Mouthpiece at the Moose Lodge in Lockport (photo courtesy of Jason Jammer)
22 years ago (July 23rd, 1995), my friend Gerald booked a show that featured two bands I was in, Plagued with Rage and Halfmast, along with local favorites Envy, Cornerstone from CT and the mighty Mouthpiece from NJ. But when we arrived at the club it was scheduled to be at, the very seedy Niagara Hotel, or as the flyer put it the "Niagara Roach Hotel," it was locked up tight. I had only ever been to one other show there, 108, so I wasn't too familiar with the place other than that it was a dump. Maybe management took exception to being called the Roach Hotel, I don't know. After waiting around for a long while and kids showing up and all the bands being present, we had to come up with something.
The Flyer.
The Roach Hotel, as it stands today, thanks to Google.
After some discussion, a plan was devised to go down the street to a Moose Lodge and try and make the show happen. When Gerald and I got down there, there were some old timers sitting around inside and we asked them if we could have some band play there, as the Roach Hotel had snubbed us. One of the men in charge was VERY not into having what he perceived as a bunch of punk hoodlums running round inside the sanctity of his fraternal order's meeting place.
The distance to the Moose
The Moose Lodge, as it stands today, thanks to Google.
We explained that these were straight edge bands and that there would be no drugs or alcohol at the show. Gerald was wearing a thrift store "DARE To Keep Your Kids Off Drugs" shirt, as he often did, and next thing I know I'm telling this guy, in his Moose Lodge office, that the show is a D.A.R.E. sponsored event. HE BOUGHT IT WHOLESALE and the show was able to happen, as documented by the videos below.
I asked Gerald about it today and he said; "I don't remember too much about why we couldn't do the show there. Especially since I did that 108/ Bloodlet show shortly before. My main memories were around us freaking out and you walking around downtown Lockport trying to find a solution. With one of the all time long shots actually panning out."
In the spring of 1997, I realized that the scene I was
involved in was in a really great position. Bands were touring and releasing records; and not only national, but ALSO local shows were generally well attended and exciting.
Buffalo, NY had suffered a down swing in show turnouts a few years prior, with
a lot of shows happening about 30 miles north of the city in Lockport, but by
early 97 things were really good, everyone got along and most shows were at
Discovery records, the Mercury or Showplace Theater(s).
Snapcase had been around for 7 years at that point and had
brought a lot of newer, younger kids around, breathing fresh life and injecting
new ideas into an otherwise rigid scene. Despair had kept around some of the
older guys, Union brought the straight mosh, Lockjaw brought the weird mosh and
Envy brought the fun. Also, the band I was in at the time, No Reason, was doing
way better than expected with a well received 7” and two demos under our belt at the time. Even
newer bands seemed to be holding it down- it was really a thing to behold.
Inspired by the insane "all local" line ups of the early 80’s
DC hardcore scene, I thought it would be a good idea to do a show that was all
the Buffalo Hardcore bands who were “making it happen.” It came together a lot
easier than I thought it would, mainly because everyone in Buffalo at the time
was feeling the same vibe; things were good. Most importantly, Snapcase were
on board to be the “surprise” headliner.
Despair committed to play and realized that it fell during one of their
tours and miraculously did a 20 hour drive straight from Denver, CO to make the
show. It all worked, even after the show got moved from the planned Discovery
Records to the Mercury Theater and the club owner, Dan, and I began butting
heads over it and his security; which reared its head again the following year
when I did another show there.
The show was also Envy's record release for their LP
I can’t believe that it’s been 20 years. I honestly believe
that the Buffalo scene was never that strong again, with so many quality bands
releasing records and touring and inspiring people to come out to shows and
join in. It was a rare occasion were multiple bands were having success in a
very small city, instead of one, maybe two bands being able to draw. There was
a brief heyday with the Funeral Home a few years back, but that revolved around
a PLACE I think more than bands per se. I hate that I'm posting an all "rainbows and balloons" nostalgia post, but really, it was an incredible time to be involved. I've had my ups and downs with the hardcore scene I grew up in, but I have always been proud to have been a part of it and especially proud of this show.
By the summer of 1995, I had been going to hardcore shows for 4 1/2 years and, although I liked a lot of the current crop of bands, I wouldn't say that I LOVED any of them. My favorite hardcore bands were mostly from the mid to late 80's and from Southern California; and that sound was all but dead by the mid 90's. My friend Bill had gone on a road trip to see Mouthpiece (whom I liked) play with hometown glory boys Snapcase and near death metal Bloodlet (whom I also liked). He came back saying "Dude, I just saw your favorite new band!" and gave me two seven inch records to listen to. Those records were by a band called Ignite. I fell in love with Ignite the second I heard the song "Straight Ahead." Now I've never able to confirm if the band ACTUALLY had members of Uniform Choice, like I was told they did, but members of No For An Answer and Unity was the selling point that also went straight to my heart.
Ignite got added last second and didn't make the flyer.
literally 6 days after that show were my friends "discovered" Ignite, we drove out the NJ and saw them play twice in one day. In the afternoon, they played a basement show in New Brunswick, NJ, later that evening, they played a Knights of Columbus in Boonton, NJ. The basement show was packed and awesome. Some guys from Mouthpiece played the Justice League song "Chain of Strength" with Casey, Ignite's drummer, who had sung for JL, singing. We grabbed a quick bite, braved NJ traffic, and drove the hour or so (the "hour or so" drive ended up taking more like two hours) to Boonton, following another car full of people, who we didn't know, that had some hardcore stickers on the back of it . We had no idea where the show was other than the town and, on top of that, the car we were following had no idea that we were relying on them to lead us there, so we lost them. We kind of meandered around Boonton a little trying to find the "legion hall" where the show was going on, but had no luck. We finally went to a gas station and I asked the clerk if he knew where "the legion hall that had bands playing at it" was. He wasn't sure, but said that there was a Knight of Columbus not too far from there. A couple of turns later and we were there. I remember standing outside for a little bit, but we basically got there just in time to see Ignite.
The flyer for the show that I lifted from someone's Instagram
So, ON THIS DATE, 22 years ago, you know, like TODAY, I saw Ignite and they were so awesome. I saw them literally 3 more times in NJ that summer and played shows with them during the Halfmast summer '95 tour (eventually No Reason and The Control played with them as well). Below is a video of the Boonton show that someone was nice enough to upload last year.
I traveled all over to see them from 1995 until around 1998. I sent in an email, to throw my hat in the game, when it was announced that they were looking for a guitar player after Joe Foster left. I remember the email said to learn two songs that were my least favorite of Past Our Means and I never followed up (it was a long shot anyway). but without Joe's guitar playing, it wasn't the same for me, I didn't get the same visceral feeling from A Place Called Home like I had with their previous records and their shows on this century's side didn't connect with me. Not that it's bad per se, it's just for someone else. I like to think I love Ignite for what they were rather that what they became.
I first heard Bolt Thrower in 1990 on the US cassette release of the Earache Records Grindcrusher compilation. The licensing of Earache releases to Relativity/ Sony distribution opened up the world and ears of metal fans across the US; thrash metal was out, death metal and grindcore were in, and I was no exception to that change of mind. The loosely slayer-esque, down tuned, syrupy-yet-metallic riff that opened Bolt Thrower’s “World Eater” was as terrifying as it was refreshing. I was a fan from the first time I heard it and as an added bonus, I could play it on guitar.
In the
spring of 1991, I was in English class with a young teacher named Ms. O’Leary. Her
brother, apparently, worked for some division of Sony and sent her a box full
of promotional cassettes. On occasion, these would get distributed to us in
class. I was lucky enough to be rewarded with a promotional copy of Warmaster,
Bolt Thrower’s first true masterpiece one day after answering a question about
literature; the record wasn’t out in the States yet. I listened to that
tape on the bus in my Walkman nearly every day. “What Dwells Within” became my favorite song
at the time, mostly because, again, I could play the main riff on my guitar
without too much of a struggle, and man did that riff hit all the sweet spots
in my teenage brain.
I ended up with a lot of these by 1992
That
fall, which I believe was slated as a Halloween show, Bolt Thrower was supposed
to play Buffalo, but it was cancelled shortly after flyers were distributed. Heartbroken
by this, and not really digging their follow up IV Crusade in 1992,
I pretty much only stuck to Realm, Warmaster and The Peel Sessions
records and stopped paying attention to Bolt Thrower’s continued output.
In 2005,
my little brother began talking about how great Bolt Thrower was and told me that
not only was their new record, Those Once Loyal incredible, but
that all of their albums were “pretty consistent.” He agreed that IV
Crusade may not have been their best, but that I should re-examine their
catalogue. By the end of that month,
Bolt Thrower was back in my life in a big, big way; but where were they? They
seemed to stick with European touring. As the years plowed on and my listening
to Bolt Thrower grew and grew, the opportunity to see them seemed to get less
and less, but their popularity stateside seemed to be growing; and then it
happened:
"Due
to the fact that we are not real festival lovers or great fans of flying, the
chances of us ever coming to the States for a one-off show was always very
small. But after years of relentless emails from Ryan we've finally given in.
It's hard to believe that it's been 14 years since we last played in the US, so
we are very happy to announce that we are finally coming back. Bolt Thrower
will be playing Maryland Deathfest VII, on May 22-24, 2009, at Sonar,
Baltimore, MD."
HOLY
SHIT. My first marriage had just fallen apart and I found myself with a lot of
free time on my hands and a new found voraciousness
for music and shows. So, with my brother and our friend Bob, we went to Baltimore
to witness the mighty ‘Thrower along with other greats Asphyx, Hail of Bullets
and Napalm Death. We waited in line for like 3 hours to get t-shirts, and I
bought the last 2XL sweatshirt that the merch guy told us he was holding for
UFC fighter Josh Barnett, but as he hadn’t shown up yet and I had waited, it
was mine. The setlist was everything I wanted it to be: At First Light/ World Eater/ Cenotaph/ War/ Remembrance/
Mercenary/ Entrenched/ The Shreds of Sanity/ War Master/ The IVth Crusade/ No
Guts, No Glory/ In Battle There Is No Law/ When Cannons Fade/ ...For Victory/ Killchain/
Powder Burns.
The author taking it all in at MDF 2009
We heard
rumors that they may play an additional set the following day (they did,
replacing Pestilence), but we had already left and I figured that I would never
get to see them again, and even though they did announce shows in 2013, that
was right around the time my daughter was born and I had no desire to be gone
for an extended period of time away from my family. But then, a couple years
later, my Bolt Thrower Luck changed.
My
friend Ewan sent me a message on facebook to let me know he was booking the gig
of all gigs in London, Ontario, just a few hours from Buffalo; Bolt Thrower and
Razor, with the Cro- Mags as the after show. My jaw was already on the floor
when he told me that he’d put me plus one on the guest list. Bolt Thrower. Cro-mags.
FOR FREE. I rode up with the drummer of my band at the time and his friend
Mark. We got to the show a little late and MY NAME WAS NOT ON THE LIST. I had
an acquaintance from Buffalo give me his spare ticket at the door, thankfully,
but my plus one was going to be shit out of luck, but after a couple of calls
to Ewan, he apologized and got us all sorted for both shows. War / Remembrance/
Mercenary/ World Eater / Cenotaph/ Anti-Tank (Dead Armour)/ Warmaster/ Forever
Fallen/ This Time It's War/ Rebirth of Humanity/ The IVth Crusade/ No Guts, No
Glory/ ...For Victory/ The Killchain / Powder Burns/ At First Light/ When
Cannons Fade. We didn’t know it at the time, but it would be Bolt Thrower’s
second to last show ever.
Photo by the author
Photo by the author
In a
smaller club called Rum Runners attached to the venue was the hardcore show/
after party. I spent most of that show talking to my friend Kyle, who is always
a pleasure to “shoot the breeze” with and mostly missed the openers. Around 2
am the Cro-mags hit the stage- yes, TWO FUCKING AM, but they played “Crush the
Demoniac” and I enjoyed the set, as I hadn’t seen them since March of 1998, but I
don’t think I’m an after party kind of guy.
Cro-Mags photo by the author, the singer looks like plastic
A few
months later, Kiddie Kearns, Bolt Thrower’s drummer passed. He was three years
young than I:
“With
the heaviest of hearts, and still numb from shock, we have to share the very
sad news that on Monday 14th September Bolt Thrower lost our powerhouse
drummer, Martin ‘Kiddie’ Kearns. After the first rehearsal for our upcoming tour of Australia, Kiddie suddenly
felt unwell which continued throughout the night, and the next day he passed
away peacefully in his sleep.
He was a fantastic Dad, husband, son, friend, but to us he was always ‘Kiddie’,
the same 17 year old Coventry kid whose drumming style and personality blew us
away when he first walked into our rehearsal room 20+ years ago.
Kiddie enriched our lives, and the Bolt Thrower sound. He leaves a massive hole
in the lives of everyone who knew him and will be very sorely missed by many.
Karl, Jo, Baz, Gav & the loyal BT crew”
A year later, Bolt Thrower announced they were no more and the metal world was sad again for the loss of Kiddie Kearns. Still, I am glad
I got to witness them slay the crowd twice, also how cool is Ms. O'leary for giving me that damn tape? They say teaching is a thankless profession, but I am very thankful for my 11th grade English teacher.
Wife takes photo of the author during Gruesome while a sinus infection starts to do gruesome things to his insides
I didn’t bother mentioning in my post about the Asphyx show
that I had just gotten over pneumonia, as I had already completed a run of
antibiotics and felt pretty good. Around the time of my last post, that was starting to change,
as I just started developing a sinus infection that went into my ears and
wreaked all sorts of havoc. I went and saw Gruesome literally the day my right
ear started feeling congested, but with ear plugs in hand, or rather, ear, I soldiered
on through their incredible set. Three weeks after that show, a specialist and
two rounds of antibiotics later, my ears are still fucked and full of fluid,
but improving. The downside is that I missed a bunch of shows because of it;
Ruiner, Testament, Pallbearer, Destruction, Candlemass, the list goes on and
today I find myself reflecting on a show I went to even though I was sick as
hell.
Gruesome, photo by the Author
Gruesome, photo by the Author
In May of 1993, my friend Glen Symanski (who was later in NoReason with me) and I decided to go see Shelter at the Lost Horizon in
Syracuse, NY. I had been diagnosed with
Bronchitis that Friday, and was on an antibiotic, but really didn’t feel better
the late morning of May the 23rd when Glenn picked me up. I had my Amoxicillin bottle
with me and off we went; the thing is, I didn’t have my license yet and Glenn,
aside from knowing it was “in Syracuse” had no idea where the Lost Horizon was.
After the two hour drive there, we got
off at a Syracuse proper exit and began the search.
Glenn thought that if we found a phone booth (remember
those?) we could look up the address and go from there, but after driving
around and not having any real luck, I think we stopped pursuing that route. It
was early on a brisk Sunday afternoon in a college town and not too many people
were out and about; we drove around for like an hour and got nowhere. Now
knowing that the show hard started and feeling the pressure (with me feeling
like total shit) we spotted the man who would be our savior; a guy in a Sick Of
It All longsleeve. Mr. Longsleeve had no idea that there was a show that day,
but knew where the Lost Horizon “kind of was” and we got to the show right as
Vision started playing.
Shelter/ 108 tour poster from the internet
Vision were ok, they played a lot of songs that I didn’t
know at the time, but what I do remember was that Dave, their singer, had all
of his hair stuffed up into a winter cap and at some point a stage diver made a
point to take the hat down with him and out came Dave’s flowing 90’s metal
locks. 108 took the stage shortly after and were absolutely devastating. I
remember standing in the middle of the “pit” during their set in total amazement
about how insane their energy was. I also was hacking my lungs out, so
apologies to anyone who got sick after. Shelter headlined but weren’t half as
good as they had been the two years prior. For me, nothing can top the show
they played at Randall Studios in Buffalo in June of ’92, which to me was their
pinnacle, although more success definitely came to them later on.
The drive home was uneventful and the cool thing about a lot
of those Syracuse matinees (but not all, some were goddamn marathons) was that,
even after the two hour drive home, it was light out and the evening was still
ahead of you. Long after I had gotten over the Bronchitis, the same tour played
Buffalo the following August with Against All Hope and Slugfest (their last show) opening. 108
was even better that night, confronting dance floor bullies during their set
and practically exploding on stage. Following that, Shelter came across like
behaved school children.
The differences between 19 year old me and 43 year old me are
often time few and far between and yet at the very same time stark. I think one of those stark differences is that sick 43 year old
me would’ve missed 108 in their prime to gladly stay in bed.
