Photo Gallery: Mom / Unforgiven Five / Liquid Swords at Second Base

Piper Williamson of Mom

St. Louis punk band Mom issued a demo back in June and made its first visit to Kansas City on Tuesday night. The Second Base basement filled up comfortably as the band played a highly traditional, yet subtly creative take on classic Midwestern hardcore. The mid-paced jams and snotty attitude were present first and foremost, but bite-sized powerpop riffs and attention-grabbing tempo switches and a calculated stop-starts were injected at the perfect moments. There were a few misfires where the guitarist and rhythm section wouldn't quite connect for a moment, but the kids dancing in the front row were charmed enough to not care. Mom ended its 20 minute set with a cover of "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'."

Kansas City's Unforgiven Five played last. The Five had taken a break from gigging for a moment and drummer Gabe Coppage was occasionally left panting trying to keep up, but playing songs as relatively complex as theirs is tough under almost any circumstance. Frontwoman Libby Zanders announced on Facebook as well that an upcoming second demo will be released soon.

Liquid Swords brought the first cassette copies of its new demo and opened the show. The band's aggressive, coastal sound was well executed and inspired at least one beer smacked from someone's hand.

Full photo gallery here.