I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 27, 2022] Starcrawler

I found out about Starcrawler in 2018, a few months after they played their first Philly show at Johnny Brenda’s.  They had also played the Non-Commvention a few months later, which where I decided I really wanted to see them live.

Their stage show was supposed to be insane with lead singer Arrow de Wilde being a force to be reckoned with (who seemed to always end up bloody–fake or otherwise).  I was super excited to see them open for The Distillers in 2019, but Brody Dalle hurt her back during warm up and the show was cancelled a few minutes before the show started.  Later Distillers shows had other opening acts.

They played a show in 2019 at Boot & Saddle, but I had other plans for that night.  Then they were supposed to open for Red Fang in 2021, but that show was cancelled.  So, basically, I’ve been wanting to see them for a pretty long time.

I actually don’t know a lot of their songs. I absolutely love two of them, but as for the rest, I was there more for the spectacle than the actual songs.  I was concerned that the 2022 Starcrawler would be different from the 2018 version.  And, well, it was.  This version of the band is all dressed up in tuxedos. Not a drop of blood to be seen.

The guys in the band came out and a moment later Arrow launched herself on stage.  I enjoyed how abrasive they were with teh audeince.  Arrow perpetually claiming that the crowd was not into it enough.  And in fairness, I don’t think they were, either.  I was surprised at how poorly sold the show was.  And, in what was a first for me at Underground Arts, there were a ton of photographers there.  Usually there’s one or two, but I think there were six or seven.  Vixen77 has just been signed to Megaforce so maybe they were there for Vixen77.  But Arrow also gave a shout out to WMMR, so maybe they’ve been getting airplay there?

There were also a lot of older guys there (like myself, but usually I’m in the minority).   This meant that there weren’t a lot of people up front dancing and moshing around.  Just to make things worse, as the show started a woman and her (obviously drunk) husband pulled up to the front of the crowd (into the coveted photographers spot) and were just horribly obnoxious.  Aside from being very tall and vocal (he seemed to be yelling athis lady friend the whole show), at some point he got into a verbal fight with the guitarist until Arrow told him he’d been demoted and had to step back from the stage..   Which he did, eventually leaving and that’s when a bunch of happier people started dancing.

A lot of the songs early in the set were really short and they seemed to be blowing through their set  (I had seen earlier that they were playing 22 songs!).   I enjoyed these punky blasts (and it’s surprising the crowd wasn’t dancing).  In fact I didn’t think their earlier stuff was quite so heavy,

I didn’t really enjoy “If You’re Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough,” but I see now that it’s a cover.

After a few songs Arrow took off her tuxedo jacket and sang in just her vest.  And that seemed to really amp her up. She practically sang into the audience (and did in fact jump into the crowd twice to pogo with people).  I was also really impressed with Arrow’s scream.  She can really belt out a powerful yell.

Earlier in the set, when they were egging on the crowd, guitarist Henri Cash joked, “I know you lost the game but you came here to celebrate, right?”  He had such a charming and disarming smile that I think even the people who were genuinely angry about the Phillies joke forgave him.  Amazingly, he looked about 16 up there (he’s really closer to 23) but with an incredible cockiness that I normally don’t like but which won me over (especially when he handled the drunk idiot).

Arrow told us to imagine that “I Love L.A.” was about Philly.  Cash played a wicked guitar solo during this song–in fact he played quite a few even though their songs are pretty short.

Their second cover was of Ramones’ “Pet Sematary,” a song I really don’t like (probably my least favorite Ramones song), and their version didn’t do much for me.

After a few songs, she called all the ladies up to the front and a few did push their way up.

As “She Said” started, she shouted “Jump Jump come on you lazy motherfuckers.”  There’s a full video recording of the show on YouTube, and it shows she was right, hardly anyone is jumping.  What gives?  No wonder she was annoyed.

Turns out the two songs I really like from them are on their middle album “Devour You.”  Happily they played both of them and they both sounded great.  “Hollywood Ending” was a smooth and catchy and “No More Pennies” had great backing vocals from Cash.

It’s interesting how still bassist Tim Franco is when compared to the Cash and de Wilde.  But he really holds things down well.  I barely saw Seth Carolina on drums for whatever reason, but he was a powerhouse back there.   Second guitarist Bill Cash also played some pedal steel.

It’s lazy to compare Starcrawler to Hole, but the comparison is apt.  Arrow is an aggressive front woman and her voice sounds similar to Courtney’s Love’s (especially on a mellower song like “Hollywood Ending”).  She’s also confrontational, trying to get the crowd to open a pit before “Love’s Gone Agian.”  My experience is that you don’t have to tell a Philly crowd to open a pit, so I’m not sure what was going on that one didn’t start.

For “Better Place,” Cash grabbed an acoustic guitar and Arrow said, “Philly, this might be more your speed.”  Bill Cash played slide guitar on this ballad. “Runaway” started slow as well, but turned into a rager.  “Jetblack” continued the trilogy of new songs that was followed by a trilogy of songs from the debut.  This ending was super intense and fun and I feel like the crowd and the band really got into it all together here at the end.

Arrow left at the end of “Bet My Brains” but the band jammed on with drums and bass each getting a solo.  And Henri Cash really controlled things from the side of the stage.

After a brief break, they came back for two more songs.  They roared through them and the Arrow jumped into the crowd to pogo with the front of the fans.  When Arrow left, Henri ran to the bar at the side of the crowd and started playing from atop it.  When he came back, he his guitar into the audience and someone jammed and played a wobbly solo.

Overall, I wasn’t as blown away as I wanted to be, but it was certainly a fun show.

Markit Aneight has a full video of the show

1. Goodtime Girl Ñ
2. Roadkill §
3. Full of Pride ♦
4. Thursday §
5. If You’re Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough (Roger Alan Wade cover)
6. I Love LA ♦
7. Stranded §
8. Pet Sematary (Ramones cover)
9. She Said §
10. Lizzy Ø
11. Love’s Gone Again ♦
12. Home Alone Ø
13. Hollywood Ending Ø
14. Broken Angels §
15. True §
16. No More Pennies Ø
17. Better Place §
18. Runaway §
19. Jetblack §
20. Different Angles ♦ / Train ♦
21. Pussy Tower ♦
22. Bet My Brains Ø

    Encore:

23. She Gets Around Ø
24. Chicken Woman ♦