Friday, May 10, 2024, found Hot Water Music bringing their triumphant 30-year anniversary to a stop at Boston’s 1000-capacity Royale theatre. Coincidentally, it also marked album release day for Vows, the band’s dynamic 10th studio album. The confluence of those events created a pretty great Venn diagram sweet spot that found the genre-defining five-piece sounding just as vital and authentic as ever.
I understand that it’s not exactly an earth-shattering revelation to disclose that Hot Water Music has been one of my favorite bands over the course of the last two decades – I am a mid-40s bearded white guy after all. Still, it’s important to note the influence that the band has had not only as a guiding light in this quadrant of the music world, but on my own personal life both inside and outside the last baker’s dozen years I’ve been doing the Dying Scene thing. It’s a level of importance that is palpable when you’re in the room when the band plays, even thirty years on and minus an original member. What’s also palpable is the level of respect and admiration that the band have for each other and for the crowd. Co-frontmen Chuck Ragan and Chris Cresswell made repeat references to how honored they were to be able to celebrate a lengthy career and a new album in front of a room full of friends, and Cresswell seems doubly-appreciative of his spot as a fan first and, for the last seven years, a band member. Of course, how can you not appreciate playing in a band with the “human cheat codes” that make up the rhythm section of Jason Black and George Rebelo.
As is basically standard operating procedure of late, Hot Water began their set with a blistering rendition of “Remedy,” the song that kicks off their landmark 2002 album Caution. This was followed quickly by “A Flight And A Crash” and “Jack Of All Trades,” a one-two-three punch that set a frenetically high bar for the evening. Because this was not only a thirtieth-anniversary tour but also an album release tour, one can imagine there was more than a little difficulty putting together a setlist that was appropriately reflective of the band’s career arc while obviously celebrating the new material. The next hour-and-a-half did a damn fine job of it, however. Vows was certainly well-represented by “Burn Forever,” “Menace” and “Remnants,” the latter of which contained a pause and restart while a crowd-goer who’d hit the deck was tended to. “Keep It Together” from 2004’s underrated The New What Next was a pleasant surprise that I feel hasn’t seen much love in the Cresswell era. Exister‘s two staples, “Drag My Body” and “State of Grace” were of course included, as were personal favorites “I Was On A Mountain” and “Alright For Now.” By the time the iconic “Trusty Chords” brought things to a close, the band had barreled through 20 songs in about as raw and real and life-affirming a manner as they ever have. Making and sharing music is not a responsibility that Hot Water Music take lightly, and to say that all four of the touring members leave it all on the stage night in and night out is to put it mildly, and I look forward to more nights like this as long as Chuck’s and Cresswell’s voices will allow.
Be Well kicked off the festivities early in the evening. A late add to the bill after the cancellation of their West Coast run with I Am The Avalanche and Grumpster, Be Well really are a perfect fit to help celebrate Hot Water’s 30th birthday given how intertwined frontman Brian McTernan has been with HWM for the last couple decades, having produced A Flight And A Crash (2001), Caution (2002), The New What Next (2004), Feel The Void (2022) and now Vows. (He also produced The Draft’s 2006 masterpiece In A Million Pieces.) The lineup was slightly retooled from the band’s previous runs through the Northeast; McTernan, Shane Johnson (drums) and Mike Schleibaum (lead guitar) maned their usual battle stations, while normal bass player Aaron Dalbec slid into perhaps his more identifiable role as guitar player (see Converge, Bane, etc) while newcomer Zach Crocket (who plays with Johnson in Richmond, Virginia hardcore band Beggars) assumed bass duties. Whatever the lineup, every time out finds Be Well solidifying their place as one of the most vital bands in the modern hardcore game, and I say that while fully acknowledging that I am very much “not a hardcore kid.” McTernan’s honest, earnest vocals and heart-wrenching storytelling are front-and-center, supported in full by the band’s strong concentration on thrashing, melodic tempos.
Off With Their Heads were up next. It had been a minute since I’d witnessed the full-band OWTH experience. Actually, it had been well more than a minute…maybe a decade? Maybe? On a tour with Alkaline Trio and Into It. Over It.? I should check my list. ANYWAY, I’d seen the OWTH acoustic revue a number of times, so it was gratifying to see that Ryan Young and friends (Kyle Manning on drums and Kevin Rotter on bass) have not lost a step off their plugged-in, punk rock set’s proverbial fastball. Kicking things off with “Let It All,” the band blistered through a nine-song set that was heavy on their last full band full-length, 2019’s Be Good. Set closer “Clear The Air” was as cathartic as ever and included a couple of local references (Billerica? Really?) for good measure.
Quicksand served as primary support on this night as they did for the duration of the tour. Speaking of bands who are naturals to open a Hot Water Music 30th anniversary run, Quicksand were also perfect not just sonically but because of frontman Walter Schreifels’ role as producer of Hot Water’s 1999 classic No Division, considered by many to be the first album that really found the band leveling up (as evidenced by it’s spot as one of the “album shows” the band did on its string of two-night stands on their 25th-anniversary tour a few years back). The trio (Schreifels on guitar and vocal duties, Sergio Vega on bass and Alan Cage behind the drumkit) hit the ground running with “Omission” from their own iconic record, 1993’s Slip, and tore through another thirteen-song set that included such staples as “Thorn In My Side” “Fazer” and “Dine Alone” before closing things out with a transcendent “Landmine Spring.” The band sounded as solid as ever, and the staircases that adorn the sides of the stage and lead to the backstage green rooms were adorned with members of the night’s other bands watching and singing along from the wings.
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