Live Review: Old Gray & Lovechild, Now That's Class (1/18/14)

Nestled on the outskirts of the city, Cleveland's dive-bar-gone-music-venue Now That's Class! has played home to some of the best tours of the past couple years including Every Time I Die's fall tour and several Title Fight headliners. Harboring an eclectic mix of hardcore, punk, indie and experimental music, the small sub-300 cap venue is known for its cheap booze and rowdy crowds which were exemplified to the extreme at Saturday's show.

Artist of the Day: CityCop

Genres can be difficult to describe. The definition of post-hardcore has evolved over the years so much that you could pin almost any modern alternative rock band with the term and be at least half right. From Fugazi to Silverstein, the term post-hardcore has been thrown around almost as much as the word "screamo." Even the term "pop-punk" has been bastardized, as some fans fight over whether or not to define Title Fight's The Last Thing You Forget as a pop-punk or hardcore record. Yet, sometimes you discover a band who breaks all genre barriers and throws you for a loop. Ohio's own CityCop blend hearty post-hardcore with screamo, emo, and latin influences resulting in a familiar yet unique sound. Throw La Dispute, Saetia, We Were Skeletons and a little bit of Mexican Mariachi into a musical blender and it will spit out the passionate acoustic-hardcore which CityCop has cooked up.

CityCop - The Hope In Forgiving & Giving Up Hope

Who?

CityCop are a four-piece band based out of Ashtabula, Ohio. Playing a wholly unique concoction of sound, incorporating indie, screamo, punk, and emo influences, CityCop's style might be aptly described as a punkier mixture of Cap'n Jazz and Caravels. Though currently unsigned, guitarist/vocalist Max Adams, vocalist Eddie Gancos, bassist Duncan Treen, and drummer Cody Mikesell tour quite often throughout the Ohio/Pennsylvania area. The Hope In Forgiving & Giving Up Hope is their debut full length and is available on Bandcamp for a mere $5.