Floor, Hawks, 2013 Wolves

The Milestone

April 10, 2011

The Deal: I have always been a fan of Torche but to be honest, I was never familiar with Steve Brooks' previous project, Floor. This all changed for me when they decided to do a reunion tour and stop at the Milestone on April 10. After the show was announced, I all of a sudden started hearing people talk about how awesome they were and a lot of my friends began revisiting their Floor records in anticipation of the opportunity to witness them live for the first time in years. I couldn't help but feed off of the excitement that surrounded me and was even more anxious for the night to come when I found out they were playing with Charlotte's bad-ass 2013 Wolves and Hawks from Atlanta, who I last had seen stirring up the house at G.R.I.D.S' final show.

The Good: I never feel more at home at the Milestone then when 2013 Wolves plays the casbah. There's just something about being able to experience them in such close proximity, Robert Childers perched on the stage pounding away at his drums and Neal MF Harper leaning in zealously strumming at his guitar. The connection these dudes have is something you can only achieve with a long-term friendship involving countless crazy, sometimes drug-induced, sometimes ghost-driven but all-out-intriguing experiences. While they faced each other in perfect natural sequence, they fed off one another, projecting their southern punk rock from the tiny corner. By the end of their first song, the entire bar was packed to the teeth and spectators couldn't help but feel the rhythm and riffs radiating through the tiny area. Those standing closest to Neal and Robert rocked their heads feverously as they cheered on hectic, the distorted melodies and punkish drumming we were jamming out to.

Watching Hawks play is definitely an experience in itself. To be honest, they are ridiculously hard to categorize. They certainly have an interesting sound that seems to be some sort of hybrid of thrash, grunge, hardcore and experimental music but I still can't quite put my finger on it. After the first notes they played, their vocalist was in the crowd, traveling around, jamming out in between making rounds to the stage to use various voice effects and play hand percussion while their guitarist, drummer and bassist stood firm in synch, the solid backbone of the performance. Although people weren't nearly as rowdy as when they played at G.R.I.D.S.' last show, everyone seemed to be getting into it nonetheless which fueled their vocalists' performance as he spends most of his time on the floor and in the audience interacting with them as he belts out lyrics. By the end of their set, as I have experienced each time I have seen them, he was horrendously pumped, feeding off the music. Butt crack hanging out to the point of drop-seat PJs, he swung himself around in the middle of the floor and for the last two songs showed us a great deal of himself causing giggles and part of the crowd to be taken aback. As per usual, a rad and hard to forget experience.

Before Floor was even finished sound-checking, everyone had gathered around the stage in anticipation of what was to come. Watching a room full of heads simultaneously banging while a chorus of vocals emits from them is an incomparable and beautiful thing. As Steve Brooks had a genuine grin on his face, he fed off the energy omitting from the crowd. “You'll get sick of us,” he said. “Fuck you,” replied a fan.

Their beautiful sludgy breakdowns brought the floor to soothing bomb string vibration and the crowd to a downright cheer. Their music is probably the only metal I can say brings me to the comfort I would imagine the mothers womb to contain with the heaviness of a dark secret and doom that will make you want to fly at something like a spider-monkey — a hybrid only they can accomplish which is exactly why we needed them to reunite. Coincidentally, partially through their set they performed a “Floor cover of a Torche cover of a Floor cover,” “Charge of the Brown Recluse” creating a frenzy of smiling faces and pumping fists. Steve's vocals will whisk you away like windy autumn leaves in any setting but while Floor's instrumentals leave you uncontrollably putting your body in motion to the waves their music emanates throughout the room, you can't help but feel honored to be a witness of something so spectacular. Every moment of their set was as miraculous as it was capable of being and everyone was well aware and appreciative of it all. Even after nineteen songs and an encore I think we all were so into we didn't want it to end.

The Bad: It didn't last forever.

The Verdict: 2013 Wolves and Hawks certainly rocked it out for us and provided a great build-up to an awesome and rare performance. I can only pray that Floor stays on tour for a while because I really want to see them again. I'm so very grateful that the people around me have good taste in music and gladly share it with others out of sheer passion for the sound. I certainly enjoy Torche, but this was certainly something else. It truly was a brutally beautiful experience to witness such mutual love and appreciation between the musicians and audience and I really couldn't have asked for more.

Floor Setlist

Twink

The Ladder

Scimitar

Return to Zero

Downed Star

Slomophobe

Dove

EHS

Floyd

Charge of the Brown Recluse

Iron Girl

Night Full of Kicks

Sneech

Assassin

Figured Out/Lolita

Bombs to Abbadon

Loanin

Song

Diamond Davies