There's been a thriving house show scene in Orlando as of late. It's an extremely healthy sign of the music community here. At some shows I've been to are more well attended versus club shows. In Colonialtown there's at least two houses within blocks of each other: the Lo-Fi House and the Punk House. Two very different directions but the same goal. South of downtown there was the Summerlin House, which I lived in for a couple of years previous. And there's another indie pop house that I don't know if it has a name or not.

Then there's The Conway House, located in the Conway neighborhood. The Conway house has been pretty active. I'd always see flyers around the internet, from hardcore to indie rock, genre didn't seem to matter in their focus. I'd never been to a show there before and they had contacted Hot Hands to play so we said yes.

have to admit the house was all around strange, disturbing and fun at the same time. Within eight to ten steps from the front door we had been offered weed a total of four times from different people. We declined but did partake in some swigs of some "smooth ass" whiskey. Then we had beers in our hands by fifteen steps. Yes, this was a house party. The house itself and the backyard was a couple of notches above Gummo country. You can tell a lot of young guys live in the house with no supervision. Out back in a roofless patio lay a inflatable pool, filled with dirty rainwater. Two mattresses laid on the ground next to a huge trash pile. Did I mention the exercise bike or shopping cart filled with DVD cases?

There was a show of course. The first band was a brand new band called Werewolves of Thunder. Preston, Bob and Dorian are the guys that mash indie, hardcore and pop influences together into a tight thunderous sound. This may have been this bands first "real" show. It was a little sloppy but fun enough where it didn't matter.

We had fun with our Hot Hands set. I had a blast using all the different amps in the room. I ran my Bassman through a bass cabinet and guitar cabinet. Then ran another channel through a Marshall stack. It was a nice big guitar sound for sure. Lots of feedback. Kristin didn't have a microphone but she was screaming her lyrics loud and clear. We had a special treat for everyone this set: we did "Bitch Control", and old Jeanie & the Tits song, featuring Jeanie herself on lead vocals. Pretty fun. Before we were done Kristin was covered in blood but that's typical at Hot Hands shows.

Closing out the show was an awesome band from Denton, Texas called Teenage Cool Kids. I had checked out their myspace and liked them right away. They reminded be of a perfect mixture between the bands Joe Christmas and Number One Cup. Bands I don't think those guys would even know about. Imagine a Pavementy noisy indie rock sound with slightly strained raspy vocals and you get what this band is doing. They were in one word: awesome. This was the funnest show I've been to in quite a while. If you ever hear of any shows at The Conway house I say go check it out.

Pictures:

Werewolves of Thunder with skeleton,

Teenage Cool Kids.

Teenage Cool Kids with shirts off.

You can see some scenes from Orlando (and Gainesville) in this video:

Links:
Teenage Cool Kids.
Hot Hands.
Werewolves of Thunder (what? not even a Myspace?)