Thorns of Life in Eagle Rock

Last night I went to the Eagle Rock Center for the Performing Arts to see Thorns of Life. The band features two of my favorite musicians--Blake Schwartzenbach (Jets to Brazil, Jawbreaker) and Aaron Cometbus (Crimpshrine, Cleveland Bound Death Sentence, Pinhead Gunpowder...)--and Daniela Sea from the Gr'ups (who I liked, too). The band doesn't have any music out yet, but there's a ton of interest in them due to their previous projects.


The Brooklyn band's sound is more like Jawbreaker than Jets to Brazil, with taught, short songs minus any keyboards, slide guitar, etc. Blake's lyrics were typically poetic and cryptic, covering topics like naming planets after gods... Too many allusions and references to remember, but the lyrics were shockingly audible for such a small venue. Of course Aaron's drumming was right on and to the point. Daniela's bass playing as solid, too. She had chords written in a notebook, but rocked out. You can hear their debut album on YouTube, Blake joked.


Aaron brought his own coffee urn. Looked like a press, but I couldn't be sure. It was nice to see the spirit of the Bonus Cup living on--not to mention Gilman Street punk rock as well as the old scene in general. I saw so many familiar faces from shows in Jabberjaw days (Craig, Gaby, Jeremy, Steve, not to mention my brother, sister, brother-in-law, and cousin) as well as ones from the world of GR (Wendy, Michelle, Johnnie) and Wendy's work, too (Missy). Yes, the music was sweet, but so was going to a great show in a small venue surrounded by a load of friends.