Words and photos by Mitch Jones

Holy hell, Iron Reagan. Have you heard these guys? I walked up to the front of the indoor stage at the historic Scoot Inn during SXSW 2014, once again the host for the Thrasher Death Match. I found myself shoulder to shoulder with a visibly eager fan. He turned to me and said, “Are you going to mosh or are you just going to take pictures?”

“Probably a little of both,” I replied. He explained to me that the next band was called Iron Reagan and that they kick ass. As the band took the stage, I readied my camera while my new friend asked several others the same question with slight variation.

“Are you gonna mosh or are you just going to stand there looking cute?” is the last thing I heard before the band starts.

The set was aggressive. Dirty thrash with blazing tempos. There couldn’t have been a song played that ran longer than two minutes… the perfect soundtrack to a circle pit.

Pausing briefly at one point, the vocalist, calling the other bands on the bill into question, sarcastically asked the crowd “Alright, who’s ready for more screamo bands?!” “This song is called Walking Out – it’s what you should do when a screamo band plays.”

I was blown away.

Come out and mosh with me on April 24th at the Replay Lounge, where Iron Reagan will play as well as fellow Virginian thrashers Occultist. And I better not catch you just standing there looking “cute.”

Words and photos by Mitch Jones