Show Review: Nails, Product of Waste, Sabotage @ Lily's Pad

Nosferatu, "Nails killed Unsilent Death"

In the past couple of months Manic Productions has held many shows at the Lily’s Pad. Tucked away next to the box office above Toad’s Place, the Lily’s Pad is a classy, low-key room with a green-and-white tile floor, mood lighting, leather couches and a bar protected by a wood and glass barricade. Normally Lily’s Pad hosts any number of dance parties, private parties, smooth jazz and jam band shows. The intimate setting makes it an ideal place to slow-dance with your sweetie, get your thang on with any number of drunken underage girls or just mellow out to your favorite Sublime cover. It also has a sick disco ball.

In theory, it’s not the ideal place for a hardcore show. Despite the bathrooms made for one person at a time (which are filled with as many as five girls, broken bottles and toilet paper on a Saturday night) and the giant windows that threaten crowd surfers with certain death, Nails, Product of Waste and Sabotage managed to throw a little dance party of their own.

Sabotage started the night with their brand of tight, groovy and supremely moshable hardcore. Vocalist Jay Haas began their set by reading off a posted sign – NO Moshing, NO Crowdsurfing and NO Stagediving. There isn’t even a stage to dive off of in the Lily’s Pad, but that’s not important. Several kids stood or sat by as Sabotage tore through their set, looking as anxious to mosh as a dog chained up outside on a hot day with a raw steak dangling over his head. My head was bobbing their entire set, it’s a shame that no one moved around more because that’s what their music is made for.

Sabotage’s set ended abruptly and Product of Waste still hadn’t shown up, leaving some downtime. Although the show was rather sparsely attended, the people who did show were clearly happy to be there with their friends. Plus, the intermission gave some of us all the time in the world to hunt for Chinese food. Whoever picked the between-set music understood how anxious we all were by that point. He helped us along with an exquisite playlist of modern radio rock from the likes of Nickelback, Ozzy and Linkin Park. After about twenty minutes of such great music, Nails finally gave in and played second.

Nails are professional hitmen and Manic Productions hired them to beat your skull in with a steel baseball bat. Drawing influences from bands like Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower and Nasum, Nails creates a cacophony of sound that is best described as being sodomized by a blender on its highest setting. Their new record, Unsilent Death is an almost unlistenable joyride through songs that combine hardcore, grind and death metal in a way that would make Trap Them shit themselves. The fact that they were able to reproduce such heaviness and visceral force live as a three-piece is all the more impressive.

The first pit of the night happened during their set, which the venue’s bouncers weren’t ready for. However, once the bouncers and audience calmed down they realized it was better to work together than to remove anyone for throwing a stray kick. Nails didn’t even acknowledge this, not a single guttural or blastbeat was out of place for the duration of their 20-minute set. Easily one of the heaviest three-pieces I’ve ever seen, Nails closed the set with a rendition of “Suffering Soul” off Unsilent Death.

After a short wait Product of Waste set up and started to play. Although Nails was the listed headliner, the crowd were much more hip to PoW’s thrashy intensity. People were shouting along, jumping into the air, spinkicking and throwing moves plagiarized from Bruce Lee movies. Nails may have had the heaviest set of the night, but PoW’s was the most fun. It was amazing to see that much energy and intensity concentrated in such a tiny space, especially one normally reserved for bumping college dance parties.

After helping carry out the PA, a bunch of us stopped by Mamoun’s for some post-show eats and good company. As much as I love seeing the same friends at every show, sometimes I wish more people would come out and show support. After losing the Wallingford AmLeg back in July I can’t help but feel we should take a step back and appreciate what we have in our little scene, and part of that means actually going to shows. Too many people in Connecticut talk shows up until the day they happen and then are nowhere to be found. Let’s keep these awesome shows happening. Go to them.