Home Ain't Never Home 02.03.

Curiosity? a powerfull tool. When i began listening to punk i never really had much interests in hardcore music. Maybe because i couldn't relate to it? but the truth is i never really new what it was (like). I was always open minded to music, always tried to not judge some style beacuse it is an way of expression and every style has it's own artistic values so it should be listened that way not in an musicallycentred direction. Not just talkin' about punk styles, the blues, jazz, folk\country, rock (r)evolution, reggae, electronic, hip hop. etc. every with it's own values, rituals, the culture it cherishes, creativity, diversities and crossovers it creates and a way of life which promotes in between the dominant\popular culture. So i began to be interested and listening to hardcore more and more. Well it punched me right from the start, i liked it agressiveness and honesty, it was also faster which was another +, because i was getting bored from the slow music. "Turnover"? At one point that now seems like a distant past i was completly focused with it, it ran me over, but i never really liked the overnight tranfromations, everything doesn't happen overnight it takes time before you can decide is this just a current fab or something you will be commited to with all honesty through years to come. So i took it slowly and we will se what the future holds.

It was a cold and snowy wednesday day in Zagreb, on the day we took a van and were heading to Vienna (Austria) for a hardcore gig. At the start we had problems with the rented wehicle as the front light didn't work (Dubrava), so we had to fix it, because of the problems we could have get on the border. This is the second time being very sobber in Vienna, as i didn't have much money, but the guys were more than solidary so i had a few beers on the way there and at the concert. I was excited because i didn't know what to expect, i never was on a show like this, Croatian hardcore gigs can't be a comparison, especially not without a band like this one on stage that is going to play tonight. It was a different world to me, so i had to adapt. We started our trip very late, so we got there just in time for the first band to play.

The first band was Austrian Charly Bone, i played them one time on my stereo just to hear them out, but they didn't make a very good impression on me. Similar was on stage, we were 20 minutes on the band, but nothing special. I don't like to miss out bands especially if i travel somewhere, than i would prefer to hear them out even though i ain't that keen on the band. This was a different situation as we spent the minutes waiting for the main band chatting or in my case passive chatting. Also on the second band the Australian metalcore\hardcore Carpathian. I knew the band but i never really "chewed" them out as only a few songs got to my ears while listening to them at home.
And after them, the main band came on the stage, the band most of us came just to hear. The Massachusetts Defeater which i don't think needs to be introduced. "Waiting to explode when the song is played", on my disappointment the vocal was the only person on the stage with an acoustic guitar with the lovely song from the new album "I'don't mind". I ain't such a big fan of an acoustic guitar in punk\hardcore music so this wasn't my cup of tea, but i decided to melt with the crowd and played along my part in the expressionist crowd. But certainly this was a good intro, as the whole band came to the stage i didn't thought the song after this will be an explosion on the start, as they played their famous "The Red, White and Blues" which i tought would be at the end, but certainly a good shock. The crowd was erupting. Then after "Dear Father" , "Blessed Burden" with stage dives which some ended with their heads on floor. As i can recall the next one was one of my favourite "The bite and sting", so they wasted my favourite on the start. But nevertheless there was still good songs to be played. They played their new song "Empty Glass", then "Home Ain't Never Home", "A Wound and Scar" and i think "Singin' New York Town" from the Lost Ground EP. I think i left some or one song from the Travels album, but the last was "Cowardice", until they came on the bis, and played "Prophet In Plain Clothes" and thanked the Verse for this (don't know exactly the connection), with the acoustic on the end and singin'-a-long. That was the show from the "Humble guys from Boston, Massachusetts".

After the concert the guys grabbed a few beers (well it was only midnight when the concert finished), which was a normal thing to do, only not to our sxe who wanted desperately to go home (couldn't blame him). I was dying of a wish just to join them, but because the lack of money i decided to drive home not to bother them with driving, because i was very familiar to the situation when you want to loosen up after the concert and i played my role but still got one beer for the effort. Luckly i drove home with not much problems with the tiredness, and arrived in Zagreb at about 6am, waiting to go to sleep after a exhausting evening and night.