Cobra Skulls, Luther, and Dirty Tactics at The Fire.

Cobra Skulls. Photos by Blake Larson

The only thing I love more than getting punched in the back of my head by a midget is a good show with fellow writer, Sean. In short, the Cobra Skulls played last night at The Fire and they killed it. Philly locals Dirty Tactics and Luther rounded out the show with massively impressive performances. Catch the full review, set list, and midget story after the jumpity jump jump.

Alright, I guess he wasn't actually a midget, but he was fucking tiny.

I walked into The Fire to find Sean doing what he does best, getting everyone near him drunk. Tonight, it just so happened that one of these lucky folks was a guy named Frank. He stood a mighty 5 foot 2 and after he had a few shots he screamed like he was 5 foot 5.

The barside of The Fire was filled with your normal smattering of neighborhood-y types and fishtown denizens  mixed in with a few people who were obviously there for the show. A few beers later and Dirty Tactics took the stage.

Dirty Tactics.

I had never heard these guys before so I was a blank slate. The three piece, with their guitars slung low and amps turned up high slammed through their set. Their head bopping rhythms caught me right off the bat. Even though the crowd was sparse (and not very active) they played with a crazy amount of energy. Their sound was something like standard issue punk with a decidedly indie bent. With crunchy vocals and choppy riffs, they played to their punk roots and their controlled swells and creative chord changes showed that they had a little something more. 

The binding force of this band was their drummer, Carlin. This guy was a fucking animal. He threw off his shirt two songs into their set and with it any inhibitions he may have had. I don't think this guy looked past his drums for the rest of the show. I kept waiting for him to punch through his snare. It was this focused energy that really drove the sound of the band.

Another round at the bar for us, a sippy cup of whiskey for Frank, and an eerie, disturbing revelation about Sean's porno habits bring us around to Luther.

Luther.

At first, I still wasn't entirely sure how I felt about these guys. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something didn't quite sit right. It wasn't until halfway through their second song that they really grabbed me. Suddenly, I really loved them. Their 3 vocalists really filled out their sound and made them seem a lot bigger than they were. Their bassist made a good habit of walking around the chords instead of sitting on top of them which gave some good color to the usually simple (but solid) guitar work. 

What really threw me off in the begining ended up being their biggest asset. There is something about their sound that was really 90s. Not Swinging Utters 90s, more like Sound Garden 90s. Ok, ok, ok, they didn't have any songs that sounded like "Black Hole Sun" but there was something about their music that made me think back to that kind of music, and it wasn't just because their one guitarist looked like Kurt Cobain. Either way, they pulled it off with style and I loved it.

Back to the bar. We slugged down another round and by this point the bar was filling up. The poor bartender was running around trying to feed all the hungry animals. Cobra Skulls took the stage and we all piled in front of the stage. This time the inebriated Frank stumbled in for the whole set.

Cobra Skulls

There are very few bands that really get me going, Cobra Skulls is one of them. Fuck, they're fun. Devin's oddly polite demeanor melted away as they started to play and he began to channel the (still living) ghosts of Motorhead, Bad Religion and Toy Dolls. They pulled songs from across most of their full lengths jumping stylistically from almost-ska to almost-rockabilly to absolutely-punk. 

That's probably the best thing about Cobra Skulls, they barely give a shit. They seem to play whatever feels right for the song and that devil may care attitude leads to some great energy that the whole crowd can feel. Even with the drummer, Luke, feeling under the weather they didn't miss a beat. Their set was solid, their energy high, and the music was fucking awesome. While Cobra Skulls went wild on stage the drunken midget, Frank thrashed about in the crowd. 

Now, Sean and I are some lumbering sons of bitches. We're both big and if we're at a show we're probably drunk too. So when there's a good band playing we have a nasty habit of thrashing around the floor like a couple of blind orangutans. Last night was no exception. While Sean and I stumbled around screaming lyrics Frank was jumping around everywhere. He was tackling people, grabbing guys, and I wouldn't be surprised if he groped your girl. Maybe it was all the whiskey Sean fed him. Or maybe it was just the awesome band. But he was just kinda being a dick. I'm sure it was inadvertent. I'm sure he was just trying to have fun, but not everyone took it that way; so towards the end of Cobra Skulls set I felt a thump on the back of my head. I knew the feeling well enough, someone punched me. I turn around to see a hobbit like figure being drug towards the back of the crowd. Frank had apparently pissed someone off.

Sure, we've crushed a couple of girlfriends under foot, we've spilled a few beers, and I wouldn't be surprised if we've broken a few toes, but we've never (read: rarely) gotten punched for being assholes. 

Cobra Skulls set list:

Never be a Machine

Muniphobia

The Cobra and the Man-Whore

Thicker than Water

Hot Sand

H.D.U.I. (Honorary Discharge Under The Influence)

Lost in Campaigns

Overpopulated

Back to the Youth

Charming the Cobra

Rebel Fate

Streets of Cairo (Cobralectric)

¡Hasta Los Cobra Skulls Siempre! (Che)

Also, I had the pleasure of meeting Blake Larson last night. This amazing photographer agreed to share some of his pictures with us for this show. So, big thanks to him. Check his stuff out over at his website and lets hope he's willing to share some more in the future.