All, NO ALL! My experience with the Descendents.

In 1991 or 92, I went with a friend of mine to the Scrapyard in Buffalo to see the band ALL. I really didn't care for ALL that much, as a girl I really liked had the "She's my ex" cassingle in her car and it would play on repeat over and over and over. I probably hated the band because she payed more attention to that tape and that song than she did to me, but this blog is more about my experience with music than it is with girls. ANYWAY, he promised. "they'll play Descendents songs." So without hesitation, I went.

I thought ALL's set was boring, But the 8 or so Descendents songs they played were the highlight of the show. The energy of those songs spoke volumes and the mish-mash of skaters, hardcore kids and punkers singing along and getting into those songs specifically showed that those were the songs they truly came to see.

I don't remember when I first got into the Descendents. I know I liked a song here or there from hearing on WBNY and eventually bought "Somery" their "best of" collection. But when did I actually decide I liked them? Searching my mind and the soup that resides within it, I have decided that at some point in the mid 90's, when after girl after girl shot me down, I LOVED THE DESCENDENTS. Sour Grapes, Clean Sheets, Silly Girl, Hope... Not to mention scores of other great songs that had little to do with girls! The Descendents are one of the few pop punk bands where I believe what they're selling me and not trying to make a quick buck before stating college and a career. It always has the honest sound of guys just being themselves.



Eventually, The Descendents got back together after a long hiatus and returned with the album "Everything Sucks." Which, at the time, I hated (I have since changed my mind on that) and when they came around to Buffalo on the tour supporting the album, I never bought a ticket to go. I was working at Radio Shack at the time and decided after work, on the night that the show was in town, to go. On my arrival in full button up shirt, tie and sweater vest, I found out the show had been sold out for WEEKS. Out front was a collection of kids who were hoping to get in and we struck up conversation. They were all bummed that they couldn't gain entry even though they had more than enough money for tickets(had they still been available) but all attempts to convince the door guy to let them in had failed.

Now, every now and then, luck and absurdity come into our lives and we must seize what they give us. That night was one such night when the owner of the club, Pete, walked out front and asked if any of the 20-30 kids out front were "over 21." I was 22 at the time and chimed up. The conversation went like this:
"How much money do you have?"
"Five Bux."
"Do you plan on drinking?"
"Well, I don't drink, but I may buy a few for the ladies."
"Ok, give me the five bux."

Just like that I was in. He either wasn't paying attention to the fact that I had just given him my last five dollars, or thought I was lying to him to have more money to spend on the aforementioned "ladies." Either way, that's how I got in and saw the Descendents. Their set was awesome and the place was definitely oversold by A LOT. But, my friends, luck is a double edged sword; as that night, for their encore, they brought up Scott Reynold's to the stage and performed "She's My Ex" as their encore. Damn the luck.

Bad Brains, Soul Brains, Cro-Brains, Brains No More

In 1989 I heard the Bad Brains for the first time after seeing the video for the song "Soul Craft." I was intrigued by the song's unusual sounding style and the fact that it seemed like the singer threw off his, uh, "rasta hat" like 50 million times throughout the video. Looking back now, this only occurs twice and more than likely I liked this video because of HR and Dr. Know's striped button up shirts. ANYWAY, I liked it and when the 1991 Caroline reissue of "Rock for Light" came out, I added that to my collection, which already contained "Quickness," the album the aforementioned Soul Craft appeared on.



Another Bad Brains milestone in my teenage life took place in 1991. The Bad Brains were going to play a show in August with Zero Tolerance (Gasp!)at the "New Pink Flamingo" on Main St in Buffalo. I don't remember if it was coincidence or by design that I wore my "Introduce Yourself" shirt by Faith No More to the show but, I know that Chuck Mosely, who was in FNM for their first two (and my favorite) albums sang for the Brains on that tour.

At some point during the show, I was approached by a drunken Chuck Mosely, who hugged me and told me, "Every little bit helps." With FNM's commercial success just starting I wonder if it burned him the band he was thrown out of was doing so well? I don't know if it would concern me too much if I was singing "I against I" with Dr. Know's blazing fret work behind me, but I'm not Chuck Mosely, so I'll never know. Also, this was the show where I bought ZT's "Fuel The Fire" cassette ep. I passed on a Bad Brains tour shirt because they all had marijuana depicted on them. Aside from the "funk metal" opener Lucy Brown, the show was one that I wished I could see every night.

In 1993, the Brains released "Rise" and toured with yet another singer, Israel Joseph I. I didn't like the record and I thought the show was kind of lame. I mean, a band I regard to this day as terrible, Prong, as well as what I viewed as local light-weight amateurs No Joke both opened, what a let down. Hearing Rise for the first time in literal years it's not as bad as I remember but compared to what's going on with music nowadays, even some Prong might sit well with me.



Fast forward a few more years and the re-united "Soul Brains" were playing shows. Apparently the band wanted to drop the negative connotations associated with the term "bad" and get on some weird Jah vibe. What they should have done is dropped their association with singer HR, because it was one of the lamest and bizarre performances I have ever witnessed by a band. The rhythm section is raging and HR is in outer fucking space talking the lyrics to songs. Give me back Chuck Mosley! FUCK, I'll take Israel Joseph I even... ANYTHING but HR. I can't describe properly the disappointment. It was like watching some weird challenging performance art. I longed for something better from the Bad Brains and thankfully they were up for something different down the line too.

In February 2006, the Bad Brains played two shows at CBGB's with John Joseph Bloodclott from the Cro-Mags singing. Leeway opened. It was a great fucking show, even though I rolled my ankle during "Right Brigade." My friend John referred to the musical moment in which my ankle suffered as a "dangerous part." My friends, I can attest that it truly is, as my ankle swelled to a proportion previously unknown to me.



So I feel like I've gotten my money's worth 1/2 of the time I've seen the brains. the other half, I felt a little cheated. But that's how it goes when something with our favorite band's keeps on changing in unexpectedly weird ways. The Bad Brains were innovative and inspiring at one time, but now it's been long gone, lost to mental illness and age. I'm glad I got to experience what I did and the 14 year old Jeremy thanks Mackie, J.J. Bloodcott and Chuck for giving me something HR just can't anymore... Passion.

Judge and quick thought about reunions.

I remember buying the Judge "There will be Quiet..." ep on cassette when I was in 11th grade, shortly after it came out. "Forget this Time" opened the ep up with some serious bite and although I was already a fan, it drew me deeper into my love of all things Revelation Records had to offer in 1991, but this entry isn't really about that.



One thing I like about Judge's legacy is that there has been no reunion and I totally respect that. Mike Judge was "over it" and that was that. There's something to be said about bands who don't want to spoil their run and just let their records and short time together speak for itself. I think I may want my memory of Judge to stay in 11th grade, listening to that tape on the bus ride to school over and over again, not some 40something men playing at a nostalgia trip. I type this now knowing full well if a reunion ever came, I'd go.

I've flown all over this country to see reunion shows of long dead/ inactive band and I don't feel too bad about it. I had my fun and it seemed like the band's I flew out to see enjoyed themselves as well. Today I heard that Articles Of Faith were doing a reunion show and and a new record. Although I love the band, I have to ask, "why?"

Sometimes bands should reunite: maybe because there's new found interest in their back catalogue, or because band members have recently reconciled; overcoming past differences. Sometimes bands get back together to benefit a friend or family member who has died or taken ill. Some bands just get back together for the fun of it, or the big evil "money." Some bands pull it off, some bands don't, but I think the biggest mistake these bands can make is attempting to write and record new music.

Gorilla Biscuits tried this and failed, Turmoil came back to obscurity, nobody liked Lifetime's new record. Let me think of more... The Misfits, Turbonegro, Antidote, Adolescents, Bad Brains and I could continue citing, but I'll spare you and in doing so, spare myself the pain of remembering ruined legacies. In fact, the only good "reunion" album I can think of is Celtic Frost's "Monotheist" and metal bands are notorious for getting back together and turning up the SUCK.



Another Chicago favorite of mine, aside from AoF, Naked Raygun, did recent ep's after reforming a few years ago. I am nearly terrified to hear these records. I don't know if I will ever order them, I am afraid it would just ruin it for me, like when your favorite restaurant changes the ingredients to your favorite dish, it's never the same again.



So, Judge, hats off to you for staying quietly dead, even when your nice remastered discography came out a few years ago. I'm glad we can rely on somethings to stay just how we remember them. But you know, if you ever do get back together, call me up so I can buy a ticket, but please, for the love of Pete, don't record anything new.

Top of the ummm... Pops?

His highest charting output since 1994's 4P, the new Danzig record "Deth Red Sabaoth" debuts this week on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart at #35 and at #3 on the Top Independent Album Chart. The album sold 11,700 copies, nearly what his last two efforts sold in their first week COMBINED. Just wanted to mention that.

I Did Shows, Sometimes.

If you hung out with me from late 1993 on, you probably heard me talking about how much I loved Mouthpiece from Trenton, NJ. I would travel all over the east coast to see them play and I couldn't even tell you how many times my friends and I drove out to Jersey to see them. Also, I, like many hardcore kids before me, realized that with a couple of phone calls and some elbow grease, you could set up a show for your favorite bands. My friend Jeff and I set out to do just that in January of 1995:


I had done shows before: most notably Unbroken and Undertow at the same venue (the Irish Center) the summer before and Jeff had been doing shows off and on in his home town of Hamburg, NY. We put our heads together and came up with this line up. Our bands: Plagued with Rage(mine)and Drought(his) would open, along with Scott from Slugfest's new band Despair (their second show)and heavyweights Chokehold and Mouthpiece would headline. I don't know if we knew what we were in for.

The show ran pretty smooth, with the turn out of 275 far exceeding what we had expected. Aside from some drunken Irish Center member punching a girl in "the pit," some hardcore girls offending older members by walking around in sports bras, someone "tagging" the bathroom walls (ahh, the 90's)and a light fixture being broken, the show was amazing.

I remember paying Chokehold $250 US and whatever Canadian money we collected at the door and they tried to GIVE SOME BACK, saying it was too much, but they were the reason a lot of kids were there (as 100 left after they played) and deserved it. I remember paying Mouthpiece $350 and having to pay the Irish Center extra for the broken fixture/ fixtures. Other than that, I can't remember what else we paid out. I watch this video now and see a lot of faces I still see and many I don't. Well, that and I see me, the biggest goofball in the world, enjoying the music he loves most. Thank you Mouthpiece and thank you Buffalo Hardcore.

(Thanks to ERICWENDYBRIAN on youtube for posting these videos, whoever you are.)

No Mom, It's a sleepover: my first real hardcore show

My parent's weren't the most strict, but it seemed like until I was 17, they really weren't too keen on me participating in the music scene I felt a part of. Maybe once every two or three months, I could garner the permission to go see Overkill or Cannibal Corpse or Sacred Reich but for the most part, they shot me down. When they denied me a Testament/ Wratchild America show I REALLY wanted to go to, I decided that it was best to cut them out of the process completely.

In the waning days of 1990, my friends and I took a trip to Home of the Hit and found out a devastating all NYHC bill (with local heavy weights ZT opening) was coming at the start of the new year. Slyther, local scene guy and record store clerk, gave us the details and explained to us that the Biohazard record, a band we had never heard of, was already something people were really talking about. We all knew Agnostic Front were legends, we had their most recent release: "Live at CBGBs" and loved it. Sick of it All's "Blood, Sweat and No Tears" got a lot of rotation in our friend Jeff's (our personal chauffeur) car. ZT were the local heroes. This show was a MUST SEE, even if I had no idea who No Joke was, at the time.
I wasn't going to chance that my parent's wouldn't allow me to go and a plan was enacted. I would spend the night at my friend Greg's house and all was set, although the night before, our plans were almost ruined.

Jeff, Bob and myself were coming home from the mall on January 4th and it was snowing pretty hard. Jeff took a turn too sharp and BLAM we ended up jumping a curb, bending the rim to his front tire and getting stuck in the grass/ ice for hours. I remember walking to a shitty motel on River Road and convincing the owner to pull us out with his pick up. I also remember Bob flipping off the cop who stopped to help us out; of course, he did this every time the cop turned around so it was enough to get a punk rock half- point, but not enough to get us arrested. The next day, Jeff almost didn't find a rim at the junkyard, but at 6, he did and with just enough time to spare, we all piled into the aptly named "Skylark of Death" and headed off to the show, with Bob in the trunk, I should add. We parked and waited in line for a long time on the winding stairs that led up to the Skyroom.

Going to shows almost 20 years ago was much different than it is today. There were hardcore kids, skater kids, nazi skinheads, metal heads, punks, weirdos and all other types with us in that stairwell. I should also mention there were hardly any girls. I should point out that that is the BIGGEST difference between then and now. After the "alternative music" boom in the 90's more and more woman came around to check out shows. Hey, I'm not complaining, I'm just saying that's how it is.

No Joke played first and were terrible. I saw them many more times opening shows over the next 3 years or so and they never impressed me. But they did leave an impression, as all the singer Justin would talk about how nobody was dancing for them and that it must be because of the blizzard-like weather.

Zero Tolerance played second and blew my mind. This was my first time seeing them and although I had a tape of their recent tracks and their "bad Blood" record, those recordings did them no justice. They were a live powerhouse! I'm glad that not only did I get this introduction to them, but that I saw them 5 more times before their demise in '93. This is a band that should be legends and hopefully their "Fuel the Fire" ep that just came out on vinyl through Reaper Records; 19 years after its initial release, will help solidify that.

Sick of it All became my favorite hardcore band of the time that night: the energy and passion they exuded was massive. They not only played pretty much all of Blood, Sweat and No Tears, but a new song and a Minor Threat cover, both of which came out on the "We Stand Alone" ep a week later. Which I, of course, went to Cavages at the mall and bought. ON CASSETTE.

Agnostic Front were kind of a disappointment. They sounded bad and used almost the same banter as the live album I spoke of earlier. I guess they did this because they thought it's what we expected? I don't know. I remember thinking they were ok, but the REAL disappointment was them playing for only 25 minutes (the show started late) and they didn't play "Anthem" my favorite song of theirs. Looking back on my 20 year of show going, Agnostic Front have kind of been a disappointment nearly every time I've seen them (10 times) except once. One time the stars aligned properly for them and I was satisfied. Still, a 10% success rate isn't that good. I'm just glad I got to see them, when I did and where I did.

My parent's never questioned that I wasn't just sleeping over a friend's house and with the successful "wool-pulling" over my parent's eyes, I concocted more tales to be able to go to shows. Like for instance when, 2 months later, on a school night, I went with a girl named Kim to see Fugazi and Quicksand telling my parent's it was a "date."

Thankfully, a mere week after the Fugazi show, I turned 17 and they loosened the reigns a little. Which is good, because I was running out of things to tell them.

Danzig and I, Part 1: It's Coming Down

In 1988- 89 I got a copy of the self titled debut by Danzig on cassette. This is the same copy I wrote about in my blog a few days ago. I thought the album was amazing. It was dark and subtle in its approach. It truly was unlike anything I had heard at the time and it got repeated plays on my walkman. I can't explain how, a mere year and a half later, when I saw the video for "Killer Wolf" the vastness of my disappointment was. At the time, I was listening to more aggressive music than I had when I bought the first Danzig outing and jingle- jangle blues jams just weren't what my ears wanted to hear. I remember walking down Robinson Rd in my hometown talking to my friend Bob about how much I thought it was terrible. I wrote the album off and Danzig got no love from me for the rest of my high school career.

In 1995, I moved into my first apartment; a practical flop house with 11 rooms and 14 roommates nicknamed "Headquarters." No one ever did the dishes, we stayed up ridiculously late and most of the time I lived there, we didn't have cable. However, aside from the usual UHF channels and major networks we did get a pay-by-phone music video request channel called "The Box." On Occasion, one would be lucky enough to catch a Slayer video, but mostly it was whatever songs were popular in the inner city at the time. One afternoon while eating whatever awful vegan meal I had just prepared, I saw a music video that grabbed me and didn't let go; it was dark, a little twisted and sounded like it had come from the sleazy depths of hell itself. That video was "Until You Call On The Dark" and it's still one of my favorites to this day.

I couldn't believe how amazing the song was and THAT NIGHT, I went to every record store I liked in the city and picked up everything I could by Danzig: The 4p 12", the Mother 12" on purple, The Mother '93 cd single and the original inverted cross cd version of "Lucifuge." I was a little upset about abandoning the band 4 years prior and reveled in the music I had rediscovered. I needed to repent and luckily that time was at hand, the following month Danzig and company were going to play in Rochester, NY a mere hour away!

A week later, I went to purchase a ticket so I could just see these amazing songs live and the woman at the ticketmaster booth destroyed my dreams. That's right, the show was CANCELED.I found out months later, that it was because both guitar player John Christ and Bassist Eerie Von had quit the band. It would be a few more years before I saw Danzig, but that was ok because the Misfits were back, right?

Well, not quiet, but I was at that show and had fun, the "Newfits' hadn't written new songs yet and M. Graves just aped Glenn Danzig's moves and sound the whole night. Like I said, It was great, as was the show I saw them play a few months later in Toronto. After that, it was all downhill, but thankfully I found out that a new Danzig album was coming out and that he was coming TO BUFFALO!

I went to the Tuesday release for Danzig 5; "Blackacidevil," got home, popped it into the CD player and was DISGUSTED at what I heard. It is one of the worst albums I have ever purchased by an artist I love. Those Blayze Bayley Iron Maiden albums are pretty bad, sure, but at least they're still attempts at playing their style. Danzig 5 is a complete 180, an abomination of songs that I STILL cannot abide. Nonetheless, I went and saw the new Danzig band play that February 2, (1997) and it was decent. I remember at one point turning to my friend John and saying "this riff sounds like Sabbath?!?" To which he reply "It is!" apparently it was "Hand of Doom" but it was just barely recognizable. Like I said the show was nothing to write home about but it wasn't terrible, just not what I really wanted. I don't really like electronic music aside from some Devo and very little industrial so the new songs didn't do much for me. I will admit that the song "Deep" from the X-files soundtrack that preceded Danzig 5, I do like. Eh, sue me.

1999's "Satan's Child" was an improvement and I like some songs off the album, especially "13" which is now a minor hit thanks to the movie "The Hangover." But that wasn't the surprise Danzig had in store for the end of the 20th century. A bigger, more massive announcement was coming; a simple, unthinkable onetime rebirth of an evil classic known simply as "SAMHAIN."