Young Guns Showcase

Check this out before Club Impact closes

By Lauren Napier on March 19, 2009

Club Impact, closing in April with a final show featuring such local greats as MXPX, has been an active and diligent supporter of the all-ages scene in Tacoma and — until its doors shut — will continue to provide opportunities to younger fledgling bands in an effort to flesh out the starving scene. It takes venues like Club Impact, and a solid support system, to keep all-ages shows in a constant supply. The demand is there, and on March 21 the club’s monthly Young Guns Showcase will take place once again. The Showcase gives the venue a chance to feature bands that have “at least half of the band members under 18,” explains Derek Smith, Club Impact’s president.



The Young Guns Showcase originally budded in early ’08 with the purpose of providing “a special event once a month where the starter-bands could have a chance to play a show … being that it isn’t very easy for a young band to get an actual show at a real venue,” says Smith.



A noble attempt with a promising result.



“These shows have done very well with attendances over 100 … with strong support from bands and their family and friends,” says an enthused Smith when describing the event’s growth over the months. “These are not the most seasoned of musicians, quality is not what we’re expecting from these youths … but a good time is.”



This time around the bands hitting the stage for March’s Young Guns Showcase are These Endless Skies, We Move Mountains, Beneath All Kaos, Carter Beats the Devil, and The Dead Are Judged. The Dead Are Judged is influenced by everything, says the band’s charismatic drummer, Mark Jagnow, including “Motley Crue to bands like Suicide Silence or Bring Me the Horizon and everything in between.” The band makes an eclectic and surprisingly mature combination, especially for a group that doesn’t yet have much history in the music scene.



Don’t make this another event that proves Jagnow accurate when he compares getting attendees to all-ages shows to the act of “pulling teeth.” Come out and support — with audacity and fervor. You’ll have a good time — once you finally leave the house and arrive at the venue. Trust us on this one: you’ll be glad you made it.



[Club Impact, These Endless Skies, We Move Mountains, Beneath All Kaos, Carter Beats the Devil, The Dead Are Judged, Saturday, March 21, 7 p.m. $7, $6 with can of food, 754 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.606.1529]