Walking onto the checkerboard floor of the Great Scott on the night of Monday, October 30th, one was immediately hit with the smell of smoke and beer and the loud noise of punk rock music blaring from the Allston club’s speakers. Boston College students gathered at the small venue for WZBC’s fall concert, an event featuring the bands Leggy, didi, Human People, and gobbinjr.
The intimate setting gave off the quintessential small rock club vibe, with the equipment stored on a wall adjacent to the bar and a long-haired, bearded man controlling the soundboard under a glaring purple light in the corner. With a bust of Elvis overlooking the small bar and the costumed figures wondering throughout, some with x’s on their hands and others sipping on drinks, the quirky concert venue set the stage for a night of original music from the underground performers.
gobbinjr started the night off with a melancholic set consisting only of a female vocalist and her synthesizer. The unassuming red-headed singer performed with a certain goofy tone behind her voice, only comparable to that of singing comedian Bo Burnham. While the Brooklyn-based gobbinjr mostly performed original songs, she threw in a flat cover of “My Love” by Justin Timberlake, but purposefully left out T.I.’s rap verse. She closed the set with a song titled “Fake Bitch,” whose blunt lyrics like “You’re a fake bitch and you know it” earned a few laughs from the crowd.
Human People, an all-girl alternative band from NYC, was next to take the stage with its creative Halloween costumes and unconcerned vocals. While the music was decent, the lyrics were often overpowered by the screaming guitar and drums. Just in time for Halloween, the band performed its “spookiest song,” called “Phantomhead,” a song with a strong baseline and haunting vocals that seemed to just flow into the microphone. The guitarist, who donned a blue suit and tie in character as Dwight from the Office, won WZBC’s costume contest.
The third band to take the stage was didi, a diverse group from Columbus, Ohio. The band shared vocals between two females, one who played the bass, and their male guitarist. The drummer, who performed with huge dramatic bangs of the drum, brought an intense energy to the stage and encouraged the crowd to “buy [their] sh-t” halfway through the set. While most of the songs were punk songs performed in English, the band did perform one song in Spanish, bringing a diverse quality to the notoriously homogenous genre. didi’s song “Circle” was especially memorable, as it was less rowdy than the others and utilized a calming beach-rock guitar riff. The lead vocalist joked about how it is fitting that the song’s name is “Circle,” because it often makes her dizzy if they play it repeatedly.
Leggy, a self-described “lush punk” group from Cincinnati, Ohio, headlined the set. Despite only having three band members, the band effortlessly filled the stage with its enthusiastic presence and raw, edgy lyrics. Leggy performed a Courtney Love-esque 45-minute set consisting of punk rock songs switching between sweet, harmonious vocals and screaming choruses full of angst.
Two songs, however, stood out more than the others in its set. The first the band introduced as “a song about consent” that it likes to play at college events. The song was typical of its raucous garage-rock sound, but the lyrics held special meaning to the performers. The lead singer described the song as “weirdly personal” and black mascara tears began to run down her face throughout the short song. The other song, titled “Grrls Like Us,” was the final song of the set and featured solid guitar riffs and a fun drum beat that got the crowd swaying along.
In between the sets of other bands, the charismatic lead singer of Leggy mingled with members of the small crowd. In a quick conversation, Véronique Allaer detailed her excitement for the band’s upcoming string of shows in Spain and Portugal. She also talked candidly about how life on the road can be tough without a tour manager, especially true in foreign countries like the UK, where she crashed the band’s only method of transportation just days into their tour years before.
Featured Image by Julia Hopkins / Heights Editor
