Archive for September, 2007

Thursday night my friend Liza and I went to see The Melvins at the Double Door in Chicago. I realized that this would be the first time I have seen them play in about seven years. I then realized before that, it had been probably seven years between that and the time before it! I sort of inadvertently have a seven year Melvins show tradition so I figure it was about time that I go see them play again and see how they’ve held up.

When we got there, about a half hour after the doors were scheduled to open, there was still a pretty good sized line waiting to get in the door. We got in it and immediately were hounded by quite a few folks asking if we had extra tickets. It turned out the show had sold out which meant two things; it was going to be uncomfortably crowded in the place, and it would be uncomfortably hot. For those not familar, the Double Door holds about 600 people and it’s laid out in such a way that when full, movement is near impossible and no matter what time of year it is, with all the people and all the smoking, it is like a sauna in there. They had fans up on the stage in an effort to keep the bands cool even!

About 40 minutes after the show was listed as starting, they started showing some animated films on a big screen on the stage. Some of the crowd were paying attention while most people were drinking and continuing their conversations. I was among the latter for the most part but would look over and see what was going on from time to time. It turned out this video was put together by Tom Hazelmeyer, who was in Halo of Flies and ran/runs Amphetamine Reptile Records. I believe the feature was about 20 minutes long or thereabouts. Had I known ahead of time who did it, I would have paid a lot closer attention to it!

Big Business

Big Business

Big Business

As soon as they got the big screen off the stage, Big Business walked on and plugged in. I knew this band had some sort of Melvins connection but I didn’t recognize anyone on that stage as being in The Melvins the last time I ever saw them, but a lot could change in seven years. They played a pretty good set of their sort of muddy style of abrasive rock and I recognized some of the songs from their album I just picked up a couple weeks ago on Hydrahead Records. About 2/3 through their set, Dale Crover from The Melvins joined them on second guitar. “This must be the connection” I thought. I’d turn out to be only partially correct. Big Business played for 45 minutes and a good portion of the crowd seemed to be into what they were doing, myself included. Their guitar player had a bunch of gadgets for making sound effects and the like that he manipulated during the songs all while still handling all his guitar duties, which was a pretty impressive feat.

Big Business

About 15 minutes later, The Melvins took the stage. Buzz was decked out in some sort of camoflage kimono and suddenly as the other members took the stage, the connection between the two bands made a lot more sense. The bass player of The Melvins was the bass player/singer for Big Business. Not only that, but The Melvins now have two drummers, Dale and the guy who is the drummer for Big Business. This is the first time I saw the band as a four-piece and I was very intrigued with this two drummer scenario. Dale is probably one of the most powerful drummers at least independent music and his powerful drumming is the backbone of what makes The Melvins so unique and enjoyable. Now would they would have twice the power?!

The Melvins

Yes! Whoever in the band decided to add a second drummer had the best idea in that band’s history! The Melvins with two drummers are twice as good as the single drummer version, which was already great! The band plowed into their first song and maybe paused one time in the next 45 minutes. They just went from one song to the next without so much as a break in between. In the times that they needed a minute or two to adjust guitars, the dual drum ensemble would fill the space with some kick ass pounding that would segue perfectly into whatever the next song on the set list was. I seriously could have listened to those two drummers go at it for at least a half hour straight without losing any interest.

The Melvins

The Melvins

While they pounded away, Buzz belted on his guitar and delivered his trademark sludgy sound as perfectly as he had nearly a decade ago when I saw a younger version of the band. His hair may have grayed some (but has probably doubled in size!), but age hasn’t taken one ounce of power from him. As he beat this guitar like it owed him money, he wailed away in his signature style, all the while the new (to me) bass player did his own part in the power department, while also providing additional vocals. This “Super Melvins” was like a fine tuned machine that just pressed start and delivered song after song until their set list was finished, then left the stage. There was no talking, no pausing, just this onslaught of sound. Because I’m not up on the current Melvins material, I wasn’t familiar with a fair amount of what they played, but this performance has inspired me to fill the holes in my Melvins collection. They even snuck a Beatles cover in there as their second song and it was cool to hear such a song delivered in The Melvins way, you’d barely recognize it as being a Beatles song if you weren’t really paying attention.

The Melvins

The Melvins

Seeing this show has also inspired me to not wait another seven years before I go see the band again, they are too good of a live act to wait that long to see. I’ll be making a point to see them far more regularly if this show is any indication of just how good they still are and how they still have a lot to offer.

I just learned that Mikey Offender, most notably a member of legendary hardcore band The Offenders, has passed away. I have no idea of the circumstances surrounding his passing. Mikey’s contribution to hardcore punk is very impressive. Not only was he a member of The Offenders, but he also did time in DRI and MDC. He will be missed for sure and it’s a sad day in the world of punk rock. My condolences go out to his friends and family.

Saturday night Cheddar Nines and (along with Couple of 2) went to The Note to see The Vibrators. This was I believe my fourth time seeing them play in the past few years and each time they always put on a great show. After lucking out not only in the traffic department but also the traffic, we got there shortly before the first band started.

The Germans

The Germans

The Germans

The Germans were up first. They were a pretty energetic rock/punk band and had a few decent songs. They then played a Dicks cover and as any regular reader can attest, that is pretty much a deal breaker for me. In the time it took them to learn how to play that song (and fuck it up and restart it no less), they could have written their own song instead of soiling, and botching a classic punk tune. I guess there is no accounting for going for the cheap pop instead of trying to win an audience over on your own merits and talent. All they needed to do was say “it’s so great to be back here in Chicago” to really make the bush-league circle complete.

Daily Void

Daily Void

Daily Void

Daily Void

I don’t think even ten minutes went by before Daily Void took the stage. I recognized one of the guys in the band as having been in Functional Blackouts, which also explained why their CD’s were being sold at the merch table. Daily Void had some similarities to Functional Blackouts but they seemed a lot more coherent and weren’t doing the “forced chaos” gimmick that FB seemed to have. They had a raw, lo-fi, energetic sound with a definite bit of a Stooges influence to them as well. I really enjoyed them. They did however lose points when they played a Dicks cover*. No, I didn’t cut and paste that accidentally from the last paragraph, they did one too. At least it wasn’t the same song. Now I’m not in a band and the closest thing I’ve come to being in one is being a regular part of the Insane War Tomatoes stage show back in they day and then last week singing substitute backup vocals for Destroy Everything during one of their practices in Stiff Mittens’ absence; but I would think that if you were playing a show and the band before you did a Dicks cover, you might want to maybe omit that from your set. I mean aside from the fact that new punk bands covering old punk songs is a bad idea in practice, that is akin to being part of a wrestling show and using the exact same finish as the match that just preceded you. If two guys working the match before you went to a no-finish because one guy’s buddy did a run in and delivered a chair shot to the opponent, you are not going to book the next match the exact same way! I did like them despite their poor judgment and would like to see them play again, I just hope they’ll stick to doing their own material.

The Peelers

The Peelers

The Peelers

The Peelers

The Peelers took the stage not too long after Daily Void vacated it. I was really appreciating the efficiency of how this show was being run! It has been a few years since I’ve seen them play, and I actually didn’t know they were still a band. They sounded totally different this time from what I remember of them a few years ago. Couple of 2 made a very astute observation that the band appeared to be a punk rock Village People. Each member had a different outfit/costume and seemed like different characters, but it wasn’t like it was their intention. They played with a lot of energy but something about their style just didn’t click with me personally. They did seem to have their share of fans in the audience as there were a handful of people up front dancing around an getting into it. They clicked even less with me when they covered The Zeros, “Don’t Push Me Around”. Ugh! I’m not sure how many people in the audience caught that one.

The Vibrators

The Vibrators

After a bit of time for a set change, The Vibrators took the stage. The first thing I noticed is they had a different (and younger) drummer this time out, making Knox the only original member up on the stage. I am not sure what happened to the original guy, they mentioned something about it during the show but I didn’t hear what it was that they said. This new guy was a very energetic and powerful drummer and filled the slot quite nicely. This guy really beat the shit out his drums, it looked like he hit them so hard that I almost felt sorry for the skins! The band were as tight and as energetic as ever. They really are a great live band and I don’t think a bad Vibrators performance is something that is even possible. They played pretty much what you’d expect including a lot of their popular songs of various tempos and the crowd ate it up. There were people of all ages pogoing around the room and singing along with the choruses.

The Vibrators

The Vibrators

At one point when I decided I was done shooting photos, I was standing on the steps on the side of the stage when some chubby drunk asshole came running up the stairs and hit me from behind and knocked me down. Really he didn’t hit me so much as he just plowed into me and bowled me over. It hit me completely unexpectedly and it was all I could do to keep my camera from crashing to the floor when I went down. Then this fuckwit was still on top of me and I don’t know if he was trying to grab me and pull me up to “dance” with him or what. He finally got up and I think he was going to try and dance on the stage or do something stupid. Security quickly apprehended him and kicked him out. It took me about a minute to get my composure and register what happened and get to my feet. I walked in the direction they took him in hopes of giving the guy a much deserved punch in the face but they already had him outside on the sidewalk by the time I got off the stage and looked in the direction of the door.

The Vibrators

The Vibrators

The Vibrators played about 40 minutes and then left the stage. The crowd wanted more and a couple minutes later they came back for an encore. During this encore they did a Ramones cover and a Clash cover. It seemed strange to me that they would do that. The band has such great songs of their own and quite a full catalog. I know their new drummer only knew a handful of their songs so they couldn’t play some of the songs people in the crowd were requesting but I didn’t know how to feel about an old punk band doing cover songs of bands that were around at the same time as them but were much more popular! I was conflicted! Ultimately it didn’t bother me as much as when newer bands do old songs, plus The Vibrators are such a great live act, I think they could have played just about anything and made it sound good.

So after seeing them for a fourth time now, The Vibrators left me feeling at the end of the night the same way I did all the other times that I’ve seen them; they are a great live act that is worth seeing again and again.

Additional photos from the show can be seen on MXV’s Flickr stream.

*Disclaimer: I know I probably come across as a bit of a snob for always bitching about new punk bands doing covers of old punk songs and I know one reader of this site who has publicly bitched me out in the comments for just such a thing, but I am telling you I don’t find anything less appealing than a recent band who is playing a style of music that has been around three decades resorting to such cheap-heat tactics as playing old punk songs. Punk rock was supposed to be about being original, being yourself, being different and doing it yourself. When you cover old punk songs, you are spitting in the face of one of the main things punk stood for. You aren’t being original and you aren’t doing it yourself. You are lowering yourself to the level of bar cover band. Yeah punk rock has become contemporary these days but be better than that. It was cool when punk bands covered old rock songs because they were a different genre and the punk bands would do their own take on these songs and make them their own most of the time. A hardcore band covering a Minor Threat song isn’t the same thing, it’s generic. Sadly this practice has become commonplace and I think it’s a real shame especially when these bands have proven to be able to write good songs of their own. That is my opinion on the subject and why I find the whole practice so bothersome. End disclaimer

My First Time - Book
AK Press

In everyone’s life, there is a first time for something and depending on what that something is, it could be a very memorable and life changing event. From your first cavity, first date, first time having sex to your first show, these are things that can stick with you and hopefully in most cases they have good memories associated with it.

My First Time is a collection of various people’s stories about their first punk rock show. Going to your first concert is a pretty monumental even if you are a music fan, going to your first punk rock show however “back in the day” was truly a life altering experience like no other. I can pretty vividly remember many details about my first ever punk show and it appears that I’m not alone in that ability as this book is filled with stories that often parallel my own.

Through the various stories included, the shows and the time-lines will vary, but in nearly all cases they have a very similar trait; the show opened up a whole new world and a whole new way of thinking to the various story tellers and their lives were forever changed by these shows. It was the start of a whole new world for many of them, a sentiment this reader can easily echo.

A variety of people from a couple different generations of punk rock both familiar and unknown have contributed their stories to this book including such people as Joe Queer (The Queers), Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Blake Schwarzenbach (Jawbreaker), Al Quint (Suburban Voice zine) and a host of others, many whose names I am unfamiliar with but loved hearing their stories. The stories average about 3-5 pages each and on occasion there is a photo to accompany them.

Weighing in at 190 pages, My First Time is a pretty quick read and because it is made up of small stories of only a few pages, it is a great book to have around when you find yourself with a couple minutes of downtime to kill. Every story was entertaining on its own and it all helps sell the point that punk rock and punk rock shows were once a life changing experience that people will never forget and harkins back to a time when the punk rock scene was something unique and exciting, and wasn’t just another form of music and dress that you can buy at the local shopping mall. A book collecting such stories is a pretty neat concept that can easily lend itself to any number of sequels and hopefully there will be another volume like this as it made for some very enjoyable reading that opened u a lot of nostalgic memories of my own show-going experiences in my youth.

Related links:

Order the book from amazon.com

AK Press

Thursday night Ryan and I went way down south to the town of Mokena, IL (yes I know you’ve probably never heard of it, most haven’t) to see Kittie play. I have a couple of their earlier records and liked them but until now I never got to see any of their shows.

The Pearl Room is a club inside of a strip mall. It has a pretty good sized stage and a pretty good sound system. They appeared to have a good light rig, though it wasn’t really being used very well for the show half the time which meant I had to bust out the flash for some fill light. I was surprised a venue of this size didn’t have a barricade in front of the stage. If they had, it would have saved security having to toss out a couple of kids for climbing up on the stage and doing stage dives. It also would have meant I would have had more freedom to shoot photos. Since there was no good place that was protected, I simply climbed on the side of the stage near the monitors and shot from there. No one seemed to mind and I appreciated that.

Blessed by a Broken Heart

Blessed by a Broken Heart

When we got there, the first band, Blessed by a Broken Heart, were already playing. I walked around the not very full club to get a feel for the layout of the place and figure out where I was going to take pictures from. I don’t remember much about their style of metal since I was more concerned with finding a spot to shoot from so I’ll admit I wasn’t really paying attention.

Bring Me the Horizon

Bring Me the Horizon

Next up were Bring Me the Horizon. They took forever to get on stage and get going because a couple of their members were missing. Way to be responsible guys! Once they all got on stage, before they even played a single note, the singer started pleading to the crowd to start a pit. Lame! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it is bush league maneuver to ask the crowd (or demand them) to move around. If your music is good the crowd will react. One other thing I noticed was they seemed to have a pretty good amount of fans in the audience, and they were dressed more like emo kids than metal kids! Does this mean there is going to be an emo-metal movement now? The band played with a ton of energy and the crowd were way into it.

After they were done, the crowd seemed to thin out a noticeable amount and it was the emo looking kids who were suddenly absent. I guess they saw what they came for and didn’t care to stick around. The place wasn’t very crowded to begin with and now there was even more room to move around. It did seem that just about everyone in the place was smoking. Sadly the smoking ban doesn’t extend to Mokena, IL.

Silent Civilian

Silent Civilian

Silent Civilian

It didn’t take very long before Silent Civilian took the stage. They were more of an old-school thrash metal band and were very good. They gave me flashback to the late 1980’s listening to this style of music. The singer talked a pretty good amount between songs mentioning their plans for recording, how all the bands on this tour are broke, etc. They played for about 45 minutes I think and there wasn’t a dull moment in the set.

Kittie

Kittie

Kittie

This just left Kittie. The crowd pretty much packed in up front in anticipation of them. After a little bit of smoke machine filled the stage they came out and immediately started playing. They were a bundle of energy from the first note and they played their asses off. Hair was flying all over the place and they were smiling a lot and seemed to be really having a good time playing up there. I immediately noticed they had a guy up on stage playing bass though! There are no guys in Kittie! It turned out their bass player was sick and unable to make the tour so this gentleman filled in for her.

Kittie

Kittie

Their guitarist, Tara,  was pretty excellent and she was smiling a lot and moved all over the stage. At one point while I was shooting pix of Morgan, Tara leaned right up on me while she was playing. It took me by surprise and Ryan got a kick out of it. I tried to snap a picture of it but she moved away before I could. It was at this moment that I now have a new rock-girl crush on Tara! Please come back to IL so I can take you out for some drinks!

Kittie

Kittie

While Tara crafted fine noise from her guitar, so did Morgan while also mostly shrieking her head off.  I swear that woman can rival many men in the growling and shrieking vocal department. They played a lot of newer material and sprinkled some old favorites in there. I much prefer the older material for the fact that in those songs, Morgan alternates between singing and screaming while the newer songs are mostly just thrashy screaming numbers. I think she has a good singing voice and liked the contrast of the two different styles and wish they’d do more stuff like that. They played one of my all time favorite songs of theirs, “What I’ve Always Wanted” and that alone made up for the long drive and inhaling all the second-hand smoke.

Kittie

They played about an hour to an energetic crowd. Morgan did a fair amount of talking between the songs. I like when bands talk to the audience instead of silently just playing songs like they are on auto-pilot. She mentioned the band had now been together 11 years this month which I had no idea they had been around that long! When they were done, that was the end of the show and there was no encore. I thought they put on a pretty energetic and entertaining set, my only complaint was they didn’t play “Paperdoll”!

Additional (and larger) photos can be found on MXV’s Flickr Stream.

The lineup for Riot Fest 2007 has been announced. This time it has gone back to the original two-day show and is once again at the Congress Theatre. This looks like a pretty solid lineup to me.

I will be there taking photos of the entire thing of course, just like last year except I’ve upgraded all my camera gear this year so the photos should be even better!  I’m looking forward to this!