Sorry for the lack of updates...

Well, I suppose I've been pretty good at getting out to shows and snapping photos but I'm way behind in my record reviews. I'll be on tour for 2 1/2 weeks as of tomorrow. I'll try to find the time to catch up on my posting once I get back.

So... Upcoming: completion of the Under Pressure 2007 US tour journal (I'm finding it hard to motivate myself because I'm no longer all that pleased with my photographs), various record reviews, a catch-up on Radio State podcasts, photos from the recent American Flamewhip and Condominium shows that went down in Winnipeg (May 2nd and 3rd, respectively)... and once I get at least some of that done, I'll get started on the 2008 tour journal.

Acts Of Sedition, Nordic Waste, Search+Destroy, Modern Problems and No Fun - April 26, 2008

For some reason I was in a bad mood, but I decided that moping about the house wasn't going to do me any good, so I caught a bus down Portage and made my way down to the Preston Manor. I arrived early and visited with the folks who were already gathering for the show. It wasn't long before the out-of-towners arrived (ACTS OF SEDITION from the Bay area and NORDIC WASTE from Duluth), and after they settled in and got some grub from show promoter Andy Bloom, some introductions were made.

The moment Dan approached me I recognized him from his other band SURRENDER. With that band unable to tour, he dropped everything he was doing to pick up guitar and hit the road with ACTS OF SEDITION. My band had played a squat in Oakland back in 2005. It would be nice to finally catch the band live again. Dan's a conversive guy and we ended up chatting about everything from fantasy author Steven Erikson to growing older in the punk scene and observing how everyone handles an evolution or abandonment of lifestyle in their own way, and that can be difficult to understand or deal with at times.

Me? Why, I still go to shows. In many cases, it's because I love the bands. Something that's given me a reinvigorated passion for live punk music is the pursuit of my photography.

The dark, chaotic environment of a punk--particularly a basement--show is a challenge for me, and when I hit the mark, it's a rush. Some say that a photograph captures someone's soul, and as cheesy as that sounds, I think there is an element of truth to that. I provided homecare for a guy named Don Watkins. Now about five years after his death, I see a lot of him in me. The stubbon, irrational behavior... the answers to questions that don't match up like they do for others... He enforced upon me that shooting a camera is like shooting a gun. Surely the ritualistic use of a firearm is some serious soul-sucking, so why not for a camera?

I'm 32 now. I'm appreciative of those who've stayed dedicated to the live music scene, and I can get a charge of the enthusiasm of the younger generations. It's hard to relate to many of the younger kids at times but holding a camera allows me to be content as the silent observer. The only problem is that I'm not always content in that role. That's fine, because I have my bands for an aggressive outlet...

This wandering trail of thought isn't going anywhere, just so you know. And the photographs I took this night aren't very good at all. Still, something was captured, so here's a few shots that got away but still left their mark.


NO FUN @ the Preston Manor in Winnipeg, Canada


SEARCH+DESTROY




NORDIC WASTE


ACTS OF SEDITION


Dan from ACTS OF SEDITION recruits local Ari to... make some noise while a bandmate deals with a technical difficulty.

the Insaniacs - April 18, 2008

The Royal Albert threw a joint party celebrating the INSANIACS 10th anniversary/one-night reunion, as well as Royal Albert mainstay Maladin's 10th year of terrorizing Winnipeg.

For a reunion performance, I thought the INSANIACS exceeded expectations and were in fine form, and it was a nice touch having original bassist Karla come on stage to play a few of the band's older songs. Johnny Nuclear is one of Winnipeg punk's great frontmen and apparently has a new band almost ready to go. The crowd was lively but not as retarded as I had anticipated.

The opening bands aren't my thing at all. QUAGMIRE have a loyal and rowdy following and scored points for covering TURBONEGRO but to me they don't come across as confrontational or as rocking as they seem to aspire to be. Maybe requesting that their singer stab me during their next set will do the trick.

KRAWTCH ROCKET features Winnipeg punk rock veterans and play the most god-awful cliche-diseased cock rock I have been subjected to in a long time. Fuck was that insufferable. Their singer Norm used to front mid-80's hardcore band THE UNWANTED and has resurrected the band recently with a new lineup. They're totally worth checking out. How someone could be involved in both of these opposed bands is anybody's guess.

THE AFTERLIFE opened the show and were the worst band I've seen since my youth. I don't even know what they are. Generic bar punk/rock with 4+ minute torture sessions of complete bullshit deprived of any songwriting. Their drummer wore a TYPE-O-NEGATIVE shirt and would randomly have outbursts of prolonged double-kick rolls. The singer/guitarist was apparently in Winnipeg's old punk band, DISCHARGE. (I haven't heard them; for all I know they might be just as bad.) I read this in a copy of Stylus that I found laying around in the Albert lobby, where I retreated to distance myself from the "music". The writer introduced the band with something to the effect of "Do you know when you go to see a band and they throw 15-minutes of improvisation at you... and it totally blows you away?" The band went on to describe themselves in the article as having MC5 and STOOGES influences. Fuck off you assholes.


THE INSANIACS @ the Royal Albert in Winnipeg, Canada















The rest of Jason Penner's photographs from this show can be viewed here.

Radio State for Monday, April 21, 2008

with DJs Terrible & Fuck You

"Exploring punk, hardcore, rock, psychedelic, jazz and beyond. Mondays, bi-weekly on 101.5 UMFM Winnipeg."

Here are DJ Terrible's sets for the first hour of tonight's show. DJ Fuck You has the 2nd hour.

Black Flag - "Jealous Again"

Final Warning - "Out Of Sight Out Of Mind"
Poison Idea - "Pure Hate"
Personality Crisis - "Waiting"
Stretch Marks - "Sik Pleasure"

Neos - "They'll Destroy Themselves"
Deep Wound- "In My Room"
Urban Waste - "No Hope"

Septic Death - "Core Of Reality"
Siege - "Starvation"
United Mutation - "Take Your Pick"

Misfits - "Death Comes Ripping"
Crucifix - "No Limbs"
Negative Approach - "Hypocrite"
SS Decontrol - "Nothing Done"

Corrosion Of Conformity - "Broken Will"
Battalion Of Saints - "Holy Vision"
Husker Du - "Lifeline"
Scream - "Total Mash"

Articles Of Faith - "Buried Alive"
Bad Brains - "Fearless Vampire Killers"
Die Kreuzen - "Think For Me"

Dead Kennedys - "Drug Me"
Feederz - "L-O-V-E (Another Damp Thing)"
Flipper - "Nothing"
No Trend - "Killing Me"

Rudimentary Peni - "Blissful Myth"
NoMeansNo - "Pigs And Dogs"

Rip It Up Fest - April 12, 2008

Rip It Up fest... It ended up being the source of much confusion, controversy and messageboard entertainment the last few months. What was initially planned out to be a convergence of some of North America's finest short, fast and loud bands. There were a lot of misunderstandings and cancellations... What resulted was a single show that ended up being a lot of fun. The bands that ended up playing were (in order): MIND CONTROL, UNDER PRESSURE, BORN BAD, DR BENWAY (BC), THE AGENDA (MN) and THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT HEROES (AB).

Quick rundown: MIND CONTROL were new and played a competent set with a VOID cover (I think?!). UNDER PRESSURE started off okay but then blew some nasty chunks after Mike's amp stopped working. BORN BAD's set was ridiculous was it should have been. DR BENWAY played nondescript melodic crusty stuff and weren't something I could get into. THE AGENDA were sloppy, noisy and terrific. THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT HEROES played melodic sing-along punk really well but weren't my cup of tea at all. Their singer had a ridiculous amount of energy but his antics were kind of cheesy. Seem like really nice guys though and there were folks there who were into them.


Upon arriving at the venue (the Graffiti Gallery on Higgins) I immediately noticed some punks hanging out in an adjacent lot. We were entertained briefly by the junkyard of office equipment.






Da punx hanging outside the Graffiti Gallery.


Cam and I caught up with Tim and Charlie from Minneapolis punk band, THE AGENDA. Unfortunately, most of the out-of-town bands canceled their appearances at the fest but thankfully they were able to make it down.


BORN BAD @ the Graffiti Gallery in Winnipeg, Canada


When Matt (the soundguy) wasn't handling the levels and broken gear, he was nursing this bad boy. Shit...


THE AGENDA @ the Graffiti Gallery in Winnipeg, Canada






DEAD DOGS @ the Lipton house in Winnipeg, Canada

After the show James hooked me up with THE AGENDA's ride to an after show at the Lipton house. I'm glad I was clued in and ended up attending because it was a lot of fun. DEAD DOGS started playing as soon as Paul, Cam and myself got back from an organic munchies raid.


THE AGENDA @ the Lipton house in Winnipeg, Canada

MODERN PROBLEMS played after DEAD DOGS with an altered lineup. Not sure if it was temporary or permanent. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good shots of MODERN PROBLEMS. Steve was quite lively throughout the set and cannot fault him for not putting on a performance.


THE AGENDA were great at the fest but were even better the second time around. Singer Tim has a great explosive energy; you don't know what is going to happen next other than that it will probably end with him plowing into you. They kicked off their basement show performance with a cover of "Manimal" by THE GERMS and it was all uphill from there.





The rest of Jason Penner's photographs from these shows can be viewed here.

the Gorgon, Search + Destroy and the Sweet Nothings - April 3, 2008

THE SWEET NOTHINGS @ the Royal Albert in Winnipeg, Canada




SEARCH + DESTROY @ the Royal Albert in Winnipeg, Canada




THE GORGON @ the Royal Albert in Winnipeg, Canada







The rest of Jason Penner's photographs from this show can be viewed here.

Review: ECOLI - Rape EP

Here's the debut EP from El Granada, California's ECOLI. A great-sounding bedroom recording offering almost exclusively sub-minute blasts of fast hardcore punk. It's rooted in the sounds of 80's US hardcore but at the same time, there is some solid lead guitar work and actual song-writing that saves this EP from hardcore generica and lifts it beyond genre exercise, yielding 8 songs that are all immediately identifiable from each other. Lyrical topics, as the sleeve might (or might not) suggest, focus on racism, urban decay, police brutality and the evil US killing machine. Noam Chomsky it ain't but a record worth picking up and giving a spin it is.
(Stress Domain Records - http://www.stressdomainrecords.tk)

Track Listing:
A: "Big Stupid Ape (Police Test)" "Whites Will Inherit The World" "The Order" "Trammel"
B: "Social Anxiety" "Warts On My Dick" "Metropolis" "Shoot 'Em All And Let God Sort 'Em Out"

Review: DAVE E AND THE COOL MARRIAGE COUNSELLORS - s/t EP

Here's a bootlegged gem capturing the legendary Dave E with a post-ELECTRIC EELS endeavor. What you have is a studio cut ("Searching Through Sears", a spontaneous live performance sans band "Love Meant To Die", and a live cut "Psychology 101". All three tracks are equally brilliant, and not just for a passing novelty value chuckle. "Searching Through Sears" was originally featured on CLE Magazine #3's 8" flexi insert. 2000 copies were issued in 1981. The flexi showcased several Cleveland underground bands, including PERE UBU. Back to the first cut: An utterly depraved zombie suburban odyssey featuring heaping spoonfuls of xylophone; the instrument of choice for the infirm. Ingredients include: social commentary, children's TV show theme song, alcohol and electro shock therapy. Next up is the live and spontaneous radio performance of "Love Meant To Die". He performs a cappella, providing "doo dee doos" for instrumentation between verses. As off-the-cuff and incomplete as it is, I can only imagine this being a perfect rendition of the song, which somehow manages to yield a complete vision of what the song was to become, as well as a perfect display of Dave E's creative potential and a balance of humor and nihilism. "Psychology 101" continues this formula on the live stage. A laid-back jazzy number accompanied by saxophone. A tangled and tragic tale of man and woman. I haven't been able to dig up much information on this 7". My guess is that this is not a reissue but something that was assembled out of scraps of the band's ephemeral existence (even more so than the ELECTRIC EELS, who only performed live a half dozen times before imploding). Dave E does talk in the radio recording an upcoming release on his to-be label, Christmas Pets Records, but I gather this never came to be. A friend told me that Dave is now Born Again and performing in a church band. No clue as to this story's validity.
(bootleg)

Track Listing:
A: "Searching Through Sears"
B: "Love Meant To Die" "Psychology 101"

the Sweet Nothings - March 29, 2008

From the ashes of THE DETENTIONS, the terrific SWEET NOTHINGS rise and deliver on providing Winnipeg with brilliant tuneful punk.


THE SWEET NOTHINGS @ Hooligans Pub in Winnipeg, Canada

Radio State: Now Podcasting!

Radio State: Exploring punk, hardcore, rock, psychedelic, jazz and beyond since 1999. Mondays, bi-weekly on 101.5 UMFM Winnipeg.

As of February 11th, Radio State on 101.5 UMFM Winnipeg is now podcasting! Now you can download archives of the show hosted by DJs Terrible and Fuck You and listen at your leisure. You can either click on the subscribe button to automate downloads with your favorite service or you can download individual episodes directly.

March 24, 2008
March 10, 2008
February 25, 2008
February 11, 2008

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