October 11, 2002
INFM, My New Life, and HBA
Santa Clara YMCA 1717 The Alameda, Santa Clara FREE! 7pm

INFM began the show a bit differently then expected. Three boys walked into the room as we were all anticipating the start of the show, I think everyone in the room would agree that they looked out of place- dressed like hip hop kids. Before I knew it these kids started flowin' and did a mighty good job of it. I`m not one who frequently listens to hip hop, although I do enjoy some Del or Living Legends. These kids were damn good and very talented! I especially liked how they not only flowed but did it with guitar, bass, and drums in the backround. This was such a different sound then I am used to having when I go to shows. They did this for about 15 minutes and then INFM played without hip hopsters. INFM was basically just plain punk rock. They played for about another 15 minutes, suprisingly the kids in the crowd didn`t take to them as I thought they would. The situation of this show was a bit weird, it was a big empty room and they had a gymnasitca mat down which kids were laying on. It looked a bit silly with all the kids sitting during a band that if they played at Gilman there would be about 50 kids kicking eachothers asses. They played a song that they named after one of their fans, I later found out the band played at the girls birthday party and they wrote a song for her which I found to be awesome! On the contrary though, it seemed as if there could be some work done on their ability to play live. They rocked out and tried to get every into the music, but those efforts failed. They definatly have potential and I can`t wait to see them a few months from now!
My New Life rocked our socks off second. My good friend Katy has recently been introduced to My New Life, she stole my cd from me and has literally not stopped listening to them since. So she was rather exicted to see them and she rocked out along with them. It was so great to see people stand up and get their feet moving to this band. They played a 45 minute set, 12 spectacular songs... the whole cd! This was such a treat for a My New Life fan, to see them for FREE and to hear the WHOLE cd live! It was so great to see so many My New Life fans there singing along with just as much energy as the band! They played two songs that I havent seen them play that often, Broken Heart in Hand and Feel the Burn so I was super excited to see those two songs on the set list. I think that there is only one bad thing I could say about this show. I was at the MNL cd release show and they playes so incredibly fucking awesome that its hard to hold a band to such high expectations... But I have faith that I will once again see such amazing surreal energy from not only the band but audience, and maybe another pit started. After they played their last song there were a few people who just didn`t want MNL to be over and tried to start a "My New Life" chant. Rock!
HBA hit the stage last. It was sad to see that a lot of the kids had already left by the time they played. Which in all honesty was probably good given the ages that most of the kids were and the lyrical content of the band. Reguardless of that fact the band gave 110 percent to the audience. They were so fucking hilarious. I couldn`t help but think of Pansy Division as I watched them. They set seemed rather short or maybe it was that there was so much laughter that the time flew by. For the first few songs I was astonished because this show was at a YMCA but then I got over it and had tons of fun. There were a few people in the audience who knew the word, which I was pleased to see. The band was energetic and made jokes, it`s always good them a band can have fun. Overall this was an awesome show! Check these bands out sometime!
Jen aka "xMarilyNx"