SAeturday, September 24, 2011 – It’s one day post-Pope and one day pre-Berlin Marathon. A fitting day for a heart grinding show at Knochenbox in Friedrichshain, Berlin.
Presented by Blitzgigs, the Saturday show at Knochenbox was a melding of punk, heavy metal and boppy new wave. Deep below the unused chapel there is the crypt where Knochenbox lies. Dancing in the musty catacomb to heavy distorted guitars and pounding drums results in a twisting of your general reality.
Starting the night were The Gestammelorchester. They were spot on with their racing math punk and stop and start orchestration. Their songs give off a jagged, tense emotion that zigzags around inside you, taking you from total silence to intense noise and back and forth again. Members Tom O’Doherty (guitar and vox), Emma Pollard (bass) and Oliver Rivera-Drew (drums) work tightly together to pull off their complicated rhythms and noisy distortion.
Second up were The Port Torta. The band is Lucas Moseley (drums, lead vox), Ian McDaniel (guitar, vox), and Serge (bass, vox). They come from Tucson, Arizona which, as they said, is very far away. Currently on tour through Europe supporting their new album “Casual Living,” The Port Torta mix sounds stretching from Black Sabbath early metal to new wave punk