Whatever We Do, We Do as a Crew - The Gallery East Reunion 8/29/10

In the summer of 1982 I was living in Nahant, MA about to move off the peninsula to the “suburb of Lynn”, Swampscott. In the summer we would often spend time at my great aunt Grace Barile’s house, especially around July when her son Frank would light off fireworks with the blessings of the fire department. Growing up around music in the family I was already a rock and roll kid but I was at that age where I could have gone any direction. I was leaning towards stuff like Cheap Trick, The Clash, Joe Jackson, but also had a foot planted in hard rock like Kiss, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and that kind of thing. At one of these summer cookouts my aunt mentioned to me that I had a cousin named Alan I never met that played in this band called SS Decontrol. She had a copy of the record and I took it into her house and played it. I thought it was the worst thing I had ever heard in my life. Well, not really, but I didn’t like it. Being around a father working for a major label I had no concept of DIY. The album cover, which to me just looked like Sha Na Na or extras from the movie The Wanderers rushing the State House in Massachusetts seemed silly, and the fact that there were so many songs on the album was weird to me as well. I kind of forgot about the band and didn’t even take the copy of the album she offered me to keep (it’s okay I currently have a sealed copy!).

A few months later in junior high school we had a substitute teacher, Mrs Quint a few times. She was the sweetest woman, much better than the regular teachers we would have. She would often bring in these things called “fanzines” that her son wrote called Suburban Punk for us to look at. Most of the kids were pretty dismissive of them, but I remember thumbing through them slightly interested in this whole world, and connecting the dots back to that record my great aunt let me hear. I was familiar with stuff like The Clash and Sex Pistols and wasn’t completely ignorant of punk rock music, I just had no idea what hardcore music was.

Fast forward to around a year later, I had since taken the “hard rock” route, was hanging out with some new friends. Kids with long hair, skateboards, acne and a love for all things that had to do with dragons and guitar solos. Oh yeah, and smoking weed. At one point we needed some weed and one of my friends had a connection, this punk rock guy Peter could sell us a couple of joints for the going rate back then, $1.00 each. Pete and I quickly became friends and once I made the connection that he was also involved in this hardcore scene I mentioned my cousin and he told me how they were one of the bigger more influential bands in Boston. Wow, I had a “famous” cousin.

Over the next few months I immersed myself in this music. Pete was friends with Mrs Quint’s son Al who took me to my first show, Channel 3 and Kraut at the Channel. Pete sent me to Newbury Comics with a list of albums to buy: DYS - Brotherhood, Jerry’s Kids - Is This My World, SSDecontrol - Get it Away, F.U.’s - Kill For Christ along with a number of other ones I picked out myself. I would listen to the Salem, MA radio station WMWM (where I was a DJ years later) to Chris Corkum, another North Shore guy who played punk and hardcore music. At one point my aunt arranged for my cousin Al to call me and introduce himself and talk about music or whatever (SSD had just released Get it Away at the time and this was at the time when they would pretty much just move forward and only play newer music from their next album, How We Rock which was generally panned by everyone for being a “sellout”. It was far from hardcore, but I liked it anyway). Over the next couple of years I would often call him and we’d talk and I can’t even imagine what we talked about, but the fact that he was nice enough to give his young cousin some phone time was great. If you know Al he is kind of an intimidating looking guy, and had a “tough” reputation. back then. Al Quint and I would remain friends for years. We worked together at Rockit Records for a long time and were band mates in Shattered Silence. If you know Al, you already know he is one of the coolest guys around with an encyclopedic knowledge of not only punk and hardcore but hard rock music, and just a general sweet guy. He was probably the first punk rocker at my high school, Swampscott High School...Peter being the next generation followed by, umm me I guess. Hey this was back when if you saw someone who looked different you knew they were probably on the same trip as you...not to get all “these kids these days”.

From 1983 to about 1988 I went to just about every hardcore show in Boston, as well as a number of shows in Rhode  Island and New Hampshire. I never became one of those “hardcore died when I stopped going” people. I stopped going as I just didn’t find it fun anymore, got into different styles of music and whatever other excuse I can’t think of. I see a number of people from that scene here and there at smaller metal related shows and that kind of thing. The main reason I am writing this long ass introduction to this write up on the show is the importance of that scene to a number of different aspects of my life now and throughout the years. I wouldn’t be friends with my circle of friends if it weren’t for that scene, which in turn lead to my last long time job, and a number of friendships I still have. Embracing the concepts of DIY and word of mouth has been an ongoing part of me for as long as I can remember.

I still listen to a good chunk of hardcore from that era, and although I came in a tiny bit late missing Dead Kennedys, Misfits and Minor Threat I got to see pretty much every great band from that scene even if it was at a later era. I saw SSD, but only performing stuff from “How We Rock” and their final album “Break it Up”.

When all of the Boston bands "went metal" they still remained vital bands. The F.U.’s probably being the best example. After having some of the best songs on the This is Boston Not LA compilation followed by two amazingly blistering hardcore albums (“Kill For Christ” and “My America”) their third album “Do We Really Want to Hurt You?” was pure rock and roll, hell their previous album closed with a pretty straight forward cover of the Grand Funk Railroad song "We’re an American Band". In my opinion some of the band’s best work was on this album (Warlords, Killer, Shitheads, Walking Tall and of course Young, Fast Iranians). DYS was the other band that did really well progressing into this more rock based style. In retrospect, and hearing the songs from their second self titled album at yesterday’s show those songs were just as heavy and hardcore based as their first album “Brotherhood”. When listening to all of these band’s that “went metal” now, none of them really sound what you would call metal in my opinion. Gang Green and SSD also had their own brand of rock that basically was just an extension of what they were doing on their material before they transitioned. The one band (Although I’ve included SSD in this, I’m only talking about the bands who performed at the Club Lido show) that did not make this transition was Jerry’s Kids who seemed to get even faster on their second full length, KIll  KIll KIll.

When I initially heard about this “Gallery East Reunion Show” I was skeptical...Who would be in these bands? DYS, really? Do Dave Smalley and Jon Anastas know about this? Jerry’s Kids? Why isn’t The Freeze on this, they coined that “This is Boston not LA” line? Negative FX? I’ve always been a purist for the most part with this stuff. I never saw that version of the Misfits without Glenn Danzig and anytime someone who isn’t in their 40‘s tells me they saw The Misfits I immediately assume they are lying or that they saw them in 1998 or whatever with that other singer. After finding out this was a legitimate show my friend Jon picked up a couple of tickets. Jon is a few years younger than me, but we’ve known each other for a long time, he started seeing shows around the time I stopped so he saw some of those great late eighties bands like Swiz, Soul Side, etc.

To say the day and show was great would be an understatement. I ran into quite a few people from all different eras of my life and places. People I worked with, people I played in bands with, people I barely knew, friends of friends and everything in between. We arrived a little late and due to running into people outside didn’t make it inside to see the first two bands Refuse Resist and the Revilers.

The first band we saw was Slapshot. I had no idea who would be playing with the band at this point. The lineup was great though, Choke backed by long time bassist Chris Lauria, guitar player Craig Silverman who is best known for Only Living Witness drummer John Bean. They opened with Back on the Map and sounded great. Choke was his usual self, pushing some buttons with his stage banter. The highlight of the set, and one of the highlights of the whole day was their performance of Chunks by his short lived band Last Rights. They closed their set with Hang Up Your Boots which was introduced by Choke’s son.

Antidote followed. I didn’t know much about them aside from the guy responsible for putting the whole show together and the director of the film, Drew Stone was the vocalist. They were a lot of fun, fast old school hardcore, they even covered a couple of Minor Threat songs. Funny as you could definitely tell that they were from New York. I enjoyed them for the most part and obviously you have to give the guy respect for putting this whole thing together.

Gang Green was next. They were kind of a mixed bag to me. I liked them for the most part but they kind of lost me after their “Another Wasted Night” album and their whole Budweiser thing. They played a nice mix of songs from their career including their cover of Til Tuesday’s Voices Carry which didn’t have the same effect it had at the Rock and Roll Rumble in 1987. They did kill it at the show, they’re just my least favorite of all the old Boston hardcore bands.

Jerry’s Kids, who I always thought were THE best band to see in the 80’s were great, but suffered a little from some sound issues and a feedback problem that remained the whole set without being dealt with. It kind of bummed me out as they were the band I was most looking forward to seeing. Thankfully they blazed through a set of almost all of their  “Is This My World?” record, a couple from the “This is Boston Not LA” compilation and a cover of “Protest and Survive” by Discharge. Bob Cenci was only a little more subdued than the younger version of him that would often roll around on the floor not missing a note. He managed to drop to his knees, get up on the monitor and sing his signature tune “Lost”. If I remember correctly they didn’t play anything off of “Kill Kill KIll”. Ross Luongo was also on guitar and Jack Clark played drums and of course Rick Jones on bass/vocals.

The F.U.’s were the next highlight of the night. Playing an impressive set from all over their career including a Straw Dogs song (Trigger Finger). John Sox can still sing his ass off, and aside from a head of short gray hair, looks pretty much the same as he did the last time I saw the Straw Dogs which was probably in 199? Rounding out the band was originals Steve Grimes, Wayne Maestri, and I think Bob Furapples as well as Mick Cotgageorge on second guitar who I believe plays in a band with John Sox called Payload which also includes bass player Richie Rich who played the second half of the set. I saw them quite a bit in the 80’s, probably more as the Straw Dogs so as far as I remember they never played “T Sux”, “F.U.” and “Green Berets” (!) back then, so that was a nice surprise!

With all due respect to every band that played DYS could have been the only band I saw at this show and I would have been satisfied. They really brought it to a close with an intense set that hit both of their albums as well as a cover of Motorhead’s “We Are the Road Crew” and of course closing with “Wolfpack”. There was so much energy on the stage and on the dance floor for their forty five minutes, everyone there felt it and it really was a “unity ideal”. Dave Smalley was very talkative and it was great hearing him talk about passing the torch to younger bands, metal and hardcore kids mixing it up and other brief meaningful speeches that didn’t sound forced. I’ve always thought Smalley was a guy with his heart and soul in everything he does musically so it was nice to hear that stuff coming from him. With a long day spent seeing old friends and having a good time watching these bands with no fights or problems I saw it was an amazing cap to the day. A complete success in the eyes of everyone there. I can’t imagine anyone walked out of that show thinking they had a bad time.

There are a lot of words here that express what the day was about for me. A friend there said this was like a “last hurrah”. I have to disagree, this was more like opening a door to this whole history and period of my life as well of hundreds of people who were there even before me. If anything this is the beginning of another chapter in this scene. The film will be released in the spring of 2011 and judging by the clips online and the few they played on screens in between bands it should be great. I love talking about my time back then with anyone who wants to listen, and the renewed interest in the scene and the new means in technology to connect with people is making this easier. I’ve had friends say people only want to look back at things like this because they are getting old and want to hold on to this piece of their life. I feel sorry for anyone who thinks like this, they are generally just jaded people who seem to never feel satisfied or just never were part of something like this. In my mind, reflection on the past is great especially when the majority of the memories are so great. If having fun for a day with old friends and listening to great music is bad, well I don’t want any part of the miserable and cynical, or as John Sox says “F U!”.

I have more pictures I took at my Flickr account

Also, if I got any band member names wrong, names spelled wrong, etc please let me know.

Corrosion of Conformity Interview - August 10th 1985

In August of 1985 the mighty Corrosion of Conformity played in Cambridge, Massachusetts at The Christ Church along with Post Mortem, PTL Klub, Executioner and The Offenders who were the buzz of the hardcore scene at the time. C.O.C had been around previous to this gig. I saw them a year before with Battalion of Saints and the Outpatients at the Paradise with the four piece line up, and also as a four piece with D.OA and The Freeze even before that at the Northeastern YMCA which held a few great shows for a little while (ummm, Void, Agnostic Front, Murphy’s Law, Kilslug and Siege on one bill? Good times!) They always put on one of the most intense shows you could see around this time. Just a loud thundering wall of sound coming out of three guys. At this particular show I remember there were a number of fights, something happened with the PA at one point forcing the band to perform an instrumental version of "Loss for Words".

Also of note were openers Executioner, one of Boston's more underground metal bands at the time. The reason a lot of these shows were happening (metal bands and hardcore bands playing together) was a result of guitar player Marc Johnson who was booking a lot of these shows. Executioner in true Spinal Tap fashion emerged on stage as smoke machines went off which then set off the fire alarms, almost shutting the show down. Marc and Executioner really did play a huge role in the history of hardcore and metal in Boston and any discussion about "the scene" without mentioning him or his band would indicate "you weren't there". They certainly weren't the best band around but their presence was huge to kids like me. Also their song Victims of Evil was pretty awesome. 

I was doing a fanzine at the time called One Step Forward. I was interviewing some great bands, and even as an awkward quiet 15 year old I never felt like I couldn’t approach an artist for an interview. At one point I was introduced to Brian Walsby or became pen pals with him, I don’t remember. He may or may not have helped set up the interview but obviously at this point, I can’t remember. Also of note in the van with us was a young lady named Lisa Carver who later went by the name “Lisa Suckdog”. Her and I were pen pals and she came down to Cambridge from New Hampshire to see the show and sat in for part of the interview near the end. Her questions are, ummm, exactly as they were printed in my zine...I was 15 years old during this interview so some of the questions are obviously kind of bland.

In subsequent visits to Boston, even as late as the Blind era, Corrosion of Conformity always put on an intense show and Reed Mullin always took the time to say hello, remembered my name and was a generally great guy. They are apparently touring with this lineup soon and hopefully I’ll make it out to one of them. For more info on those new shows,  check out their website

The blurry pictures here are from the show. Once I get a scanner set up I will scan the pages from the actual fanzine.

 

An interview with Reed Mullin (drums) and some comments by Brian Walsby

OSF: Okay first off, where do you think you fit in: metal or hardcore?

Reed: Metal or hardcore? Definitely hardcore, don’t you think?

Brian: I think you’re definitely hardcore

OSF: Well, some people call you “metal”

Reed: Well look, I can’t even do a drum solo...Woody can’t play “Eruption”. I consider us more a hardcore band than anything else, lyrically and musically I think - (bassist/vocalist Mike Dean opens van door) Get out of here Mike Dean!

Mike: Huh?

Reed: Get out of here

Mike: No

Reed: Lyrically, definitely. I don’t think we have anything in common at all to do with heavy metal lyrics. We’re influenced I guess by Black Sabbath, Black Flag and Bad Brains.

Mike: I hate heavy metal

Reed: You don’t hate heavy metal, you’re just saying that to irritate people

OSF: When did COC form?

Reed: June 1982 in Woody’s basement. We just practiced a little, played parties and so on. When we started none of knew how to play so we did GBH covers and stuff like that

OSF: How would you compare this new record (Animosity) to the first record (Eye for an Eye)?

Reed: I like the first one a lot. I liked the songs, but I hated the production, the production was just really bad. It was really disappointing, and our old singer’s vocals were really bad on it. The new one, the production on side one of is a lot better

OSF: Who produced it?

Reed: The guys from Metal Blade...well we produced it, but it was engineered by them. It was recorded in a better studio. Side two was done at the same place we did “Eye for an Eye”

OSF: What do you think of Satanic lyrics?

Reed: I think they’re cool just because they open people’s minds. They irritate Christians I guess. As long as you don’t take it too seriously it’s pretty funny. I don’t know, that Satanic stuff has been so overplayed it’s cliche

OSF: Do you think you sound better as a three-piece?

Reed: Things move a lot faster because me and Mike Dean sing. All our old singers were really slow in learning lyrics. As far as live stuff, I think we’re lacking a bit. But our old singe he was a real nice guy, he just couldn’t sing. I think I like the three piece better

OSF: What do you do when no playing in the band?

Reed: I work for my dad as a secretary, and I set up all the shows in Raleigh. That’s about it, my job is nine to five.
OSF: How old are all of you?

Reed: I’m 19, our guitarist Woody just turned 20 and Mike is 20 or 21, I’m not sure.

OSF: What are you listening to for music?

Reed: Right now my favorite bands are Descendents, Honor Role, Bad Brains and Rudimentary Peni, that’s what I’m listening to most. I like millions of different things; I like Slayer, Exodus and Venom, and some reggae.

OSF: Who’s idea was it to cover “Green Manilishi”?

Reed: Well Woody was in a heavy metal band, heavy metal cover band before he was in COC and he used to do it so we thought it would be funny if we just tried it. We did it and thought it was funny so we kept doing it.

OSF: What happened last time you were supposed to play here?

Reed: Well we were ready to go, I mean everything was packed up and ready to go, and then our car wouldn’t start, and it was our alternator. We got a new alternator at the last minute  and while we were putting that if we poked a hole in the radiator.

Lisa: How did you get together?

Reed: Me and Woody went to school together for a while, and Mike Dean moved up from a southern city and we just started practicing in Woody’s basement

OSF: Do you guys like Elvis?

Reed: Which one?

OSF: Well I saw Elvis Presley stickers all over the van...

Reed: Elvis Presley was pretty cool I guess. All of these stickers are from Toxic Shock. They moved their store into a head shop and they had all of these stickers left over so we just took them

(some guy is is trying to look into the tinted windows of the van)

Brian: What the hell is this guy doing?

Lisa: Do you guys have advice for beginning bands?

Brian: Go metal, that’s where the bucks are!

Lisa: Do you get along with Boston Bands?

Reed: Which ones?

Lisa: Minor Threat

All: Minor Threat???

OSF: SSD, DYS...

Reed: I think all the Boston bands are great

Lisa: Do you have day jobs?

Reed: Woody works as a jeweler and I work as a secretary and Mike Dean works for me

Brian: It should be said that both Reed and Woody work for their own families

Reed: Brian Walsby mooches

Brian: I just mooch off of Reed

Reed: Brian Walsby’s a moocher

Brian: Hey Reed can I have some money, I’ll pay you back

Reed: I wanna go see The Offenders

OSF: Any last comments

Reed: Have a good day

OSF: Have a day

Restless Dreams of Youth

Growing up in one of these boring suburbs in the early 80’s, right when strip malls started showing up around Massachusetts, before the internet even seemed possible, just as I would discover the power of “word of mouth” via the punk rock scene a few years later I was hearing a little Rush here and there. They were kind of at the arc of their mainstream popularity at this time. Growing up around all types of music, I never really thought of music as being “uncool” or whatever, I still don’t. The fact that Rush is or was once considered a “nerds band” means nothing to me. I had a creature from the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual tattooed on me at one point and broke into a Dungeon Master’s house once to look at maps so my level of geekness means nothing to me, and I’ll never be ashamed of it. Whatever.

It wasn’t until I heard the live record Exit...Stage Left that I would start investing more time in this odd sounding band. Generally live albums at this time were either real important piece of a band’s discography (Live at Leeds, Blow Your Face Out, Kiss Alive and One More for the “What song is it y’all wanna hear” Road are a few), or just filler (Beatles at Hollywood Bowl, Stones - Still Life, etc). In discussions of Rush albums even when including live albums nobody really mentions Exit...Stage Left.

Exit...Stage Left HAS to be their best live record because it is from performances on the Moving Pictures tour. They were just coming off this amazing creative peak of that record, Permanent Waves, Hemispheres and A Farewell to Kings. This was the band at their hardest rocking as well as when they were learning to cut down the twenty minute suites to a more modest ten minute song. Just as 2112 can never be their best album (because it has the song Twilight Zone), Exit...Stage Left is the best live Rush album. The only reason I consider it remotely “important” in their discography is for purely personal reasons. It’s the album that really roped me in.

Just as the band was at their hardest rocking though, they put out a new album, Signals which has a different vibe to it than everything they had released. To my 12 year old ears it was a big surprise, in retrospect though it’s a natural progression. The band were obviously listening to a lot of The Police and probably partaking in a good amount of whatever they picked up on that train to Bangkok that one time. The main thing on this album though...synthesizers! This would also be the first album that didn’t have one of those long “ten minute” songs. Once I got down to the lyrics though, everything kind of clicked, especially the song and subsequent video for album opener Subdivisions which dealt with alienation in the suburbs.

A few months after this album was released, in December of 1982 I got to see the band for the first time at the Boston Garden with Rory Gallagher opening. I’ve since seen them on every single tour aside from Grace Under Pressure (doh!) and Counterparts.

Being a Rush fan all these years though, I haven’t loved every album. I think the last solid album they put out was Grace Under Pressure everything else has had a few great songs here and there, but nothing even close to those first ten studio albums which were for the most part (Twilight Zone...I Think I’m Going Bald...etc), perfect through and through. I like Power Windows and Hold Your Fire, but like a good amount of music from that era, the synths didn’t age well to my ears. One ironic thing about Grace Under Pressure is it is distinctly known as a “synth album”, but underneath those synths is some of Alex Lifeson’s best guitar playing to date. Sure it’s drenched in reverb, delay and chorus half the time. Check “Kid Gloves” playing throughout, especially the solo...also closing track, “Between the Wheels”. This is the closest Rush ever came to being “doomy” (with synths). Not really....anyway, check the solo in this song out.





Through the years I have met plenty of big music fans like myself and at some point or another discover a mutual admiration for the band that was never really considered cool. It’s great to be able to discuss the band still after all of these years and see that they are getting a little more respect thanks to some help from pop culture and generally surrounding myself with people who usually have good, or rather similar, taste in music.

I was lucky enough to work at a company for a bit that ended up releasing some Rush DVD’s, and our president was “friends” with the band. Every once in a while over the phone PA system one could hear “.....Alex Lifeson is on line one”. On the Snakes and Arrows tour I was invited to see the band via the president and attend a “meet and greet” before the show. We got to meet Geddy and Alex for a brief few seconds and then have our picture taken with them along with other people in our group. The seats we had for the show were of course right up front, maybe three rows back from Geddy. I finally was able to see the band close up after years of bad luck seeing the band from miles away, behind the stage, from a lawn, etc.


With the release of the great new Rush documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage, a tour where they are performing the entire Moving Pictures album, Rush are back in the um...limelight again. In the meantime the band will still be a big part of anyone who has spent a considerable amount of time with the band throughout the years. I’ll always keep every Rush album, even some of the crappy sounding live albums on my iPod. They are a big part of road trips for me. Grace Under Pressure is a perfect album to have on when drifting through unknown orange cities and dark small towns late at night. Permanent “Begin the day....” Waves is a great first drive of the day record, and so on and so on. From week to week, I’ll pick another album that is my favorite, able to spend days again playing the same songs over and over. Like very few great rock-based bands Rush has longevity and a catalog of music that I seem to never grow tired of.

Me at 16 or so

The Dark Signal Returns - Shrinebuilder @ the Echo in LA 03/03/10

Man I am going to miss going to see shows out here. I don’t know if I have just handpicked the correct shows to see while living out here, but I have not seen a bad show here yet. I’m only living here for a few more weeks so I should try and see some more...but alas no money to be spending on fun really.



Usually “supergroups” are a failure. Well nowadays they are anyway...obviously CSN & Y, Cream, ELP and Bad Company were pretty solid bands. Okay, Cream were the best of that list, but...some of the later ones in the 80’s like The Firm an Asia were for the most part one hit wonders. I’ll most likely never hear Velvet Revolver or Audioslave, but I’m going to assume they aren’t very good at all.



It was only a matter of time before a band would form out of some of the bigger more influential contemporary underground heavy bands. When I first heard about this band I was immediately excited to hear it. Scott Kelly from Neurosis, Al Cisneros from Sleep and Om, Dale Crover from The Melvins, Scott “Wino” Weinrich from St Vitus, The Obsessed, The Hidden Hand and pretty much the Godfather of this genre of “stoner”, “doom” and what have you. The reason I assumed this band would be great is the consistency of great music they have all released through the years. There is always a lot of heart and soul put into their music from the artwork and packaging to the music itself of course, and then there is the live performance. Who has ever seen a shitty Melvins show? A bad Neurosis show? If you did it was most likely something else causing it, the bands always give 110%.




I’m not that big of a music snob, but I kind of am. With people I know getting into commercial music like Lady Gaga and that kind of thing I have to question their ears sometimes. As much much as I have music on all day and a good amount of it is indeed background music, I still like to hear something that moves me. Modern “dance” music or whatever it is just doesn’t feel right to me. I like some crap you would call commercial pop. But the new stuff is really painful and insulting to me. I don’t know, you can’t call me an old man as I would much rather hear someone screaming unintelligible words with a microphone shoved halfway down their throat at deafening volumes. Seeing a band like this, or musicians like this remind me that there is still good music that can move you. It doesn’t have to have any kind of message, any kind of statement, be any kind of genre, it just needs to BE. This music definitely IS.




Shrinebuilder’s music is pretty dark, but also pretty pos. The artwork on their record reflects this, light on the outside, and dark on the inside. Aside from Dale Crover who seems to be playing a little more of a traditional rock style (and playing a scaled down set compared to what I’ve seen him play countless times with his full time job in the Melvins), Kelly, Wino and Cisneros all pretty much bring exactly what they are known for to the table, but somehow it works when all put together.



I saw the debut Shrinebuilder show back in November at the Viper Room and it was one of the best shows I saw last year. The show was kind of a warm up show, and they played their set twice in a row which was to say the least, awesome. They did what I could tell was pretty much the same set last night. They definitely sounded a little tighter. My one complaint about their album was there are only four songs on it. The album is still long as the songs are long, but seems like they could have fit one or two more on there. The live set consisted of all of the songs from the record, a couple of others I did not recognize, and a cover of Joy Division’s Twenty-Four Hours which was amazing. One of the “unknown” songs was a bluesy song sung by Scott Kelly that could easily be on one of his solo records, a later Neurosis album or just a new original, Definitely sounds like one of his. This song on the setlist was called “Hell” (I think!). At this show it was sung with such emotion and soul you could almost feel the heat coming off of him. “Pyramid of the Moon” this fucking song is so intense, you want it to never end, and it’s actually one of the shorter songs on the album. Live, it’s a monster. Al’s voice is one of my favorite voices in doom/stoner, so I was happy to see him get some time singing on the record and of course live. I never saw Sleep live and never saw Om, so it was cool to see him play bass as well. He is definitely the most energetic of the the three guys up front. Dale Crover is Dale Crover, a monster to watch behind the kit, but watching Al play bass was great, I never realized how great a player he is.




Openers A Storm of Light were great. I love their new record, saying they sound like Neurosis is kind of a cheap way to describe them, but fronted by Neurosis visual dude Josh Graham there is obviously a big influence there. I think their sound is a little more theatrical and arty if that makes sense. Drummer Vinny Signorelli played with Unsane and the Swans....also played in a band way back called The Dots, and his drum set was apparently used during a Bad Brains recording session, hence "The Black Dots". They were tight as hell, but for whatever reason only played about twenty five minutes, leaving the audience slightly confused as they seemed to end just as they started building some intensity.

I hope they announce a Boston show I can see when i return there next month. They have a tour happening but no New England dates that I have seen. Highly recommended show if you are into any of the members’ respective bands.

Scream - The Echo, Los Angeles, CA 02/28/10

Tonight in Los Angeles was a reunion show I half stumbled upon a couple of weeks ago. I saw “Scream” and just assumed it was some stupid LA hard rock band. Once I finally looked at it I realized it was the same band I knew and loved since I was 14 years old. Awesome news.



When I got into hardcore, most of it was pretty straight forward, loud, fast, screaming dudes…at least the stuff I liked. Scream’s debut, Still Screaming, is probably my favorite hardcore/punk/whatever album of all time, or at least in the top three. The album came out on Dischord and it was actually the first “album”, or full length, as Dischord was putting out mostly EP’s and singles. Filled with ultra fast speed at some points, catchy as hell melodies, acoustic guitars (!), reggae, funk and straight ahead rock, and of course Pete Stahl. Something about his voice, it fits perfect with this music and, once you see him perform you realize how much soul he has. I always kind of thought of him as a Tom Waits type of guy, he has that kind of vibe.



When I was sixteen years old and doing my hardcore fanzine in Boston, Scream came to town and played with UK’s The Subhumans at the Paradise on Commonwealth Ave, which is where a number of great shows had been taking place that year. It would be my first time seeing either band, both favorites of mine at the time, and to this day. They both were completely amazing, especially Scream who were just merciless, song after song of their high energy rock, and the manic Peter Stahl stalking the stage, flailing around and putting every ounce of soul he had into the performance. Before the show I approached him and asked if I could interview him, he obliged and we met up after the show and he spent an hour or so with me talking about whatever I asked him. He was generally nice and down to earth and I thought to myself how your musical idols can sometimes be cool guys, you didn’t have to be scared that they would let you down.



A few years later, my hardcore band opened for them at TT the Bear’s in Cambridge, along with the underrated Kingface. The club was sold out, and Scream were now bolstered by another guitar player and a new drummer, a young kid around my age, Dave Grohl. At the end of the night, we were in the backstage area and Peter, who had remembered me from a couple years previous and drummer Dave talking. They asked us how much money the club had paid us, we told them we got out measly $25. Both of them thought this was shitty, and took $75 of their money and gave it to us. This was one of the coolest moments I remember from being in that band, and was the epitome of how that scene worked at the time.



That would be the last time I saw Scream. Years later Pete Stahl and his brother Franz (who also played in Scream) would come out with a new band called Wool, a great rock band from the LA area. I saw them one time in Boston with the Melvins, and approached Peter who again remembered me from years previous. That band broke up and Pete moved on to doom/stoner band Goatsnake. He can also be “heard” singing backup vocals on “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret” by Queens of the Stone Age, who
I think he managed or worked in some capacity for.



So after reading that tonight’s show would be the original lineup I was pretty psyched. Although I originally read bass player Skeeter Thompson would not be there, he was in the lineup along with Franz Stahl on guitar and Kent Stax on drums. One thing I will miss about Los Angeles shows is that people really do get into the music out here. I was pleasantly surprised at this…maybe because of the types of shows I go to, I rarely see what we sometimes call “hipsters” back east. Growing up around the hardcore scene in Boston, every weekend when you went to these shows you would sometimes see musicians from your favorite bands mingling around, contemporaries of you and your friends. Bands would come to town and that same vibe would be there. There was no real “vibe” about anyone really aside from maybe the real big ones like Rollins, Danzig and Jello. Most of the time they were just normal dudes who you didn’t feel like you couldn’t approach. Tonight I got there right before the first band played and who do I see come out of the back area but Dave Grohl. A few minutes later I see Buzz Osbourne from the Melvins come in, he is standing near me with that hairdo of his, he is shorter than I remember him being. A little while later I spot Pat Smear, Dale Crover from the Melvins and Shrinebuilder. Scott Kelley from Neurosis and Shrinebuilder is also there. Shrinebuilder are here this week so I assume that’s why the two of them are in town. I also see Brant Bjork from Kyuss/Fu Manchu. I guess being in LA this is the kind of thing you see all the time, but obviously in the context of this scene it’s awesome, not like seeing like Jay-Z at a Lady Gaga show hanging out behind a roped off area. All of those musicians are huge in my world, guys who have created songs I have listened to hundreds of times throughout my life. So I was a little star struck, but not enough where I approached any of them. I mean how often do you get to look to your left and see four people talking to each other who wrote or played on Nirvana – Nevermind, Melvins – Houdini and Neurosis – Times of Grace...and then near them a guy from the Germs. Never!



Once the band came out I made my way to the side of the stage so I could take some pictures. The band was as tight as they were when I saw them over twenty years ago. The energy in the place was intense and I forgot how great of a front man Peter Stahl really is. I got some good shots of him, but he was hard to get since he moves around so much. They played just about all of that first record, some from the second album and a few new songs.



On my way out, it could have just been my senses being overloaded, but I swore I saw actor Gary Cole, who played Bill Lumberg in Office Space and Mr Brady in the Brady Bunch movies but I could be wrong. That would have pushed the night over the edge if so, but it was good enough up to there anyway.

Who's this dude?

Screaming Females - Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA 8/14/09

Last night I made it out to my first show out here in Los Angeles as a resident. I've seen shows here and there as a visitor. The club was called Spaceland in the Silver Lake are of Los Angeles. It's right near Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers were out of town, so it was a quick 30 minute drive over there. I'm still getting used to the highways here; even though I've driven them many times it's still a shockingly huge difference than they are back east. Seems like everyone goes about 75 mph, habitually switching lanes back and forth for no particular reason. It takes a little getting used to, but I think the Massachusetts experience has hardened me into having just a big of a "fuck you I'm from Boston" attitude on the road. That mixed with respect for the rules here as some of them people actually follow, like my favorite: people don't cut you off turning left at red lights, they wait until everyone going forward is past. Even the most obnoxious looking douche in the BMW will wait their turn. A far cry from Massachusetts where every dickhead in a Patriots jacket can't wait the four or five seconds to turn and has to disrupt the flow of traffic. So there are good and bad things about driving here. Driving home was also a breeze, I didn't even make it through to the end of Torche's Meanderthal album which is a brief thirty-six minutes.

I got to the club far too early, and parking was non-existent, until I noticed a valet parking guy for the club which was a pretty awesome little perk. The club was pretty cool, small, maybe comparable to TT the Bears. There was a smoking area which was cool, if you're a smoker (!). Going to club shows by myself in Boston was never a big deal, and I go to huge concerts by myself all the time, but going to a club one seemed a little more daunting. There was nobody there when I walked in, and at the end of the night there were maybe thirty people there.

The first band were billed as a "disco-punk" band and apparently ex-members of something else, who knows. I originally cringed at this description, but they turned out to have a cool little Gang of Four vibe going. A guitar player, a drummer with a laptop that played beats and some noise and then an instrumentless singer. They were easily the best of the three openers. They played a brief 15 minute set. I would definitely go see them again.

The second band, Protect Me didn't really do it for me. A two piece (bass and drums) noisy mess that sounded like they may have done all their homework and practiced but hadn't mastered their instruments and how to make them sound good. The ideas were there, but execution was "meh". I think they were underage, as they looked like they were both about sixteen.

Next up were another two piece band (what the fuck is with this trend? What happened to the good old days of the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Earth, Wind and Fire where there were like sixteen people on stage!) from Brooklyn who were traveling with headliners Screaming Females called Shellshag. They didn't really do anything for me either: a guy playing a Stratocaster and a woman playing drums standing up with bells all over her. People seemed to dig them and they had plenty of energy and a cool little thing going, but in the end when they said they were from Brooklyn I thought to myself "no shit, no wonder that was not enjoyable". Only good band to ever come out of Brooklyn was Biohazard. Ha, take that weird hipster two piece band!

I saw Screaming Females a while back in Boston with Throwing Muses, and frankly they blew TM off the stage. What initially sounded like just another indie rock band with a girl screaming turned out to be a different beast all together. Elements of funk and heavy metal but not funkmetal and straight up rock, and even a couple moments that (most likely unintentionally) sounded like Rudimentary Peni to these ears.

Your initial thoughts when you first see this band are the make up of the band, a really tall bass player, and a really short female guitar player. Maybe 5'2"? Last night she wore a long Victorian looking dress, has short hair and the guitar is almost as big as her. She's not traditionally pretty, but I easily developed a crush on her after the first time I saw them and I went and found videos online. If anything though, the crush was more on her stage presence and her guitar playing. It would be easy to fall into the old "wow she is great...for a girl", but it's beyond that. She smokes most male guitar players I have seen (at least in club settings). Listening to them you'll initially think they're just a really tight indie rock band with a chick singer and then all of a sudden, BOOM she'll play a fill or solo that drops your jaw. There was a guy in the front row who literally had his mouth open the whole time last night. When I first saw them it was in a packed club from the back so I was pretty excited to be able to be right at the foot of the stage for last night. Her vocals go back and forth from Bikini Kill/Sleater-Kinney style to guttural screams, all the while playing an intricate lead pattern on the guitar, not just strummed chords. Last night they played for maybe 40 minutes and it was great. I felt like I was seeing something special because of the size of the crowd and just how well the band present themselves. From the way she dressed and carries herself on stage to the tightness of the rhythm section they are the real deal. They apparently played some shows with Jack White's band recently and I'm sure the crowd loved them. Here's hoping they go on to bigger things than last night. LA must have been busy doing something else last night as it was a shame they played to such a small crowd.

I captured some video of the show on my iPhone. The sound is horrible but...the picture is good.