Against Me!

It's Friday night. Need something to do, but you're sick of everything? Has your quest to find a band with passion, hooks, and memorable lyrics been less than a success? Would it be too much trouble if an act could provide those goods and services in the studio but go on to prove they aren't a sterile ProTools creation by putting on a kick-ass live show? Well, sport, Gainesville's Against Me! has arrived to answer your prayers. Against Me! has produced one great album (Reinventing Axl Rose), and its latest, As the Eternal Cowboy, is pretty damn good too. Against Me! singer/songwriter Tom Gabel's choppy folk/reggae/punk guitar riffs and insanely anthemic choruses turn ordinary punk-rock gigs into electric, tent-revival sing-alongs. At the band's last area gig at Miami's Polish American Club, hundreds of unwashed, future FTAA protestors overran the stage, unplugging the PA in their glee, to shout the chorus of "Pints of Guinness Make You Strong!" Drinking Irish is always a good idea. Then again, so is bathing Irish.