Guttermouth Live In Kansas City, MO April 3rd 2014

Guttermouth’s Kansas City show at Davey’s Uptown Rambler’s Club on April 3rd was a Punk triumph.  All local opening acts, a tiny bar that had no idea what it was in for, and a $10 ticket price to see Punk legends – three factors that combined to make for an epic show. 

Kansas City staple, American Dischord a.k.a. AMDX, took the stage first and did a damn fine job of warming up the twenty or so people who had already made it inside for the 7pm start of that night’s early show.  A solid three-piece that shows clear influences of Anti-Flag and Rancid, American Dischord has a fun and somewhat goofy vibe during their live show that belies the Anti-Establishment message of their music.  They played fast and sweaty and made a spectacle of being a little chubby and playing shirtless just because, well, that’s fucking Punk.  And on top of that, they threw in a couple of covers – including a seriously stout rendition of, Maxwell Murder – complete with extra-long bass solo. 

I was happy.  This is a good band and they’re from KC.  The music is tight and the talent is there for these guys to go on to bigger things.  I may be biased as a Kansas Citian myself, but based on the show I saw that night, I think AMDX has the potential to take on a decent-sized tour as an opener very soon.  I’m proud of ‘em.

Now, Davey’s is a true dive bar and their live music area, though separate from the main bar area, is really no bigger than a modest living room/dining room combo found in any suburban household found all over the country.  In live music venue terms – tiny.  In Punk terms – perfect. Six Percent was second and is also a KC band, but their brand of ultra-sparkly, poppier than Reel Big Fish/The Hippos, Ska-Punk was an unfortunate mis-match for the show.  On top of that, though all are legitimately talented musicians, the seven members of Six Percent barely fit on Davey’s coffee table stage and couldn’t help but look like each member was rocking out in an imaginary phone booth during the whole show.  Also, they had a trombone player that looked just like Will Ferrell – which was awesome.

So, when Guttermouth took the stage, it was like everyone was in the front row (I was actually in the front row with my good friends Jason and Todd) while they marched through classic after classic.  The setlist was like a Guttermouth greatest hits compilation.  Bruce Lee vs. The Kiss Army, I’m Destroying the World, Chug-a-Lug Night, Mr. Barbecue, Chicken Box, Just a Fuck, Marco-Polo, and many, many, many others.  I wish I was able to grab a copy of it, but I didn’t see any…I think they had it memorized.    

They played for over two hours in total, and the whole time, its Mark chugging what looked like Jaeger shots out of a beer pitcher while he cracks all manner of jokes to and on the crowd – including one especially charismatic black man – and everyone around me is madly shouting lyrics they’ve known by heart since they were sixteen and the rest of the band is just eating up the good-natured insanity. 

It was fantastic and you should have been there.  When it was over and we were hi-fiving and taking pictures with the guys, we looked like we had been rained on from all the beer and whiskey being slung around and the sweat from the wild, but good-natured pit, but it was perfect.  Fans couldn’t have asked for a better show.