We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
OCTOBER 31
Desperate to bolster New Yawk’s long-since-lost status as center of the universe, a recent New York Times piece evasively identified three D.C. outfits that crucially influenced California’s current neohardcore scene—Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and Dag Nasty—as “East Coast bands.” Down by Law sounds like an “East Coast band,” but this L.A. quartet is entitled: Singer Dave Smalley actually was in Dag Nasty, and Law’s new Punkrockacademyfightsong has Brainsy speediness and Nasty wit, notably in a noisy, irreverent cover of the Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).” With sharp punk-popsters Black Train Jack, Your Majesty, and Malacca Stone at 8 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1831 14th St. NW. $6. (202) 667-7960. (Mark Jenkins)