I Like Music, Sometimes.

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

No Reason, a pictorial history.

So, My friend Mark takes a lot of pictures. Thanks to him, here is literally a pictorial history of my old band, No Reason. I thought I'd post this, as I just created a bandcamp with all of our stuff available on it for free download. https://noreasonxxx.bandcamp.com/

The Author getting ready for the first show, early 1997

First show early 1997, VFW in Tonawanda

First show early 1997

Basement show at Headquarters march '97

VFW show in South Buffalo spring '97, the "Talking" on the 7" is from this

VFW show in south Buffalo spring '97

VFW show in South Buffalo

VFW in Tonawanda, NY April 1997, our first like "crazy good' show

VFW in Tonawanda, NY April 1997

VFW in Tonawanda, NY April 1997, I'm laughing at how great the show/ sing along is

VFW in Tonawanda, NY April 1997

Toronto, spring '97

"Promo" pictures Toronto, spring '97

Us and the Buffalo crew who traveled to Toronto, spring '97

Early show at the Mercury theater spring '97

Recording the 7" spring '97

Enjoying Mighty Taco Bean Burritos while recording the 7" spring '97

Recording the 7" spring '97, Bullets and Eric Noyes came out to sing back up/ hang out

Early '97 Discovery Records show in Tonawanda

Apocalypse '97 show, July 1997

One of many shows at the Mercury Theater, 1997

Upstairs at Sikora Post, North Tonawanda, NY

Yet another Mercury Theater show 98

Yet another Mercury Theater show 98, one of the few with Glenn at home

On the road, Spring 1998

Chicago spring 1998

Toledo, Spring 1998

Toledo, spring 1998

Milwaukee, spring 1998

The only show Abe plays bass at, my brother was sick, so I sung

Eric played guitar at this show

My brother was sick, so there was a show where I sung

Second time we played Discovery records, Some dickweed from LI maced this show

Who's Emma? Toronto, first day of summer tour 1998

What became our last show, November 1998

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Slayer.

My introduction to Slayer was the Live Undead cassette that my friend Malachai let me borrow in the 8^th grade, right after he moved to my neighborhood, with the cool cover art and awesome song introduction (“They say the pen is mightier than the sword… Well I say fuck the pen, cuz it can DIE BY THE SWORD!”) I was sold and dove headfirst into their current and prior albums. I remember being on the bus in 1988, heading to the start of 9^th grade, and Malachai being so pissed at how slow Slayer’s new record, South of Heaven, was. He handed it over to me; I popped it into my Walkman and was like HOLY SHIT THIS IS HEAVY. Somewhere out there are two pictures of me from Halloween 1989 wearing my old jean jacket and Slayer “World Sacrifice Tour ‘89” Slaytanic Whermacht shirt; with eye makeup done up like Jeff Hanneman’s from the layout of Show No Mercy. You couldn’t tell me in High school that Slayer didn’t straight up rule.

this makeup, but NOT as cool.

The best photo ever taken of the author in a slayer shirt

Today, I got in a brief discussion about Slayer with a friend and it caused me to reflect briefly on all the times I had seen them. I first saw Slayer in the summer of 1991 on the legendary “Clash of the Titans” tour, which, though they played before Megadeth, they were the clear true reason why people were there. I think that was the height of their popularity and the last year (1991) that thrash metal was on top of its game. I was 17 and seeing Slayer meant a lot to me, even if I had to cram myself into the back my friend Jeff’s brother’s car- a Pontiac Firebird (they had no backseat) and tough it out for the 60 minute ride there and back.

The European leg of this tour had Testament and Suicidal opening and we get the very not thrash AIC, explain that.

I remember some Nazi skins from Rochester holding up some weird Slayer Nazi banner very briefly before they played and the pit being insane, but mostly, I watched Slayer, in awe. By this point, I had listened to them for 3-4 years and seeing them devastate an audience was awesome. As the crowd’s personal regard for safety had completely gone out the window, I found myself drifting further and further to the left of the stage, hoping to not catch a boot to the face. Hell Awaits/ The Antichrist/ War Ensemble/ South of Heaven/ Raining Blood/ Altar of Sacrifice/ Jesus Saves/ Dead Skin Mask/ Seasons in the Abyss/ Mandatory Suicide/ Angel of Death. Decade of Aggression came out a few months later and the first 11 songs were literally the set I had seen, though recorded 2 1/2 weeks later in Florida, not in an amusement park amphitheater in Buffalo. It remains one of my favorite live records (and Slayer releases) to this day.

Slayer came back around in early 1995 and played Buffalo again at the Connecticut Armory, but at the time, I was really down on Divine Intervention, their current album. Their new drummer, the “capable-but-too-many-busy-fills” Paul Bostaph and Tom Araya’s kl really detracted from the album for me. I think I enjoy it now, but then, it was too close to their “classic” material for me to really buy it wholesale. Most of my friends went; all of them praised the show. WHOOPS.

When Slayer came back around in the June of 1998, we went, even though the sampler we heard for their new record, Diabolous in Musica, was pretty bad. It came across like they were now trying to emulate the bands that they influenced to stay musically viable, than just being Slayer. Still we trekked up to Toronto and caught a great gig, with a setlist that only featured two songs off the current record (it had only come out 2 days prior) Hell Awaits/ Spirit in Black/ War Ensemble/ Death's Head/ South of Heaven/ Dittohead/ Captor of Sin/ Die by the Sword/ Black Magic/ Sex. Murder. Art./ Stain of Mind/ Dead Skin Mask/ Raining Blood/ Altar of Sacrifice/ Jesus Saves/ Chemical Warfare/ Mandatory Suicide/ Angel of Death. I remember losing my mind for Die by the Sword, Black Magic and Chemical Warfare. Though I saw them MANY times after, this was the last time I would see a great Slayer show.

Everything here says "this show will be bad," but it was actually good

About a month later, my band at the time, No Reason, went on a mostly disastrous tour, riddled with cancellations. After NOT playing a show in NJ with art metal band Isis opening- "listen, there's only ONE paying person here and she's here just here to take pictures of Isis." We called the promoter of our next show (Mike Riley, later of Pulling Teeth), two days away in Baltimore and asked if we could come out early. He was kind enough to let us stay at his place, but we did have some time before he got out of work, so we went to the inner harbor area of B-more to kill some time. After roasting in the sun for a while, we went into what seemed like an upscale mall attached and for whatever reason, there was former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo in a Bath and Bodyworks, with (what I assume was) his wife. He looked at us, sized me up with my Samhain shirt and quickly looked away, probably not wanted to be accosted by fans. When we passed him again in the thoroughfare of the mall 20 minutes later, he was wearing sunglasses (indoors) and was slouching his body posture, so we didn't bother him, because he clearly didn't want to be bothered and because we thought the sunglasses/ slouching thing was fucking hilarious.

the "metal wall" at my first apartment Circa 1995

Although the aforementioned Toronto show was the last great Slayer show I saw, I did see some good and decent shows during the God Hates Us All era, and I think that record is OK, but since then it’s been a slow slide down, with me ultimately deciding not to go see them live again after witnessing a miserable, muddy sounding performance in 2012 at the very same amusement park I had seen them at in 1991. Disciple/ War Ensemble/ Die by the Sword/ Hate Worldwide/ Mandatory Suicide/ Altar of Sacrifice/ Jesus Saves/ Seasons in the Abyss/ Hell Awaits/ Dead Skin Mask/ Angel of Death/ South of Heaven/ Raining Blood. The setlist isn’t even bad, it was the performance and that they followed Motorhead, who, even with an ailing Lemmy, blew the roof off the place. When a sick man, who is 20+ years older than you, levels your band, maybe it’s time to stop. Regardless, I still bought Repentless when it came out… old habits die hard.

Monday, July 24, 2017

"Edge Fest" 1995, a D.A.R.E sponsored event

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."

Friday, July 21, 2017

Apocalypse '97

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.

All photos by Mark Miller

Counterstrike (these kids were all like 14-15)

Counterstrike

Lockjaw

No Reason

The Author playing in No Reason

No Reason

Union

Envy

Despair

Snapcase

Thursday, July 6, 2017

A photo of me during Hatebreed in 1997 popped up online today

Enjoy.

Hatebreed at the Showplace Theatre, Buffalo, NY, 1997. (Photo: Joel Dowling)

Monday, July 3, 2017

18 Years ago today...

...I saw this show and it was a stunner.

From the "early" show:

From the "late" show:

Photo by Mark Miller

Friday, June 30, 2017

The summer I fell back in love with hardcore.

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.

Metal, Hardcore, Punk, Death Metal, Thrash Metal... whatever