... and I'm back to drinking coffee. I tried the switch to tea and it was nice and calming and healthy, but finals are here and, well, let's not beat around the bush. I can be a bit intense sometimes and I want my caffeinated beverage to keep pace. This works pretty well for me because I'm also on a huge Hour of the Wolf kick and they have at least two songs solely about drinking coffee and "fuck[ing] shit up."

I got really into Hour of the Wolf before I came to law school. I got ahold of their Power Of The Wolf E.P. and loved it. It had this raw, Misfits-y vibe to it that clearly drew on things like Black Flag and early hardcore but failed to sound dated or, worse yet, like a bunch of kids trying to bring it back to the good old days. If I see another 17 year old wearing a leather jacket with a giant Crass or Exploited patch on the back of it, my fucking head is going to explode.

Anyway, Hour of the Wolf are from Arizona and they don't tour very much, certainly not to somewhere as far as Chicago. The E.P. was great, but they fell off my radar. They played Fest this year and were thus one of the bands I had to see. I didn't know what to expect because, like I said, I had only seen one or two pictures of them playing live and I had only heard seven of their songs. I was hoping for a stage dive or two, which I thought would be pretty cool, if not standard for most Fest bands.

The band took the stage with a sense of determination about them, like they had just come back from a really intense huddle. The singer started growling into the microphone about how he felt good and how he did a rain dance out back, which was funny but more in an awkward, what the hell is he talking about way. They seemed like they were putting in some effort, but everyone was just kind of confused. Then the singer and drummer got half naked. Then the bassist got down to his underwear and ultimately played in the nude, at one point throwing his sweaty underpants into the pit. Shit got crazy. The singer started slamming the microphone into his forehead at every available moment, trying to draw blood, to which he succeeded. He climbed rafters and hung upside down, pulled on the overhead lights, and taunted the crowd about their clothing and sense of self-satisfaction. He took a half-full garbage can and threw it into the pit; garbage and trash juice flew everywhere. It was foul. The venue had smelled like cigarette smoke and B.O. beforehand, trash water wasn't necessary. But the crowd was into it. People did stage dives and flips and just generally lost their shit. If the band was trying to evoke a reaction, they succeeded, and if they were trying to see how people reacted outside of their comfort zone, then I think they should be pleasantly surprised. It was one of the more intense sets I've ever seen; their singer pacing around the stage and shouting like a feral animal or, presumably, Henry Rollins from his Black Flag days.

It is very easy to listen to punk rock and hardcore and forget where it came from. These things can become so sterile in your room or on your iPod. It is music and thus it is art and there is no wrong way to experience it, but hardcore and punk rock are, by and large, reactionary genres. Punk formed as an alternative to the prevailing styles and politics of the late 70's (in both England and the US) and hardcore followed suit, except this time as a reaction to the decadence and class-tension of the Reagan years. These styles evolved into what they are now not necessarily because it sounded cool, but because it was reflective of how people felt and because something as fast and loud and, well, as militant as Minor Threat stood in stark contrast to prevailing norms.

There are important stylistic qualities in both genres, but at the end of the day, if someone doesn't put some force behind what they are doing - if they can't convey a sense of urgency and emotion - then it doesn't really hit home, no matter how many BPMs the drummer is cruising at.

Anyway, I am obsessed with this band and, although this wasn't the track that drew me in, lately I have been particularly obsessed with this song.

Hour of the Wolf - "Overload"