My friend Sarah and I killed time at the Sharp Edge Emporium in Friendship; enjoying some feta, black olives, and sun-dried tomato pizza. We had driven up to the original venue, a house located on Kincaid Street in Garfield, only to be told that the show got moved to a bar on Penn Avenue called Kopec's. With the later start time of 9pm, a friendly passerby told us, we were in good shape to grab a beer and a bite before heading down to see Shellshag.
Shellshag was added to an already existing lineup, seemingly unaware to show-goers out for the other bands that evening. After three blistering local sets (spanning in length from eight minutes to 40 minutes apiece), Johnny Shell and Jen Shag graced the stage. 'Shellhead', donning his Wonder Woman tee, was celebrating a birthday and reaped the benefits of gifted whiskey shots in between commotive punk selections. Featuring "Resilient Bastard" and "1984" from their hot new LP Rumors In Disguise, the six-to-seven song set met new dumbfounded happen-to-be-there's and seeking followers with bombastic joy as the crowd lipped out words and gazed bewilderingly up at the duo.
Drummer Jen pounded away behind the distortion like a cannonade. Whether it was Shag sometimes knocking over toms or Shell's amp jumps, the beer-fueled band kept the audience totaled and amused. Despite the lacking quality of good vocal-to-guitar mixing, everyone was still at Shell's sleeve with each word. He knocked off Recess Records' band, The Underground Railroad to Candyland, toward the end of their set accompanied by the onlookers' droning singalong. Shell closed things down, slinging his axe above the drop ceiling and stacking up Jen's three-piece drum kit. Everything fell before Shell cut the amplifier switch. I still had a little bit of that feedback ringing in my ears.
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