The Radio Room is an intimate venue with dive appeal. It’s two rooms side by side, with one being the stage and dance floor, and the other being a bar area that is fairly spacious w/ booths lining the walls. The Sirhan Sirhan show was $5, which seemed like a steal, however the crowd wasn’t very large. Perhaps because Sirhan Sirhan is considered a hardcore punk band? It seems the idea of hardcore punk is to sound scary & awful as to deter the faint of heart—which it is usually successful in doing. That’s why the genre has always been more of an underground one, not only because of its essence, but because a lot of people don’t like it. And most people don’t like it because on the surface it tends to sound like meaningless noise. After the first round of listener screening has been performed, the listener hopes to find impressive musicality, as you do with Sirhan Sirhan.

It’s the type of music that makes your heart jump out of your chest and scream in your face. It courses through your veins like some sort of drug. All the instrumentals were clean and air tight, and the “throat & screams” were bone chilling. Their sound was energetic and insane; like rollercoaster gone off the tracks. My favorite song was “Blood,” for which their upcoming album is titled, because it begins without warning. It’s amazing that three guys can make so much noise. What’s better is that the band members don’t look like overthemed posers, and they were funny in between songs. Maybe it’s the Radio Room or the band, but the sound was pristine. Had I been drinking, I would have been moshing. It reminded me of going to old soma in high school, when at any given moment a huge mosh pit would erupt. Can't wait to see them again.

Photo Credit: Michael Klayman / www.seemichaelsphotos.com