Photo Gallery: Spine / Bib / Devil's Den / Liquid Swords / Choppin' Block at Davey's Uptown Ramblers Club

Antonio Marquez of Spine

Spine's June 11 record release was a show years in the making. Following half-a-dozen self-released tapes and records over the last seven years, the band's Bridge Nine Records debut, "Faith," was pressed, packaged, and flying from the merch table like hotcakes. The band's headlining set confirmed that the band is worthy of the endless hype supplied by their loyal Spine Crew. Antonio Marquez's vocals were as powerful and punchy as ever, the band didn't miss a beat, and the recent addition of Max Chaney on second guitar only pushed the group's maxed-out hybrid hardcore further.

Bib is the greatest active six-piece hardcore punk band in the Midwest, and perhaps America as a whole. The same moment the Omaha crew hit its first collective note, fists shot into the air, and fans got to slamming. The music they play is far from the carbon copy eighties hardcore that many contemporary bands produce, but the chaos they created could've been ripped from a documentary on the era.

Devil's Den has performed roughly a dozen shows and is preparing to release its second EP, but its 10-minute set of no-bullshit hardcore was still just as gripping on this night as it has been every other time.

Due to the sheer number of visits they make to Kansas City each year, Bib has had the same level of impact on local punks as many bands that are actually from Kansas City. Liquid Swords is more than a Bib rip-off, but the influence is clearly there. This was the band's largest show yet, and the first on an elevated stage. The presence of the stage and its monitors may have hampered the band's ability to communicate in their usual fashion, leading to a handful of missteps, but the crowd of hardcore fans young and old still welcomed them with open arms.

All four members of Choppin' Block have been involved with Kansas City's hardcore scene for many years, but, aside from bassist Taylor Paredes, have not been playing music as of late. The return of Matt Hickman's dog-bark vocals brought smiles to the faces of several friends in the room, but their sparse placement over the band's slow, bare minimum beatdown riffing made it tough to oblige guitarist C.J. Brelsford's numerous mosh calls.

Full photo gallery here.