Live Review: Smaug, the Final Formula, Devil Got Five, Black Maria at PT's Club Inferno

Smaug, the Final Formula, Devil Got Five and Black Maria
Friday, September 26, 2008
PT’s Club Inferno, Denver
Better Than: Being an indie rock snob.

PT’s Club Inferno is not my first choice of venues to attend for a show because strip clubs give me the creeps. But when I tried to find parking, the staff was very nice and polite and the girl taking money at the door was cool and even asked about my M.I.A. t-shirt. Going upstairs to the room where the music was being performed I saw the schedule and my heart sank a little because I had just missed Fanatics — one of the greatest hardcore bands Colorado has yet produced. However, there was plenty more music coming up.

The room I found myself in was clearly used for other purposes when shows weren’t happening. Low, circular stages were arranged around the room, a black cage sat in the center and wide couches lined the walls of one wing with a dimly lit bar at the other end next to a well-lit dressing room. As I stepped in front of the expansive stage, the Final Formula started up. The act was a five-piece playing an odd hybrid of nü metal, rap rock and At the Drive-In style hardcore. The frontman put a lot of himself into the performance, while the drummer created fascinating percussive textures and some of the crunchier guitar riffing was excellent. Although the power ballad-esque “Hold on to Me” nearly made me laugh, I have to admit. Formula ended its set with a lively cover of Pennywise’s “The Western World.”