PLAYHAT

PLAYHAT at The Viper Room By Keith Knapp"Our style of music is our own, can't really describe it. We just write new shit, and whatever comes out that sounds good to us, we keep." So says drummer Francis Gabagat of Playhat, when asked to describe their style of music. They're a grand mixture of reggae, punk and metal. Sublime in parts, old-school punk in others, and hard-core metal in yet others. Playhat takes what Sublime started and forces it through the musical wringer, coming out the other side with a sound that is both new and a throwback to better music days.I recently had a chance to ask Gabagat a few questions, both as a reviewer and as a fellow drummer. The five-piece started out with different bands here and there. They've been friends since Jr. High, and seven years ago decided to form their own band. Gabagat goes on: "You know, just a few punk kids wanting to make some noise. Funny story on how the name came about; 'Playhat' is a Japanese condom. Thought it was a pretty cool name so we decided to name the band after it. You never have to touch the damn thing, it comes with draw strings on them."When asked about influences, Gabagat, who's been playing drums for thirteen years, says, "Igor Cavalera from Sepultura, Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighters. That's just to list a few, there are so many drummers out there that I admire and steal their drum parts and make it my own ... shh hush hush."They started out their set at The Viper Room with two reggae-heavy songs. The first of which, "Friend Like You," (I'm guessing at the title there, as a set list wasn't available at print time), starts out kinda mellow, again putting in mind the tones and feelings of Sublime. Then, all hell breaks loose with some heavy pumpin' punk rock, and we're in Playhat territory. Gabagat and bassist Jon Krupp kept the jumpy n' bumpy reggae rhythms in check with a tightness you usually only hear in professional bands playing to stadiums of twenty-thousand drunk teenagers.The guitars of Phil Brewster and Sean Hammond rounded, filled out, and bombarded the room with high-energy. With a cry-baby pedal when it's called for, and Metallica crunching when it's needed, they fully compliment singer Anthony Kilejian, who, quite simply, owned the stage. A classic front man in all the sense of the term, Anthony played the crowd, and played off of the crowd, as if they were in that stadium of twenty-thousand drunk teenagers. He made me forget just how small the stage at The Viper Room really is.Later on in the set, after throwing out free t-shirts (can't go wrong with free clothing at a gig), we were treated to "Survive" and "Revolution," (the second of which has some incredibly fast double-bass), two songs that stand out in my mind that make me wanna forget the fact that I'm a delicate, scared man with a bad neck and back and jump in a mosh pit. Of course, after I realized that I am, in fact, a delicate and scared man whose back hasn't been well since a car accident in 1993, I decided to sit at the table and sip my juice box. But man, I wanted to get up. You will, too.Go to www.playhat.com For the bands itinerary, CDs, shirts and lap dances. They would also like to give a shout out to their Band Groupie PJ for all his hard work...