If one truly positive experience, and one horrifically negative experience collide, which will set the opinion one has of an event? Little did I know this would come to fruition as I went to see Death by Stereo at good ole' Alley Katz.

I was already pissed that None More Black wasn't at our date. Replaced instead by Over My Dead Body, who believe me, I will get to in a minute. The first act I saw was Haywire. I got a strong Used vibe from them, but eh, they are doing their thing, who am I to try to degrade them? I didn't really dig their sound, but I will say the lead singer was hanging out with some pretty hot chicks afterwards. Holla.

Now, the negativity of the night. I know Over My Dead Body is a straight edge band, and I don't have a problem with that. I respect everyone's right to choose a lifestyle, as long as it doesn't negatively infringe on others. That being said.....FUCK OVER MY DEAD BODY. "FUCK THEM IN THEIR STUPID ASSES." (quote taken from "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", 2001).

I say this, only because of the continuing antics onstage of "This one goes out to all the kids who stay drug-free" or "Here's one for the straight edge kids." You know what? I paid money to see the show, I don't mind how you feel, but to cause division amongst fans, to send songs out to only the kids who don't like a certain type of beverage, fuck you. Take your fucking whack-ass religion elsewhere. Whatever happened to unity and positivity? All this pseudo-scene of "edge" does is promote a further division amongst those who drink, and those who don't. Is your life that meaningless that you have to constantly scream about being edge? Move the fuck on, build a model, collect stamps.....fucking christ.

I can think of plenty of bands that may be "straight-edge", but don't try to build some stupid culture around it, that don't alienate potential fans by screaming dumb shit. Go crawl back into the ignorant hole you came from.

With the morons gone, I was left in a shitty mood, but that would change. As Death By Stereo finished setting up, the immediately launched into 'The Plague', one of the many stellar tracks from the new album. Efrem and company continued going strong the entire night. Although they were playing to a crowd easily less than 100, they played like there were over 1000 kids there. Other highlights included 'No Shirt, No Shoes', 'Desperation Train' and 'Emo Holocaust'. During 'These Are a Few of My Favorite Things', Efrem jumped into the crowd and ran all over the back of club, screaming and singing like a maniac. I was lucky enough to run to the bar and catch him screaming the lyrics at the bartender to catch him point-blank in the face with my miniDV.

This was by far one of the most impressive sets I have seen in a long time. It may sound a little too prestigious to many of you, but Efrem really reminds me of a young Hank Rollins onstage. Wow.

And the rest of the band shall not be forgotten. Everything from the amazing solos, to the insanely muscular guitarist (whose name currently escapes me), to the overall onstage package, I am still in awe. Amazing, amazing show, closed out with a killer performance of "Sing Along with the Patriotic Punks".

If not for a certain band of asswipes, this show would have gotten a perfect score. In fact DBS gets a 10, OMDB gets a -1. Haywire, eh, they were there, enough said.