The Draft | Knitting Factory | 11/30/2006
The last time I was at the Knitting Factory, it was for Chuck Ragan’s first solo show in NYC. Fittingly perhaps, the next show I attended was of the other former members of HWM, The Draft. Last night was the kick off for their first ever headlining jaunt. Touring behind their stellar debut longplayer In A Million Pieces (Epitaph), the boys looked super relaxed (and super drunk) and were having a blast on-stage. Despite the nagging sound problems that haunted their set, the boys obviously just didn’t care about being perfect.
Let’s switch it over to rant mode, shall we? One thing I noticed was the odd mix of people that were in attendance for the show. It was a weird mix of HWM devotees and a few, out of place, drunk off their asses, ape-like jocks. I am not one of those people that gets annoyed when he gets pushed into during a show but how annoying is it when you see two people who are just pushing each other to be violent instead of dancing or moving to the music? It bums me out when I see assholes like this at shows who have no regard for the people around them. Case in point, when the one fucker started throwing cups into the audience behind him, he accidentally tossed a beer bottle. Granted, I think he realized last second what he was throwing and nobody got hurt but I hate going to shows were a few dumbass kids don’t know how to act properly.
Perhaps even more interesting was the ruckus that went down during their last song “Lo Zee Rose.” Those said apes grabbed the mic stand and threw it in the audience. This is another thing that pisses me off greatly. LET THE FUCKING BAND throw you the mic asshat. We don’t want to hear you beautiful singing voice and let the band play their songs and bring you into the song with them.
After the roadie fixed their stuff, the dude had the balls to grab the stand again! Guitarist Todd Rockhill was visibly annoyed by this act and kicked the mic stand back into the audience at him. By the end of the set, both mic stands were in the crowd.
Despite all the drunken tomfoolary, it was pretty cool to see people go ape shit for the band. They certainly deserve it. If you haven’t checked it out yet, be sure to pick up their debut album. It’s definitely holding strong on my year-end top ten list.
