Heartbreaking Bravery

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Tag: Here to Hear

June 1, 2014

Swearin’ – Live at Memorial Union Terrace – 5/30/14 (Pictorial Review, Video)

Swearin' XLII

There are very few bands that will warrant the subversion of this site’s manifest. One of the rules that this place tends to hold sacred is that the music in question is more important than an individual reaction to it (this eliminates the assumptions involved in writing from a first person perspective). That said, there are a few bands that have managed to flip that script based on the sheer reverence their music has earned. Perfect Pussy and Tenement are the most notable to have it done it so far but today Swearin’ joins their ranks. There’s just something about the band that resonates with me on a really intense personal level. It’s at the point where it’s impossible to distance or separate myself from that reaction. Taking myself out of the equation would, in some way, feel more dishonest than just trying to get across how this band affects me personally- because any time that happens it’s worth dissolving barriers for.

Some exposition: What A Dump, the band’s first demo cassette, is one of my favorite releases of all time. There’s literally nothing in my fairly expansive library that comes even remotely close to matching it for number of plays at this point. Swearin’, the band’s first full-length, is in the top ten of that particular list as well. Despite this being the case, up until last Friday night, I’d never seen the band play live. So, when the opportunity to see the band play for free on a terrace overlooking Lake Mendota came, I dropped everything and jumped at the chance. By the end of that night my enthusiasm and affection for the band and its members had only grown more emphatic. An additional bonus was the fact that the show gave me a chance to finally catch Pretty Pretty live as well, who lived up to their strong early reputation.

Both bands played shortly after the sun finally set on Madison with Pretty Pretty giving a commanding performance that emphasized their strengths as a live act. The Columbus trio”s punk-tinged powerpop never got tiresome and their set only got more impassioned as it went on, gaining a startling momentum until it finally got to a place where the only thing left to do was call it quits for the evening and let Swearin’ take over. Swearin’, for their part, commanded the hell out of their sizeable audience (it’s nice to see free music outdoors on a perfect night proving to be as big of a draw as it’s ever been) and lived up to every ridiculous, lofty expectation I’d been forming for years. A lot of their songs are practically sacred to me at this point and they only grew more vital in the live setting. When their discography spanning set came to a close, strings had been broken, feelings had been poured out, notes had been missed, beer had flowed frrely, an infinite amount of mosquitoes had been swatted, and everyone was all smiles. From “Here to Hear” to “Crashing” to “Dust in the Gold Sack” to “What A Dump” to “Kill ‘Em With Kindness” there was never a moment that felt less than incendiary. My friend Justin summed the whole thing up aptly and admiringly with a simple “Fuckin’ Swearin'”. How right he is.

A video of Swearin’ kicking off their set with “Here to Hear” can be seen below. Below that video is an extensive image gallery of the show. Take a look at both, then make sure to catch them in person whenever they’re in town. It’ll be worth it.

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January 19, 2014

Watch This: Vol. 9

As hyper-aware readers may have noticed, there hasn’t been much in the way of worthwhile live performance videos to post over this past two week stretch. This is often an inevitability during the new year midwinter dead zone. Fortunately, this allows both time and space to reflect on the things that may have been missed throughout or before this site’s existence. One of those is the dearly-missed BNTYK (short for Be Nice to Your Kids), which seemed to stand for everything Heartbreaking Bravery does. While BNTYK only lasted for a frustratingly brief amount of time, while they were around they offered up the most professional high-quality presentations of live performances from a murderer’s row of great basement bands. Below, you’ll find five of their absolute best. Enjoy.

1. Swearin’ – Here to Hear

Swearin’ are often at their fieriest when Kyle Gilbride’s allowed to take the control. When he’s offered the opportunity it’s very rare that Gilbride doesn’t just fucking go off. “Here to Hear” is easily one of the most impassioned songs in the bands repertoire and the way they feed off each other here is so infectiously joyous that it’s hard to just watch once. Swearin’ still holds up as one of the best LP’s this young decade’s produced so far and this video will always serve as an admirable document of a band exerting their energy because they believe in the thrill of it. It’s raw, visceral, and genuinely beautiful.

2. Bad Sports – Terrible Place

There aren’t many bands that can boast a discography as strong as Bad Sports. For an early run, they’ve already produced a few records that could find themselves categorized as basement pop classics. “Terrible Place” is a very strong indication of this and their committed performance here nicely underscores how hard this band worked to make that happen. Sweat pours down faces, heads are kept down, and there’s a general air of defiant determination. Here’s hoping this band sticks around for a long time to come.

3. VIDEO – Nothing Lasts Forever

The blood-caked upper teeth, the restlessness, the pure exhilaration of airing out unbridled frustration. VIDEO play up their classic hardcore influences to the absolute maximum capacity and wind up stronger for it. “Nothing Lasts Forever” is an appropriately short, sharp, and pointed blast of music. To write any more words on the matter would only do it a disservice by opposing what it stands for. Watch it below. 

4. Teenage Cool Kids – Uncast Shadow of a Southern Myth

Teenage Cool Kids are one of the more singular acts playing the circuit right now and have done everything in their power to make their presence known. Notoriety wasn’t a difficult task for them; songwriting this absurdly good is bound to attract a fair share of followers. They became a band many turned to in the wake of The Goodnight Loving’s tragic dissolution as the two bands share(d) some similar aesthetics. Here, with “Uncast Shadow of A Southern Myth” the band demonstrates all of their understated strength for all of its worth. 

5. Waxahathcee – Michel

Book-ending this list with the pairing of the Crutchfield twins feels appropriate for a myriad of reasons. There’s perhaps no pair of people on the planet that so fully embodies what Heartbreaking Bravery believes in (and the same was likely true for BNTYK as well), aptly illustrating the lengths and emphasis of musical influence. “Michel” is a slight aberration in the BNTYK series as its primarily shot in darkness and, naturally, features only Katie Crutchfield and her taped-up acoustic guitar. It’s a characteristically stunning moment from one of this generations clearest voices. Watch it and reminisce of better times- times when the world had BNTYK in it.

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