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Mustard Plug / Allister / Whippersnapper

live in Orlando, FL (2003)
Tours

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: IlikeSKA
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on March 11th 2003

A ska show?? in Orlando?? what a crazy concept. We haven't been getting many of these shows lately and it's definetly good the see a band like Mustard Plug playing at the Social in Orlando, Florida. The small (but not closet) sized venue was about half full, a suprise considering Mustard Plug havent been here for about 2 years and there were great opening bands.

Starting off the night was The Know How,from Gainesville, a hope for the Florida music scene. This 7-piece had an uplifting ska sound that caught my interest from the very first song. Instantly I thought of the Hippos because they had a keyboardist in the group. Some of their songs reminded me of the Hippos from the "heads are gonna roll" album; very catchy, upbeat, fast, and made people start dancing. They sounded good, had lots of energy, and got the crowd moving, important elements for any band, espcially an opener.

Next up were punk rockers Whippersnapper. They asked the crowd if they were ready for the first non-ska band of the night, and no one really responded. Once they started playing there was no doubt they were a good band for this bill. They had a mix of straight up fast, crashing, 3 chord punk; with some melodic riffs and vocals here and there. The crowd overall also got into their set. so far in the night no one had yelled "you suck!" to any of the bands, when i looked around everyone seemed to be having fun and enjoying the music. So yes, another good opening band.

And now we have Allister. My memory is weak but i remember hearing them on an older Drive-Thru comp so i figured i would enjoy their *gasp* catchy punk show. I wont say the dreaded pop-punk term when referring to them because it doesnt seem right. Their songs were fast and tight and believe me, they were catchy, even had me dancing a bit. Strong vocals from both singers really drove this band, and again, the fact that they seemed to be having fun on stage. They played the song "jacob" about a male admirer and a song about how all their corperate sell-out friends back home suck. The last song they invited whoever knew the words to come on stage and sing-along, most the people up there looked like were having the time of thier life.

da-dum-dum....we now have Mustard Plug!! i was right up front and sang along as the lead singer, Dave, repeatedly put the mic into the crowd. These guys are amazing musicians and performers, dancing and smiling the whole time without (from what i heard) a mistake. right before playing "you want it, we got it" they comment that they have been around for 11 years and are still ska, which is what that song is about. Besides doing what was on the set list (see below) they also took requests and did "Mendoza" and "Mr. Smiley" about a homicidal maniac in which Dave took a plastic butcher knife out of his belt loop and had fun with the people in the front. For the last song the stage was flooded with people singing along, which was a good end to the night. There was a good mix of songs from thier last 3 albumsand the set was about an hour, but still, it wasn't enough. To try and sum up the show in a few words i would have to say:skankin', smiling faces and good music.

I got my dirty lil' hands on a set list so here ya go...

not enough
go
everything girl
you
in your face
someday, right now
box
the park
lolita
yesterday
you want it, we got it
throw a bomb
just a minute
never be
no one but myself
thigh high nylons
*crowd requested Mendoza and Mr. Smiley were thrown in too
last but not least...
beer (song)

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Anonymous (July 11, 2003)

Whippersnapper(rip) was amazing.

Anonymous (March 12, 2003)

Whippersnapper one of the worst bands?????

You must be deaf, they are awesome, especially their older stuff

hondymon (March 12, 2003)

Why the hell is everyone so obsessed with cracking on Drive-thru records. no one here seems to actually know what happened with them and MCA, so you have no right to start commenting on it. I find it pretty unfair to say that every single band on the label sucks just because of some deal that went on, especially when a good portion of the bands were on the label before this whole mess happened. but if you don't like the bands, don't listen to them. no one's forcing you to, so get over it and stop bitching about them already.

Anonymous (March 12, 2003)

I'm sorry that I think it's funny that a "third-wave punk-pop band" (is that what most new bands are called these days? i was never good at math) thats pretty much following the footsteps of Blink-182, and fenix tx needs to point out their "street-cred" at every chance they have, especially when their label obviously has SOME relationship with a major corporation like that, what it is specifically I don't know, I don't really care. And don't get me wrong, I still listen to Blink-182 every so often, I'm just getting a bit tired of bands today trying to compare themselves to bands from the earlier days of punk and whatnot, who took alot of crap, where as today you have bands that go on and on about "how you shouldn't follow the crowd", yet we have to face it - punk IS becoming a crowd. I don't know, I've lost my train of thought, oh well - Lil Guy

(PS - Wuss, since its pretty obvious you like to rile people up - simple plan and drive thru records suck like the bunch of suckiest sucks that ever sucked. Have fun.)

WussEmoRock (March 12, 2003)

WEZ, shut the fuck up please. You are completely wrong about the MCA/Drive-Thru relationship. First off, I use to work there, and second off, I still go visit and talk to the label all the time. I think I know more than you do, considering all you know is A) what other dumbasses on this site say, or B) What Buddyhead says. Stick with your guns, but you will still always be wrong.

*****Wuss-Emo-Rock*****

Luzzew (March 12, 2003)

Drive thru is an "indie label" that is owned by a 50% stake by MCA... it's not distributed by MCA... that was the deal they had at one point, sure, but it's not the deal they have now...

Sometimes I think you say the shit you do just to get a rise outta folks... that's cool though... whatever you gotta do to feel important, friend...

WEZ

WussEmoRock (March 11, 2003)

Lil Guy, shut the fuck up. Drive-thru is an indie label, that is distributed by MCA. Once you learn your arm from your elbow, then you can make jokes that involve some sort of common sense.

Next, I want to go to this show, but it already sold out here.

*****Wuss-Emo-Rock*****