[Locals Only] Audacious and Precocious

Audacious & Precocious

Instantaneous mosh pit, bodies flying around, more than likely some moderate structural damage: This describes the scene the last time I saw Audacity, a Fullerton-based band with a penchant for playing house parties as often as bona-fide venues.

That night, like many others, they managed to turn a small living room into a volatile war zone within the first few chords of their set. I waited out the duration of their performance just outside, amid beer-swilling party-goers and away from airborne fists and legs­ but hanging on every single strum, beat and shout. Someone once described Audacity to me as “like the Black Lips, but, like, they’re 17,” so imagine the explosive energy of said Southern-twanged punk band with the bottled-up, frenzied vivacity of rowdy teenage boys.

Each member of Audacity can now buy cigarettes and porn: Matt Schmalfeld (guitar/vocals), Thomas Alvarez (drums) and Cameron Crowe (bass) are all 19 years old, and Kyle Gibson (guitar/vocals) is 18. They’ve already scored the kind of recognition many music vets have yet to achieve; not only did they have several stints at last week’s South By Southwest music festival in Austin, but they also digitally released their album, Power Drowning, through both instant-gratification-provider iTunes and Los Angeles-based taste-maker White Noise (where it can also be purchased on vinyl—ooh). Thrashing, dirty and loud, Audacity live up to the enticing definition of their name: “bold and daring, especially with arrogant disregard for personal safety, conventional thought or other restrictions.”

And damn it, I love every second of it.

Visit Audacity online at www.myspace.com/audacityca.

edewitt@ocweekly.com