The community for the back-to-basics style of punk continues to thrive in Kalamazoo as its younger offshoot folk-influenced cousin begins to stake more of a presence for itself.

Saturday night saw the inaugural show at the New Frontier House, the recent venture of our good friend Zach Smith. They kicked it off in traditional Vine Neighborhood basement show fashion with the local hardcore of the Destrukters and Ackley Kid opening and closing the show respectively. Making their way to town was South Bend punks The Distractions and the dance-punk of International Espionage from Minneapolis; always a favorite here in Kalamazoo.

It was heartening to see how much everyone enjoyed themselves, especially as the night went on and the energy only increased. All in all, a Saturday night well spent in the company of friends and a great start for a new venue. Keep your eyes out for more activity at the New Frontier House.

On the folkier side of things, as our own Almanac Shouters prepare to play what will be a monster of a show with legends Defiance, OH in Grand Rapids on the 18th (be there), folk and folk-punk continues to assert itself with a show at the No Fun House this Thursday.

The show will be starting a bit earlier, 8:30, so we can have local gal Peggy Wray open up. She’s a lady with an acoustic guitar and a gigantic voice and you’ll want to make sure you’re here for her performance. Then we’ve got the acoustic act Foreign Flowers coming down from Grand Rapids and Broken Half on tour from Oklahoma City. Washoard and a homemade upright bass? Gimme a hell yeah.

Then closing out the night will be our very own power couple Lincoln County War doing an unamplified performance.