I can't stop listening to Gastunk.

 It's been a long time since I've jumped into blogland. in the past 3 1/2 years since my last post, I did try my hand at doing a very similar podcast, utilizing some of the content I've touched on in my writing, but after three episodes deleted the whole thing. Let's consider it a pandemic dream that is best left to the black void of the ether.

How cool

Something has happened to me over the past 5 or 6 years and it's probably been a long time coming: I got into Japanese metal and hardcore, mostly from the mid 80's to late 90's. I think this comes from the fact that many current American and European bands aren't speaking to me creatively (or musically!) and that I have gotten full-bore back into record collecting. Thumbing through the crates and rarity walls on the left coast has had me fumble into many an insanely rare Japanese record, temporarily satiating my desire to have the coolest record collection in my wine country suburb. 

Gastunk 1986

Jurassic Jade, Doom, X (Japan), Ghoul, Aion, Gauze, Death Side, Poison (Arts), Judgement, Shell Shock, Paintbox, Crow, Gudon, The Execute, Gism... The list goes on and on, but my current fascination is with GASTUNK. I know I am WAY behind the curve on this one particularly, but I think this journey makes sense. 

I first became aware of Gastunk as many in the US "of a certain age" did: through Pushead and the masters of making bands relevant through t shirt wearing; Metallica. Kirk and Lars wore their shirts in photo shoots and Pushead not only painted an incredible portrait of  frontman Baki, but also used it on the Gastunk LP he himself released on Pusmort Records "Under the Sun" in 1987. 

Those of us who read Thrasher magazine in the late 80's couldn't help but trip over something Pushead related- either writing, art or  Zorlac Skateboard ads with his signature skulls puking or bleeding all over it. Pushead's style appealed to aggro adolescents everywhere. Let's face it, across the board, his shit rocked. He even interviewed Glenn Danzig for christ's sake. He did the art not just for Metallica's shirts, but also their SKATEBOARD. Pushead was achieving the things a landlocked 14 year old could only dream of. Top all that off, he had an AWESOME band (Septic Death) and an incredible record label (Pusmort).

Metallica liked Gastunk, Pushead liked Gastunk, looking at pictures in metal magazines and skatezines- it seemed like everyone liked Gastunk, but I didn't. I heard about 45 seconds of "Under the Sun" and wrote them off forever. Later Skater. 

Metallica, T Shirt Champions

Two years ago (nearly exactly), however, that all changed. I had come across a test press of the INCREDIBLE 1986 "A Farewell to Arms" LP compilation featuring Lip Cream, Outto, Ghoul, The Execute, Gauze and you guessed it... Gastunk. When the record arrived, I put it on and went about my business in my living room. At the end of side A, something magical happened: I heard an absolutely perfect song. A seamless blend of metal and punk that at the same time was neither, yet BOTH. That song was The Eye's by none other than Gastunk... Perhaps further research WAS actually needed.

Thanks to all things digital I was able to find many of their releases on Archive.org to  explore and got right into re-evaluating all things Gastunk.  Holy shit were they a great band. Their first self-titled EP and "Dead Song," their first LP (both from 1985) are incredible! "Vanishing Signs" and the "To Fans" EP (1986) are right in that pocket as well, but the other singles and EPs from that year start to slide a bit. Then I got to my former nemesis, "Under the Sun," and it was like wrecking a "new-to-you" car. It sounded less confident and cheesy. The material after was practically indigestible. But MAN, that stuff from 85-86 kept me engaged, I listened to it over and over and over. I read every scrap about the band I could online and procured physical copies of "Dead Song," "Vanishing Signs" and "To Fans." I then found that there were two versions of "Under the Sun" released- the original Japanese version on Vice records released in June of 1987 and the US version on Pusmort in November 1987- this version had the vocals redone in English and a different mix. I sought out the original and boy oh boy, it is 100, if not 1000, times better and I now consider myself a fan. Gastunk is all I want to listen to, all the time. Maybe I'll give that last LP another shot too but let me revel in this small victory first. 

Unfortunately, Gastunk barely made it out of Japan before breaking up in December 1988. Though, in early 1988, they DID play two US shows: one In Long Beach at Fender's Ballroom in February with Nuclear Assault and another, 36 years ago today, at The Whiskey A Go Go in Hollywood. Video shows it's a far cry from what was going on in '85, but they were a band that continued to play their classic with the new/ current stuff their entire career... Oh to be a fly on the wall on 3/14/88.

Feeling sad but I can't fight it- Home (Naked Raygun)

EDIT: boy do I have egg on my face. I sent this entry to the best friend mentioned in the story and he let me know I had confused two Thanksgiving movie treks into one. The discovery of Naked Raygun, for me, actually took place on November 26th, 1988 when he and I went to see They Live, a movie we both LOVED, I got the NR record and he got Death's Leprosy on cassette. We all went and saw Predator 2 as as a big group, with more friends (as we had actually made some by that point in High School) he also says he doesn't look at P2 is as harsh of a light as the rest of us... ANYWAY, enjoy this MOSTLY true story:

On November 23^rd, 1990 my best friend and I ventured to the Boulevard Mall in Amherst NY to see the sequel to one of our most revered films, Predator. Ultimately, it was the hard sell to our 16 year old  brains, old man Danny Glover (though, at the time, he was 2 years younger than I am currently) goes toe- to- toe with the predator and wins. We HATED it. It was akin to the transition from …And Justice for All to The Black album or Technocracy to Blind, total disappointment.

While we were walking through the mail picking apart what we had just seen, we went over to regional record store chain Cavages to see what gems we could find. When I looked in my pocket to see what degree of funds I was working with, I had around $8, and lamented the fact that I had way overspent on theater snacks and food court delicacies. Thankfully, in the import section I saw an LP marked “Import- $6.99” on Homestead Records.  The layout looked strange, and I mistook Homestead for New Renaissance Records (of which, I had the Speed Metal Hell compilations) and plunked down $7 and some change for the kind of punk looking record Throb Throb by Naked Raygun.

When I put the record on, I was blown away. The power and speed of hardcore were there, but with huge melodic hooks- I was instantly a fan. Shortly thereafter, I got a copy of their second full-length All Rise on cassette from my cousin, who had it stowed in a box of stuff he didn’t like. Again, All Rise was yet another tasty bite for my ever increasing teenage musical appetite.

I already loved Raygun when I got a copy of Understand In early 1990, but that record, and more specifically the song Treason, galvanized that loved to near obsession.  I picked up their current record Raygun… Naked Raygun and aside from the opening track, which thankfully I also got as a standalone 7” single, I don’t think I ever listened to again for a decade, choosing to stick the parts I loved and leaving out the ugly bits of a band on its way out.

In the fall of 1991, I was hanging out with my friend Scott and he asked me if I had heard “the guys from Naked Raygun’s new band” he handed me an LP which I assumed was to borrow, but he told me I could keep it. That record was Strong Reaction by Pegboy and every song was somehow BETTER than Naked Raygun. I wanted to go see Pegboy with Social Distortion during the spring on 1992, but tickets were $20 and that seemed like A LOT of money for a show,  and seeing as I had seen the Bad Brains and other huge shows for $10 and under, I passed, which I regret; I have not come across the opportunity to see Pegboy since.

On Thanksgiving Day 1997, I found out in an AOL chatroom that Raygun was doing two reunion shows that coming weekend. It seemed impossible to make it happen and although I started sorting out the logistics, I decided not to take the risk of driving 550 miles with the hopes of getting into one of two sold out gigs with little money and a more unreliable vehicle. I decided that I would never see them and would have to just dig in to the recordings. My band at the time, No Reason, was asked by  Dyslexic Records (who had just released The Last of the Demohicans by Naked Raygun) and although we started working on the song Rat Patrol, and although we did play it live for fun ones, we never recorded it and the band, and Dyslexic Records both folded.

In the fall of 2006, my ex-wife and I learned that Raygun was playing a reunion gig at the Metro in Chicago that coming November.  We both decided we had to go, as one of our first conversations ever revolved around a Throb Throb shirt I was wearing.  On a hunch I Myspace messaged drummer Eric Spicer if they were doing any smaller warm up gigs and he pointed me in the direction of a Holyy Lazarski Nahane gig with The Bomb (Singer Jeff Pizzatti’s newer band) at Subterranean, a MUCH smaller club, the night before the Metro show.  This was the better of the two nights and the night where I enjoyed myself a lot more, the set list and show was more my style than the vastness of the Metro.  The Strip/ Vanilla Blue/ Dog at Large/ Entrapment/ Roller Queen/ Surf Combat/ Knock Me Down/ Rat Patrol/ Walk in Cold/ I Don't Know/ I Lie/ New Dreams.

The Metro show was one of the first iterations of “Riot Fest,” which has grown to a US Festival of massive proportions, but this was a relatively small at around 1,500 people.  I remember being mostly bored during the opening bands (even the Effigies were less than exciting), with 7 Seconds, who can get along at any show on their back catalogue of songs alone being an exception, and actually leaving the show at some point to have dinner at a sit down Mexican restaurant. Raygun were better the night before and the start stop of their first song really kind of detracted from the set’s take off.  Home Of The Brave/ Metastasis/ Hips Swingin'/ Coldbringer/ Dog At Large/ Surf Combat/ Treason/ Gear/ Suspect Device/ The Strip/ Managua/ I Don't Know/ Rat Patrol. After the set, I won an autographed Naked Raygun skateboard, which was awesome, HOWEVER, they had sold so many decks, they had none with and album art left, so they had to sign one of the company’s standard board. Jeff wrote “The Lame Eagle Board” on it and it still hangs on my wall to this day.

I was extremely saddened this morning when I awoke to a message from my friend Bill informing me that Pierre Kezdy, the bassist for Naked Raygun and later Pegboy had lost his long battle with cancer. I felt the need to write something, but couldn’t really put it into words the way I wanted to.  Raygun was the first band I 100% discovered myself, with no outside influence whatsoever, so it hits hard- they were mine and even though I didn’t know Pierre, it still hits like I’ve lost a friend of the past three decades.

“We can look back and say, ‘We were the guys out there with machetes, blazing a path through the jungle, while other people were able to follow and bring their weapons through easily. And what did we get out of it? Sore arms.”- Pierre Kezdy 2015

Black Flag Part Deux.

Remember this post from 3 years ago? 

https://ilikemusicsometimes.blogspot.com/2017/04/i-never-saw-black-flagor-rather-ode-to.html

Well, I saw Black Flag over the weekend and it was extremely underwhelming.  I intended to write a long, play by play style post about the how's and why's and that Excel is the best live band in the world(they also played) but I'm gonna just leave at this; if you have ANY inkling of going to see the current incarnation of Black Flag, SAVE YOUR MONEY. Watch a recent set on youtube. It's like ordering a pizza and being served store brand Spaghettios. It's not worth it. Seriously, DON'T. 

Al Faiths Ministry

Sometime in 1989, I was listening to 91.3 FM WBNY, the cool college radio station from my hometown that transmitted in mono, when I heard a promo for one of the student DJ’d shows.  “Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-neee, Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-neee” voices mimicked snyth/ guitar sounds and the DJ, taking up a robot like voice, began doing a promo for his hour (or two) long radio show.  I didn’t know it at the time, but this, technically, was my first introduction to Ministry, and their song “Stigmata.”

A few weeks later, when I actually heard The Land of Rape and Honey, I was blown away, plus hearing THE ACTUAL version of Stigmata gave me a little chuckle; but after the song “Golden Dawn,” interest in the album waned, as I was much more Slayer than I was Depeche Mode, or whatever electronic stuff, at the time. Thankfully, that was pretty much side one of the cassette, my preferred format at the time. When the album A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste came out in 1989, there wasn’t a single person I hung out with that didn’t absolutely love it. Hell, I even had a Chain of Strength show on video where my friend Ryan is wearing a “Taste” shirt. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, loved that record. Ministry shirts were abound, though I’m pretty sure most were bootlegs.  I loved playing the riff to “Burning Inside” on my guitar and dreamt of having a band that punks, metallers and hardcores alike all dug- how could anyone write a record so loved? I never cracked that code, but Ministry did it again with their next release.

My old roomate wearing a Ministry shirt, early 90's

Around Thanksgiving 1991, I had saved up enough money to buy my first CD player, which, at the time, were incredibly expensive.  CDs, also, were pretty expensive, but CD singles were generally under $10. The first two CDs I ever bought were NIN “Head like a Hole” and Ministry’s “Jesus Built My Hotrod.” A year later, Psalm 69 came out a pushed Ministry into the stratosphere garnering a platinum certification and mainstream attention, thanks to an appearance of videos for the songs “N.W.O. and “Just One Fix” on Beavis and Butthead.

Shortly after, I was pretty much only listening to (and buying) new Death Metal and Hardcore records; records by bands outside that realm just didn’t register. I’ll tell you though, I never stopped listening to In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up- all the heavy hitters from Land and Taste featured live- but not really sounding live, and maybe it really isn’t, but top shelf from start to finish- and features Jello Biafra and the guy from Rigor Mortis in the home video release- so cool.

In 2005, Dead Hearts played a REALLY weird show with Rigor Mortis on tour in Atlanta, and I had every intention of asking Mike Scaccia about Ministry and The Revolting Cocks, but with the vibe being very much theirs and 0% ours, I figured punishing the guy with a million questions about Al Jourgensen was probably a bad call, so I refrained.  Now that he’s passed, I kind of wish I had, but at least those guys were chill when we did briefly chat.

Ephemera from the collection of the author

In the past 5-6 years, I’ve found myself listening to more and more Ministry. I think collectively, people are becoming more interested in industrial music again, with the Industrial Accidents documentary and with the overall “buzz” I see online, I think the genre is having mini-resurgence.  When I saw that the aforementioned doc about Wax Trax records was screening in SF and that tickets were available for free on record store day with purchase of the sound track, I tried my best to get to the city to get a pair, but failed, as I live north of the city and traffic was GARBAGE all the way down. I then forged a plan, and emailed Ministry’s PR direct. After a couple emails I got to the right person and the following was in my inbox, “Hi Jeremy, thanks for reaching out! I currently have you on the guaranteed entry list - do you need a +1 or a photo pass?” and with that, I was in!

 The movie was informative, I liked that it was more a story about the owners of Wax Trax than the bands on the label, per se, though the bands were featured prominently. There were some really tear jerker moments, considering both owners passed away from AIDS- related complications. After a Q&A where Jello Biafara (go figure) talked for too long, we were lead out of the venue to line up for the show. After coming back in, Cold Cave played a set, but really lost me after 3 songs- it’s not that it was bad, it just became terribly uninteresting and once they lost me, they were never able to get me back. A guy standing behind me expressed the same to his friends after their set concluded.  Then the evening’s real treat took the stage- Ministry performing an all “Wax Trax Era” set, exclusive to these screenings.

Jello joins the band on stage for The Land Of Rape and Honey, much like the "In Case You..." VHS

From the onset, my friend Mat (my plus one) and I could tell this was going to be a set for the history books- Al was clearly in a good mood and the band sounded better than any expectations held. The Missing/ Deity/ Stigmata/ Jesus Built My Hotrod/ Just One Fix/ N.W.O./ Burning Inside/ Thieves/ So What/ No Devotion/ Supernaut/ The Land of Rape and Honey/  (Everyday Is) Halloween. I mean, look at that setlist- Incredible. I cannot stress how good of a performance it was, and I don’t throw this around lightly, after seeing thousands of bands and thousands of shows in my 30 years of attending gigs and touring, it was undoubtedly a top ten showing.

My on again, off again with The Misfits Part 3

I never expected to write a part 3, but here we are... (part 1, part 2)

Maybe something bad, maybe something good

4 years ago this month, I ventured with some friends to the annual "This is Hardcore" fest in surly, yet wonderful Philadelphia, PA, I went for the camaraderie and not to really see a specific band per se. The Jerry Only fronted version of the "Misfits" were headlining Saturday night, which had the most bands playing that I was interested in (Killing Time, Cro-Mags, and after the fact, surprisingly, Biohazard were a highlight) so I was kinda looking forward to that, especially when I saw they were going to play Earth AD in it's entirety.  Alex, Milford and I had traveled to "Natefest" earlier in the year and it was a solid crew to be travelling with.

Alex, Milford and the Author.

The shows were what festivals always are: fun at times, but arduous at best. The Misfits came on late on Saturday and the Crowd was initially amped, but without a front man, the 39 song set just seemed to drag after like the 8th or 9th song. As the set steamed a long, Milford turned to me and said "I'd never thought I'd be so bored hearing these songs." I agreed. This line up was not BAD they played just fine and was certainly better than some of the late 90's and early 2000's shows I had seen, but it was unbelievably NOT captivating.  If you watch the video of the set, it seems like they lose the crowd pretty fast.

After that, I pretty much thought I was done seeing the Misfits (again), why would I want to watch songs I absolutely love be so absolutely mundane? Not to mention, but I had seen the whole "Danzig and Doyle" thing twice and they absolutely crushed the 8 or 9 Misfits songs they did for those shows, plus they were sandwiched in between absolute classic Danzig material. On that 2005 tour, Danzig had his best post-John Christ era guitarist, Joe Fraulob, on guitar. Sad that he didn't make it longer, he could actually play the leads with the skill and feel they require. On the 2006 tour he had Kenny Hickey, another totally legit stand in for John Christ. Those dudes, plus Doyle, put the 2015 Jerry trio to shame. Not to mention in 2006, they did a bunch of Samhain songs too, apparently at Kenny's behest.

Joe Fraulob and the 'Zig 2005, by Maurice Nunez

Kenny Hickey, lifted from a Myspace fan page (lol)

Listen, I love Danzig... Misfits, Samhain and the eponymous band, it just strikes a chord with me. But this love comes with conditions. Danzig's last two records, Skeletons and Black Laden Crown were bargain bin fodder and the Misfits without him is so fucking spotty, it's really not worth the effort. But two weeks ago, tickets for the June 29th "Original Misfits" show in LA practically fell in my lap and I made plans to go and I am so glad I did.

Werewolf bar mitzvah, spooky, scary 

I gave my spare ticket to Adrian, who plays guitar in Tuning on the condition that we take his car. It also worked out that we could stay at his brother's place in Ventura. The trip was planned and actualized fairly quickly and soon enough we were at the Banc of California stadium. We ran into, and then hung out with, Andy Coretex (who was responsible for the Tuning record even happening) and his family the whole day. The thing is, although we checked out where our far-away-from-the-stage seats were, we never actually sat in them, as there was a snack area, with a much closer view of the stage had a railing you could watch the show and eat at- and that's where we stayed for the whole show.

I'm having the time of my life here.

The Cro-Mags set was hit and miss, I'm not sold on this latest Harley incarnation, the Age of Quarrel songs sounded terrible, but the Best Wishes songs ruled. Anti-Nowhere League sucked, flat out and The Distillers were terribly uninteresting in this setting. Rise Against were pretty good, I really like their first few records and don't terribly mind the radio rock hits, plus Dead Hearts played with they when they were on the way up and they were really fucking cool. The crowd started to fill out 1/2 way through their set- by the time the Misfits took the stage, there were A LOT of people in that stadium.

The Misfits raged through 30 songs, all played with intensity and with 100% devastating effectiveness. I've gone over the set a hundred times in my head the past three day and it's been tough to really find the words to describe it aside from the typical- AWESOME! AMAZING! INCREDIBLE! But that's exactly what it was, awesome, amazing and incredible. I highly doubt the Misfits reunion shows that came before or that will come after will be as good. I think this is the prefect show to finally put the Danzig baby to rest, end on a high note. Especially considering there will be no higher note than the HILARIOUS $10 parking lot bootleg I got with a terribly drawn likeness of the current band on the front and the MICHAEL GRAVES era on the back! Bravo!

The Front

The Back

The Author Enojoying

To Some Avail

The old register at Sit And Spin

 In 2000, I worked one day a week at Sit and Spin records on Transit Road in Depew, NY. The two friends of mine who owned it, worked other fulltime jobs and Friday was the day they couldn’t cover, so I would leave my overnight hotel job at 7, sleep a little (like literally 45 minutes) then either drive, get dropped off, or picked up and head there to ensure there was no lapse in the wares they offered. It was usually pretty slow until after the High Schools let out, when a few punks or hardcore kids would creep in and I would mostly spend my time listening to CDs that had been traded in, or new release promos.  I remember listening to the Rancid  Self-Titled album that I thought sucked, the one with the song where Lint sounds like Adam Sandler’s “Cajun Man” on the song “Antennas”.  I also remember listening to Leatherface and the No Justice demo (which later became their 7”) shortly after The Control played with them. But the one thing that sticks out is that Sit and Spin was the place where I fell in love with Avail.

on EVERY backpack circa '95

I had first heard Avail in the early-mid 90’s and, admittedly, I didn’t “get it.” My roommate Mark liked them, my friend Heather loved them and there was always an Avail patch, or shirt, at every show, it seemed,  from ’94 on. I’m not a fan of what’s called “southern rock” so without hearing more than like 2 minutes of what their recorded works had to offer,  I dismissed them as the “punk rock Lynyrd Skynyrd” and did my best to avoid them.  I was at shows they played as support in 95-96 but I didn’t pay attention.  In the spring of 1997, No Reason played a raucous show with Avail and Grade at the Rivoli in Toronto, and Beau was very cool to us and showed us his Ian Mackaye tattoo, but I spent their set outside.

No Reasonxx at the Toronto show we played with Avail. 

In 1999, I saw them again and thought,” huh, what a diverse group of people going wild for this band” but, as I was “super mister serious early 80’s hardcore thrash guy” at the time, them cracking jokes on stage and looking like they were having a good time was the antithesis of my attitude; that all changed a year later.

One day, while trying to stay awake at Sit and Spin (I didn’t have a key to lock the front door, so leaving to go get a coffee was not an option) I plopped a trade in copy of Dixie into the CD changer, and by the time it got to the song "25 Years," I was HOOKED. I listened to it the whole day. The Sit and Spin guys used to pay me in CD’s, so I took that and Avail: Live at the Bottom of the Hill as that week's payment. I was on my way into "Availdom," grabbed their back catalog, and although I wasn’t jazzed on the recording of Satiate, the versions on the live record were incredible and they went from being dismissed to being one of my favorite bands; even if the record they released a few weeks later, One Wrench, really didn’t seem up to snuff.

 My girlfriend at the time was HUGE into J Church, so it didn’t take much to convince her to take a quick roadtrip to see them with Avail in Pittsburgh on a weeknight in March of 2001. They were incredible that night and I bought a “vanarchy” shirt, which stayed with me until the week before I moved to CA in 2015, when I sold a huge lot of shirts that didn’t fit to my friend Alex (don’t worry, I still have HUNDREDS of band shirts). I did love that shirt though; it should have been one of the ones I held on to.

Front Porch Stories was a much better record and when they announced a Buffalo show in January 2003, I was pretty stoked, plus they were playing with The Curse from Philly, who were friends with my band. I went to the show even though I hadn’t been able to hear out of my left ear for 3 days (I saw a doctor later that week, a quick procedure and 90 days of recovery and it came back) and had a fucking GREAT time.  At the end of the show, Beau was going through one of those “hotel guides” that you used to be able to get at rest stops, looking for a cheap place to crash. I worked at a Days Inn at the time (you know, the one I used to leave at 7 am to go to Sit and Spin on Fridays) and told them I could give them two rooms for 25$ each, the employee rate, as I was going to work RIGHT after the gig.  They accepted and gave me a nice screen printed tour poster, which I have no idea where it went, as I moved three times from January 2003 to summer 2004.

I'm the "A" in AK press, looking like lurch, right behind the girl with immaculate make up. 

That Tuesday in 2003 was the last time I saw Avail, and my love for them has only grown. I listen to them constantly: hell, I even named my current band, Tuning, in part because of the Avail song by the same name. Two days ago they announced their first show in 12 years and a new online merch store. Even though I don't think I can Fly across the country again this year (I just went back east for 10 days in February) I can finally, after 4 years of not having one, get myself a shirt and revel in the memory of the path that lead me to loving one of my favorite bands. 

Best of 2018 playlist

So, I've had a little time to reflect on 2018, as far as what I was into musically. Hopefully I'll get sometime to write a little about some of the incredible (as those disappointing!) shows I saw last year.

In the meantime, I threw together a "2018" playlist, with some of the stuff I liked that was new or reissued in 2018. And yes, I put my own band on it.

https://open.spotify.com/user/1282203151/playlist/0vQEc7p3PGp4r1aQVKoH7L?si=7Te3tvU-RjO0ZSLtr17bSQ

Unfortunately, Dark Thoughts At Work is not on Spotify, because I probably listened to that LP more than any other. Thankfully, you can still check it out here: