Live Review: No Redeeming Social Value, Butterbrain and more 12/17/23 @ Bowery Electric, NYC

No Redeeming Social Value, Butterbrain 

RBNX, Chumhuffer, T.O.Y.S

Live 12/17/23

Bowery Electric NYC

A 'Back to NYHC Roots Holiday Slamboree' brought free, all ages, hardcore punk back to the Lower East Side on Sunday December 17th as a host of NYC based acts played the Bowery Electric. The benefit show was organized by Drew Stone and New York Hard Core Comics and it encouraged people to bring used coats to those in need, spearheaded by @womenofthepit, the crowd spent the afternoon enjoying the aggressive sounds. 

First up was T.O.Y.S (Tired Of Your Shit) as the Long Island based hardcore/punk act fired up the crowd. The four piece of Vocals - Cherry Bee, Guitar - Jess Corallo, Drums - Jas edge, Bass - Victoria Pietrzak delivered the screeching goods on "Overtime" and then focused on their debut EP with the marching beats and yelling vocals of "Better Off Dead" and the old school punk vibes of the infectious "Sand In My Crotch". 

The quintet Chumhuffer was next as the five piece, (Shawn Refuse: Vocals Joe Dorane: Guitar and Vocals Blackout Matt: Guitar and Vocals Ryan Paige: Bass Jimmy Duke: Drums) used siren like guitars and vocals straight out of Jello Biafra's playbook letting tunes like "Struffoli" splatter around the LES. "Self Implode" added a touch of new wave to the punk proceedings while "Fuck You Not Sorry" was a new song that had a video filmed for it at the show. The band delivered "Cancel Me" that contained a big breakdown section which saw a shark costumed slam dancer swimming through the pit. 

RBNX (The Raddigan Brothers Noise Experience) a trio of Mike Dietz Bass / Vox, Phil Bartsch Drums / Vox, Kyle Behnken Guitar / Vox played a unique set that was grounded in hardcore/punk, but could shift to ska and metal from stanza to stanza, sometimes in jarring fashion. "S​.​K​.​U​.​F​.​F​.​L." is straight ahead aggression, with throat shredding vocals, before a slowed down finale and flying six string riffs while "Cost of Life" was stop/start stuttering punk rock. "World To Burn" was the most dynamic of the set as it showed a more melodic side of the trio with ripping lead guitar from Behnken along with flashes of ska. 

Speaking of ska, that was front and center for Butterbrain's tight set as the funk/punk/ska outfit took the stage and blew it out. The heavy set saw the band (Aaron Collins- vocals, bass, keys Sally May- vocals Mike Caldarella- drums, percussion Chris Arbisi - vocals, alto sax Brendan Stiles- vocals, trumpet Juan "Bebe" Rodriguez- guitars Carl Reinlib- trombone Terry Thomas- tenor sax) rev up the power on tracks like "Relapse" but it was their two covers that stole the show. The band delivered a mid set version of "Ugly" by Fishbone that was dynamite with horns and soaring vocals before wrapping up their set with powerful blast through Bad Brain's "I Against I", ending a strong run of tunes. 

Headliners No Redeeming Social Value were ready to close out the show with a party as the band careened onto the stage via the fiery "More Tattoos" which kept flowing directly into "Wake Up" as the group (Dean Miller - vocals, Kent Miller - guitar, John Franko - bass, Glen Lorieo - drums) were synched up from the get go. The slamming punk rock of "ASPCA" shook the walls of the LES club while "Sociophilia" displayed huge drums and cymbal crashes.

Tons of balloons filled the pit as the band broke out "Beer ='s Fun" to start a trifecta of drinking tunes. It was followed by the old school punk slashing of "Brew Crew" and the rolling thunder rumble of "Still Drinking" which got the packed crowd to sing along. After a tribute to NYHC legend "Ratbones" the pit went nuts again for "Old-E" before a twist to the sound as guest electric banjo player Chris D'Andrea (aka Chrissy Goblin) joined on "I'm Gonna Puke", adding some twangy country sounds to the hardcore punk. 

Another special guest, original NRSV member Mike Dixon, joined the band to help sing a few anthemic punk songs, the groove-tastic "No Regrets" and the sarcastic "Skinheads Rule" before the band closed the whole day out with a pummeling version of "Microwave" that found the crowd in one last mosh pit frenzy. A solid day of music, for a good cause as hardcore punk once again returned to Manhattan's Lower East Side. 

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