1st Show

     

 (Heath Dedger @ The Monster House, 9.28.2008)

So, what happened to the prank?

German punk

“You should thank your grandfathers and, maybe even great-grandfathers, for kicking the shit out of our grandfathers. If it wasn’t for them we would all be eating sourkraut and listening to marching band music.”

     

(Dean Dirg @ the Monster House, 9.27.2008)

Chess Boxing

Got to Chris and Robyn’s late, and missed the main event. Would anyone else be interested in a regular chess boxing series?

 

Mouse Holocaust

BMX Friday

Shit makes me want to go ride, but … I really should go to work.

Deadman

Blackman

Punk’s Dead (sorry, that was too easy)

Michelle found this a while ago in an interior design magazine and it got buried alive on my desk. It almost sounds too absurd to be true – the famous punk venue CBGB’s gets turned into an uber-expensive boutique that sells $1,600 leather jackets - until you think about how shitty the place got under their own control. Either way, Old Hilly’s still rolling in his grave.

While living in New York I only went to CBGB’s twice. Once to see my old college roommate’s band play in the basement (he was a high school football playing nu metal fan before he met me, now he’s into stuff remotely hardcore). We got drunk in their van, and I haven’t seen or talked to him since.

The other time was to see Conflict. We paid $30 because it was a “benefit” show to pay their legal fees fighting eviction (they should have just used the CBGB’s T-shirt fund). I was going to post a few of those pictures (they’re some of my all-time favorite), but I’ll leave them for the next zine.

Blah

(Chin Up, Meriwether! @ Pigpen, 9.23.2008)

Brian said they sounded like Carrie Nations, I think more like a less catchy, monotone Good Luck when Matty is singing. I gave them a chance, but they didn’t hold my attention.

Post-innocence, pre-apocalyptic folk punk

(Hail Seizures at Pigpen, 9.22.2008)

If you had to clone one folk punk band in order to ensure the survival of the genre, the group would be Hail Seizures. It’s like they went through a checklist to make sure they didn’t omit one specification. Upright bass? Check. Wretched body odor? You bet. Multiple genders. Uh, huh. One member without shoes? Of course. Quirky children’s toy as an instrument … you get the point.

That’s not an insult to the Olympia, Washington-based band. They’re extremely dedicated to their genre, and it shows: They’re better than many of their well-known contemporaries.

It could have been that this was just my first show in over a month, maybe my longest punk drought in six years, but Hail Seizures sounded great in a tiny, dirty basement. Fast and catchy, but not overly dancey. Well-layered vocals complimented a tempo that left new listeners curious as to where it would go next, but it was never bizarre enough to leave our heads spinning.

I’ll see them anytime our paths cross. Not sure if I could regularly listen to a recording (some lyrics I caught sounded cheesy), but I’d give it a shot.

     

This must be the backwash

(Bent Outta Shape, Brooklyn, NY, cerca 2005)

“Walking around searching for something/but we’re the patron saints of doing absolutely nothing/running our bodies into the ground/and I’m running out of hope every night in this stray dog town”

For the past two weeks the only band I’ve listened to is Bent Outta Shape. Saw them a few times in New York and enjoyed each set, but always thought I’ll get into them … eventually.

If you have their music, you should burn it for me. I know someone out there has more than Stray Dog Town, the only album I have.

A Columbus band should cover one of their songs. Which one? Doesn’t matter, they’re all great.

Issue 2

 

Less updates here, have meant more work on the zine version of The Black Cloud. Expect it soon. If not, get on my case about it.