When The Districts aren’t busy being The Districts, they punk out in Straw Hats

The scene at Friday night’s headlining Electric Factory show from The Districts was definitively more punk than usual. Slam dancing and crowd surfing abounded in a way I’d expect at a Menzingers show, and more than a handful of stage dives were observed throughout the night. Our friends from Lititz rock hard, no doubt, but this? This was unexpected. Flash forward 24 hours to Kung Fu Necktie, and the punk energy came into clearer focus via Straw Hats, a blistering power trio / side project featuring Rob Grote and Braden Lawrence from The Districts, as well as their friend Breshon Martzall.

Grote drums and sings, Lawrence plays guitar, Martzall holds down the low end. Near as we can figure, this was Straw Hats’ second-ever gig, and they joined Baltimore buddys Sun Club for the occasion; we’ll have a show recap from Jeremy Zimmerman a little later on today. But for those who couldn’t be there, the band just released its debut single, which you can listen to below. It’s rambunctious, loud and defiantly anti-pop, reminiscent of 80s and 90s noisemakers The Germs, Flipper, The Jesus Lizard and Butthole Surfers, with a touch of early Nirvana. In short: it rages, and gives The Districts something awesome to do during their breaks between tours.

Listen to “On The Box” below, and keep tabs on Straw Hats’ Facebook page for word of future sightings.