A Tribute to Midwest Punk Rock

New York and London battle it out over bragging rights as the definitive birthplace of punk rock. Southern California in general is acknowledged as the second cradle of the genre, home of all those amazing, sun-bleached '80s bands. But people tend to forget about the flyover states' place in the punk pantheon. Sure, things got cooking a little later there — in the pre-internet days, it took awhile for music to filter in from the coasts. But the Midwest did, indeed, produce its own seminal acts. So why not celebrate them on a random night at Churchill's? Some of our own best beach-addled musical brains take the stage Friday night as, well, other bands, in a tribute to rock from left of the Mississippi.

In probably the most logical matchup of the lineup, Miami-based sludgy post-hardcore act Consular is slated to appear as the ferocious, pioneering Detroit hardcore act Negative Approach. Tricounty quartet No Class Action will channel Chicago melodic punkers Naked Raygun, and Broward punk lifers the Shakers take on the unfuckwithable catalog of the hallowed Replacements. (That's brave indeed.) And finally, in the best South Florida twist to this whole project, Miami bilinguals Güajiro morph for the evening into Hüsker Dü (must be something about the umlauts), one of the best "college rock" type acts of the '80s but also one of the most staunchly gringo. This all could be really awesome or really awkward; only attending will tell.