jello Biafra and punk politics in the comments section. Even though Defiance's lyrics fall pretty squarely in my political exhaustion no-fly zone, there's something about their earnestness that's still endearing. It doesn't feel like you're being preached to, is what I'm getting at, which makes it more fun than painful.
The show kicks off at 8 p.m. with openers Cheap Girls, The Riot Before, Murdock and Cream favorites Diarrhea Planet. Cover is six bucks. Wikipedia says they're "known for their ... intense, enthusiastic live shows," and who are we to argue with that?
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