Clips at https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/18413043745013376/.
After living in the Pacific Northwest for 20 years when I hear a random fact like “there are 40 different kinds of rain” I totally buy it. If I stare out the window in fall, winter, and spring I can even start to count them. But day-to-day there are three kinds of rain: “No jacket/hoodie”, “needs a jack/hoodie”, and “not going out in that/umbrella-shame”.
“Hardcore” music is similar. I’m aware, within the genre, there are myriad different sorts of hardcore music but from my point of view there are: Goofy pits I can hang in, goofy-but-also-serious pits I can’t, and “I, a transexual, am in danger”.
The first half of @firingsquad.co’s Trans Takeover 2 event fell solidly in the second category. This was my first hardcore rodeo at Bridge City and the pit kids started in as soon as @cherub.bitch finished sound check. @itsyouitsmeandtheresdancing brought a slightly more pop vibe to the screaming (with a strong dress and cardigan/bolero game) and then @stateviolencepdxhc came on and channeled rage into the loudest sound you’ve ever heard (with a sweet gay wife kiss to start off the set).
While the pit was not for me there were enough scene veterans inside it to keep folks safe if they fell and everyone seemed to be bouncing at each other as hard as they could with care.
After the screamo kids @evelynfloragray, Portland’s resident pedal witch, floated onto the stage with her box of discordant sounds and her screams and then pulled a stunt that was a. sick, b. transgressive, and c. a boring banal part of so many of our lives. You should have come.
Closing out the set, (after my phone died) was my favorite new to my band, @excitingexcellent. This two-piece (Jasmine and the cutest little Game Boy) fuses chiptunes with the most trans of all things: Feelings. Exactly the right mix of twee and sad for my soul.
Really fun night, and shout out to one of the organizers, Luna Rain, for playing in two sets a mere eight days after her orchi? These young girls are made of sterner stuff than this old bitch and I loved being there for it.