Dan Yemin, vocals of Paint it Black

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Propaghandi
Paint It Black, Protagonist and Fallen from the Sky

March 6, 2009
Culture Room, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Article by Laura Herrera
Photos by Katie Condon

The Culture Room in Ft. Lauderdale saw no winding line, packed room, or action in the crowd on Friday, March 6. Propaghandi and their opening bands Paint It Black, Protagonist and Fallen from the Sky took over the venue, but the audience was dead on arrival.

To start off the night, Boca Raton locals Fallen from the Sky opened with "Victims" off their first and most recent fulllength album Tonight We Radiate. Their passion was evident as the front man screamed, "We’ll take what we can and fight till the end," and the band jumped around the stage. Even by the end of their set, the fervor was still there. But, for whatever reason, the crowd never caught on.

Marcus Kora, bassist for Fallen From the Sky

The same applied to the second band to take the stage, Protagonist. Their music leaned more to punk than hardcore and was just as passionate as Fallen from the Sky. As much as I enjoyed their performance, the crowd didn’t get into it until they covered "The Crowd" by Operation Ivy. Even then, only a group of four people were excited enough to move around and sing with the front man. The lyrics, "More than just another crowd/ We need a gathering instead" were comically ironic.

Taking a look around the venue, there were no familiar faces. The audience was much older than usual, with barely anyone who looked under 20. Maybe this was typical of a hardcore show. Maybe hardcore is an acquired taste that takes 20-plus years to develop. Either way, the most interesting moment on the dance floor was a fight between a woman in her 30s (who looked like a metal video vixen) and a common couple. Not exactly an experience to talk about. But soon, Paint It Black proved me wrong.

Brian Forst, guitarist for Protagonist

While setting up, Paint It Black vocalist Dan Yemin waved and sweetly smiled to OutLoud’s photographer Katie Condon and I. Speaking with him before the show, he was outspoken and easygoing, but once he got onstage his screaming vocals were on the verge of terrifying.

The band exploded into "Paste Tense Future Perfect" from their most recent release New Lexicon as a group of die-hard fans pushed against the front of the stage where Dan offered them the microphone. Unlike the previous bands, Paint It Black constantly spoke to the crowd to introduce their songs, ("This one’s for all the vegans and vegetarians!") and voiced their opinions ("We’re very anti-the government telling you what to do.").

Propaghandi's Chris Hannah

       "The way to make us feel welcome is with signs on the monitors saying, ‘Do not step, Do not step, Do not step...’ like we’re 6-year-olds," said bassist Andy Nelson sarcastically as he proceeded to step on the monitor in front of him. "This is punk rock." The band gave it their all — even with minimal crowd participation — until their closing song.

       Before playing, a Propaghandi band member announced a guest speaker from HaitiAction.net. The man, sporting a white button down shirt and nice pants, spoke about the political injustice that countries such as the United States have brought upon Haiti and how political power is now in the hands of young people. The crowd hadn’t even stopped cheering about the cause as Propaghandi made their way on the stage. Without even an introduction, they dove into their first song. It wasn’t until after their second or third song that they stopped to speak to the crowd for a brief moment before continuing through their set. Each song flowed into the other until I could barely differentiate between them.

       It was disappointing. Communication between the band and the audience was lacking; the small pit in front of the stage was a sausage fest, and the songs weren’t as I remembered them. I was stuck in the 1993 and 1996 version of Propaghandi with ska riffs and an exciting punk sound, but the 2009 Propaghandi was now heavy metal. I finished my water and set out for home. Being pulled over past curfew wasn’t worth the apathetic crowd and metal songs.

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