Submitted by Dangerous Dan:

I went up to Seattle to see 7 Year Bitch play at Moe's once again before they headed off on The Summerland Tour with Everclear and company. Thankfully, Elizabeth told me about this show since I didn't find it advertised anywhere and would have missed it otherwise. Usually, 7YB shows can be found in Seattle's local music newspaper, The Rocket, but not this time. Maybe it was because, originally, they were supposed to be playing June 26th in Portland on the first night of The Summerland Tour before Everclear cancelled the date. In any case, I was glad to be seeing 7YB once again in their hometown club.

It looked like plenty of friends and family were on hand for the show. I saw three-fourths of the band Shug in attendance along with Mark Arm of Mudhoney (watching his wife, the bassist in Softy, perform) and Val's mom among others. Roisin, Val and Selene even came out into the crowd with us at various times to watch the opening bands perform.

The first opening band was a four-piece called The Invaders. They consisted of three guys and a female lead singer. She had a very powerful voice and lots of stage presence, but was quite eerie to watch since she seemed to be so similar to Mia Zapata and the music they were playing was in a style not unlike The Gits. She claimed they had not practiced together for three weeks, but you wouldn't have known it from watching them as they were quite tight. They treated us to just over a half an hour long set of agressive punk tunes.

Next up were Crisis Rebirth. I like these guys. I was excited to find them on this bill since I've wanted to see them again after having had the chance to catch them opening for 7YB back in March. They play VERY heavy, almost industrial, music with a 'singer' who can scream sore-throat invoking and very guttural growls the whole length of their set. They've changed the lineup and stage show a bit since last time, but it was all for the better. In addition to their female guitarist, they've added a second guitarist to further increase the denseness of the riffs. Gone this time was the 'hooded being' that sat on stage, the incense and the movies projected on the backdrop. Instead, the singer was much more animated and proceeded to not only prowl the stage, but even to throw himself down on the floor in front of the stage (which nobody dared go near!) and convulse around as if having a seizure while singing. Definately not something you see every day. Don't miss this band if you ever get the chance to check them out!

Softy was the third opening band and gave us a solid set of hard, melodic tunes. This is another band that I haven't caught up with for awhile, but have been anxious to see again. They did not disappoint. Their songs are catchy yet heavy at the same time, although the heaviness was somewhat diluted after being bludgeoned immediately before by Crisis Rebirth. This is another band I would encourage someone to see in person if they ever have the opportunity.

Finally, around midnight, 7 Year Bitch came on. They were in fine form as always despite the crowd seeming somewhat tame. Perhaps it was the fact that this was a Wednesday instead of a weekend night or perhaps it was because of the lack of advertising, but the pit was fairly calm and not one person stage dived despite the lack of a security guy in the front row. Nonetheless, we were treated to quite a few tunes from Gato Negro along with some of the old favorites like It's Too Late, Lorna, The Scratch, M.I.A and Hip Like Junk from the first two albums. Selene was especially trance-like and seemed almost as if she was possessed. She kept taunting the crowd by singing from the very front of the stage while confronting her onlookers with intense, burning glares. On several occasions, she even dropped to her knees to address someone more directly. I must say it's a pretty intimidating feeling to have her drop down and lock eyes with you while singing 'I'm gonna smash this office, these people...'! After finishing their regular set, they returned and gave us a three-song encore before we all left tired and happy from another exhilirating performance. A great show and definately worth the trip to Seattle!