“Our songs seem to trigger two reactions, it’s either sing along and stagedive, or smack your best friend in the month,” Riley says. “You don’t see a song where you get both, and tonight was a little of both.”
This San Antonio show, as well as a show one in their native Dallas the next day as a part of the Trouble in Texas fest, are warmups for their upcoming European tour. San Antonio, like Power Trip themselves, is a city where hardcore and metal mosh and coexist with each other. The city’s metal side is more well-known, remaining a popular destination for big death metal acts. San Antonio once had its own Slayer, later known as SA Slayer. Mark Reale, leader of Riot, lived here later in his life and his headstone, in Holy Cross Cemetery, has Johnny the Seal on its backside. You know your city is metal as hell if you let the guy who made Swords and Tequila return to the Earth in it.
Yet there’s a healthy hardcore scene there too. Though San Antonio crossover crew Afflictive Nature did not play the show, Riley still shouts them out and says they are “the future of San Antonio” -- one hell of an endorsement. SAHC Veterans Bitter End are on the bill, though, and Bitter End and Power Trip go way, way back. Power Trip’s first show in San Antonio, also their first show outside of Dallas, was with them, back when Paper Tiger was a venue called the White Rabbit. They played the smaller room at the venue -- a sweatbox if there ever was one -- while Upon a Burning Body played the bigger stage. Late 2000s metalcore kids missed the real action. In 2019, Bitter End got a response almost as fervent as Power Trip’s, which simply ain’t easy.
But as the timeless proverb goes: real recognize real.
“I saw a bunch of early Bitter End shows, but more importantly, [vocalist] Daniel Rosen’s been a good friend, and he’s helped get me into music. Power Trip wouldn’t sound the way we sound without Bitter End and Iron Age. [They] showed me Age of Quarrel,” he said. Considering that Cro-Mags and NYHC in general are the cornerstone of Power Trip’s sound -- with their own Texan spin, of course -- that’s a pivotal moment for them.