So I don't have time for an in-depth analysis for day 2 so here's some highlights.
Every band that played the second day was awesome. The Reprobates and Citizens Patrol Definately ripped Wasted Time with TWO GUITARS.... simply amazing. Double Negative - Saturation Tank The Mad Men
Again every band was great but these ones stood out.
Here's a video of logic problem playing a song off the new 7"
DAY 0 Friday started out with me having to do some running around and getting ready for the upcoming night. It was finally time for the festivities. The turnout wasn't as good as last year's pre-no way show but it was still good. Most of the pictures taken didn't turn out good. I was having trouble getting in a good place to take pictures where i wouldn't be wrecked by big john.
The night started off with double negative. They started out with the jacket which basically involved kevin just screaming and them coming into it. It was awesome. They played a short but killer set including lots of great new songs and ending on the devastating song saturation tank.
Next up was brain handle. The rumors about this band are true. They are some of the weirdest people I have met in a while. And they played a killer set. Lots of energy. Lots of crazy between song banter. Only one good picture. Random Girl - "What's the name of this band?" Ed from Brain Handle - "We're Lifetrap. No really we're Barn Candle."
Tooth and Claw played next.
Lifetrap showed up late and finished off the show with a very fast very brief set of pure intensity. Sadly I had allready put away my camera.
After the show it was off to cosmic cantina where we basically filled most of the place and then back to my place where way too many people were staying and basically taking whatever section of floor they could find.
DAY 1
The next morning everyone got up and got their shit together and we headed out the door. Brain Handle went off to whole foods for some nourishment while lifetrap were up for some cookout. After cookout everyone kind of went their ways..... to the same place.
We got to the fest to find that there wasn't the line there was the year before. After some wandering around we finally ran inside to grab some records (the direct control LP sold out before the doors were even open) and to grab a spot for the Sorry State Distro and the 50 logic problem test presses.
First up was Empty Grave. They were pretty good. Played a much tighter set than when I last saw them. Have some fine tuning to do but are on their way. I missed the next couple bands due to running the Sorry State booth and also trying to find some food. I did get to catch Bad Reaction doing an awesome cover of Creatures by the Adolescents.
PMRC and Total Abuse both had to cancel so up next was Brain Handle. This set blew the set from the night before out of the water. It started off with a 5-10 minute rant while equipment was trying to be fixed. Mind blowing stuff was said. Great heckling from the crowd was also going on. Finally everything got fixed and they were off. The whole time the crowd was bombarding the band with beer cans, bottles, and anything else they could pick up and throw. The band also assaulted each other while playing, hitting and kicking each other while being hit with flying objects.
Next was Warkrime. I think Brace knew that it was going to be hard to top how Brain Handle started out their set. He spent the intro sitting on a guitar cabinet on the side of the stage just swinging the microphone waiting to start. Once their set started it was just crazy. Watching the drummer play just makes me sick. Of course more great stage banter about drugs, cigarettes and "This is about a relationship WITH BOMBS".
Time To Escape i think played before brain handle. (it's hard to remember the order off the top of my head). Definately the best set I have seen them play so far. Nicktape, who you might know from such bands as Coke bust, filled in on bass. Lots of talk of the south rising again and Parson's being hit with beer cans.
Lifetrap's set was again better than the one the night before. Longer and more blistering.
Direct control. Fuck. This is the first time I've seen them since Dennisfest so it was highly anticipated. They started off and ripped through maybe three songs and then they went into War All the Time and the place blew up. Suddenly people were just flying everywhere and the energy in the room remained for the rest of the set, even into the outro. Not as monumental as the set last year but pretty close.
Annihilation time was everything you'd ever want them to be. Straying away from the newer songs and sticking with the hits they played a wild set. Things were being thrown and broken and everyone was going wild. The singer took the end of a mic stand and proceeded to beat it on the stage. Finally someone threw a giant fan on the stage which proceeded to be destroyed and then thrown into the crowd who after destroying it some more threw it back on stage where a beer was poured onto it and then the bottle was thrown at it in an attempt to break it. After three attempts of trying to break the bottle on the fan it was finally just shattered on the stage eventually resulting in blood and lots of it. Their set was pure destruction while still being able to maintain their composure and rip out song after song.
After an announcement about not breaking things Career Suicide got up stage. Well kind of. It's hard to explain what actually happened in the first couple minutes of their set. They started playing while this older guy who seemed to definately be french-canadian from his accent sang the lyrics (well tried to) to should i stay or should i go by the clash. It definately sounded more like a lounge singer singing it. Finally they decided that it was enough of that and their singer rushed on stage and they broke into "You Call This a Life?" one of my favorite songs. They went through an increadibly sloppy but good set ending with quarantined in which it was just a rush of people stage diving. Of course they came out for their usual encore of Todd Killings.
Out cold was intense. It was great to see them. Not much to say about the set. Most of the crowd had sadly left, but it was more so their loss. Everything about their set was completely on though.
The afterparty was kind of crazy. Tons of people just standing outside someone's house. And then finally the cops coming... well two cops... they looked like they had no clue what to do about this many people. We decided it was a good time to find a place to sleep when the cops got there, we apparently missed out on moped jumps over a fire and other crazy things.
I have errands to run now but will make a post about the second day later.
So the last 2 weeks or so have been kind of crazy. For once since i've been out of school I've been super busy. There's been a lot so i'll just give the highs and lows.
Charlotte - June 5th through the 9th
An awesome trip. Got to see lots of people including Joe.
The first night I got in me and Nick went to the milestone to see Greg Ginn of Black Flag fame play with two bands. It was great for a little bit, but after the first 30 minutes of "jamming" it got pretty boring and lost the novelty of it.
Friday we went and saw yardwork play which was a fun experience. I also saw lots of people who I hadn't seen in forever. Sadly no pictures from this.
The rest of the weekend was spent kind of here and there. Monday was my last day there and I decided I had to go cliff jumping. The ride there was fun, the Ipod was passed around the whole hour long trip letting everyone get their say in what we listened to. We stopped by a grocery store near the cliffs to buy some sodas and snack and some flotation devices.I thought that maybe since it was a monday there wouldn't be as many people there. I was wrong. We jumped about 3 times each and kind of just floated around. The water was a little warm for me, but if you swam out a little further it was progressively colder. After Cliff Jumping I went to Moe's and grabbed dinner with Stephanie Keller, who is always a pleasure to hang out with. After that i proceeded to make the journey back to Durham.
Charlotte - June 10th I had just gotten home the night before at around 11pm. There was no A/C and it was well near 100 degrees in my apartment. I had a million things that needed to be done but all i wanted to do was sleep. I had no more energy to spare and had to be to work at 9 the next morning. I got little sleep and managed to get to work late as usual. After a horribly long day at work I met Cameron, Dave, and suprisingly Anna who was supposed to be Hank (who apparently bailed on the trip for understandable reasons). After much arranging we fit everyone and all the equipment in the car. The ride down was rough due to my Ipod being frozen and unable to be listened to, so we listened to the 3 cds I have, each about 2 times. Finally we got there and were kind of early. So we all proceeded to walk down to snug harbor. Everyone else got a couple of drinks. Finally it came around time for us to play. Everyone else in the band nailed it and were awesome.... my performance was somewhat lacking. But not much i can do about it now. I can make excuses till the end of time but i really think i just didn't have any energy at all and was running on fumes. After us was Planet Piss who were entertaining, it was funny seeing scott play drums. I got a couple picture of them but they're on a roll i haven't finished off yet. Total Abuse was cool but since we had two more opportunities to see them me and a few others decided to walk down to the common market. Obstruction was last and played one of the better sets i've seen them play. The turnout for the night was pretty awesome, I hadn't seen that many people in Charlotte go to a legitimate show in a while. Again afterwards we stopped by Common Market to get a few drinks and relax for a second before the drive home. check my flickr for more pictures from the show courtesy of Neal Mims.
Wednesday I got a chance to meet up with Risa Patterson who I had gone to highschool with. We went to Lilly's to sit down and grab some food and catch up. It was a great night and crazy how much we have in common, we never really talked much in highschool. She now plays in a band and basically makes a living off of it. I will admit that I am completely and utterly jealous.
Raleigh - June 12th Again another long work day proceeded by a show. The show started out at GSS house. First up was Total Abuse. This set seemed to be a lot better than the one they played in Charlotte. They got through their set and then it was time for Condominiums to play. They got their equipment set up and got through 1.5 songs before someone ran in and told them to cut it short because the Cops were there. After about 20 minutes of confusion and everyone kind of just milling around someone finally said that the show was being moved a couple blocks down the road. So everyone packed up equipment really quickly and drove over there. The living room was rearranged and equipment was set up again and the show was back on track. All the bands were to play quick 3-5 song sets. Condominiums played 3 awesome songs and then stepped off. Up right afterwards was Wasted time. They picked a quick set of the hits which was amazing. Even though a majority of the crowd had been lost after moving houses it was still great. Logic Problem finished out the night basically playing the 4 songs off the 7" and then a Scream cover. It was awesome that the show still went on even after the cops coming. What wasn't awesome was my glasses falling off while playing and stepping on them a few hundred times basically destroying them. They have since been fixed up some. I had to run to the practice space to unload equipment and then run home because i had work in the morning (which i was of course late for). Sadly no pictures.... I'm trying to track some down from this show. If you have them let me know.
June 13th - now Since last thursday not much has happened. I worked all weekend, but got a chance to go see forgetting sarah marshall with Daniel and Kelly. I thought it was great. Also it was great for getting to see this trailer.
Also Monday was dinner with Risa again and again it was great. Tuesday was a show at GSS house, I only caught Cold Tony who were good minus some possibly questionable lyrics and the Drowsies who were awesome. The rest of the night was spent out front talking and hanging out and discussing the merits of Troll 2 as possibly the best worst film ever. I was planning on leaving but then convinced to go the Jackpot to shoot some pool. After that we made it back to kent and hung out more while Freddy VS Jason and then Waiting were playing inside. Finally I decided it was time to get home like i had planned hours before. Wednesday was a failed attempt with Daniel to make logic problem shirts..... It was fun hanging out though. Thursday was work and then me and Jessica went to see Risa's band play. It was at the 42nd street oyster bar. It was very odd. Me and Jessica were both trying to fend off being groped by drunken old people. It seemed to just be an endless crowd of older people grinding on each other... whether dancing or "trying to get by". In front of us were these two girls who did not look over 21 being supplied endless amounts of alcohol by someone who did not look under 51 and definately did not act like a fatherly figure, except maybe like a step dad with boundry issues. VERY CREEPY. The band was fun though, going through the hits. Sadly we had apparently missed them playing Under Pressure which was strung into Ice Ice Baby due to the "shared" bass line. around 11:30 it was time to leave since the two of us were definately scared and traumatized from the things we saw going on around us.
Right Now - Tonight Right now i'm laying in bed about to get up after typing this horribly long account of my last couple weeks. I have a lot of errands to run including going to the practice space to practice by myself and then grab equipment. Then it is off to see BRAIN HANDLE
and then tomorrow we leave for NO WAY FEST! I'm sure i'll take tons of pictures and try and post about all that happens.
Game 6 just started. I have high hopes for the penguins and feel like they have come together since the beginning of the series and have a chance. Fleury did an amazing job monday night/tuesday morning. The game is not even 2 minutes in and is allready intense.
So today's plan is to do a massive overhall of my room. Completely cleaning it and trying to get rid of things i don't need. I have the bad tendency to be a pack rat always thinking ahead to the situation i would need a certain item. I stepped outside to toss a bag of trash in the trash can to find a package sitting on the porch. I open it with much anticipation to find my copy of Jerry's Kids - Is this my world? I cannot explain the excitement of actually owning this record. This is one of my favorite hardcore albums and to actually be able to sit down and listen to it on record is exciting for me since listening to a record is more so an activity in itself rather than just background noise. I feel like i pick up things when I sit down and listen to a record I would have never noticed otherwise. Hell even raise the curtain sounds good and listenable in context to the album, usually when it pops up on my Ipod i skip over but it somehow gives a good close to the A-side. So yeah if you like hardcore listen to that record, it's amazing.
Also tonight is game 6 for the stanley cup. Monday night's game was amazing and I have no clue how either team will have the energy to play tonight. If you missed it i'll sum it up for you, 3 overtimes, arrant stick leading to bleeding, four minute minor for detroit, GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLL pittsburg. It was a great game, both teams played amazing, especially the goalies, fleury put forth an amazing effort.
It's a great day out. Not too incredibly hot in the shade. I decided it'd be a nice time to sit outside on the back porch with a stack of 7"s and some soda and get some writing done. Considering writing is what i believe i want to do with my life, for the most part, I attempt to do some additional writing on the side, usually things that will never see the light of day. I feel it keeps me from getting stale and helps keep my mind open. Mostly it's thoughts and theories involving sociology. Nerdy stuff for the most part. If anything seems interesting enough I might start posting them in here. Most of the writing doesn't even get saved though due to many reasons (mostly this weird habit i have of hating anything i produce after enough time looking at it, whether it's art or writing or music). Anyway on to more interesting things.
Over the last few days nothing horribly interesting has happened. Yesterday me and my roommate decided to go out to dinner (after my failed attempt where I got to 9th street only to find I had forgotten my wallet). So we ventured out to go to Chili's for some appetizers and desert. On the way we were discussing what to eat when suddenly I noticed two deer on the side of the road. They seemed like they would be fine because the person in front of us was almost past them and we were slowing down to an almost stop. I was wrong. One of the two deer got scared and made a mad dash for the other side of the road, apparently not seeing the SUV right next to it. It made a head first leap straight into the side of the SUV. It was a horrible noise. Sadly the deer did not receive a fatal blow but was laying on the side of the road twitching and suffering. It started to try and drag itself further into the road. Knowing we couldn't do anything we drove on because neither of us could watch this going on. We called the police though so someone would go put it out of it's suffering. Dinner was good, southwestern eggroles and buffalo wings and fried cheese followed up by desert which were little things called sweet shots which were layers of cream and chocolate pudding and cake in a shot glass. Definitely amazing.
Today again no excitement up until my decision to be outside. Due to my lack of other things to write about i might as well write about what I'm listening to since I believe today's selection of records are all classics and should be heard by all.
First up The Jam - Funeral Pyre Great 7". Funeral Pyre is a very dark song in comparison to many of the Jam's songs. It's reminiscent to a more natural Joy Division, minus all the fancy effects. It still maintains some of the brightness of the Jam though. The song is based around the bass guitar and the snare and bass drum, the drums are kept very minimal and stick mostly to the snare and the kick. The guitar seems more of an accent to the music rather than being part of the structure of it. The vocals are typical for a jam song until the end where the line "in the funeral pyre watch the flames go higher" is repeated in a very dark an ominous tone with very quiet and dark vocals in the background. The song ends with only the snare and the kick drum in a sort of snare drum solo again with very indistinct dark vocals in the background. A great song. The B-side is rather lacking in comparison. The song is disguises and lacks very much in comparison to Funeral Pyre. It starts out with an effect on the guitar making every note ring out and sound very reverby (i know next to nothing about guitars and have no clue what effect it is). Again the song is based more so around the drums with the guitar only accenting what everyone else is doing. The vocals again very standard for the Jam. The drums are still very minimal using no cymbals. It's not a bad song but not a good enough reason to flip the record over instead of just listening to Funeral Pyre again.
#2 Masshysteri - s/t Simply amazing, it deserves the huge picture of the cover because it's so good. I won't go into as much detail. Just think the Vicious......... but a million times better and in swedish. If you live under a rock and haven't listened to this yet go to their myspace and listen to them. They have both songs from the 7" and a song from their demo and one from a very limited one sided 7" released not too long ago. MASSHYSTERI
#3 Wasted Time - No Shore e.p. A great 7" for any hardcorepunkmetalfreak. I'm very excited to get to see these guys the 12th. One of my favorite live bands. If you like hardcore punk or metal and have not listened to this get off your ass and do it now.
#4
Observers - Where I Stay
Not as good as the Walk Alone 7" but better than the Lead Pill 7". I really love the B-side of this record. There's something about it that seems different than most other observers songs that I just can't figure out but I like it. It definately sounds a little more in the direction of some of the Red Dons songs on the 7". Where I stay is also one of the songs that translated pretty well onto the Revisions LP. I missed out on this for a long while and just recently got a copy thanks to Nick. If you've never listened to the Observers(even though i'm sure most of you have) then i suggest you do, the LP is a good start especially since the first track is their best song.
That's enough of that.
Other records for today that you should listen to ASAP.
Tranzmitors - Bigger houses, broken homes
Carbonas - Euro Tour EP
Autistic Youth - Empty Eyes
Go outside and enjoy the day. (I have no A/C and it's almost hotter in my house than outside in the shade so i have little choice)
And if you live in the greater raleigh area and have nothing to do then come hang out with me tonight at this
So again my sleep last night was weird. More dreams remembered. I used to never remember anything from my dreams or even the fact that i had any. What i remember is that i moved somewhere else and instead of not knowing anyone or meeting anyone (like my current situation) everyone was just dicks to me.
On to some more important things.
5-27-08 What an amazing show. The day started out shitty for myself. I had been feeling like death all day at work and then at band practice felt like i could barely make it through a song. We got to the doubledown early. It's a really awesome place. Perfect size and location and the people who worked there were pretty cool. The bartender didn't feel ashamed to tell us he was there just so he could "fuck some slut"..... oh he's so clean cut. Logic Problem was up first. It was a pretty ripping set. I was having trouble keeping up to speed and hitting all the fills and everything right. Davour was right on though. He killed it. I really can't wait for Daniel and Matt and Cody to be back though so I can see Devour play. Next was the great Double Negative. After much heckling they started the set with mein trappe. They played an amazing set that included scott spinning around with his guitar in one hand and his arms spread out. Also they played some new songs including one that I think was called saturation tank that will surely blow everyone away on record. To close off the night was Chronic Seizure from chicago. Some of the nicest guys I've met in a while. Their set was intense, the crowd seemed a little less into it though. The bass wasn't heard due to some technical difficulties but still they were amazing. Just really raw.
I have some pictures of -/-. There's more but my scanner is busted (if anyone has a good scanner let me know sethbeard@gmail.com) I also have some pictures of Chronic Seizure on another roll that hasn't been developed. Sorry for the shitty quality my scanner sucks really bad.
More will come once i fix my scanner issues. And expect chronic seizure ones soon.
IMPORTANT
Two more logic problem shows coming up.
First is in Charlotte at Lunchbox with Total Abuse, Obstruction, and Planet piss on June 10th. So i expect to see lots of charlotte friends there.
Second is June 12th with WASTED TIME!!!!! total abuse and condominiums. This will be an amazing show and will be at GSSZWEI
