i was lucky enough to be in attendance at the harvey milk show, and it was probably THE face-melter of SXSW 2008. loud and on point, i was instantly blown away. the addition of joe preston to the fold was a big bonus, makes complete sense. they were so loud, that i had to run inside to ask the bartender for earplugs. after politely declining a super bullshit offer to sell his personal earplugs for ten dollars, i hit the restroom and shoved a few wads of toilet paper into my ear canals and happily made my way back to headbang position at the front of the stage.
from the google video description: A documentary about Positive Force, a loosely organized group of young people working for social change. P.F. members volunteer in the Washington DC community and promote benefit rock concerts for a wide variety of groups. They also try to live according to a set of humane values.
Wake Up! was created in 1991 by David Weinstein. It features the punk activist group Positive Force. It also features bands, labels and activists such as Fugazi, Mark Anderson, Jenny Toomey, Tsunami, The Ex, and more.
i especially enjoyed the footage on early 90s DIY washington, DC record label, simple machines. very inspiring!!
here's a video from a band i was lucky enough to see a few times during sxsw. the band is called HEALTH, and hail from los angeles, california. their performances are a sonic assault combining elements of guitar noise, stabs of feedback, desperate chanting, and wild, tribal drumbeats. this video was apparently shot using the built-in isight cams on thirteen different macbook pro laptops. pretty cool idea.
two weeks with no updates pretty much means i have been away from the computer and out on the road racking up the miles again. check out the photos from my latest tour with genghis tron. it was a two-week stint throughout the midwest, down to sxsw in austin, texas, and back up again through the midwest that ended in an accident losing a tire on the freeway, losing control of the van, spinning out, and jackknifing the trailer, ultimately sliding backwards and sideways into the muddy median. luckily, the five of us walked away without as much as a scratch, our van and trailer, however, are currently in the shop for repairs and it seems that it won't be ready for our next month-long tour which starts next week.
as well as our accident, we also endured a blizzard in oberlin, ohio, having to stay there an extra day and cancel a show in bowling green, the roads were so bad. once we made it out of the midwest, the sun shone brightly and our five days in austin couldn't have been nicer!! temperatures were well into the 80s, and i walked blisters into parts of my feet i never even knew existed. along with the blisters, i also had a swollen toe/ingrown toenail combo (delicious i know, right?) that made being on my feet a fucking charm, let me tell you.
a bunch of our shows on the way down to texas were with clouds, who happened to be a great band and awesome tourmates. i look forward to seeing them again in the future!! we played a few shows with some of my best friends in the world, an albatross, which was awesome to hang out with and see them play, but weird not to be on tour with them. they were playing a bunch of shows with apes, who are also stellar! our loop back through the midwest was accompanied by louisville's finest, coliseum. while there are many reasons to love this band, i will go on record to say that they've got the most insane drummer i'd ever seen, who is probably one of the funniest cats i'd ever met. this guy is wacky hi-jinx personified!! powerhouse of a band, check 'em out!!
procuring my blisters at sxsw in austin, i'd have to say, was well worth it. among some of the amazing bands i got to see were clip'd beaks, health, mika miko, monotonix, knyfe hyts, harvey milk, and many more. too many to name!! i ran into dozens of friends and acquaintances, and finally got to meet up with joeymonster for a trip to veggie heaven for a tasty vegan meal. he even bought me the god damn shirt!! thanx joey!!
anyhow, enjoy the photos and i look forward to posting more as the chance permits.
i bought this tape from one of the members of the band when i was on tour with a band called deckard (more about this band soon), back in 1995. i believe it was this same tour that we met up with a band called hot water music, and procured their "push for coin" demo. it would be this demo, along with discount's "mom lied to me" that became the soundtrack for the rest of tour, putting it on most times for repeated listens, until one day the deck in the van decided that it, too, needed some breakfast. sad to say that the only thing on the menu was hot water music "push for coin" omelet. unfortunate as it was, i am glad the discount tape survived the devious game of russian roulette.
if you're unfamiliar with this female-fronted poppy punk rock band, here's some info from wikipedia: Discount was a punk rock band from Vero Beach, Florida that formed in 1995 and disbanded in 2000. They released three full length albums, several EPs, and two b-side collections. Members have gone on to form The Kills, The Kitchen, Black Cougar Shock Unit, Unitas, the Routineers, The Draft, and Monikers.
to me, sun god are the surprise best new band of the year. i think they'd sound right at home on SST or homestead records in the mid-80s, reminding me of many of my favourite bands of that era, husker du, dinosaur jr., and squirrel bait. they also had the rockin' vibe of bands like doc hopper, sinkhole, and even the doughboys. not a popular style to play these days, but one that i really enjoy!! many kudos to sun god!!
kudos also to vile gash for going above and beyond all expectations for their first show, and to reflect for always being awesome!! i have no doubts that the midwest scene right now is surely a heavyweight contender.
remember boys and girls, there are organizations out there, like the one shown in the video below, that believe there are links to violent crime and downloading music. so take extra precaution throughout your time on the internet!!
shotwell are the gritty SF mission district punks that probably pack dynamite in those guitar cases of thiers, and maybe they do.
yeah, so strawman called it quits after returning from an european tour, leaving jimmy to form shotwell coho with aaron cometbus, and open up for sublime and strung out at their first show in december of 1994. since then, shotwell has seen numerous lineup changes, including the departure of aaron cometbus on drums. in one form or another, shotwell could be seen over the years, touring the nation in their leprechaun mobile home, or taking the streets back by setting up and playing guerrilla punk rock shows in the streets of the mission. it seems to me that shotwell are one of those bands who LIVE the chaos!!
i'm pretty sure i got this tape when they played cafe metropolis, in wilkes-barre, pa, perhaps in the late 90s. however, i also saw them once a few years prior to that, at the teen center/3rd + b st., in davis, ca.
01 once in a while 02 geneva avenue fall out 03 sinking the ship 04 eppli 05 cheap tragedies 06 days into days 07 half the truth 08 what it takes 09 don't need a mirror
in keeping with the theme today of early 90s northern california bands, here's a demo from the bay area's wynona riders. this demo goes back to the days of tape trading through snail mail (ha! remember that!?). unfortunately though, it was obtained from a hasty trader who couldn't be bothered with copying inserts or even writing track lists. yet, it is still worthy of a post here, since this band was one of my favourites from the bay area lookout records pop-punk onslaught of the early nineties. the wynona riders were formed from members of a couple of other notable bands such as the soup, filth, vagrants, pot valiant, and sweet baby.
i believe this is the demo mentioned in their following bio from lookout records: I encountered THE WYNONA RIDERS first at a Sunday afternoon show at Gilman Street with a dozen or so other people. I was still new enough that I jumped at any chance to hang out at the graffiti-coated club and be bombarded by any manner of punk rock allowed to mount the stage. Sunday afternoon shows were musical pot lucks: they seemed to book bands that pestered the staff for so long they had to be given a show—my own first band was one of them. They were almost always all local bands that I'd never heard of, but it was fun to just hang around, and if the band sucked you could talk outside on the sidewalk. When THE WYNONA RIDERS started playing, I looked up from whatever conversation I was engaged in. They sounded good, the songs were melodic and catchy, and they seemed well-practiced, unlike the other bands they were appearing with that day. Pat and I were putting together The Can of Pork Compilation, and I asked the vocalist, Skip, who later ran for mayor of Alameda, CA, if they wanted to contribute a song. He gave me their demo tape, with which I became preoccupied. Their music was even more infectious on further listenings, and the lyrics were cryptic, humorous poetry—or at least, I hoped they were because they made me laugh. THE RIDERS went through some lineup changes and two East Bay band veterans and scenesters, Richie Bucher (SOUP, SWEET BABY) and Dave E.C. (FILTH, THE VAGRANTS) ended up in the band. Lookout! released a 7"EP, then recorded demos for an LP when the band broke up, all in 1992. Then in 1995, THE WYNONA RIDERS reformed in response to the resurgence of '92 era melodic pop-punk. The time seemed perfect. After two ambitious and arresting releases, THE WYNONA RIDERS broke up again over the question of whether to internet or internot. Skip and '95 era guitarist Joe Selby went on to form the short-lived but still great TOYBOAT.—Christopher Appelgren
and the break-up of the band, from the wynona riders entry on wikipedia: After a successful tour that saw the Wynona Riders play over 40 shows around the country in six weeks the band decided to try to stick it out with the touring line-up and began writing new material for a follow-up record. An interim release under the name The Nation of Wenonah was released on What Else? records out of Indiana as a split EP with band Lynrd's Innards. The EP was a send-up/tribute of the Washington D.C. band the Nation of Ulysses. As more new songs were written the style of the band was veering towards the agitpop styles of other D.C. bands from the early 1990's and Richie and Dave found themselves less than enthusiastic about the direction the band was headed.
Time was booked into Andy Ernst's Art of Ears studio, where "J.D. Salinger" had been recorded to do an EP for Lookout!, but before the band entered the studio they suffered something of a meltdown and broke up onstage at 924 Gilman St. in Berkeley, ironically while performing as the opening band for another Lookout! band, Fifteen's farewell show.
Skip and Joe formed the band "Toyboat" with former Red # and Hi-Fives drummer Julie Rose and bassist Adam Turk, E.C. joined the band "Three Years Down", and Richie went to work at a bakery. A short year later toyboat would disband and Joe Selby would join Three Years Down as their bass player with Skip moving to New York to pursue a career in information technology.
also, one member of wynona riders is (or at the very least, was) in a band called surface wound with members of too much joy.
during the mid to late 90s i spent most of my time (when i wasn't traveling) in northern california. in davis, california, to be precise. i had a radio show at community free-form alternative radio KDVS, as well as helping run Food Not Bombs with my pal Punk Roge, and a little side-job washing dishes for some spending cash. after Food Not Bombs, sunday afternoons were usually spent poring over records and tapes at any of the localthriftstores. it was one of these such sunday afternoons that i plucked this cassette out of the sea of cheeseball hair metal and corny new wave offerings that were usually par for the course. i was already familiar with the band, having had a copy of their only vinyl outing, the hard up EP, which i may be their only other output, period. someone please correct me if i'm wrong!! i would surely like to hear more. every song here is pretty much a winner, topics range from rootbeer (LESS FILLING, TASTES GREAT!), skateboarding, cops, girls, insecurities, etc. basically anthems for being punk and young. think bay area hardcore meets RKL...
from the posthumous circus tents myspace: Old Skate Rock Band from Grass Valley, Ca from 1989 to 1993 (or something like that).After the Circus Tents broke up, Matt and Chad went on to start up The Force, Jon played in Cigar, and Scot did the Wimpy Heroes with Matt and later played in Superuin. Jon now plays in Ra Ra Rabbit. Matt now plays in Viva Hate.
01 skateboarding in grass valley 02 why the fuck? 03 to protect and to serve 04 criticized 05 colonel pickering 06 trust 07 root beer 08 can you hear me? 09 worthless 10 go away 11 raid dave's house 12 four count
in keeping with the theme today of early 90s northern california bands, here's a demo from the bay area's wynona riders. this demo goes back to the days of tape trading through snail mail (ha! remember that!?). unfortunately though, it was obtained from a hasty trader who couldn't be bothered with copying inserts or even writing track lists. yet, it is still worthy of a post here, since this band was one of my favourites from the bay area lookout records pop-punk onslaught of the early nineties. the wynona riders were formed from members of a couple of other notable bands such as the soup, filth, vagrants, pot valiant, and sweet baby.
Posts
