Swinging Utters, 22 Jacks, Inmates, Spasms - July 22, 1998 @ Grog Shop - Missed the Spasms and the first 1/3 of the Inmates (the only reason for attending this show) set. What I did catch of the Inmates set was very much like their recent set at Speak In Tongues...stuff off the 7" and a few new ones. Though the crazed violence of that night wasn't present at this show. The whole set only lasted around 18 minutes but was well worth the trip. 22 Jacks would have been the worst band I have seen in a long time if I hadn't seen Far a few nights earlier. Totally typical west coast punk-pop shit....terrible, with the mandatory "clever" 80s cover (Sting I think...) thrown in. Gee, how wacky - an old cheesy song done up speedy punk-style! I started heckling these guys (too which they couldn't even make a clever retort too, should have paid more attention to the Inmates stage banter guys) and no one else in the crowd even joined in. Very disapointing. Swinging Utters got the packed house going crazy....and I don't know exactly why. Typical 77 rehash shit along the lines of Blanks, US Bombs, etc, etc. What it is about this worn-out, way too slick style that people enjoy escapes me. Just hanged out at the bar bullshitting during their set...nothing exciting ever happened and they played forever. This shit just makes me feel old....

Studio-A-Rama and Afterparty - July 25, 1998 @ CWRU - Afterparty @ Euclid Tavern - For the unfamiliar SAR is an annual free all-day festival that happens at CWRU featuring a bunch of hot locals and one out-of-town headliner. The focus is usually more on the heavy-indie-rock side of things as of late so I haven't attended in quite a few years, though past headliners have included the Didjits and Naked Raygun. New Bomb Turks were headlining this year so I decided to get some beer and check out this year's show. Missed all of the bands (not intentionally, show went much quicker than I anticipated) except for Red Giant and the Turks. Red Giant plays heavy-psychedelic rock in the same vein as Monster Magnet and Kyuss - what I heard from their CD didn't really excite me but their set this day was really good. Opened up with a Fang cover (The Money Will Roll Right In) which caught my attention off the bat....not all of their set was this exciting but for the most part fairly entertaining. Ended with another good cover (I Wanna Be Your Dog) and overall I was glad I caught their set. By this point, drunkeness had fully set in and I don't remember much of NBT's set, especially with running back and forth to the store during it. I never really listened to them much anyways after the 1st LP but I recognized a few of the early tunes so I was happy. This show is always more about a few hundred people chilling and drinking outside all day than paying close attention to the bands anyhow. Overall, it was fun. The afterparty was even more of a blur....the Euc was packed and I caught the Downside Special's set, which I cannot remember one thing about, not my style I am pretty sure...left before Ace and The Ragers.

Paindriver, Ruiners, Gordon Solie Motherfuckers, Puncture Wound, Unholy Three, Committed, Grudge Match - A benefit for Chuck - Aug 8, 1998 @ Speak In Tongues - This LONG show was a benefit to raise money for a suicide victim's family...never knew him, but I guess he had been in the HC scene for a while. Anyhow, this was the Ruiners first show since their reunion and I was hyped to see them, and was also curious to check out the Gordon Solie Motherfucers (featuring Tony Erba on vocals). When I got to the show, it looked more like a sXe show than I had expected, kids with X's on their hands and everything...Grudge Match sounded similiar to the last time I had seen them (88 youth crew style stuff) but looked more like you'd expect a band like this to look. My opinion remains the same, good but not my thing, though it is kinda disapointing that seem to be pigeonholing themselves somewhat already. Committed were the same but even more so, complete with a Youth of Today cover. Not my thing either, and these guys seemed a lot more self-righteous than Grudge Match with the anti-One Life Crew speech and all. Cannot believe that people are still up in arms over that shit, give it up already! OLC is far more interesting - both musically, and with their outspoken controversal style. Unholy Three sounded like typical grindy-HC, I spent most of their set in the basement or outside as the heat was really getting to me after a while. Did the same for Puncture Wound, watched em for a little while - good stuff, but again the urge to cool down a bit won out. Finally GSMF were up and I managed to drag myself up front to catch em. Raging shit, hands down the best set of the night. Sounding like a slightly more punk-oriented version of Nine Shocks Terror and Tony ranting about the lameness of local clubs and the increasing commercialism of wrestling...very good stuff and I hope this band continues on as more than just a NST side-project, they are more interesting in my opinion. Nine Shocks did a couple songs at the end of the GSMF set. The crowd thinned considerably before the Ruiners set which was nice due to the extreme heat. Their set wasn't a letdown, but maybe a bit less than I had anticipated since the H100s were one of my favorite Cleveland bands and this was the first apparance of Chris Erba on vocals since their breakup. Still, Chris sounded good and came on stage brandishing a butcher knife, and Bob Zeiger (playing bass) had a hatchet with him. Not as much violence as I had anticipated however, and the set ended with a lot of Parma pride. Paindriver was scheduled to play last and turned out to be a bunch of complete pussies or rock stars, you decide. Supposedly, they were scared that there was people in the club with knives and hatchets and "felt it would be best if we didn't play". Either these guys are real sissies, or they were just pissed that many people had left and the majority of the crowd was there to see the local bands, not them. I guess they got paid a bit of money just for showing up, I wouldn't have given em a dime especially since they got to run their merchandise stand/distro the whole time.

Supersuckers, Zeke, Los Gusanos - Aug. 21, 1998 @ Grog Shop - Los Gusanos featured CJ Ramone on bass and vocals. Having never been a huge Ramones fan, this didn't excite me too much - and even if I was CJ was just a replacement member anyhow. LG were pretty good though, didn't sound like the Ramones at all. Very much in the Supersuckers type vein. The cover of "Supernaut" to end the night was pretty damn cool. Zeke are another band with a heavy Supersuckers influence and they did a set pretty similiar to their one opening up for DOA. Good stuff, I like em, but I never really listen to em just cuz they sound so much like the Supersuckers and the Dwarves. They do have a lot of energy on stage though and some good tunes. Also, they didn't look as excessively happy on stage as they did last time in town (no speed?). Finally, after a whole night of Supersuckers-influenced rock, the real deal took the stage. They went right into three of their earliest songs including 2 from the first 7" which kinda surprised me. They also debuted a lot of new stuff which sounded just like their old stuff which is no problem at all to me. Maybe that will finally make some people realize that the Supersuckers haven't gone country and that the Must've Been High LP was just a one-time thing. And actually, I wouldn't have minded hearing a couple of the country songs from that record or more stuff from Sacralicious Sounds....but overall, not much at all to complain about! Still one of the best bands going definitely.

One Life Crew, Sactohoods, Mushmouth, Pitboss 2000, Hate Burns Deep - Aug. 22, 1998 @ Phantasy Nite Club - Decided to hit this show late...was pretty broke from the Supersuckers show the night before and wanted to get some drinking in beforehand so as to avoid the outrageous Phantasy prices as much as possible. Showed up around midnight and the club seemed pretty dead from outside which surprised me. After all, OLC usually draw a good crowd and this was originally announced as their "last show ever" which was later changed to "last show ever... until April". Got inside and found out the OLC had cancelled the show after arriving at the club. Seems that Chubby Fresh threw a fit. Doorman tells me that the rest of the members will do something else and Mushmouth is still playing later. I stupidly decide to go in. Needless to say there was no OLC side project performed this night (either the doorman was bullshitting or was referring to Pitboss 2000). Sactohoods never showed up either by the way. Mushmouth did a 20 minute set with around 30 people sitting around bored. Standard metallic hardcore, nothing unique or exciting. Especially boring was the band's attitude - "this ones for the straight edge kids and the pot smokers!" - nothing wrong with that - but I was expecting some controversy from OLC, and it seemed like an attempt to win over the crowd (the majority of whom were sitting around drinking). Basically a very boring night, just a waste of time and if this was the last OLC show, a pretty damn shitty way to go out.

David Allan Coe, Al's Fast Freight - Aug. 26, 1998 @ Peabodys - Made damn sure to get here early this time after missing half of Coe's set on his last visit to Cleveland. Got there so early I actually caught the opening act - pretty straight forward country stuff - I am far from an expert on country so I won't say too much about them - but they did sound OK - definitely not your standard 90's Garth Brooks crap...but at the same time I wouldn't go out of my way to see them again. Noticed a few things before Coe went on - much smaller crowd and the crowd was much more typical of what you would expect at a Coe show compared to last time...nearly no punks or skins this time around. I'd imagine a big part of this was due to the fact that Slayer was playing down the street. Anyhow, this show kinda paled in comparison to the last time he was in town...he didn't seem to be feeling that well or maybe it was just the less than packed house. But his set was pretty damn short - and much less crowd banter than the last time around. He didn't even do "Longhaired Redneck" this time. He still played some damn good stuff - his Johnny Cash trilogy, "If That Ain't Country", "Willie Waylon & Me" and a cover of Hank Williams Jr's "Tradition". Still considering his last appearance in town and the hefty cover charge, I couldn't help but feel a little bit screwed. But I'll still probably catch him on his next appearance in town (which seem to be happening a lot lately!).

In Cold Blood, Ascension, Pitboss 2000, Hate Burns Deep, Committed, Due Respect - Aug. 29, 1998 @ Phantasy Niteclub - Once again a HC show at the Phantasy ends up with a bunch of cancellations. Committed cancelled at the last minute to be replaced by Hate Burns Deep. Due Respect was a no show, and there was a sign at the door saying that In Cold Blood may not perform. But I didn't care as I arrived right as Pitboss 2000 was setting up. Was curious to check these guys out, as they contributed some excellent cuts to the One Life Crew CD (back when they were known as Prohibition 2000). I had always figured that this band's militant sXe stance was a bit too over the top to be serious, and this show proved me right with comments such as "hey if you're overweight, you can still be sXe and do cocaine!". The band's humor reminded me of a cross between One Life Crew and SOD which was a good thing in my opinion. Pretty much a bunch of insults to emo kids, cripple jokes, and raving about porno and broads. They even did SOD's "Ballad of Jimi Hendrix" which shockingly few people seemed to recognize. It was pretty funny watching the crowd sit somewhat silent and offended during the spoken parts of the set but then politely applauding after the songs. Hopefully Pitboss will stick around - they are funny as shit and their music is tight heavy early HC type stuff, the combination of the two make them one of the best new Cleveland bands I have heard in a long time. After their set, I found out that In Cold Blood wasn't playing which didn't shock me too much. Luckily, the bartender was being cool and hooking me up with some BIG shots...I stuck around for most of Ascension's set - they are competent metal-core but have never done much for me. Their sound just doesn't seem to stick out, and the band isn't aggressive enough on stage to make them exciting to me. Another HC show that was kinda disapointing but worth it overall for the Pitboss set alone.

Drop Dead, Nine Shocks Terror, Puncture Wound - Sep. 1, 1998 @ Speak In Tongues - Missed Puncture Wound once again....heard they ended their set with a Bad Brains cover. This was the first time I had seen Nine Shocks with their new guitarist (someone from Puncture Wound I think?). No major difference, they sounded pretty much the same. I have seen/reviewed these guys too many times to really say anything about their set - it was standard 9ST - good Jap-core influenced stuff, the kids loved it, and I still miss the more in-your-face approach of the H100s (or even Gordon Solie Motherfuckers). I had heard rumors that Suppression was also going to play this show, but they didn't show. Drop Dead did an OK set I guess....they're another band who crams 40 songs on an LP with only a few being memorable. Their live show was actually pretty good when they were playing music, quite a few standout songs actually. But goddamn, why introduce a 30-second grind tune with a 1-minute explanation of the lyrics??? Snooze. Especially when your lyrics are all about animal rights....there's an exciting/original/good idea for song lyrics! Snooze. Oh yeah, they also ranted a bit about 'fighting the system' between songs while everyone hung out in their little cliques drinking beer - I'm sure the system is gonna be falling any day now....

Death Squad, Chapter 23, Quell, Lockweld - Sep. 18, 1998 @ Speak In Tongues - A very underattend noise show... when we showed up, we didn't even have to pay - cuz we were the first people to show (it was nearly an hour past the start time). A few more people showed, and Lockweld began their set - very similiar in personnel and approach as the set Psywarfare did opening for Non. Makita once again destroyed a garbage can while Dwid and Karen provided the electronics. Only major difference was the impromtu (I'm guessing) appearance of Chris Smith (Keelhaul/Inmates) on vocals. Since DS and C23 hadn't even arrived at the club yet, the Lockweld set went on for ages and basically turned into silliness with half of the crowd participating on tools and vocals, Jerky Boys and Tube Bar samples getting thrown in , and Dwid singing a bit of the ol Sinatra tune "Copacabana". Not a very serious set, but it still had it's moments. Before the show started, I talked to one of the members of Quell who said we were in for the noisiest set we have ever heard. But he was passed out drunk and slept through the entire Lockweld set (not an easy task considering the volume levels!). But eventully, Quell did perform - and yes, it was a very harsh power electronics performance - pretty interesting, and the autopsy visuals that were playing to their performance fit in very well. Denver's Chapter 23 took a different approach, providing the most mellow set of the evening - not a whole lot about it is coming back to me now, but I know I thought it was a good performance at the time. Death Squad also weren't as harsh as Lockweld or Quell but were still very intense - but in an eerie sort of way - very repetitive droning noise - backed with holocaust videos. The audio and video combined produced a pretty creepy atmosphere. The man behind Death Squad questioned as to why anyone in the audience would applaud such a video/performance and was certainly in a confrontational mood. I don't know if this was planned or if he was simply in a shitty mood due to driving 8 hours straight to perform in front of around 10 people at 2AM. There certainly was a point he was trying to make with his performance - I am not really into political content in noise (or any form of music for that matter) but as far as generating thought - his performance was certainly more effective even without words than all the crusty punk bands that often perform at Speak In Tongues. Overall, an interesting show that really should have had more people in attendance!

Cold As Life, All Out War, Pitboss 2000, Crossface, Hate Burns Deep - Oct. 5, 1998 @ Symposium - Appearently, Hate Burns Deep broke up before this show happened, so obviously they didn't end up playing. Did catch the last half or so of Crossface's set - never heard these guys before, but they are a fairly new (I'm guessing) Cleveland band playing old school HC. They sounded pretty decent actually, and the Breakdown cover they played near the end of their set was great. These guys don't seem to self-conciously trying to come off 88' youth crew style as other newer bands which made them a bit more refreshing. Pitboss was up next, and were the reason I came to check this show out. Not quite as over-the-top in the shitalking/obnoxious type stuff this time around. Chubby Fresh still got more than his fair share of insults though! The set was pretty much the same as their last show, everything off the demo and their contributions to the OLC CD plus a ton more. Good stuff, though I think they had a different second vocalist this time around (actually, he looked pretty familiar, but I'm not gonna name names w/o being sure). Speaking of familiar vocalists, Mean Steve of OLC joined the band for their last song - OLC's "Our Scene, Your Fear". Sounded good and I was hoping they'd do a few more together. I was about ready to split afterwards, feeling sick, having to wake up the next day too, not to mention the drink prices are even worse than the Phantasy! (not an easy task) Decided to check out a bit of All Out War first though. Only saw a couple songs, they sounded alright, but their heavily metal-influenced sound was kinda tough to get into without knowing their material.

Caroliner, Beckett And Friends, Psywarfare - Oct. 13, 1998 @ Speak In Tongues - Actually a pretty good turnout this night for an experimental show in Cleveland. Psywarfare did a set which wasn't unlike their past efforts but with less emphasis on all-out noise, and more on all-out weirdness. The first track of the night featured a lot of grinding and yelling from Makita with the typical Psywarfare noise backdrop. The second (and last) was definitely a different direction with a bit of a jungle sound to it. Still completely fucked up though with grinding and screamed vocals over it - the whole set had a nice 'creepy' vibe to it, which made even the more techno sounding stuff very enjoyable. Nice visuals as usual too, lots of strobes and smoke, along with the power tool stuff to look at. Beckett and Friends were a last minute addition to the show. Becket is this guy who formed a band with some of his stuffed animals. Since they don't play anything he just does screams and runs around while a tape recorder plays in the background. He was pretty funny but not in the same league as Psywarfare or Caroliner. Actually, Caroliner definitely exist in a league all their own...the stage had been completely covered the whole night so their stage setup couldn't be seen before their show (the openers performed in front of the stage). As the band started, the curtain obscuring the view was teared down revealing that the entire stage had been decorated with blacklight material. So was the band from head to toe, all wearing some very strange masks. The sight alone was quite a spectacle. Their sound lived up to their appearance, a completely fucked up noisy rock jamming sound produced by guitars, bass, drums, electronics, violin and a banjo! Now I have an idea what is must have been like to witness the Butthole Surfers back in 84 or 85 except Caroliner were even more out there. Their vocalist also ran around the crowd quite occasionally, just running into people and trying to freak them out. He also threw chairs all around SiT. The band played for around an hour and a half, and came back for an encore after a lot of applause. Despite not being familiar with any of their material, I still would have liked to seen them play even longer, I probably would've stayed all night if they kept playing. Definitely one of the best shows I have seen in quite a while, both Caroliner and Psywarfare made me feel like someone had slipped some acid in my beer even though I did nothing but drink the whole night.

Lisa Suckdog, Cobra Verde, The Volts, The Chargers - Oct. 24, 1998 @ Euclid Tavern - Got there too late to catch any of the Chargers set, but did catch The Volts. These guys weren't bad, just not too original. Sounded quite a bit like the New Bomb Turks, but didn't match that bands energy. Not bad for an opening set though. Cobra Verde are a band composed of some Cleveland post-punk vets (most notably members of Death Of Samantha). All I can really say about this band is that they weren't for me....way too progressive and boring sounding. I spent the duration of their set in the backroom of the Euc bullshitting. I was hyped to witness Lisa Suckdog's first Cleveland performance - her past tours have been legendary, her writing is funny, and even her recorded output has some very fine moments. The show tonight, however, would prove to be disapointing to just about everyone in the audience. I wasn't quite as disapointed as many others were, as I was already prepared not to expect the all-out chaos of past tours. I was expecting something a bit more interesting though. The show started out well enough with Lisa taking the stage (along with Dame Darcy, Cos the Shroom and 1 other person) and introducing "Anatatomically Correct", a dancy song from her latest CD. This was a fun opening track, with Lisa and Dame Darcy doing some funny dances along to the song (performed live by a guitarist and a drum machine). Unfortunately, this was basically the entire show besides the fact that most of the other songs weren't recognizable. The majority of the audience was expecting nudity and other GG-like antics, and was completely let down. I was at least expecting something a bit weirder myself, and found myself bored after 10 minutes of the show. Lisa does certainly have a radiant presence, but her unique personality wasn't enough to carry this show. I'd go see her again if she returns to Cleveland, but I think a spoken word performance may be more fitting to her style these days, or she at least needs to add some form of excitement to the live show before touring again.

Mudhoney, Kent 3, Dimbulb - Oct. 28, 1998 @ Euclid Tavern - Been waiting to see Mudhoney for years (they never played Cleveland before) , and even though their prime is long-gone, it was still a fairly exciting event. The Euc was utterly packed before any band had even taken the stage, which made me realize it was going to be a long crowded night. Dimbulb have opened up a lot of the Subpop/Amrep type shows at the Euc in the past, but this was my first time seeing them. They were OK, but not my style, and I didn't feel like suffering through the crowd up front to catch most of their set. Kent 3 were actually worth the struggle to get to the front, never heard them before but they played some great garage rock. Hope they come back and headline, so I could actually enjoy their set, the place was just too packed and everyone was just waiting for Mudhoney. Who came on after a long Kent 3 set and a long wait as well. They definitely rocked, but they played way too much of their new stuff. Nearly the whole new album actually. Of course, no band wants to live in the past so this was understandable, just regretable as they've never played here before...and the older, faster material is definitely most suitable to a live show than their new, bluesy stuff. They still played some great old stuff - all the obvious hits (Touch Me I'm Sick, You Got It, Hate The Police) were covered along with a track or 2 from each of their releases. Good show, but the lack of old stuff the overly packed crowd made it somewhat of a let-down.

Gang Green, SNFU, The Volts - Nov. 16, 1998 @ Euclid Tavern - Got there towards the end of the Volts set, I had just seen them a few weeks ago so I didn't may much attention to em. I never listened to SNFU but figured they would probably be pretty good, especially if they concentrated on their older shit. Nope. They sounded like your standard Epitaph skater-punk-pop shit to me. Plus their set went on way too long. A couple people did tell me they played around 3 of their really good old songs, but since most of their set was boring and I never listened to em, I didn't pay much attention. I was there to see Gang Green anyhow - who did a great set here around a year ago opening up for Stiff Little Fingers. That show, they played around 45 minutes - nearly everything off the Another Wasted Night LP, a couple real old ones, a couple from the metal era, and a decent selection of stuff from their new disc. So I figured tonight's headlining set would be just as good, probably better. Wrong. This night, Gang Green only played for around a half hour without much enthrusiasm at all. All the old favorites from Another Wasted Night were played again, but not a whole lot else. I was yelling out a couple of my favorites from their metal days - they never got played; I don't think the new members even knew the songs. The new CD which the whole new lineup appears on was also pretty much ignored, only 1 track was played. They ended the way too-short set (I think it was around half the length of SNFU's set) with the obvious "Alcohol" and a cover of the Beastie Boys "Fight For Your Right". Maybe it was just a bad night, or maybe the band was pissed that half the crowd left after SNFU. Last time these guys were in town, it was one of the best reunion sets I had seen - lots of old stuff, plus enough quality new stuff to make it seem like a vital band. This night just seemed like some half-assed nostalgia.

Death Squad, Lockweld, Quell, Season Of Discontent, Noumena - Nov. 21, 1998 @ Speak In Tongues - This was definitely a show I was surprised to hear about considering only 10 people tops were at Death Squad's show a couple months earlier in Cleveland. Credit is definitely due, as many bands wouldn't even perform at all in front of such a small crowd, let alone come back so quickly. Anyhow, it was cool to see a much nicer turnout this time around. Noumena started off the night with a set of noise primarilly generated by guitar feedback - interesting for a bit, but went on a little bit too long - and the country line dancing video in the background really didn't help keep the interest level too high. Cleveland power electronics new-comers Season Of Discontent were up next, and easily the loudest performers of the night. Their set was pretty good for such a new group, I will definitely keep an eye on them - the toy gun modified to be plugged into an amp was especially amusing. Like Noumena, their set went a bit too long but it was interesting for the majority of their set. Originally, Chapter 23 and Terror State were slated to perform but apparently they dropped out of the tour. So Cleveland's Quell filled in. No trouble with passed out members this time around, and Quell performed another harsh power electronics set with some crazy videos on the screen (I heard there was an especially brutal sequence involving bullfighting that I missed). Good stuff. Lockweld were up next with just Makita and Karen in the lineup for this show. Their performance on this night was a bit different than usual, as they were trying to perform previously written tracks as opposed to improv stuff. The change worked very well - the songs performed were as of yet unreleased so it was impossible to compare to their original versions - but they sounded very good with plenty of vocals and grinding from Makita, and electronics from Karen. This was the most focused set I have seen from Lockweld and it will be interesting to see how this new approach to their live shows progresses. Death Squad seemed too political and a bit pretentious for my taste, last time he appeared in town - but the noise he made then was impressive and the fact that he chose to come to Cleveland so soon made me want to check out his set. I am glad I did, for it was far more intense than his previous show. This show started out similiar to last time, though the noise seemed a bit more harsh this time around. Very little of it seemed to actually be performed live as far as I could tell - but it was no big deal as the sounds corresponded to the movies on the video screen very well. The highlight from the screen was footage from what I assume to be the Gulf War, as US helicopters carried out some destruction, only to later realize they were attacking their own troops. Near the end of the performance, Michael (aka Death Squad) scattered a bunch of flyers on the floor in the middle of Speak In Toungues. After several people went to investigate the flyers, Michael drew a razor blade and began to slice up his arm, splattering blood on the flyers (and a couple people who got too close). The flyer was an essay that he had written entitled "The Illusion Of Self" which appeared to be prepared expressly for the Cleveland show. Not sure if I fully understand or agree with what Death Squad is all about, but the intensity and level of thought put into this performance will ensure that I will check them out again.

More Apt. 2324 E-zine #3

Lockweld Interview
Hellstomper Interview
Record Reviews
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