Images: Success, Deadhand, Poke Da Squid, TheCore. April 4, 2013 at Favorite’s

Thursday, April 4 was what I’ve come to find is a pretty standard night at Favorites. Sets by Success, Poke da Squid, TheCore. and Deadhand were punctuated (and often accompanied by) the antics of one overly drunk helmet-wearing, gymnastically-inclined bar patron who spent the evening dancing onto stage barefoot, only to fall backward and be picked up by a like-minded man equipped with a far too dangerous laser pointer. So that sets the stage, right?

If you haven’t heard Seattle’s Success, they play that brand of whiskey-soaked, angsty-yet-cathartic Midwest-style pop punk that have made bands like Dillinger Four and Nothington hits with the 21+ punk rock crowd. They just released their latest full length, We Are the Elitist Generation, and I highly recommend it for anyone currently wearing out Off With Their Head’s latest (and equally great) Home.

They absolutely killed it during their set, with the good-size-for-a-Thursday-night-punk-show crowd enthusiastically singing along to many of the tracks, particularly during the refrain of “I don’t know where the bottle ends and I begin, I guess I’ll see you in the end” from We Are the Elitist Generation stand-out track (and Stripped Down Session song) “Pros and Cons.” Like many of Success’ best songs, it has somber lyrics masked behind a catchy, pop melody with therapeutic sing-alongs. The Bruce Wayne name dropping “Revolution Schmevolution” from the band’s self-titled record was another crowd favorite that got plenty of fists in the air.

Fellow Seattleites Poke Da Squid were complete unknowns to me before this set but I was quickly won over by their catchy riffs and overall fun-time attitudes. Deadhand frontman Brendan Scholz and TheCore. co-frontman Sal Giordano were both celebrating birthdays – as well as dapper new hairdos – and their bands each put on fantastic sets. It feels like it’s been way too long since I’ve had the pleasure of seeing either full band live and that distance had me more revved up than ever to see two of my favorite local bands tear into new tracks and old favorites.

And because he’s an unsung hero, I should point out that all of the bands sounded amazing, thanks in large part to the talent of Favorites’ sound guy, who enjoys the music turned up to 11 but always keep the bands sounding crisp and evenly mixed.

-Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/