SF noise-punk favorites Pins of Light inaugurate stage at Mission District's Kilowatt
UPDATE: Due to circumstances beyond their control, Pins of Light has been forced to cancel their appearance at the Kilowatt. Birth Defects will be headlining with Oakland pub-punk band Smokers opening the show.
SAN FRANCISCO -- One of the most unique sounding bands on San Francisco's experimental punk rock fringe, Pins of Light brings live music back to the reopened Kilowatt for the first time in years with this free Friday alongside noisy LA punks the Birth Defects.
Pins of Light features a talented quartet of musicians with solid pedigrees including former and current members of such noted SF bands as Dead and Gone, Triclops!, Hightower, Peace Creep and Psychic Hit. Armed with a desire to push the boundaries of heavy music, the group put out it's eponymous debut for Alternative Tentacles in 2012.
The album showcased bassist Shane Baker's growling vocal delivery and a sound that split the difference between two bands anchored by late bass legend Lemmy Kilmister: the pulsing, riff-driven space rock of Hawkwind and the pummeling, raucous attack of Motörhead. The band is rounded out by the twin guitar attack of Jake Palladino and Ravi Durbeej and powerhouse drummer Phil Becker, who has also had a hand in the recording and engineering of most of the quartet's records.
In 2016, the group self-released a second collection of songs entitled Home. The effort featured more sci-fi sound effects and some of the group's most compelling songwriting yet, including the feverish anthem "Adoration," arguably the best Killing Joke song not released by Killing Joke in the last decade.
This early 8 p.m. show at the Kilowatt in San Francisco's Mission District this Friday will mark the first live music at the popular bar since new owners took over the space late last year, as well as the first concert at the once storied venue since it stopped hosting bands years ago. A mainstay on 16th Street since it first opened in 1994, the bar's longtime proprietors announced that several veteran bartenders would be taking over in December. The new owners quickly launched an effort to bring live entertainment back to the space that garnered overwhelming support in the community. The San Francisco Entertainment Commission granted the Kilowatt the needed permit on Dec. 22. While the bar was closed for a number of weeks as the new team refurbished the location, it recently reopened and has already been hosting DJs. For this relaunch for the live music spot, Pins of Light will be joined by LA punk crew the Birth Defects.
Led by SF expatriate Jason Finazzo and initially featuring former guitarist for Thee Oh Sees Petey Dammit, ex Bleached bassist Jonathan Safley and drummer Jason Gerkin (who played with Shiner, Hum and Molly McGuire), the high-octane band issued its ferocious Ty Segall-produced debut First 8 Mistakes on Ghost Ramp Records in 2015 to rave reviews. Blasting out of speakers at breakneck tempos, chaotic anthems like album opener "The Walls" and self-destructive celebration "Party Suicide" captured the frantic spirit of early efforts by Zeke, the Dwarves and REO Speedealer mixed with elements of '90s noise-rock that recalled Unsane and the Jesus Lizard (particularly on "Bricks").
Finazzo would eventually put together a completely different trio line-up with drummer Anthony Drinkwater (who also plays in LA psychobilly band the Rocketz) and madman Danish bassist Philip Neilsen (whose resume includes stints in proto-punk band Swarming Orchids, southern rock trio Grit and synth-pop group Tic Tic Boom among other projects), touring the U.S. extensively with the Coathangers. Legend of the Seagullmen guitarist Tim Dawson joined the Birth Defects in 2017, filling out the line-up that recorded the band's sophomore effort for Ghost Ramp, Everything is Fine, that was released early in 2018.
While still featuring some of the hectic punk mayhem that has become the band's trademark ("YOLF" and "Lost Control"), the new recording explores decidedly weirder sounds ranging from the heavily processed guitar on "Endless Pain" and the dramatic tempo shift on the sludgy "Dyelisiem" to the chanted vocals on the swirling psychedelic dirge "Sunday Morning Mantra" that closes the album.
The band went on an extended hiatus after touring behind that record, but has since reconvened as a trio with Nielsen and Drinkwater staying in the line-up. The Birth Defects have finished writing new material for their third album and begun the recording process. While Nielsen was tied up touring with the band Dopesick when the group visited the Bay Area for the first time in ages last year, journeyman bassist Pancho Tomaselli -- who has played with everyone from War, Tower of Power, Eric Burdon and the Animals and monster metal drummer Dave Lombardo's band Philm -- ably filled in. Nielsen is back on board for this show. DJ Big Nate spins punk records before and between bands.
Pins of Light with Birth Defects
Friday, February 17, 8 p.m. Free
The Kilowatt