Nightfall, Skallar, D.O.D., Dystrophy
Common Beat
4916 Baltimore Ave.
Philadelphia
April 24, 2026
Despite dreary and overcast weather, I’m maintaining my argument about outdoor gigs. This show at Common Beat had a lot of the same attributes as the skatepark show within a controlled environment. If you don’t know, Common Beat is a music store on 49th and Baltimore. There you can get all manner of vinyl, peruse a modest yet legit selection of used musical gear, and get gear repaired. When I was there last Friday, they even had an AKAI MPC for sale! If you need a guitar set up, I recommend going to their employee Carlo.
Thanks to traffic on 76, I missed Dystrophy. If you wanna know more about them, check out my mention of them here. I heard they did a His Hero Is Gone cover that charmed the crowd, further proving that this young band knows and values their heritage. God bless em.
His Hero Is Gone - Monuments To Thieves
When I walked in, Massachusetts’ D.O.D. was just getting set up, giving me time to catch up with friends and check out the keg that was dispensing Life’s Sweet Nectar into cups available for purchase. The proceeds from each cup sold were to be donated to Juntos, which made me feel better about getting too close to the legal limit for my BAC. As my friend Africa proverbially said later that evening, “Beer is punk.” And look how cool these cups are!
If you have never read anything I’ve written here before, Juntos is a local advocacy group led by and for immigrants. They help with legal representation, healthcare acquisitions, job services, and more. I always drop the link for Juntos’ website when I mention them and I’ll be doing it here too.
D.O.D. had an honestly mild start but they woke everybody up with their cover of Negative Approach’s “Ready To Fight.” An often covered track, sure, but it certainly pulled me away from the conversation I was in the midst of. And that song is a classic for a reason. That cover turned the momentum of their performance around, giving way to a much more engaging and harder hitting rest of their set. Crowd engagement is crucial to an impassioned and memorable performance and to the non-musicians out there: the more you show us you’re engaged, the more we give, and we are deeply aware that this works both ways.
Negative Approach - Ready to Fight (Live 1981)
Negative Approach - Ready to Fight Live 2019
The Baltimore d-beat band Skällar have been on a lot of flyers for shows I’ve seen in Maryland and a few here in Philly. I’m a fellow Marylander and it’s been nice to see the wealth of talent coming out of Baltimore in the last few years. I don’t know if anyone outside Baltimore has said the city is having a punk and hardcore renaissance yet, but it is.
Anyway, this band is crust as fuck with little hints of metal (but no solos.) I wouldn’t say I’m by any means an aficionado of the genre so I’m going to keep my description brief but I will also include the last sentence from Craig Hayes’ post on the In Crust We Trust blog about their most recent release, the simply titled 2026 EP: “It’s a full-throated/fist-raised recommendation for fans of Stormcrow, Sanctum, Hellshock, and After the Bombs.” Throw in his comparison to Bolt-Thrower and you should be pretty well equipped in your understanding of this band. It’s also very much worth noting that this most recent Skällar release was recorded by Philly’s go-to punk producer Trish Quigley, whose own bands K.O.S. and Condumb are both powerhouses. Anyways, I’ll drop the link to that blogpost here because there’s tons of bands mentioned in there, some I do know and some I don’t, so we can learn together.
In Crust We Trust: Vol 36 - Last Rites
One other thing about Skällar. I have a really hard time giving a shit about double-bass in a lot of the contexts I hear it used. I grew up obsessed with metal and once you fall out of love with something, it’s sometimes hard to be excited about aspects of it in other contexts. Skällar’s drummer Vaughn, though, is onto something. Most people use double bass pedals to add extra intensity and nothing else to a musical idea and it’s basically never tasteful. More often than not, extreme music drummers are rewarded for a certain tastelessness in their playing. Argue with your mother. But Skällar’s out here grooving on patterns and a feel that have nothing to do with intensity, and that’s what elicited crowd reaction more than anything else this night. It was pretty sick. Like yes, the speed was there, the fills were intricately used, the strangled vocals sounded awesome, the riffs were evil as hellfire, but those rhythms were smacking ass.
Nightfall finished things out with their typical excellence. They’re also an awesome d-beat/crust band and they simply rock hard as hell every time. To me, they’re certified Philly institution status, having been together over 20 years, and they exist with a vigor and friendship that I admire. They simultaneously do and don’t seem like a product of their years; they play like they’ve practiced for thousands of hours, but also very much like a rock n’ roll band of talented friends who deliver very casually and effortlessly. They’re just very fun to watch live and pull no punches when they perform. I feel like I’m going to talk more at length to or about them in the future.
Lastly, Dark Thoughts bassist, Condumb singer, and all around Philadelphia queen Amy Opsasnick has been sending around a form to gauge the interest in a music workers center in Philadelphia that could also potentially be partnered with a new community/performance space. Link below if that interests you, and it should.
