Live review: Scream and Soulside at Pyramid Scheme

Grand Rapids, MI – 23 Sep 2024

A low turn out doesn’t mean low energy

Over the last few years, I’ve had really good luck seeing bands that had eluded me for the three and a half decades I’ve been going to shows. Scream was a band that I never thought I’d get a chance to see, and now I’ve done it twice. The first time was six weeks ago when they headlined Thursday night of the Savage Mountain Punk Festival in Western Maryland. They were fantastic, and I jumped at the chance to see them again locally. The second time was at the Pyramid Scheme in downtown Grand Rapids on a dreaded Monday night. 

My timing was a little off, and I showed up before the first band started. For once, I was glad I did. Local-ish opener Snakeout played a killer 25 minute set. The sparse crowd didn’t deter them as they laid down a relentless blend of hardcore, metal and rock and roll. I will definitely keep an eye on these guys, and maybe even show up on time when the quintet is playing! 

Scream was doing a short Midwestern tour with fellow DC oldsters Soulside. I wasn’t really familiar with Soulside, but they ended up being a nice bonus. Many in the crowd seemed very familiar with them. I’m more a fan of the raw early DC hardcore stuff than the “Revolution Summer” era, but Soulside was solid. Franz and Enoch from Scream joined them for a couple of DC covers to finish their set. First was the Bad Brains classic “I Against I”, then the more obscure “Me and You” by Ian McKaye’s lesser known Egg Hunt. 

If Scream were disappointed by the turnout, it didn’t show. For more than an hour, they played their asses off. Like the whole world was watching. Their set spanned from the 1981 classic Still Screaming to last year’s excellent DC Special. The band was never one to stay in a musical box, and they covered a lot of sonic ground. There was punk, reggae, good old fashioned rock and roll, and of course, hardcore. With three quarters of their original lineup intact, Scream is more authentic than the majority of their peers. OG brothers Peter (vocals) and Franz (guitar) Stahl, and Skeeter “Enoch” Thomson (bass) have been doing it since 1981. 

Early stuff like “This Side Up”, “Bedlam” and “Came Without Warning” got the biggest responses, but newer songs like “DC Special Sha La La” and “Bored to Life” were also well received. Sometimes people forget that there was a lot more to the ‘80s DC scene than just Minor Threat and Fugazi. Scream are one of the great, maybe underrated groups in the Dischord Records stable. The true test of a band is not how they play for a big festival crowd, but rather how they play for three dozen aging punks on a Monday night in middle America. Scream passed that test with flying colors. 

Confessions of a merch whore: I bought two copies of the new Scream LP when I saw them in August. I’m glad I did, because they were sold out in GR. All I bought was a couple PBR tallboys and a couple Hamms.