Night Birds at Nietzsche's (last time I saw bands here was 1992/93)

I actually went to a show this year! I know, HOLY SHIT, right? Last year, I made it to a few, with Flag and Negative Approach being highlights. As a matter of fact, the Negative approach show back in November (7 months ago!) was the last show I went to until this past Thursday when I ventured out to see Night Birds.

I first heard Night Birds a few years ago with the song Killer Waves and although I didn't have any of their records, I made a mental note to get out and go see them, but something always came up when they played the Funeral Home and I missed them. However, now that my daughters are both toddlers, it's easier to get out of the house and after hearing Born To Die In Suburbia, the latest output by NB, I had to go.

I got there before the first opener went on and picked up a copy of Bloodstains Across Buffalo from a distro table. The comp is full of old punk and power pop bands from here in Buffalo from 77-84. I work with a guy who went to see all these bands during those years and he also turned me on to The Enemies 5 years ago. The Enemies are featured on the comp along with another one of his favorites: The Jumpers. One should track down a copy, as it catalogs a nearly forgotten local music scene. Also, if you ever come across the Enemies records, pick them up, you wont be disappointed; though it took me a few years to track down the Product of the Streets LP for a reasonable price. 

With all apologies to friends who may be involved, the first two openers were straight up boring; plodding along with no real hooks or dynamics. I spent most of those sets looking at my iPhone, which why Aaron and the Burrs probably seemed so good to me. Aaron and the Burrs are an instrumental band jamming upbeat surf rock with tempo changes and the typical flair, but while looking like an 80's crossover band. It was refreshing after an hour and a half of sheer boredom.

For those of you not familiar, Night Birds sounds like an amalgamation of the Adolescents, Agent Orange, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks and Reagan Youth, but with an energy that spares them from sounding like a wanna be rip off. Their set was energetic, spot on and entertaining; which is surprising seeing as the crowd was mostly there for the bar or to see the second opener. I made sure to pick up the LP versions of their singles collection Fresh Kills Vol 1, and the full lengths The Other Side Of Darkness and 

Born To Die In Suburbia which are all great. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

My boredom during the openers killed my battery, so I made a gif of the few pictures I did take. 

 FIN

My on again, off again with The Misfits Part 2

Portrait of the author wearing his favorite misfits shirt summer 1997.

So, I was singing the praises of the reunited Misfits to anyone who would listen in 1996. I had seen two incredible live gigs and  AT FIRST couldn't really tell the difference between the classic era and the current. No new songs had been released and the shows were just filled with maniacs going bananas. Although a couple shows the following year were so-so, I still carried the torch. Then something happened. Something terrible. Something that would have me cowering in the corner in fear. That something was called American Psycho.

Granted, if the album had any other name on it, I may have liked it, but I saw it as one misstep in a great catalogue and thought "fuck it, they'll still do old stuff." So when I found out that they were playing with KILLING TIME in Albany the summer of 1997, some friends and I went. After staying at some weird feminist college "we hate Jeremy compound," we got to the show really early, as we didn't have tickets and wanted to make sure we got in; and as luck would have it, we got there as Doyle and Jerry were carrying a workout bench into the club- SWEET.

While we sat our pale lumpy bodies against the wall outside the club, the promoter Ted Etoll walked up with a grocery bag and handed it to Jerry; they then began rummaging through the contents:

"Hey, I got you some Fruit Loops!"

"FRUIT LOOPS?! I LOVE Fruit Loops!"

Right there the mystique of the Misfits was dead to me. Maybe it could have clawed its way back, maybe the reunited Misfits could have won me over again... That is until I saw Dr. Chud and Michael Graves running down the street chasing after an ice cream truck. 

Killing Time KILLED IT, Anthony had less girth back then and the crowd was way into it. The Misfits put on a great "Rock Show" set and I just wasn't into it, it all seemed like a cartoon. These ice cream eating- fruit loop loving guys singing "Die Die." It was over for me BUT they did film some footage that ended up in this video:

I guess I never made it into any of the footage, probably because of my bummed out face.

My on again, off again with The Misfits. Part 1

I actually forgot all about this blog. I know last year I planning on waxing poetic about all things Dead Hearts, but I don't know, my heart really wasn't in it. I think our reunion shows in December of 2012 really gave me closure and though I like telling a good tour story, I'm not going to explore it in the way I intended with my last post, 10 months ago.

Also, since my last post in this blog, I was made a contributor to the great 90's hardcore blog Stuck In The Past I have make 3 or 4 posts thus far there, where I get to relive my 90's hardcore glory; it's been pretty swell thus far.

Also a year ago, I wrote about how I wasn't going to the Judge reunion. Though what I wrote still stands on how I felt about it, as fate would have it, I AM going to a Judge reunion in Chicago next month. My brother's band BLACK X is opening and I am travelling with them; should be a good time. ANYWAY, on to a real update:

I got into the Misfits late in life, as far as "punk rock" goes. I was into Danzig first and equated the 'Fits with terrible live bootlegs I heard in the early 90's. When I was 20, my friend Nick played a tape on a road trip; the infamous Misfits "Collection I," I was hooked the second I heard "She" and by the time I heard the bombastic and ripping "Earth A.D." I had a new favorite band. This was about a year before I rediscovered Danzig and I immediately sought out everything they released, or better yet; WHAT I COULD FUCKING AFFORD. When they announced "Collection II" was coming out in November of 1995, I made sure the local go-to record shop Home Of The Hits held one for me on green vinyl so I could pick one up after work.

I was pretty pumped to head down to pick up my copy and hopped in my van with plans to screech out of the drive way to make it to H.O.T.H. before they closed. I don't know why I put a 20 oz bottle of root beer on the dashboard and not in a drink holder, but I did. I also don't know why I turned the wheel with my body motion to catch it when it nearly rolled off said dash, but I did. I don't know why I totaled my nextdoor neighbor's mint Firebird, but I did. But goddamn that root beer was good.

My van only required minor repairs (IE: sledge hammer to pushed in bumper corner) and the record was still held for me when I arrived the next day; but let's backpedal a little bit in my timeline. Before Collection II, Static Age was supposed to be released, but was blocked, probably due to the impending boxset plans. My friends and I got word that there was going to be a static age listening party at Coney Island High in NYC on Halloween 1995. There were also rumors that the newly reformed Misfits were playing. We all bought tickets and headed down. We sat through some terrible openers, The Voodoo Glow Skulls and a GRUELLING 2 1/2 hour set by Murphy's Law. but at 1am, sure enough, some buff dudes in ripped up T-shirts took the stage, and THEY KILLED. Graves was doing his best early Glenn Danzig impression and people went NUTS.

After the show and in an alley, there was a box of opened "Static Age Is Coming" posters just hanging out by their lonesome. My friends and I grabbed as many as we could carry. The record being shelved made the posters a collectors item. I sold a bunch for between 10 and 20 dollars eventually, some dickweed has one up on ebay now for $175! Anyway, that show was great and when I found out they were playing the Opera House in Toronto in May of 1996, I couldn't miss the gig.

The Opera House show was one of the best shows I have ever seen. Keep in mind this is still 2 years before American Psycho, so it was basically a greatest hits show with a one minute and a half new song (Blacklight) which was fine. Graves was still doing his best at aping Danzig and the show had no barrier and no bouncers. if someone accosted Doyle, he'd just lay them out with a punch. It was sold out, with legal capacity being 850, I assure you there was a lot more in there. There were so many people packed in that place going bananas, that during one of my many stage dives, I couldn't get off the crowd back on to the floor and to this day serves as the only time I've "crowd ridden." So for most of "I Turned Into A Martian" I was a Lollapalooza grunger, I'm not proud of it, but it was FUCKING AWESOME. 

The thing I liked about the new Misfits at that time was, though they had a tight drummer who held it together, they still sounded like a legitimate mess. They missed cues and were often out of tune, but with the drummer holding it all together it was massive and satisfying. I sung the praises of these shows to my friends who missed them, hell, I told anyone who would listen. Little did I know that in two years time my bubble was going to be burst by an ice cream truck and a box of fruit loops...

Oh, on a side note, I guess time proved that I was totally wrong about my perception of a Judge reunion. That's just too bad. I skipped that one, though I went to the Chain of Strength/ Mouthpiece reunion in NYC last year. As there is photographic evidence in this "pit shot":

(Via The Hundreds)

 

I thought it was funny that a lot of people critized me for going to see Chain long after they were straight edge, yet Judge seemed to get a pass for that. I think Judge is an awesome band and I'm glad that people got to see them last month, but how is the standard different? Fuck it, right? I'M HERE TO MOSH. 



Thanks, MEGADETH

In 1990 I was REALLY into thrash metal; almost to a fault. I think I liked every band that was playing in the genre. Hell, even if I didn’t like a band, I probably at least liked their new, popular song (IE: “Practice What You Preach” by Testament) and the more Surf Line Original Jams involved, the better. I was a dork; I couldn’t pull off all black, a bullet belt and leather biker jacket, but I COULD wear the shit out of a Hawaiian shirt, some clam diggers and my jean jacket with an Anthrax “I Am The Law” back patch on it. Eventually, I moved on to Army/ Navy surplus and a Slaytanic Wehrmacht shirt (I have photo graphic evidence of this somewhere) but, like I said, I was a dork.

That same year, a little movie and soundtrack called ‘Shocker” came out. Shocker was a low budget horror film; made in the hopes of sparking a new Wes Craven trilogy. The soundtrack contained a heavy metal version of the song “No More Mister Nice Guy” by “Big Four” thrashers Megadeth. Now, I never liked Megadeth much. I bought a few of their releases on cassette and wasn’t impressed. BUT as I stated in the prior paragraph, I tended to like the newer popular song. I loved ‘No More Mister Nice Guy” and promptly purchased the Cassingle to jam in my Walkman on the bus ride to high school.

I’m not exactly sure at what point I became aware that NMMNG (as we shall refer to it from here on out) was actually an ALICE COOPER song; but I’m certain it was AFTER I fell in love with Dave Mustaine’s hilariously whiny version.  Looking back, I want to slap myself. The Alice Cooper original is a great look into early 70’s pop smart shock rock, whereas the Megadeth cover (especially the video) feels like extreme self-parody. I can only imagine the phone call from the execs that asked Dave to cover the tunes, where Dave replies “yeah, I’m not a nice guy; I’m a sneering manchild, I’ll DO IT!” I am an adult now and I have seen the errors of my previous ways.

NMMNG is probably the most popular song on 1973’s “Billion Dollar Babies” and is most definitely one of Alice Copper’s signature tracks. Though I am not a “greatest hits” kind of guy, when I want to rock some, uh, Cooper, I throw on 1974’s GREATEST HITS and rock the fucking Cooper out. To everything I believe in music wise, this is probably a huge affront; but when I can attribute the beginnings of my love for Alice Cooper to a really lame cover, I think it is absolutely fitting. I saw Megadeth for the first and last time in 1991 (Clash of the Titans, baby!) and Alice Cooper (solo) most recently last year and I have to say, Cooper has held up really well, whereas Megadeth has not. So, hey, either way: thanks Megadeth. Thanks for leading me to a great song and band that can get me out of the grown up funk I often find myself in.

I went and saw Iron Maiden for the 9th time in 18 years last week and they were not very good; it was pretty disapointing. I think i live in a pretty sad world when Alice Cooper can deliver a more pleasing set than my favorite band of all time. Oh well, I've got my own music to make. Later.

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.