Any band whose press materials include the phrase, "Dudes who love to slug mass brew," is ripe for punk rock.
By the end of the evening, as the four sweaty, near-naked members of Rehasher bounced off each other for the last time and the last leather loveseat ride was given in the middle of Groove Night Club, it was pretty clear that there is still some decent punk music in the world.
In the vein of Dillinger Four and Screeching Weasel - whose song, "Hey Suburbia" the band covered later in their set - Gainesville, Fla.'s Rehasher made their Buffalo debut to a small but fervent crowd Monday evening.
Featuring Roger of Less Than Jake, Gui and Geis from Army of Ponch and Jake from Savage Brewtality, Rehasher abides by the Less Than Jake rule of not using last names. That's not the only standard the band follows.
Their drumming and guitar work is a perfect fit for the late '90s pop-punk style they play, but it's their stage presence and Roger's well-known voice that sets the band above others. Half reminiscent of his days in Less Than Jake and half reminiscent of NOFX, Roger has a knack for penning lines that grab listeners even when they aren't paying attention.
Maybe it's the fact that he's spent so many years playing to massive teenage ska and punk crowds, but lines like, "It's time to wake up and do some things you f-----g don't want to" and "So stop complaining about stupid things like society. Wait until you deal with grown-up responsibilities," are just a lot funnier coming from Roger.
Most of Rehasher's set was from their summer release, "Off Key Melodies," on No Idea Records. It didn't even take a single song to get the band to disrobe; the band took to the stage without pants. Roger cracked a joke regarding his choice of cartoon boxer shorts.
"It's always been a dream of mine to have the Jetsons so close to my genitals," he said.
It didn't take long for the crowd to catch on to what Rehasher was all about. In-between banter consisted mainly of imploring the mostly male crowd to join the band in the display of public underwear and berating each other with their own term.
"When someone makes a lame joke," Geis explained, "you have to follow it by saying 'Mark it.' Kind of like right now."
From the explanation onward, the phrase was slung about the room like drugs at a Phish show. Made to feel part of the show, the small crowd let loose. Pants-less males formed a circle pit, later adding a black leather loveseat to the middle of the pit. As Rehasher laughed along, different audience members would take a turn in the spinning former cow.
Rehasher's set was lengthy for punk music and more than enough for a crowd that spent the first part of the evening away from the stage and the second half seemingly recreating a scene from "Lord of the Flies."
"Are there any girls here? Two? Three? Raise your hands, come on," Roger asked.
In true music-lover form, Rehasher put on a terrific, inspired show despite being clearly perturbed at the crowd size. They made the reason for their displeasure known before their last song.
"We're done after this. Have fun watching Atreyu or whatever," Roger said in reference to the packed Atreyu and Taking Back Sunday show in Rochester the same evening.
On tour with Rehasher, Connecticut's Preston opened the show as well as locals Mecha Tama. Though their four horns and seven members give the impression of a ska band, Mecha Tama only has a couple of songs that fit that bill. On the others, the band is by far the most impressive passive-aggressive mariachi band in Western New York.
