Archive for August, 2009

Only two weeks had passed since the first secret Riot Fest show and already there was another one and this time it featured Chicago punk rock Super Heroes Naked Raygun! Never one to pass up an opportunity to see one of my all time favorite bands from my own city, I found myself at the secret Riot Fest location once more with camera in hand to document the event.

This secret show was by invitation only. Invitations were sent out to people who pre-ordered the new Naked Raygun 7″ on Riot Fest Records, and also to people chosen at random who bought Riot Fest passes for this year’s festival. The cost of admission was the low price of FREE. The doors opened a good two hours before the band were scheduled to play which gave everyone plenty of time to drink, socialize, and wait in line for the bathroom. I had fun talking to some friends who were there and the makeshift club had a good positive vibe inside the entire evening.

When the time finally came for Naked Raygun to take the stage, the place was packed full. I was front and center with camera gear in hand and hoped that I wouldn’t get killed up there if the crowd were to start going crazy. As soon as the band started playing the opening chords to “Home of the Brave” I fully expected to get hit in the back by some goofy “mosher” but thankfully that didn’t happen. Instead of moshing people were singing along, bouncing up and down, raising their hands and showing their appreciation for the band in an actual civilized manner! I was in shock, and also relieved that I wasn’t going to have to keep turning around every five seconds to brace myself for a shot to the back.

After “The Strip” and “Metastasis” the band played a brand new song. This new song (Jeff said the title of the song but I foolishly didn’t write it down) sounded as good as anything the band did in their later years before breaking up and made me look forward to their new release that’s in the works. In fact, I would like it to be sent to me now please!

From there it was a couple more older songs and then Jeff strapped on his guitar for the one-two punch of “Peacemaker” and “Treason”. I hope they never stop playing “Peacemaker” because it is easily my favorite song from All Rise. After that they played “Gear” which I don’t think they have played the last couple times I’ve seen them at least. Another all time favorite that made me quite happy, so much that I was even singing along.

At some point they played another new song that sounded pretty good as well, and I believe even a third one later on. They closed their main set, as usual, with “New Dreams”. The crowd started chanting for more so the band came back and played a few more songs including “Wonder Beer” (which is a huge hit with the crowd) and a cover of “Ever Fallen in Love” by the Buzzcocks. They left only to have the crowd demand more so they came back and played a couple more tunes. Sadly they did not play “I Lie” (despite the crowd singing the opening “ohh ohh ohhs” in an effort to get the band back on stage) or “Potential Rapist” but that aside it was still a very solid set list that really satisfied.

Total playing time was around an hour and a half and not a dull minute in the whole thing. When the show was done I packed up and walked in the rain back to my car with a smile on my face and happy that I got to see our punk rock Super Heroes deliver the goods one more time and not let anyone down.

A few more photos can be seen by clicking below.

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Last week at the Abbey Pub the city of Chicago became home to a handful of bands from the DeKalb area that were around in the 1980s that all reunited just for a pair of shows (the other being in the actual town of DeKalb). The highlight of this show for me was the reuniting of Blatant Dissent, who I’ve been a fan of since their first 7″ came out while I was in high school (on my friend’s Landmind Records label), but never got to see “back in the day”.

Otis Ball and the Chains

Otis Ball and the Chains

Otis Ball and the Chains

When I walked in the club the first band, Otis Ball and the Chains, were about half way through their set. Their music was pretty upbeat almost country twanged rock and roll. The singer, Otis, had some goofy outfit on which I believe has been his trademark as long as he’s been doing the band. They were pretty fun.

Ring 13

Ring 13

Ring 13

Next up was Ring 13. I was told they were pretty wild in their day and that they only put out a cassette which I sadly never heard before. They were more of a traditional punk rock/hardcore band and I could see sparks of volatility in there which would explain why the band was so short lived. I really liked them and now I hope somebody unearths their tape and digitizes it so I can hear it!

Happy Hunting

Happy Hunting

Happy Hunting

Happy Hunting

Happy Hunting soon followed. They featured a member from Blatant Dissent. They reminded me a lot of the mid 1980s “College Rock” sound that labels like SST and Homestead were releasing back near the end of my high school tenure. The songs were very melodic and had a variety of musical influences. It made me feel both old and young again at the same time. They played about a half hour, all of which was pretty enjoyable.

Subverts

Subverts

Subverts

Subverts

A band I always assumed was from Chicago but turns out was from Sycamore (near DeKalb), The Subverts played next. I have their one and only 7″ and thought it was quite good so I was pretty jazzed to see them. I think they were one of the Suburbs’ first punk bands as they pre-date just about any Suburban Chicago punk band I can think of. They played some songs from their 7″ along with a couple of covers. They were a little rough around the edges, surely a sign of not having played together in over two decades, but they still sounded really good and it was neat to see such an obscure old band!

Blatant Dissent

Blatant Dissent

Blatant Dissent

Blatant Dissent

At this point the moment had arrived, I’d finally be seeing Blatant Dissent! They started playing and I was almost instantly transformed in my mind to my teenage skateboarding years where I used to listen to their first 7″ constantly. They played all the songs from that EP, the second 7″ and some other tracks that ended up on the Hold the Fat LP. They tagged drummers in and out twice during the set depending on which songs they were playing.

Blatant Dissent

Blatant Dissent

Blatant Dissent

The songs all sounded great and considering some of those guys hadn’t been up on a stage in over a decade in any band there was no real sign of “ring rust”. I know they took the show pretty seriously and rehearsed quite a bit before it and it really showed, they sounded awesome. When they played “Hands are Tied” it made the 25 year wait to see them live all worthwhile!

Blatant Dissent

Blatant Dissent

Blatant Dissent

Blatant Dissent

After 45 minutes Blatant Dissent ran out songs and then members from all the various bands came up on stage and played a final number together before the club had to clear people out for the next show. On my way out I saw a lot of smiles on people’s faces as the crowd was like some sort of High School/College reunion of sorts and it was fun to be a part of it.

Caustic Defiance/Negative Element – CD
Akashic Records

I am pretty sure that the Stepe brothers would have invented hardcore punk had they been born a few years earlier. At the very least they brought the world of punk rock to the Western Suburbs of Chicago in the early 1980s. Their band, Negative Element, I believe was one of the first and certainly the best early hardcore band in the Chicago Suburbs and their lone EP on Version Sound Records is one of my favorite punk rock records of all time. I actually played that record so much in high school that I kept a couple of spare copies on hand because I was sure to wear one out (and I actually pretty much did).

Caustic Defiance was the band the Stepe brothers formed after Negative Element broke up and they were forced to relocate to central IL in a farm town far removed from any sort of punk rock scene. Instead of throwing their hands up in the air and decide to start working the farm, the brothers brought punk rock to Peoria and put that town on the punk rock map. Unlike Negative Element, Caustic Defiance never put out any records, they simply recorded a bunch of songs as a demo tape that unfortunately mostly sat in a shoebox and didn’t really make the rounds, though if I recall correctly the band did get one of its songs onto a Mystic Records compilation.

Thankfully someone had the good sense to find that Stepe shoebox and want to preserve this little piece of Midwestern punk rock before it was lost forever. This CD compiles not only the Caustic Defiance recordings, but a bunch of Negative Element ones as well. The first 13 songs are comprised of the 1983 Caustic Defiance demo tape and that band was pretty much a straight up hardcore band typical for that period of time and could easily hold its own up against any of the “well known” bands of that time.

The remaining 14 tracks was what I was most excited for and that was the Negative Element tracks. They consist of their song from the Meathouse compilation tape, the original unreleased versions of the songs from the Yes We Have No Bananas EP as well as some other unreleased songs! The songs from the EP are more raw in these versions and sound really cool, especially the version of “Anti Pac-Man”. The last couple of songs are really rough sounding but were cool for the sake of documenting these unheard recordings. Negative Element had such a great mix of hardcore music and light hearted comedy along with some more serious topics such as religion and the police.The songs are short, fast, and catchy as hell and sound as good to these ears now as they did when I was a wide-eyed 13 year old boy who heard the EP for the first time.

The booklet contains liner notes with stories about both bands as well as the lyrics to nearly all the songs. It also contains some pretty good old photos and flier scans. It is like opening up a time capsule and seeing stuff from a quarter-century ago and the music as aged quite well. I’m quite happy that someone had the good sense to preserve and release this little piece of Midwestern hardcore history and anyone interested in 80s hardcore would be wise to pick this up while they can.

Related links:

Order the CD from Interpunk

Negative Element on myspace

Caustic Defiance on myspace

As the countdown to Riot Fest begins (it is in October), the fine folks behind the annual punk rock goodness decided they were going to host a few secret shows here and the first one was last week. People who bought tickets in advance for the Riot Fest shows were randomly invited to a secret location in Chicago for a special 88 Fingers Louie reunion show. A small little warehouse was converted into a makeshift club that actually looked nicer than some places I’ve been to over the years.

Why Intercept?

Why Intercept?

Why Intercept?

Why Intercept? was the first of the three bands this evening. They were an indie rock band with a pretty diverse sound in their various songs. Some were mellow, some slow and building, some a bit more powerful, but the singing was always melodic. They were pretty interesting and their half hour set seemed to be over very quickly which meant they easily held my interest the entire time. If they had any vinyl for sale, I’d have bought it for sure.

Thrillage

Thrillage

Thrillage

Thrillage set up their gear and started playing in near record time. They played punchy melodic rock with hard edged guitars. They weren’t bad but too many of their songs sounded similar to me. I think they are a fairly new band so maybe with time that will work itself out. Still, they weren’t bad and their thirty minute set wasn’t a bad way to kill the half hour.

88 Fingers Louie

88 Fingers Louie

As the room suddenly got very full, 88 Fingers Louie took the stage. They were sporting a new bass player who they introduced to the crowd right before they started their set.  This was the first time they’ve played a show in ten years since the band broke up. I can’t believe ten years has passed already, proving that time really does fly by.

88 Fingers Louie

88 Fingers Louie

When the band started playing, the crowd started moving quickly. Pretty soon a large pit emerged and I was getting knocked all over the place. I fled for safer territory in an effort to protect my aging body and more importantly my camera gear! The band played a variety of songs from their records and the crowd ate it up like candy. The show had more of an atmosphere of a band playing for a bunch of their friends than it did a proper show which made the evening feel a little more special. The band played pretty close to an hour and there wasn’t a dull moment in the entire set. In between songs there was plenty of talking going on mostly from Dennis and Mr. Precision.

88 Fingers Louie

88 Fingers Louie

88 Fingers Louie

The first secret Riot Fest show was a really fun experience and I look forward to whatever they have in store for future ones leading up to the biggest Riot Fest yet in October!

After a run of 19 years, lead singer and a founding member of Pennywise, Jim Lindberg, has made the decision to leave the band.

The remaining members of Pennywise, Fletcher Dragge, Byron McMackin and Randy Bradbury, have issued the following statement regarding singer Jim Lindberg’s departure:

“After 19 years with Pennywise, Jim Lindberg has decided to step down as lead singer.  Pennywise has long stood behind the motto that you should always follow your heart and pursue what makes you happy, and we wish Jim the best of luck in his new ventures, whatever they may be.  Pennywise has become a way of life for a lot of people, and has definitely become a way of life for us. As the three remaining members of Pennywise we feel that we are not done delivering our message to our fans.

”The band has always been about moving forward in life no matter what obstacles stand in front of you. We will begin our search for a new singer immediately. We will continue to tour the world and we are looking forward to writing new music. We’ve had a lot of good times and survived the hard times thanks to the undying support of our fans. We’re looking forward to what the future may bring.”

Sincerely,

Fletcher, Randy, and Byron

Two local old (and great) punk rock bands are reuniting for one night only. Blatant Dissent and the Subverts will be playing tomorrow night here in Chicago at Abbey Pub. Having never gotten the chance to see either band when I was a teenager, I’m really looking forward to correcting that tomorrow! If you are in the area by all means make the trip over to the Abbey Pub for this special occasion.

For more info on Blatant Dissent, check out the feature I did on them a couple years ago.