Last Night: The Soft Pack Goes Soft

According to My Spilt Milk's Collin McCabe, the San Diego-based rock band lost interest in its show at One Eyed Jacks.

When I told a friend earlier this week that I was going to see The Soft Pack, he asked me what kind of music they play. He knew their name but not their music.

"Apathetic garage-punk." He replied with an affirmative grunt and changed the subject.

Last night at One Eyed Jacks, the Soft Pack gave the somewhat sparse crowd an affirmative grunt and changed the subject. Apathy has its place in rock music; it always has. But The Soft Pack's disengaged performance took a room full-ish with excited fans and turned them into blank stares and crossed arms. Even the excitement of the two kids standing directly in front of singer/guitarist Matt Lamkin, who shouted out "Fuck yeah!" between songs and took videos on their cell phones dwindled as the set lumbered on.

Lamkin eventually offered a half-hearted "thanks" to those two kids and then plodded into "Extinction," which pounded the sentiment home, repeating "I don't owe anything to you" to the slowly dwindling crowd.

--Collin McCabe