A Swift Kick In The Bells

How often will San Francisco bear witness to a line up like this year’s Rock The Bells? Think: EPMD, Public Enemy, all eight remaining members of Wu-Tang, and seven-year-retired Rage Against the Machine. Bands that we thought we’d never see perform again. On top of that, add veterans Cypress Hill, Mos Def, The Roots, MF Doom, and Pharoah Monch--the 40,000 tickets were sold out long in advance.

Arriving at noon, the ticket line extended along the shore almost to the Bay Bridge. The water-side venue (without a view of the water) was the parking lot for AT&T Park. Newly emerging and viscously political lyricist Immortal Technique was scheduled for 12:50pm, but there was no way most ticket holders were going to get a chance to see him. The day was unusually hot and there was no shade, just pavement. The fans who’d made it inside looked confused by the lack of seating and ate deep fried hot dogs to ground themselves. From the distance, the Main Stage hurled its thunderous beats. Near the entrance the Paid Dues Stage, the smaller of the two stages, greeted the audience. Billed as an “independent rap” festival, the Paid Dues tour originated in 2006 and already boasted some of the best lyricists out to date, before teaming up with Rock The Bells this year. Now artists like Murs 3:16, Sage Francis, The Coup, and reclusive MF Doom were greeting eight times larger audiences. At 1:30, Immortal Technique left the stage, his lyrics trailing behind him like smoke behind a Scud.

At the Main Stage the crowd was thick, and left-wing politics were flying. A man stepped up after Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s set and yelled the names of men awaiting state execution, after which the crowd yelled “free them!”. Then the mic cut out and was not turned on again until Razhel’s awesome solo beat-boxing came through, followed by The Roots, who kicked into swing with an impressively complicated rhythm scheme. Captain Kirk on guitar and the dancin’ man with the sousaphone gave a great performance. Next up were Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Flava Flave, who burst on stage with an energy that unfortunately soon subsided. Even the brilliant red beard of Anthrax’s Scott Ian couldn’t maintain, since his road-beaten guitar was inaudible. However, it was Public Enemy.

As the sun began to sink, Cypress Hill lit up the night. Their set was incredible. A couple songs in, Sen Dog asked B-Real if it might be time for a chronic break. Getting the appropriate response from the crowd, B-Real lit a huge joint, all the more massive for being displayed on the giant video screens on both sides of the stage, while DJ Muggs fashioned some beats to inhale by. Behind the group bobbed an inflatable gold Buddha with a green pot leaf on its belly. Cypress Hill covered all the old hits and ended with an aggressive version of Rock (Superstar) that got everyone on their feet, properly setting up the next group: Wu-Tang.

Wu-Tang came onto the stage like an army. The eight members stood in front with special guest Redman while their crew filled in the back. Method Man was soon crowd surfing over 36 Chambers while Ghostface Killah, the RZA, the GZA, Raekwon, U-God, Inspectah Deck, and Masta Killa held it down. At times the excessive amount of talent on the stage left one or two of the Wu dynasty standing idly, waiting their turn, but the sound was flawless and amped. A hardcore performance of Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing Ta Fuck With began completely a cappella. They took a break in honor of Ghostface’s birthday and took the opportunity to announce a new album coming out this spring. The only other break in the music was a moment of silence for Wu-Tang member Ol’ Dirty Bastard, who passed away in 2004.

Finally, it was time for Rage Against the Machine. The minutes passed like hours in anticipation as the whole audience pushed to the front. Then Zach de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk appeared through the red synthetic smoke and launched into Testify. Immediately, three massive mosh pits erupted in the middle of the crowd. The performance was so high-energy that Zach accidentally fell over the monitors at one point. Morello's guitar sounded better live than the studio recordings and Commerford’s bass filled up every spot in the parking lot. Rage ended the show with Killing In The Name and Zach made a slight but poignant change in the lyrics: "some of those that hold office, are the same that burn crosses." Then the immense assembly exited on foot, taking over 3rd Street and backing up traffic for 45 minutes, until the riot police got out of their vans and the sirens began.

Review - Show - Poison Idea @ Thee Parkside, July 20th

The night started with a friend asking me: Do you ever look at a five dollar bill and picture a beer? I said, No, I see it as two. I had about ten beers in my wallet then, and by the time I reached Thee Parkside there were only two left. The bar was already packed with an impressive display of punk fashion; seriously, the sum of silver spikes must have been in the millions. It was a phenominal showing of old school punkers. I’d just learned of Poison Idea and I guess that’s pretty fucked up since they originated in 1980, two years before I was born. The band’s line up:

Vocals-Jerry A
Drums-Chris Cuthbert
Guitar-Jimmy Taylor
Guitar-Matt Brainard
Bass-Rawbo

The original guitarist, Pig Champion, died in 2006 and his presence has been missed ever since. But that didn’t stop Poison Idea from rockin’ hard as fuck. But wait a second, who played first… oh yeah, the Texas Thieves! It’s great to see an opening band that lists the headlining band as an influence on their myspace page (and they‘re from SF people). These guys have a sound that almost rivaled their stage performance. Lead singer Fozzy began the show by slapping hands with everyone in the front row and calling them by name. Then they launched into superfuckingfast punk. I really liked them. The guitarist Johnny Bouldt was asked to tell the girls in the audience what he did to play the show, to which he responded, “I had to suck all yr dad’s dicks to play this show!” Later, Fozzy screamed to the crowd, “What’s it gonna take to get you to run around and hit each other?” It made me laugh really hard (while getting hit).

The Midnight Bombers were up next and the lead singer kinda ruined it for me, too self-obsessed. Also, they wore stupid matching outfits. But the music was alright and the drummer was a huge motherfucker. When he hit things it felt like Armageddon. He really should be in Nile or Napalm Death or something. Hey, dude, if you want to play with my death metal band email me!



I’m not going to say much about Poison Idea’s sound besides that it was tight, had a sense of humor, and hard. Earlier in the night it had begun to dawn on me that they were really big. I’d gone out to the patio and saw a neverending line set up in front of the Sold Out ticket booth. Quite impressive for 17th and Winsconsin or whatever. My bro said he was standing on the bar because the mosh pit was everywhere. At one point all the tables in the bar were even taken outside to make more room. That might explain why all my pictures suck. Anyway, here they are. Props to the bouncer (pictured below right), you earned yr pay that night. Poison Idea fucking rules!

RELAPSE CONTAMINATION TOUR featuring FaceDownInShit, Minsk, Cretin, Fuck The Facts, and Unearthly Trance @ The Elbo Room 9/11/06

Southern super fried is, perhaps, one way and “the bass player is fucking wasted” is definitely another way of describing FACEDOWNINSHIT as they shuffled on the stage last night.























Bassist Waylon Riffs’s 3rd person characterization of himself led into a crusty set of pain soaked riffs with bouts of stoned giggles in between. This band has been on my list of must-see for two years now; initially I heard of them through a freight hoppin’ motherfucker from their home town, Greensboro S.C. Their sound resembles much of the sludgy grunge-metal from that region: Eye Hate God, Catharsis, Buzzov-en. Their hypnotic riffs are so completely full with seething disgust for corporate society and its minions that they pass for blast beats. It feels like these guys just want to live out in the woods doin’ their shit, smokin’ weed, playin’ music, runnin’ with the wolves, but they can’t, and are really pissed off that they can‘t.







SATAN
RULES.









I was already acquainted with, and somewhat prepared for, their sound, but their stage presence was a whole other dimension. Their sound check began with them falling into a jam almost against their will, it came that easily. Then the bassist cut the mic-check short by announcing that “we’re only screaming, that’s all we’re gonna do - you shouldn’t even be able to hear us”. Jason Crumer, the guitarist who looked straight outta a death metal Dazed and Confused, catatonically held his guitar like his gut and laughed with eyes 99.9% shut. There was no bullshit here, the boys were just out to have a good time. I mean, their passivity was disarming; anyone having a bad day just had to laugh with them. Launching off with a song from their new album NPON they put to rest any argument against their ability to play well while all fucked up. Crumer’s guitar had a warm fuzz that focused on bright tone - reminiscent of Thin Lizzy or ZZ Top - but BRUUTAL! Ryan Wolfe’s drums kicked in catchy and poignant with a million fills. He has the ability to play a beat so that it rises in intensity steedily to the point when you think it can’t go any higher but it does. And with the multitude of riff extensions he holds everything together.

In between songs the band left long pauses of southern hospitality. The crowd heckled with things like “Go back to Florida”, “I’m gonna throw myself out”, and of course “Play it slower”. But FACEDOWNINSHIT were in no hurry to get to the next song - instead they just kinda laughed hard and heckled back. I mean, from the depth of the depression in the lyrics you’d think there’d be signs of anger in their mien but they were completely down to earth and well natured. The show continued to rock til the last song and at one point filled the room with their characteristic whining feedback, forcing most of the crowd to hold their ears shut: the show was fucking loud. So loud, in fact, the police arrived shortly after they left the stage.














That night four other bands played: Minsk, Cretin, Fuck The Facts, and Unearthly Trance (in that order). Unearthly Trance headlined and I wish I’d gotten a better listen but the night was old at that point, and I hate to be a puss, but I was tired. I do have to throw a shout out to Cretin for keepin’ it real with the Carcass/Phobia stylin’ old school grind. I especially liked “A little ditty about a girl with one titty”. And for anyone who cares, Fuck The Facts is the fucking shit. I gotta say, when the 95lb lead singer Mel Mongeon and bassist Marc-Andre Mongeon took the stage barefoot I was a little skeptical but it turned out they were not talentless hippies. At first they reminded me of Dillenger Escape Plan “mathmetal” or whatever. Some of the guitar was really mind blowing and the dead stops consistent and precise. As the show went on elements of grindcore as well as NYC or Boston hardcore came out. Mel belted heavy growls and the few times she did her pig-squeal-style-vox it was off the hook. Personally I’d like to hear more of that from her because it gave more range to her sound. Part of Mel’s performance is taking a drink of water and spitting it on the floor in front or on the audience; she also let it kinda drip outta her mouth and down her chin. You thinking what I’m thinking? Good prop. When their set was over their merch table was totally swamped and I think that speaks for itself.

Review - Japanther @ The Hemlock Tavern

Just a quick shout out to Japanther for the show at The Hemlock Tavern (8/24/06). The Brooklyn based duo has sprung a west coast tour on us this month in cahoots with This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb. They played with Two Gallants in a warehouse in Oakland the night before, or at least tried to play, the police showed and shut it down. So when their telephone receiver/ microphones were acting up at the beginning of the set at the Hemlock you could tell they were exasperated and just wanted to play. Finally everything was in proper functioning order and they cranked their samples, complete with additional musical accompaniment throughout the songs, and tore up. Ian Vanek plays the drums like he wants to kill you but laughs pleasantly the whole time. Matt Reily’s bass is fast and on point and when he sings harmonies he looks like a grandmother swooping down to plant a kiss on your forehead. Seriously, it’s quite remarkable, people were holding their fucking guts because he looked so funny, lips puckered out and eyes squinted, almost closed. I played a show with these guys back in New York 2 years ago and since then they’ve added the samples and got a hell of a lot tighter. A fast intense song begins on a sample, and I mean on a sample, there is no intro. They nailed it and 20 seconds later it was over. Another song includes overly long stops that come to an abrupt end when bass and drums thunder in. Their timing didn’t seem that exceptional until I noticed that they weren’t looking in each other’s direction. Ian plays with his back to the audience (perhaps to showcase his drum technique?) while Matt stands up front. At one point during the show they invited a guest vocalist up named Stephanie or something. She added another level to the harmony as well as made some snide jokes. The only thing left to remark on is their completely kick-ass matching costumes. They were all black with what looked like that raised plastic goo people put on clothes sometimes. It was silvery-goldish I think and kinda made a line down the right side of their shirts and then connected and splattered down their pants. It reminded me of Star Trek meets Kid’n’Play.

Review - Soilent Green/Walken @ The Elbo Room

Soilent Green’s Sewn Mouth Secrets managed to seep all the way into Maine’s back woods when I was in high school, their crusty thrasher sound and ADD time-changes carried me through the otherwise boring crap that surrounded me with hopes for better days; last night (6/19/06) at the Elbo Room was one such day. All three bands knew each other and came together for that reason as much as to play metal. Soilent Green drove up from San Diego to play this originally unscheduled show. Mendozza, traveling from Vancouver, covered the most distance and opened the set with slow sludgy riffs. The music reminded me at times of Kyuss and Sleep, at other times of other old extinct bands. The groove was mediocre but their stage presence was lacking.

Next up was Walken, I’d never heard of these guys but they’re from San Francisco and fucking rocked the place. A combination of harmonic guitar work reminiscent of the D.C. scene’s Page 99, Mannequin, and Crestfallen with sudden thrusts of screaming mayhem. Lead singer Shane Bergman kept the audience on its toes with hilarious commentary throughout the set as well as the occasional empty beer can. Walken were getting pummeled with empties by the second song. A couple people commented on the fact that the clean guitar work was sloppy but I can’t dwell on that. The over-all effect was an awesome show and the drunken stumblies over frets was not distracting, perhaps even expected. Shortly afterward I spoke with Sean Kohler (Walken guitarist with silly hat) and told him I wanted the album with the second and last songs they played on it, his response was that those songs will be on the forth-coming album so keep your ears open.


Soilent Green took the stage with a presence of experience and their sound was amazing. Brian Patton’s Mesa Boogie guitar rig was the crunchy tone-filled fuzz almost as it is on the albums, just a little more distorted and FUCKING LOUD. They opened with Forgive & Regret off the new album Confrontation. Next up ripping into the southern-fried Sewn Mouth Secretes. Then back to the new stuff with Leaves Of Three. The changes were all there and brutal as fuck. The pit was soon dominated by inhumanly large dudes and the space before the stage completely bare. A few people mentioned that it was intimidating. I’m no megalithic mastication but I had a great time jumping around. However, having the space so open was a bummer, other than pit it was just a line, two-deep, along the front of the stage screaming with Ben Falgoust. But I wasn’t really paying all that much attention to that as Soilent Green grinded away. They played all of the jazzy interludes on Sewn Mouth Secrets and it felt like we were in the Louisiana swamp drinking fresh lemonade. Hell I even swatted a few flies. The crowd demanded an encore and received one of the heaviest songs I’ve ever heard from Soilent Green. Sick show!!!

Review - Hank III @ The Fillmore

Last night (6/8/06) the Fillmore Theater’s main floor was alive with boot stompin’ honky-tonkin’, shrill yee-haw’s were in the air, and toward the end of the night a giant circle pit crept up to center stage. Who else could it be, bringing together the elements of quality country and deathmetal, than Hank 3. The Murder Junkies were the opening act, the band formerly headed by G G Allin, featuring the vocals of Jeff Clayton of ANTISEEN. I missed their set due to some last minute whiskey drinkin’. The guy waiting with me for the 22 line to arrive turned out to be going to the same show and so we passed the wait with Jameson. Seven shots and one on the rocks in 45 minutes, not a bad start.

After arriving and getting drinks at the bar we stared at the sold out scene before us, cowboy hats of course, metal and country tour t’s---it was my first time in the theater and now I understand why so many people could call it there favorite venue in San Francisco; the room is huge but not too huge, with tables and balconies, and the stage is the entire width of the room more or less. Joe Buck, the bassist, came on stage while the equipment was being set up and gave one of his traditional snarls; Mohawk a mess dressed in cover-alls he set the crowd cheering. When Hank III, complete with the band, hit the stage the place exploded. He began by asking if everyone was ready to raise some hell tonight cause he was. You can imagine the response.

The first song was the title track off their new album Straight To Hell. They skipped the eerily gospel sounding intro on the album version and started the show off at rocket speed. Hank’s acoustic sounded like crisp metallic machinegun fire and then he broke in: “well, my worn out boots are takin’ me up town/ and I’m lookin’ for trouble and I wanna get loud/ serve me up a drink and I’ll shoot it back down” which seemed rather appropriate for our evening. I noticed that I was one of those obnoxious people who scream the lyrics as loud as they possibly can and that the couple in front of me had relocated, but then I realized also that I was one of hundreds of Hank fans doing so. Plus, wasn’t that what the lyrics were about?

The second song, coming off his original album Risin’ Outlaw, was one of several surprises Hank had in store that night. The next astonishment was Adam McOwen’s fiddle solo. I wish I could convincingly describe the rapid speed and hardcore intensity that he put through those speakers --- it blew away the entire crowd, you could look over and just see jaws across the board flapping in the tonal blast. At the end of the song/solo there was a half-second when everyone was still in shock, a brief glimpse into the swollen awe in everyone’s chest, and then a forest fire of applause. It wasn’t a Gibson Flying V, it was fiddle, but he could tour with Slayer and still kick ass.



Hank and co. must have played almost everything off of Straight To Hell with the crowd backing up the chorus lines and rebel yells in step with the more anti-establishment lyrics. That’s when it began to wear on me, these anti-pop catch-phrases were being gobbled up while some of his more impressive musical feats were passing by unnoticed, but that’s show business, right? The less familiar fans will grab onto the punch lines first, I just hope Hank doesn’t indulge them too much. Besides the new stuff he continued throwing in songs from his first two albums as well as a couple songs that I couldn’t place as covers and might have been brand new material. His cover of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison was dead on and felt immortal, just another bad ass country singer carrying on tradition. A pleasant surprise.

Toward the end of the set Joe Buck’s stand up bass was still a-thumpin’ and McOwen’s fiddle fingers a-flyin’ but Hank’s voice began to show the effects his metal sets are taking. The metal fans were growing restless too and after about an hour he closed up shop with Five Shots Of Whiskey, did a brief rockin’ switch with the Damn Band and Gary Lindsay on back up vox, then took intermission. At this point I was totally in the bag what with the many shots and massive hits of weed from pipes, joints and whatever else was being passed around. The rest of the show was spent jumping around in the pit and throwing metal horns to the sky; I think I remember him saying that a song was a Super Joint Ritual cover, the band that Hank joined up with Phil Anselmo from Pantera. Otherwise it was a heavy blur of metal.