Militarie Gun Brings Hardcore To The Masses at Chicago's Bottom Lounge

I'll be the first to admit I wasn't the biggest Militarie Gun fan when they first popped up on my radar. But both the universe and my awful eating habits seemed to have other plans.

The first time I heard Militarie Gun was last year at Chicago's historic Metro when they came into town on tour with White Reaper. I was incredibly impressed with their energy and live performance, but as for the music...eh, wasn't really my thing. And that's nothing against Militarie Gun. Hardcore and hardcore adjacent music hasn't really historically been my thing. Loud and screamy is fine by me in a live setting, but hard to throw on in the car or put on while working. Staring at spreadsheets for 8+ hours a day can sometimes be rage-inducing enough without having Knocked Loose ARF ARFing in my ear sending me over the edge.

But just like an overbearing remarking ad stalking me across the internet, the Gun wasn't done with me. In the second half of 2023, the band was everywhere. I kept seeing their debut album Life Under The Gun pop up on countless "Best of the Year" lists. Videos of them singing their songs alongside Post Malone kept popping up in my social feeds. And, following in their tourmate White Reaper's footsteps, they got their single 'Do It Faster' into a Taco Bell commercial. Out of all the exposure points, this was the one most exploitable in my household. I just assume these days that all of my smart devices and screens know me as well as anyone can, so they know my weakness and proclivity for fast food. And so I get a constant deluge of them on Hulu on a daily basis (yes, I'm on the ad tier and will gladly take your donations for this glorious content I'm providing to upgrade my plan hey where are you going?). Did the repetition over a matter of weeks and months George Costanza their way into my brain? Did it just take more time with the album to finally come around? Am I slowly moving toward enlisting in the Militarie?

(Sorry that was super dumb.)

Luckily I had another shot at experiencing their raw energy live as they brought their All Roads Lead to the Gun Tour to Chicago's Bottom Lounge last weekend for an absolutely wall-to-wall packed sold out show.

Buffalo, NY hardcore band Spaced was the first band on the multi-genre bill and having them open your show is almost like the equivalent of inviting a hurricane to share the stage with you. And the hurricane has picked up a bunch of guitars and amps that were all turned up to 11. Much like the rest of the band, lead singer Lexi Reyngoudt constantly seemed on the verge of going completely out of control, but they were able to collectively focus enough to deliver 30 minutes of punch-in-the-face hardcore as a wake-up call to kick the night off.

Holy cow, Spiritual Cramp. I was not prepared to be as blown away by your performance as I was. While the band as a whole were absolutely impressive (guitarists Stewart Kuhlo and Jacob Breeze, bassist Mike Fenton, Max Wickham on tambourine, and Blaine Patrick on drums), their performance lived and died on the raw energy of singer Michael Bingham. Constantly prowling back and forth like a caged animal, he performed with a bravado and boorishness that reminded me of Iggy Pop one minute and Pelle Almqvist of The Hives the next. The only thing clenched harder than his jaw being his grip on the microphone, the band strutted, stomped, and scowled through a half hour set of hardcore-influenced dance-punk (if that's not a genre, I'm inventing it for what I head during this performance).

This is a band that is going to be playing much bigger stages, and going to be doing it very soon. Their performance and energy is already ready for larger rooms. It's now up to the public to catch up. Do it now so you can say you were one of the cool kids that listened to them before everyone else.

Sometimes you just get a certain vibe about a band that elevates their performance above and beyond just their musicianship and lyrics. Watching Tallahassee's own Pool Kids, I definitely got that vibe. The quartet (lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Christine Goodwyne, drummer Caden Clinton, guitarist Andy Anaya, and bassist Nicolette Alvarez) had strong "yeah, we're best friends" energy shared onstage and that kind of energy instantly pulls in the crowd, like they're also part of the cool crowd. Sharing banter and the occasional smile as they roared through 10 songs (9 of them off 2022's self-titled debut), the level of technical skill every member brings to the band was absolutely impressive. Following in the footsteps of bands like Tool and Rush, Pool Kids songs don't seem like they've ever met a weird time signature they didn't want to build a song around, there's a ton of precision that goes into playing songs as complicated as 'Swallow' and 'Further' (especially the second half), let alone doing it while dancing around onstage without missing a beat.

It's that same best-friend energy that fits Pool Kids' music so perfectly. On more straightforward pop rockers like 'That's Physics, Baby' and set closer 'Talk To Much', the feel of how good a time the quartet is having onstage spills over into everyone watching. Once you've got the audience by that hook, they're all yours. The band could have played the remaining 2-3 tracks off their self titled debut as well as the entirety of their debut Music to Practice Safe Sex To and the Bottom Lounge crowd still would have been begging for more.

I feel like anyone talking about Militarie Gun is contractually obligated to mention Turnstile. And to be fair, it's a pretty logical comparison to make on paper. Turnstile was a hardcore band that had incorporated enough other influences to make a kind of hardcore music that both satisfied long-time fans of the genre while remaining accessible enough to break into the mainstream, resulting in plum spots opening for Blink 182 and sub headlining the opening night of Riot Fest 2023. Now everyone is looking for the Next Big Hardcore Band to cross over to mainstream appeal. After a riotous Coachella appearance last year, Knocked Loose seemed like they might make some noise in that regard. Ironically, it might be making a little too much noise that will keep them from being a household name, as they keep a lot of the more brash elements of hardcore front and center - massively heavy breakdowns and tons of screaming.

The edge that Militarie Gun has compared to their contemporaries is a much more melodic sound that tones down (while still keeping) the rough edges. These are hardcore songs that you don't need to shred your voice to sing along with in the car, although the option to do so is always on the table.

That ability to sing along with Militarie Gun songs isn't to be overlooked. From the opening lines of 'Seizure of Assets' and going through the other 18 songs they played on the evening, the sellout crowd was singing every word back into the LA quartet's faces. And with good reason. There's an earnestness to Militarie Gun's lyrics that seem to be written with the average person and their problems in mind. "This is a song about trying to take someone else's pain away and not being able to," lead singer Ian Shelton mused before jumping into the closest thing Militarie Gun may ever get to an introspective thinker, 'My Friends Are Having a Hard Time'. Lyrics like "I said I haven't cried a day in my life/Or I, I used to cry all the time" aren't exactly Lennon & McCartney, but they don't need to be. This is the message that resonates back with the intended audience. No need for flowery language when getting straight to the point is much more effective.

And boy, does this band get straight to the point. Even taking time to chat with the audience between songs, they still fit 19 total songs into a one-hour set. And there was not one second of that time when Shelton wasn't pacing back and forth, jumping up and down, or almost jumping into the audience himself as the rest of the band (guitarists Nick Hogan and William Acuna, bassist Max Epstein, and drummer Vince Nguyen) seemed intent on crunching out riffs and bangs so ferocious that the roof might cave in.

So where did that leave me after the show? Honestly, I'm starting to become a convert. I catch myself singing their songs to my son. The other day at work, I had the urge to "OOO OOO", the foundation of many a Militarie Gun chorus and seemingly a call sign for anyone publicly showing their support of the Gun. Will I continue to listen to them more in the car? Probably. Will I catch their live show every time they come to town? You bet your ass.

Militarie Gun Setlist - Bottom Lounge 2.23.24

Seizure of Assets
Think Less
Let Me Be Normal
Pressure Cooker
My Friends are Having a Hard Time
Return Policy
Will Logic
Don't Pick Up the Phone
Disposable Plastic Trash
Dislocate Me
Ain't No Flowers
Sway Too
Never Fucked Up Once
Big Disappointment
Life Under the Gun
All Roads Lead to the Gun
Song 2 (Blur cover)
Very High
Do It Faster