archive two

May 31st, Slayer at the Warfield

Epic! I guess there was some write-up in the papers about this sold-out show that voiced some concerns about the Warfield actually surviving the concert, so we were pleasantly surprised to show up and see the huge crowd of misfits waiting outside. We went into the Warfield (one place I haven't been to since the GoGo's a few years back). Anyways, we conviently missed both Clutch and the other opening band, and headed directly for the floor, but not the pit cause we didn't want to get all bloody. So Slayer starts, and the audience goes apeshit! A sea of satanic salutes swept the Warfield. People were flying left and right, and there were two killer stage-dives, one from a guy who had slipped onstage without getting caught by the bouncers, and one from some hesher who actually climbed the stack of huge speakers and flew about 25 feet onto the audience below. Great Shit! Slayer played all the great stuff from Hell Awaits, Mandatory Suicide, South of Heaven, and a few songs from the new album...A serious find when it comes out. Oh yea, about ten minutes into the Slayer set, the railing from the level we were standing on got ripped out of it's place, so I guess the newspaper write-up was slightly correct. Oh, and as we were leaving, all the masses of people were trying to wreak chaos even then, A slew of people walked past me with blood on their faces from the pit, and two ambulances were waiting outside for the casualties... it was incredible the amount of testosterone all these people had... nutty!

May 22nd, Shellac at Bimbo's

Well, Bimbo's is a great club, and obviously accustomed to relatively big billings, so I went there looking forward to something new and exciting when I heard that Shellac was playing. That and my roomate had been raving about the new Steve Albini project for a few months. But to me it was just a rehash of Big Black, one of the greatest bands of all time. The show was good, but just not great, the lighting was minimalistic, and the drummer was great, hell...all the music was good, but my preconcieved ideas were the main let down. At least we avoided seeing A Minor Forest, cause we saw them at the Chrome reunion show, so we just sat and drank with a bunch of other people doing the same at the cool irish bar across the street. I guess it just wasn't my thing. (Again, not to give it a bad review, but I probably won't be seeing Shellac anytime soon).

May 17th, Gary Numan and Switchblade Symphony at the Fillmore

I don't know about the whole modernization of all the old classic Gary Numan songs, but I really liked the show. I thought "silly guitar guy" was a little over the top, but I guess when all his dancing was ignored, Numan really did put on a great show. My friends left right after "Down in the Park," and all I could say was "What are you doing"? It's a good thing I stayed, cause the version of "Metal" was the highlight of the whole evening for me. I actually enjoyed all the new stuff too surprisingly, although the guitar in "Cars" was a little annoying (I guess I'm just a traditionalist). And speaking of traditionalists, did anyone catch DEVO when they played the ZDTV opening party with the Blue Man Group last week?

ps...Switchblade Symphony was OK too, but all their songs sound pretty much the same. A friend told me to visualize the singer drying her butt when ever she started dancing. I was cracking up during the last three songs of their set because of it.

May 1st, The Electric Hellfire Club at 174 King street.

After prodding and probing Mike and Trevor (the problem roomate), I finally convinced them both to see EHC just for the kitch factor. Well, can you say "Let Down?". King St. is a great club, I walked in and after paying ten bucks, walked past the door girl who handed me a Netwerk sampler (which after listening to is decidedly xanex influenced). Mike got the new Gary Numan album without the pearlbox plastic case was cool from what he told me later. So I scoped out the club and was pleasantly suprised about the layout! The King st. club is great! A large dance floor, some pinball games, a moderate bar with a good bar and good bartenders, considering the drinks are a little pricy.

So I got a great seat on the circular balcony overlooking the few people dancing to the DJ, and settled in between trips to the bar, anticipating the musical experience that is the Electric Hellfire Club. I was obviously under the misconception that they are in the midst of a good tour.

EHC started playing, and it was reminescent of ABBA. Lipsinking abounded for their set. I was so disillisioned that I left as soon as they stopped their short set. People wern't dancing, the music sounded flat, and the only redeeming factor was the club's setting. I'm supposed to go see NUMB play there this week, so I'm giving the whole experience a second chance (sans EHC). Needless to say, EHC is not a live show I will see soon.

Apr 24th Chrome, A Minor Forest at the Great American Music Hall.

Chrome has been a major influence in my life since I was about fifteen years old, so when I heard they were going to do a reunion tour (sans Damon Edge who died a few years ago) I was on top of going to get tickets. I told my friends Mike and Adrienne about it, and mike wanted to go as soon as I played him a selection off of the reissued Chrome Box. Adrienne wanted to go cause she was tired of being forced to go see the metal shows that we had been subjecting her to since I moved to the big big city of SF. So we get to the Great American Music Hall, and there's all these people there we recognized outside from just going to shows, as well as a few straggling hippies and a whole bunch of art types saying that they thought it was sold out! Luckily, that was not the case. We get inside, and caught the tail end of A Minor Forest... Straight up Sonic Youth influenced three-pieced band. I liked their last two songs, and managed to get up close, but they ended too soon to make any definate judgement on their music, lets just say I'd see them again.

Chrome started setting uo all their equipment, and I noticed all the synth equipment, this was it, I was about to see the band I thought I'd never see! They started with a few songs I remembered, but didn't remember the names, but they were a total space band, The highlight for me was the song right before the end of the first set, "Firebomb" was done incredibly well, and could have been recorded live for an album in my opinion. It struck me as I watching their last song how appropriate it was to be seeing them finally, here was a band that melded new wave with punk and noise with incredible results, and they were the prototype for the wierdo music that had a definate niche in the mid eighties... and here they were playing the final show on their (supposedly) last tour playing in the city that they played the club circuit so long ago. My only complaint was the anorexic dancer who only had a few dance moves, after a while her emancipated body got too tired, and she could hardly even lift her arms. Girl! Go eat a burger!

April 18th through April 19th Word Salad, Damad, King Diamond and Pitbull Daycare at Gilman Street, The Tip-Top Inn, and The Maritime Theater.

So as this whole weekend kinda blurred together, I decided to list this as one show. We went to Gilman on Friday to catch Word Salad (pals from Albuquerque), and Damad from Georgia. Word Salad is just fantastic, totally heavy, but with a sense of humor too. The audience at Gilman Street was floored, the whole show was really energetic, and they even had their friend from Flagstaff AZ sing a really heavy and slow version of Electric Funeral that was even heavier than the Sabbath version! Unfortunatly, I had to catch Bart back to SF, so I missed Damad, but went to see both Damad and Word Salad on Sat with Mike and Suicide-boy-Mike-Colello who were visiting from Seattle. Word Salad played an amazing set that night too, although the sound wasn't quite as good as at Gilman Street. This time they did a version of Angel of Death that would make Slayer proud.

Finally I got to see Damad! Damad is more of the crust-type metal that the punk community is gearing towards these days, it's wierd how all the music I'v been listening to is directly related to all the music I listened to as a kid, ie... Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, etc... When is that Damn Bauhaus reunion?

Anyways, Damad is fucking cool! I was a little disconcerted about the singer, who I initially thought was a man from the vocals, but suddenly there was this odd crooning sound that made me look up from behind the pack and see that she was a girl...DOH! Anyways, the overall effect was great, and I bought a Word Salad T-Shirt, and a Damad CD.

So after the show, we jetted over to the Maritime Hall to see King Diamond and Pitbull Daycare from Texas. The first thing I noticed was all the people from the Word Salad/Damad show, funny! So Pitbull Daycare just sucks, we all were heckling them, and the singer was tripping on acid, so their pseudo-industrial ministry thing just wasn't happening for all the white trash heshers there. But I do realize that the King would want a band who cant upstage his band. King Diamond is the King! He came on with his voodoo makeup and his falsetto crooning, he is a king among men! The most cool thing about the whole evening was going into the men's bathroom and taking a piss. There were these two heshers talking about King Diamond, and as the one long-black haired guy left, he mock-sang "Grandma!", King Diamond's funniest song. The whole bathroom started laughing, hahaha. I'll never see King Diamond in the same way again, hahahaha.

Apr 3 fri Plan 9 at the CW Saloon, Hammerlock and Jacksaints, at Club Cocodrie.

Plan 9 is boring, I just kept looking at the hair and wondering what was up with that while they were setting up. I then realized that I had seen the guitarist guy on the bus with some girl sneaking onto the 22 Filmore bus on the second week I lived in San Francisco, they were getting yelled at by some hippy, and they seemed like they were totally hateful...(my roomate called them the epiphany of white trash, which was pretty funny). Anyways, they played their not-too eventful set, and we headed to the cocodrie to catch Hammerlock and Zeke. I really liked the Jacksaints, and I really liked Hammerlock, but I just had to get home, so I ended up missing Zeke, but that's OK, cause I saw them the last time they breezed through town. I did get to briefly meet Gary Indiana from Flipside also, so that was sort of interesting.

I had the unfornate news that two Icons of underground music had died recently...First off Rozz Williams killed himself from what I hear on April first. I knew that his life was certainly crazy, and addiction is a fucked thing, but out of all the working artists I keep up on, it seems a little wierd. I wonder what Valor has to say about this.

Second, Tim Yohannan of MRR fame died friday of cancer. I didn't like some of the policies that Tim stood by, but it is hard to take a blow like that. Tim was dedicated, and will be missed, I for one will miss his monthly rants in the pages of MRR. Good luck Jen and Jacquelline, Keep the energy up. Here is the web address of the memorial, add your comments. Tim Yohannan Memorial

Mar 28 Friday, Hemorroid in Cambodia and The Crosstops at the Transmission Theater

OK, what's the deal with the overpriced beer at the Transmission? 3.75 for a miller for christ's sake! Luckily the admission was cheaper that the last time I went there, but the high drink prices made the crowd buckle. We got there too late to see Count Dante and the Black Dragon Fighting Society which sucked cause I heard their set rocked, oh well, next time I'll get there on time. The Crosstops were certainly funny cowpunk music, and their set was filled with Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky jokes. I'll go see them again anytime! I'll even buy the album, next time I have money to burn. The Crosstops.

Hemorrhoid in Cambodia is a DK tribute band, and they were fuckin funny too, The singer used to be in Haunted Garage, and he is just attrocious. He fondled himself and did all sorts of gross shit on stage while running aroung in his butt-hugger underwear while people threw full drinks on him and pelted him with ice. I was frightened/amused/repulsed and sickened, all at the same time. I liked them so much, I got a nifty Hemorroids in Cambodia T-shirt.

Mar 27 Thursday, Anonymous Beef, K-9 (canine?), Vlad the Impaler, Princess Superstar (NY) at the Tip Top Inn

So I look out my window one afternoon and I see this cool flyer with the name Anonymous Beef on it, and I think "Wow, I've got to see this band for the name alone," so I try to get a few friends to go along, but everyone is predisposed...so I go alone, and got there during the middle of Vlad The Impaler's set. They were good, kind of a power punk sort of set during the whole night of the three-piece band sort of evening.

K-9... I remember when I was in high school, every party had this band playing bad metal medleys, you know the type, guitar solo's, songs about smoking marijuana, the satanic salute... metal, metal, metal. Very effictive in clearing out the room.

Anonymous Beef reminded me of Helmet, but they had their own lightshow and smoke machine. Funny, ha ha.

Finally, I guess cause the Chameleon's closed, all the bands they booked are struggling to find places to play, so Princess Superstar played a quick set at the end. They were just too funky, I guess the whole punk-metal thing is beginning to wraparound to the punk/funk thing. They looked impressive, but that sort of music tends to tire me out, so I left after a few songs (sounded like a punk version of foreskin 500). Out of all the bands, I'd probably see Vlad the Impaler again, the drummer was great! But then again, I'd book K-9 for a party too.

mar 21 sat Romantic Gorilla (Japan) and Capitalist Casualties at Mission Records, Mission near 19th

Well spent the evening trying to commute to Gilman to see Ojo Rojo, and I got there and found out they BROKE UP? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhh! So after a quick conference with the others in out motley group, we decided to try to catch Talk is Poison at Mission Records, even though none of us had been there before. We got there, and the friendly crusty-punk kids were all there, and we went for beer. We found out that we had missed Medication Time, but were in luck, cause Capitalist Casualties was about to go on... I hadn't seen Cap Casualties in about five years, and remember that I thought they sucked back then, I liked them this time, a lot of quick songs with heavy guitars. An overall good time. Romantic Gorilla was great too, but those Japanese kids are all too short, I couldn't even get a glimpse of them while they were playing, all I know is that they ended all their songs with a rousing chorus of "We love Bay area", and "Thank you, thank you." I love Romantic Gorilla.

So we leave, right. and this total drunkard walks up to us and says, "Hey dude, our band is playing an after hours show at the Chameleon, cause they just got their liquor license revoked, and are about to get shut down." Well we went, and it was great, a band so drunk that they were puking on stage and running around on top of the pool table, cheap mixed drinks downstairs (after 2 in Ca?!)-Fuck Yea! Definitely a chance that doesn't come often enough. All-in-all, a great time was had by all.

March 19th, Thursday, Pigface, Tribes of Neurot, FM Einheit, Bagman, Not Breathing, at the OVERPRICED Fillmore (17.50 $ here, while it was only 12.00 $ in DALLAS?).

First, Scorn didn't play contrary to the big color flyers that were set up in the haight area...a let down to the crowd, but oh well... First to play was Not Breathing, and to tell the truth, they didn't impress me much during the first song. I kept thinking: "Ech, if I had wanted to listen to rave influenced music, I could have gone to SFU during a weekday and seen a crappy art exhibit". But overall, after the first song, they won me over, and I actually enjoyed their all-too-short set. They left with quite a bit of applause from the mixed crowd.

Second up were Bagman (featuring Lee Fraser of Sheep on Drugs), and all I can say is SILLY! Basically, they sucked... Sure the rave music was slightly tolerable, but DAMN, that silly annoying black guy who kept yelling during the songs and doing the wobbly wiggly walk-dance during the set really made Lee look stupid. Lee: In the future, keep to the music, not the concept... (if you had anything to do with that).

Third was FM Einheit, and at first all the crusty/punk/industrial people thought Tribes of Neurot was actually up cause they helped set up all the equipment, but suddenly a sort of New wave kind of music was playing to the audience. All I can say is FM Einheit is fucking great! A sort of gothic, new wave, with rap music, and early punk, industrial mix to be sure. I can't give the live performance justice, you'll just have to see it when it comes your way. I was prepared for some sort of variation of Einsturzende Neubauten, and was pleasantly surprised that that wasn't the case.

Next to last was Tribes of Neurot, and they were just as I expected. I'm a big Neurosis fan, and have seen them plenty of times, so I spent more time looking at the crowd's reaction than anything else. Tribes came on as a sort of local favorite... meaning quite a few people cheered them on stage, once they got on the music, all that seemed to subtly change, of course. They started with a slow droning low tone frequency rythm and spent the next 25 minutes slowly changing the whole tempo/tone/attitude of the piece to a high frequency screech/wail/protest? (I can only imagine). anyway they ended, and there arose a huge cheer. And promptly after the cheer there arose the three hecklers yelling "You SUCK!". Basically, people just glanced at them, and laughed at the witlessness... (If you're going to tell a noise band they suck, you must be stupid).

Finally Pigface came on stage, but not before a hilarious video performance by Genesis P-Orridge and an endless amount of Sheep on Drug Videos that played between each set (Martin, They suck, get over it). PIGFACE SUCKS, I LEFT AND CAUGHT A BUS HOME.

postscript: I did purchase the new pigface CD, but only cause it was cheaper, and I haggle a good deal.

March 13th, Friday Idiot Flesh and some other annoying band at the Transmission theater.

First off I'd like to point out that charging 3.75 for a Miller genuine draft is flat out robbery! That and the fact that all the bands which were supposed to play (Galaxxxy Chamber and the Bomboras) didn't end up playing. The opening band was annoying. They sounded like a jazzy Primus wannabe type band. Of course the crowd there was a huge mix of freaks, college students, and art types, so they all seemed to get off on that type of music...Yawn. So in between the first band and Idiot Flesh, I walked around and looked at all the props they used and forecast how they would be used, and lo and behold, between me and Trevor we got it all right on the nose. So it was a typical Idiot Flesh show. Fire dancing (which was the most interesting out of the whole show), a pretty bad light show (meaning nothing that would be associated with Idiot Flesh), A lot of MC talk in between songs (which was damn funny I'll give them that), and a cool new limited issue CD in a metal case. Not their best performance in my opinion, and definitely not worth 13 dollars.

Sui and Los Cerveceros at the Covered Wagon Saloon. (sometime in early march).

My first time at the Covered Wagon Saloon, and I was impressed. Cheap beer, It was a happy hour show, two cool pinball machines that I hadn't seen before, and a bunch of crusty bike-messenger types there watching the two bands. Sui is a lot like Sonic Youth, except you can tell that the main guy singer is the leader...It is obviously HIS band. I used to live with someone like that who I dubbed "The Rocker", so that's how this just seems naturally. Long-ass guitar precision riffs, are the usual, and guitar solos abound. My friend in Humboldt County gave a blowjob to the short mexican guy of Los Cerveceros a long time ago at a show that I missed cause I was at the Santa Fe Zozobra fiesta, so she always gave them a good review and told me to see them. I like Los Cerveceros, they play drunk punk rock music and have a few great covers. I guess they play there often, so I encourage anyone to check them out.