Show Review: Arsenal 88, Furious Dudes, and Fireside Social at Jada Coles - Jan 16 2010

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

By Ric

Live Show Jan 16 at Jada Coles It's good to finally go to a show that doesn't require having to drive into one of the worst neighborhoods in Miami!

In the friendly, yet small, confines of Jada Coles on Coral Way, 4 bands got together and put on a local show right out of the 90's. The last time I went to a show that felt like this was in 1995, to see, of all bands, The Agency at Club Roses on South Beach.

For anyone not lucky enough to live through Miami's 90's music scene, The Agency was the local voice of Indie and Emo music - and this was a time when Rap-Rock and NuMetal was dominating the music airways. Of course, founding member Mike Marsh and one-time member Chris Carrabba have gone on to larger fame with their "other band" Dashboard Confessional, but I still think The Agency made an impact on their particular scene that is often times overlooked.

The reason I bring up The Agency is to not only reminisce warmly on my teenage years in the local Miami music scene, but because Arsenal 88 is the project of several members from incredibly important Miami bands: including Klaus Ketelhohn from The Agency, but also Andres Aguero and Joe Beraldi from Foolproof, Mike Battle from Portraits of Autumn and In Droves, and Rob Vespe from Going Nowhere. Our own Miami supergroup!

Arsenal 88 sounds like that early 2000's power pop sound that was a continuation of sound from bands like The Agency and Foolproof, but with less punk and more powerpop. I bought one of their $1 demos, I suggest you do too.

But, I can't talk about this show without gushing over Fireside Social and Furious Dudes, quite possibly my two favorite Miami punk rock bands.

Fireside Social, who I've written about numerous times, stay true to their fun loving, early 90's Florida punk rock sound that I love so much (think Hopeless Records). Unfortunately, there are rumors flying around that they're going to break up since lead singer Chris Ruppel's move to Tampa, that they spoke about in their last interview with REVMiami. But, I think it's more that dealing with being in a long distance band relationship isn't always the easiest thing in the world.

After going to this show I had to post the video for Furious Dudes' Knockdown Syndrome for the inaugural Weekend Video series. Furious Dudes are straight power. Fans of The Bronx, Turbonegro, or that whole subgenre of punk-rock with an emphasis on the rock, should listen to Furious Dudes obsessively. I'd even argue they're more metal than they are punk, ala Every Time I Die.

Enjoy my faded out, half blurry pictures from the evening. Make special note of the Prom-themed pictures of the guys from Fireside Social - seriously, who could not love a band that WANTS to be pictured in goofy ways?

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LINKS

Arsenal 88's Myspace Page (www.myspace.com/arsenal88rock)
Fireside Social's Myspace Page (www.myspace.com/firesidesocial)
Fireside Social's Facebook Page
Furious Dudes Myspace Page (www.myspace.com/furiousdudes)
Furious Dudes Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/furiousdudes)

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Tags: Arsenal 88, Fireside Social, Furious Dudes, Jada Coles

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 6:30 am and is filed under Events, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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