Ohio CIty Rollers, Hurricanes, Secret Servix - Dec. 31, 1998 @ Euclid Tavern - This New Years bash really didn't get nearly as big of a crowd as I had anticipated....pretty empty actually. The show took forever to get going, but Secret Servix finally took the stage around 11:30. Had never seen them before (I think this was their first show) and they were pretty good - 3/4 female and none of the boring female politics that are all-so-common nowadays. Just straight ahead snotty rock-n-roll - good stuff. Hurricanes were advertised as being ex-members of the TKOs and I was told that Brandon from the TKOs was doing vocals - not true. And they didn't sound like the TKOs whatsoever - they were also straight ahead rock, which was pretty good from what I remember which isn't that much - since it was well past midnight on New Years eve. I got in a fight with some prick and lost 4 front teeth before the Rollers went on, and I was told I probably would have hated them anyhow....I dont remember a damn thing about their set.
Smith & Wesson - Jan. 17, 1999 @ Peabodys - First off, S&W are NOT the rap group that spells the same name some goofy way...last show (and I believe their first show actually) was a couple years back already back at Riot 101. I don't recall much of that set but did remember that the last 3 songs of that set were covers - 2 Antiseen and 1 by Cocknoose. Since S&W are the only band playing anything close to this style of music in Cleveland and it's been years since a Confederacy of Scum band has made it to Cleveland, this show was a must-see. Overall, the guys still sounded good and had enough 'fuck you' attitude to pull things off successfully. Lead singer Dean was bleeding most of the show, ran through the audience on occasion and blew some fireballs towards the end of the set. Most of their set still consisted of covers but with some originals thrown in. The covers consisted of Antiseen and Cocknoose once again, plus a couple old Skrewdriver songs. As well as a cover of David Allan Coe's "Rails" (a cover of the original, not a cover of Hellstomper's cover of the same song). This cover unfortunately showed the one weakness of S&W - while Hellstomper really made "Rails" sound like their own song, this version was obviously a cover. Right now, S&W are perfect at emulating some of their favorite bands but will need to get more of their own sound to really stand out - this should come in time though. And since they are from Cleveland, they are one of the best bands in town.
Gaza Stripers, Chargers, 30 Lincoln - Feb. 19, 1999 @ Pats In The Flats - Found out about this show about 2 hours before it happened...actually while trying to find a ride to a different show. Needless to say, the other show was quickly forgotten since I had missed Ex-Didjit Rick Sims new band (Gaza Strippers) the last two times they came to Cleveland. First I had to see 30 Lincoln who I have never liked...originally they were obviously completely influenced by the Lookout bands of the mid 90s, then a couple years back when I last saw em they seemed to going for a 77 type sound. Now they had a mod look going on, with a rock sound. Gotta admit this was the best I had seen them, I actually got into it a little bit...but more than likely they will sound different again in a couple years when the trends in the underground change. Gaza Strippers ended up playing in the middle of the bill, probably to keep tje Chargers/ 30 Lincoln fans in the club. Fine by me. Even without knowing any of their songs prior to the show, I thought they totally rocked....very reminiscient of the Didjits but with a heavier sound since they have a second guitarist in addition to Rick Sims. Well worth the trip, and definitely a band to keep an eye on. I split before the Chargers played.
MSBR, Government Alpha, Lockweld, Season Of Discontent., Noumena, Psywarfare - Mar. 3, 1999 @ Speak In Tongues - First noise show in Cleveland in quite some time, and not a disapointment either. Psywarfare consisted of Dwid and Karen Lockweld this night and performed first since Dwid had to be at work later that night. Psy have a different sound every time they perform, and this show was one of their oddest yet. 3 different songs were performed, the first was pretty much jungle with some weird noises thrown in , the second was a cover of Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Candy Man" - a very strange almost-industrial sounding version with Dwid whispering the lyrics and Karen making weird noises over it - interesting! The final track was fairly similiar but a bit more agressive. Noumena blew away their last performance at SiT - the basis for their noise was still two guitars, but the performance was much more aggressive and listenable as well. Good stuff. Season Of Discontent had also improved quite a bit since their last performance, one members still had the toy gun used in their last show, and also another members had this weird glove thing on that made various noises when moved. Lockweld was the last local group to perform and it was one of their best sets yet, although I wish it would have gone on quite a bit longer! However, you can't really complain about a set where a chainsaw is prominently featured. As good as the locals groups were this night, the Japanese sets were definitely the highlight. Government Alpha reminded me a lot of the Masonna performance in Cleveland a couple years back - definitely very spazztic and physical. GA doesn't do as much as much stuff vocally however, and the sonics were a bit more complex than the average Masonna stuff. MSBR wasn't as spazzed out, he stood pretty much still for his 40-minute set. He was busy creating some very textured harsh noise though - and it was very satisfying - I hadn't heard much MSBR prior to the show and his performance took me by surprise somewhat - definitely one of the best noisemakers I have heard from Japan.
David Allan Coe - Apr. 7, 1999 @ Peabodys - Missed Coe the last time he was in town, but found out that he cancelled that show due to bad weather anyhow. Time before that, Coe seemed rather uninspired and did a somewhat lackluster set so I was kinda doubtful how good he would be tonight. He delivered however, with the best show I have seen from him. Maybe last time was just an off-night or maybe he is hyped about promoting his new major label release, Recommended for Airplay. The beginning of the show featured quite a bit of the new stuff, and surprisingly it was really good. Afterwards, I checked out his website and realized that many of the songs played at the show that I assumed to be old were actually from the new release. Pretty impressive for someone that has been around as long as Coe. Of course, many favorites and old obscurities were thrown in as well - "Longhaired Redneck" "If That Ain't Country" "Willie Waylon and Me", etc., etc. The big surprise of the night however was the peformance of some of the tunes from the X-rated Hits CD. Coe has stated in the past that those songs would never be performed live again - but this night "Panheads Forever" and "Jimmy Buffet" were performed completely along with excerpts from a couple other songs - including his most over-the-top racist track. The show lasted over two hours, and was entertaining the whole way through.
Slayer, Sick Of It All, Messhuggah - Apr. 9, 1999 @ Agora - Fucking jackoffs at the Agora wouldn't accept my ID - so no 21+ wristband for me - but finding beer wasn't a problem anyhow. Had heard good things about Messhuggah but I really wasn't all that impressed by them actually. Pretty standard sound that was typical of many new metal bands coming out these days. I was never a big fan of SOIA but had listened to them many years past so they were kind of fun to see. Recognized a couple tunes from the debut LP but the majority of the set was from their last couple records, and wasn't really all that great. Both bands actually managed to partially escape the heckling that is typical for bands opening for Slayer. Slayer weren't quite as good as when I saw them a few years ago...no drastic difference this time around except the peformances of 4 or so songs from the new disc. The new tunes really didn't stand up that great live in comparison to their classic stuff. The rest of the set consisted of many old favorites - all the big hits you wanted to hear were played - but no big surprises in the set list except for "Evil Has No Boundaries". The performance just seemed a bit uninspired and a bit too short especially considering the amount of green needed to enter the doors. But you still can't beat hearing classic cuts like "Raining Blood" "Angel Of Death" and "South of Heaven" live. But unless I get in free, it will probably be a while before I check out Slayer again.
Ringworm, Buried Alive, Reach The Sky, Pitboss 2000, Crossface - Apr. 17, 1999 @ Phantasy - Missed Crossface and arrived just in time to catch Pitboss 2000. Pitboss seemed to cut their set short a bit in order to allow time for Reach The Sky (a new Victory band added to the bill at the last minute) to play. What they did play was good though and pretty damn funny. Main topics for humor this time around were cripples and Lakewood. During the performance of a new song "Drivin WIth Your Chin", a 'short bus' helmet was passed around the club with some humorous shit written on it by Pitboss. A lot of the old stuff from the demo and the OLC CD was peformed as well. Toward the set of the set, they did a cover of "Couch Slouch" by DRI which was pretty damn good and got the place going pretty nuts. Reach the Sky were OK but nothing that appealed to me too much, they played melodic hardcore that reminded me a bit of Ignite. Buried Alive were a pretty nice surprise, very heavy hardcore that reminded me a bit of some Integrity stuff or Hatebreed. Lots of circle pit action going on throughout their set. It was pretty damn late by the time Ringworm hit the stage and they seemed pretty drunk and high! They were OK this night, but not as good as the times I have seen them in the past. Little bit sloppy on some of the old stuff and lots of long breaks between tracks. Some new stuff was played however, but I was a bit too drunk to really judge it well. Nice to see they're finally coming up with some new material though. All in all, a pretty good hardcore show that was a bit better than I expected.
Boulder, Holy Ghost, 2 others - Apr. 24, 1999 @ Phantasy - The first two bands of the night were from out of town I think, and played pretty boring 90s style metal....not really worth saying too much more about. This was the debut performance of Holy Ghost, who feature James from Ringworm on vocals, Dora (Ringworm/ex-Integrity) on drums, Merk (Schnauzer/ex-Apt. 213) on guitar plus a couple people from Dahmer. Their set was kind of a letdown considering all the bands the members have been in previously. Not terrible, just average hardcore that didn't really stand out. Good enough to check out again in the future though, hopefully things will improve a bit. Boulder was the only set of the evening that I fully enjoyed, being very fucked up made the set even better. Boulder are kind of tough to describe - you either like them or you don't. The stageshow this night was pretty wild though featuring a guy hanging upside down on a cruciifix. Metal as fuck! Quite a bit of the new LP was played and most of it sounded really good. Boulder are usually pretty fun to see live, I wouldn't mind seeing them play more shows.
Monster Magnet, 2 others - May. 12, 1999 @ Odeon - Arrived late so I wouldn't have to put up with the crappy major label opening bands opening up. Made the mistake of showing too early last time and regreted it badly. The Odeon was a much nicer place to see Monster Magnet as opposed to the overcrowded Peabodys show. Though the crowd wasn't as big as I anticipated this time. Lots less people seemed to be there simply cuz MM is a big radio band now, I guess the mainstream hype has finally died down a bit. Pretty much a crowd consisting of older fans this time around. Got there right before they began their set and they went right into a couple tracks from the "Spine Of God" LP. Definitely classic stuff, and it was funny as hell to see Wyndorf barely able to get out the '...wet my pants doing whippets' line from "Nod Scene" without cracking up. Those opening tracks were the only tracks to be played from that release - which sucked cuz I was hoping to hear "Spine Of God" since they didn't play it at the Peabodys shoiw either. They did do a nice selection of stuff though including "Dinosaur Vacuum" from the Superjudge LP which was quite a surprise. About half the set was from the new record, and it all sounded pretty damn good. Luckily, they also omitted their first hit from that record "Space Lord" and not too many people seemed to mind. Closed off the set with a cover of "Kick Out The Jams" by MC5. Also forgot to mention that Dave Wyndorf seems to be fully digging the rockstar thing - climbing all over the monitors and dry-humping the air in front of him not to mention setting his guitar on fire during "Bummer". I'm sure some reading this will find that to be rather lame, but I think it's great to see a band not change their style, gaining some popularity and still look like they're having fucking fun on stage.
Motorhead, Dropkick Murphys, Hatebreed, Skarhead - May. 16, 1999 @ Odeon - Skarhead was a last minute addition to the bill, and I didn't catch any of their set. I arrived during the last couple songs of Hatebreed and was amazed that they actually showed up for a Cleveland gig (they've pulled so many no-shows here I cannot even begin to count em!) but didn't hear enough to really judge their sound. The much hyped Dropkick Murphys were up next - I knew I probably wasn't going to like em and I was right. These guys were simply boring as shit - a watered down mix of Oi, 77 punk and hardcore that didn't have the good qualities of any of those forms of music. Plus the 'working class' spiel seemed pretty ridiculous when a ticket to this show cost $22 - guess they have to keep practicing it though so it will sound convincing when they're on the Warped Tour this summer. Only good point about their set is when they showed some humor and asked everyone who wanted em to get off stage to cheer - nearly everyone did! Motorhead was Motorhead of course and they did a pretty good set. The sound really sucked towards the beginning of the set - you could hardly hear Lemmy's vocals at all but that cleared up after a few songs. I was sort of bummed that many of my favorites weren't played but that is partially my own fault as my Motorhead collection isn't nearly as large as it should be. Still can't believe they left out 'Jailbait' in favor of tracks from the last couple studio albums. Overall though , they were still Motorhead and did a damn respectable set considering how long they've been around.
Mike Ness - May 25, 1999 @ Agora - Quite a weird show this was - I was initially pretty shocked that this show was running $20 a ticket - I thought perhaps there was some commercial radio hype for Ness's solo album that I was unaware of. But I guess not. as the crowd was so small that the show was moved from the theatre to the much smaller Ballroom. Fine by me, as this was the type of show that a small setting seemed more appropriate. Most of the set was from the solo album obviously - actually, I think the entire album was played live. Fine with me, as that was a pretty good release and even better Ness didn't have a horn section live which eliminated any sort of swing influence which was present on the album. A funny moment early in the set was when Ness was introducing "Misery Loves Company" and mentioned Springsteen and some punk yelled out 'fuck him!' to which he got a 'no fuck you!' back at him! A couple country standards that Social Distortion covered were also played most notably Cash's :"Ring Of Fire". All in all a damn good show - but the encore was soimewhat disapointing - featuring SD's biggest radio hits "Ball And Chain" and "Bad Luck" - not terrible songs, but far from their best - would have been nicer to hear some more obscure songs that would have fit the occasion (no I wasn't expecting anything from the first LP).
Quell, Java Lopez, Lockweld, Goat, Season Of Discontent - June 5, 1999 @ Speak In Tongues - The turnout for this show was actually a bit better than I expected - far from packed - but pretty damn good considering the Cleveland Punk Fest was going on that night, and there was really no promotion - hell, the lineup got put together a few days before the show. Unfortunately, I didn't show up until around 11:30 - and missed the first three groups. But I did get to check out Java Lopez and Quell. Java Lopez, from California was the first person I got to see. Never heard him before, but he did a pretty good set. Started out pretty mellow before descending into utter noise, with him running around the crowd screaming his head off. Good set. After a long wait, Quell was up without his usual harsh visuals. Like Java Lopez, Quell's set started off somewhat mellow but also descended into the harshness that is usually found in his sets. Good show from what I saw - too bad I missed the majority of it!
Noise Gate, Java Lopez, Lockweld, Season Of Discontent - June 7, 1999 @ Speak In Tongues - Wow, two noise shows in Cleveland within a three day period! This seemed to be a bit too much for Cleveland to take , as the place was next to empty besides the groups. Subtract to Zero who I heard were a more traditional heavy HC band were also scheduled to play, but weren't able to make the show. Actually managed to see all the groups this time around. Season Of Discontent were up first with their usual harsh noise assault but with the addition of Steveggs (Schnauzer, POE, etc, etc) on vocals. Not sure if this is a permanent thing, or just a one-time thing for fun. SOD's sound was good as usual but I think their sets tend to go on a bit too long. Steveggs was fun to watch though as he screamed at people in the audience and flailed himself around SiT. Lockweld were up next and if you had to run to the store or were outside trying to beat the heat, you may have missed their set. This one lasted only around 5 minutes or so. Too bad, because Lockweld usually have enough going on in their set that I wouldn't mind seeing some longer sets. This was a good sounding set as well, but the short length made it pretty tough to critique. Java Lopez was back in Cleveland again as well, and did another good set. Pretty impressive that he managed to create an entirely new set seeing that he had just played SiT two days ago and was doing the same set at most of his tourstops. I was unfamiliar with Noise Gate - the introduction consisted of ambient backing noise while a dreadlocked female read 'poetry' of some sort. Not my thing at all. Their main set was much better though. Pretty heavy noise combined with guitar and bass. At times, when the noise was real loud and spazztic and the guitar and bass kicked in, it almost sounded somewhat like Neurosis. Their set went on a little too long, mainly due to the intense heat in the club - plus they couldn't really top the intensity of the first ten minutes of their set. Still pretty enjoyable for the whole set though.
Strychnine, Darvocets, Ruiners, Gordon Solie Motherfuckers, Lovesick - June 20, 1999 @ Speak In Tongues - Lovesick, a band from Michigan started off this night and were pretty damn boring. A cross between hardcore, emo, and experimental indie rock - may be hard to imagine but it nearly put me to sleep on the couch. GSMF got the show started for real - and did a short set which included most of their 7" and a couple new tracks. Pretty entertaining set. The Ruiners were up next with an unscheduled appearance (I guess because Hail Mary didn't make it) - half of the Ruiners are also in the Darvocets and it seemed as though the Ruiners didn't practice much before this set. Around 5 songs were played in 20 minutes and there was quite a few false starts throughout their set. This was the first time I had seen them since hearing their 7" and the power of their tracks was undeniable. Despite the roughness of the set, it was damn good. Darvocets were up next and were great as well - Larry (their vocalist) didn't sem quite as spazzed out as he did at the Detroit show but they still put on a fun set. The music was more punk oriented than I usually expect from the people involved. I hadn't heard Strychnine before this gig, I just knew they had played here a few years back and had ex-members of Filth - I was never a big fan of Filth so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. They were pretty good though. Just basic straight-ahead punk rock with lots of songs about drinking - might've been called generic years ago - but there really isn't too many bands playing in this style anymore. A couple entertaining cover songs as well (an old country song I forget and a Kiss cover). Overall, this show was one of the best HC/punk shows Cleveland has seen in a long time. TSOL, The Business, Teenage Knockouts, Useless ID - August 3, 1999 @ Agora Ballroom - Caught the last half of Useless ID - one half too much...typical boring 90s pop-punk hoping that they can snag a major label deal or at least one with Fat...very odd choice of an opening band for this bill. Teenage Knockouts is a reunion of sorts for the TKOs, one of Clevelands most popular bands of the past few years. Also they were one of the only bands to play 77 influenced type stuff that I could not only tolerate but enjoy (even though their live shows blew away the 2 7"s they left behind). Calling this new line-up a reunion isn't quite accurate though - the band consisted of half the original TKOs (including vocalist Brandon) and half of the Spasms. They played one TKOs song (Don't Pull The Plug) and a couple from the Spasms and the rest was new material. They were pretty good although I couldn't help feeling a bit disapointed as I expected to hear a lot more of the TKOs old stuff. This new lineup holds a lot of promise though. The Business weren't advertised whatsoever and were a complete surprise to everyone who showed up for the show. Since they weren't announced none of their fans were there to see em, and the crowd there to see TSOL/Teenage Knockouts didn't seem too into them. They tried to change this situation by covering "Do They Owe Us A Living" by Crass. Seeing an Oi band cover Crass is definitely not something I wanted to see - it seemed silly for a skin band to be covering one of the most left-wing punk bands ever...and sort of insulting to the audience that it would take a song by Crass to get their attention (especially since none of the other bands were in the cruster vein). It did work though...and the second half of their set got a lot more attention. Classics like "Real Enemy" and "Harry May" didn't hurt either. Despite the unfortunate cover choice, most of their set was powerful straight-forward Oi that I enjoyed more than I expected to. I never listened to much TSOL in the past...I knew a few of their big hits and the tracks from Suburbia but thats about it. Their set was a lot better than I expected! Early 80s style punk played fast and energetic with all the big hits included of course. They announced that they refused to play any songs written after 1983 - which saved the crowd from having to hear their awful glam-rock phase but also gave the show an atmosphere of sheer nostaglia. Which wasn't that bad - everyone wanted to hear classics like "Code Blue" and "Abolish Government" and not a bunch of new stuff anyhow. And no one was disapointed. There was also some pretty funny stage banter as well - one about a pre-show blowjob from a 16 year old and also attempting to convince a girl on stage to show the crowd some skin (only got as far as getting her shirt off). Overall, the guys seem to having a good time and as I mentioned they were quite energetic. A good show - even though it was pretty disapointing that the Social Chaos tour didn't make it to Cleveland.
More Apt. 2324 E-zine #4
Whiskey Rebel Interview
Cleveland HC fest in Detroit report
Record Reviews
Live Reviews
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