Las Vegas Weekly

My Double Down audio adventure: A photo diary

In which I listen to one song from (almost*) every band playing the saloon this weekend

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19

1. Kill Deville, “Demon to Be Had” (Hardcore/punk) Serviceable.

2. K.I.L, “Mohawk Revolution” (Punk) Years ago, I fell off of an inner tube being towed by a speedboat at more than 60 mph. I cartwheeled across the lake like a broken rag doll, flailing and screaming all the way. This was exactly like that, only with drums and slightly better vocals. Good stuff.

3. Infernal Raket, “Crack Head Al’s Got Gov’ Cheese” (Hardcore/punk/rock) I didn’t have any misery before I started this song, but 30 seconds in all I wanted was to be put out of it. Not even the weird sax squawk near the end could save me.

4. IDFI, “Suit n Tie” (Punk/rock/metal) Good thing you weren’t around when I cranked this up—I’d’ve bitten your #&*! head off! In a good way.

5. False Cause, “Jihad” (Punk/hardcore) Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

6. Lord Stymie’s Horde, “Poponono” (Punk/comedy) The whistle, the unison shouting, the righteous guitar skronk at the 1:15 mark, all embedded in a furious punk roil—this delirious noise did weird things to my head.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20

7. Fire to Reason, “Suicide or Mexico” (Rock/metal/hardcore) That part of me that’s still young and wants to smash things? Not inflamed by this. That part of me that’s old and wants you to get off my lawn? Not offended by this. Great song title, though.

8. The Tinglerz, “Merlin Bay” (Rock/garage/punk) Best of the bunch, thanks to the unexpected dose of melody. Dancing was attempted—as you can see above, unsuccessfully.

9. The Choke, “Face for Radio” (Garage/punk/soul) On the high side of not too bad—I listened to it a few more times than was strictly necessary for research purposes.

10. High Octane Hell Ride, “Jacked” (Hardcore/punk/metal) Scream, scream, scream, drum, drum, drum, grr, grr, grr—I get it already. Jacked? Please, I was barely jilled.

*(I’m pretty sure I have the right K.I.L. Also, an act called Pottymouth performs on February 20; perhaps not surprisingly, I found two Pottymouths, neither of which listed a Double Down date. So I omitted it.)