Going ape for The Apers

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There's something about listening to music at a young age that I find nearly impossible to recapture. Don't get me wrong, I still love music and enjoy it thoroughly, but rarely does it strike me as life-changing or, better yet, life-affirming, as it once did.

For example, the first time I heard the Sex Pistols was in the sixth grade. I distinctly remember their music being the most exciting sound I'd ever heard. Through the Sex Pistols, my love of bands like The Ramones, The Clash and the New York Dolls soon would follow. To this day, these punk bands remain some of my favorites I enjoy listening to each often, but their music simply doesn't have the same effect on me it once did. I don't expect it to.

Yet, much to my surprise, a show at the Tin Roof in West Ashley recently managed to reignite -- at least for one night -- some of that old, innocent and unbridled punk love. The Apers are a band from Rotterdam, Netherlands, who play very fast, melodic punk songs. Billed by local promoter Johnny Puke (whose own punk band. "Cletus" was arguably one of the best musical acts to ever come out of the Charleston area) as "the Netherland's answer to The Ramones," The Apers truly delivered on what otherwise would have been a rather uneventful Monday night.

The Apers wasted very little time between songs (once again, a la The Ramones), and their tunes were as catchy as they were short. I've heard a lot of bad punk bands in my day, much of which usually has to do with the musicians assuming that it's OK to be sloppy due to punk's ferocious style. The Apers were the exact opposite. The Johnny Ramone-esque hammer strokes on the guitars were in sync with the rhythm section, and everything was very tight. The music was characteristically fast and jagged, but it was obvious that The Apers were a well-oiled machine, or a unit, which came as no surprise after learning that these guys have been together since 1996. Their well-written songs measure up on record as much as they did that night, which is not always true of bands, and particularly punk bands.

I bought their CD that night and haven't taken it out of my stereo as of this writing. The Apers reminded me of my more potent earlier enthusiasm for punk, and this no doubt would have been a band I would have been overly obsessed with if I were 20 years younger. Thanks to the Tin Roof for putting on this fantastic show -- and thanks to The Apers for reminding me why I fell in love with punk rock in the first place.

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Why do The Apers have to live in the Netherlands? Come back to Charleston please and soon.