Hawaii Vice

Pepper was itself. As usual, the band referenced sex and marijuana every chance it gtot. Not offensively so, though. As we've mentioned before, it's kind of tough to take Pepper's antics seriously. That's not to say they're not serious when they extol inhalable substances and casual, consensual sex. But this Phillyist really doesn't find them offensive in the least, although some certainly might find them so. They're the stoner surfer (or, in Philly, skater) guys you knew in high school who resisted growing up but weren't really losers either. We just wish the concert measured up to our previous experiences with the band, which were both during summer months, on smaller stages, and for shorter sets. The sound quality didn't measure up to the earlier Pepper shows we'd seen. But we weren't terribly surprised at that. After all, we were at the Electric Factory, home of sound fuck-ups. The energy from the crowd was there, but something seemed... lacking. Maybe it was the longer set. The guys in Pepper are good, but not really good musicians, and playing a full set can really expose weaknesses. Maybe Pepper's Hawaiian ska style just didn't suit our autumn mood. But really, we think it was something else that got in the way of our enjoyment of Pepper.

That something else was The Expendables, who completely stole the show. The Expendables' MySpace page (in case you didn't click on it earlier) says their music sounds like "[r]eggae had sex with metal, [p]unk got in the mix, and ska videotaped it all." The description is actually pretty dead-on. It really is like you put Bob Marley, The Clash, Madness and Judas Priest in a blender. When The Expendables came on stage, we really didn't know what to make of them, especially frontman Geoff Weers. We weren't sure if Weers should have been fronting a thrash metal band or hunting the six-fingered man. The Expendables genre-bending sound totally sucked us in. If you'd told us beforehand that Pepper's primary support was a ska-metal band, we probably would have shown up at the show late, because really, how can that possibly sound good, right? Well The Expendables make it work. They seamlessly transition from reggae/ska to Iron Maiden-style dual-guitar metal bridges and guitar solos, then back again without sounding awkward or sloppy at all. We came away really, really impressed by the Expendables.