Welt

at the Rat
by Chaz Thorndike

It’s a crying shame to see a really good band like Welt playing to a dozen people. Yeah, it was a Wednesday night, and Welt doesn’t exactly have a name like Green Day or Rancid or anything, but I like ’em a lot and fought near-insurmountable odds to get there to see them live. Luckily, the dozen people, who I can hardly call “the crowd,” were equally into them. Especially the doofus dancing happily around the room. In retrospect, I wish he’d done more photo-taking and less dancing, but I’m glad he enjoyed himself. Welt didn’t seem to mind the small but dedicated crowd – they plowed through the songs on their debut Better Days (Doctor Dream) with enthusiasm. Punkpop has been used to describe such a wide assortment of sounds; allow me to clarify by saying that it’s hard, straining, and usually quick-tempoed punkpop. Does that help? The singer, Jason Cooper, is a husky, expressive kinda guy with a gravelly voice and good range. He can sing nice melodies about personal subjects without sounding like a whining pussy who wants a hug but deserves a kick in the head. Highlights from the show were the same as the album: The chugging “Pop Eater,” the anthemic “Anything,” the mile-a-minute “Strange,” and the always-a-crowd-pleaser “Lose That Girl.” Maybe everyone in Boston had plans that night, or maybe they didn’t recognize the name of a really fine up-and-coming punk band. They missed a great show and I didn’t, nyah-nyah.