Squirrel Heart

sooooo, yeah.. I’m back. Not sure if I was abducted by aliens, got wrapped up in an intense time travel mission, or if I was just being a lazy sack of shit.. Most likely it was all of the above. My life did turn into a trainwreck since i last wrote here and has since been turned around into a glorious victory lap if you will, but I’ll spare you the personal shit because this is not live journal. Family issues, personal issues, just life issues in general have plagued me but I’ve thrown most of the bad out the fucking window so whatever.

In the process of this I’ve gone to some amazing shows. Actually I’ve been to a shit-ton of great shows. I was just gonna list the bands but I gotta start off by saying the 9/11 conspiracy fest in Cleveland this year was one of the funnest shows I’ve ever been to. Good people mixed with mind altering substances, fireworks, and a killer lineup makes for good times. Darvocets, Inmates, Chronic Seizure, Midnight, Formaldehyde junkies, and few others played and destroyed. Simple as that. Actually it’s not as simple as that, it was so much more but that’s all i’m giving you jerkoffs. Other bands who have kicked my ass:

Repos - in the running for best live hardcore band
Canadian Rifle - no dreams, no goals
Pedestrians - so many fun shows
Look back and laugh
Off with their heads
Ergs
Direct Control - of course
Municipal Waste - again (i’m putting a retraining order on myself against these dudes)
Destruction
Disrobe - most underrated chaotic hardcore band in the country
Brain Handle

Actually, I’ve probably talked about a lot of these bands and I don’t want to bore you but most of these bands have gotten even better in my opinion (most notably Chronic Seizure). Fuck, they’re like a tornado now.

I also moved into a new house with new roomates which is certainly an adjustment. One of my roomates is an X-militant straight edge warrior who used to roadie for Warzone which is pretty neat/funny. Back to the TPS reports I go but I’ll leave you with this inpirational piece from youtube:

I would promise to update this thing more but who am I kidding.

So this was a test to see if punks are committed enough to come out to a kickass show on a monday. The turnout was alright but definitely could have been better. Part of the problem was that even though the Darvocets and Inmates have been bands for over ten years they’ve flown virtually under the radar.. And part of that has to do that they’re from Cleveland in which case people either seem to love or hate bands from there. These dudes could namedrop all kinds of bands they were in like Integrity, Ringworm, 9 Shocks, Gordon Solie Motherfuckers, etc. but they don’t give a shit about that and neither should you which is charming in itself. Anyway, we finally made it up to Albion after I met up with them at some yuppy bar pounding $2 imports.

Chronic Seizure started the show off by cranking out one of the better sets I’ve seen them play. Particularly the 1st half sounded great. These dudes play faster and faster everytime I see them which is cool but in some of the songs I think kind of takes away from the appeal. The energy was pretty high during their set. On a side note it’s great to see Chronic Seizure get some well deserved hype after fashionable idiots put out their fucking awesome first ep! I know people would be all over this band back home. As my friend Mough said not long ago “there’s not enough fast bands around here.” All hail Chronic Sick!!

Inmates started playing before I knew it so I rushed downstairs and was immediately impressed with how well they sounded. In fact I think the sound was probably better than any band I’ve seen at Albion. Only a few shows into their tour and half the band probably should have been in the hospital yet they’re playing someone’s basement and giving it their fucking all.. Paul the singer’s legs were so fucked up he was on crutches using them on the crowd to make sure they didn’t get more fucked up. Even though it would have been cool to see him go totally nuts I think he held his own hobbling. Aaron joined the pit while rockin’ the guitar doing what looked like a scary Chuck Berry move. I really wish I would have had a camera because it would have been great to get some of this on photo.

As far as what the Inmates sound like: I’ve heard people compare them to early Agnostic Front which I think sounds like could be an influence of theirs, but it’s really hard to peg them with just that. Paul’s voice is unique and has this range like some crazy schizo or something. I’ve always thought their lp was one of the most underrated hardcore records so I was really pumped to see these guys, and honestly kind of thought they wouldn’t live up to that, but that was entirely not the case. They raged live, maybe even moreso than the lp. It’s great to see a bunch of mongloid scumsters who live halfway across the country, some of them having families/kids etc., who hardly ever practice, and still manage to just throw the fuck down! You can debate what punk and hardcore is supposed to be about all you want on some stupid messageboard but shit like this pretty much somes it up for me.

Darvocets played next and sounded great. Totally different sounding band and approach containing some of the same members as inmates. They sound kind of Killed by deathy with the theme being heavily based in aliens and conspiracy theory. Larry’s a very ecentric and spastic singer who had no trouble entertaining the crowd. Unfortunately about half way through their set one of their heads (guitar) exploded and smoked out the basement with this awful smell. Coincidense? I seriously doubt it!! That wasn’t enough to ruin the fun though because the night kept going. Fuckin’ a, what a great time. Hopefully I’ll get to see both of these bands again.

Paul does noncommercial records and you can check out tunes by both these bands here: noncommercial records myspace

Painkiller records just released a new Darvocets 12″ and should have the repress of the Inmates LP out in the next few weeks. So yeah, umm, seeya.

This show was going on at Benny from No Slogan/Southkore’s house on the southside last friday which I’ve never been to before. Luckily the Chronic Seizure crew scooped me up because I’m not sure I would have made it otherwise. Man am I glad they did because it was the perfect kind of show. Laid back and people just chillin’. Good vibes all around and a decent sized group of mainly over 30 punks which is so rare nowadays. It wasn’t just a show, it was a fucking party and that’s how I like it.

I Attack kicked things off and were having some sound/feedback problems so they didn’t sound as good as they normally do but were still decent. You’re kind of behind the 8 ball when you’re the first band on a friday night house show but they made the best of it. I think they get props in chicago but are fairly underrated outside of these parts. Check out their lp and 7″ if you haven’t already.

No Slogan played next and were pretty good but not as powerful as the first time I saw them at the Ice Factory. I liked the first ep but could tell they were a band with lots more potential and they exceeded that hope with the last time I saw them. They were good on friday but maybe I was just too excited to see Regress for the first time. I’ve since picked up their new ep “No Passaran” which rocks and I’m looking forward to seeing them more this summer hopefully.

After making some new friends I made may way to the front to check out Regress. I wish I had a good camera because I was right in front of Joe while he belted out all of their songs that I’m aware of from their first two eps. So close that I actually almost got jabbed in the face with his bass a few times. If you liked Life Sentence at all you will love regress. Fast early 80’s snotty hardcore with lots of hooks but not even close to being poppy. It’s really too bad this band doesn’t play out more because they are the real deal. Maybe I’ll hassle them some more.

Acts of Sedition from Oakland were next and they sounded tight. They had kind of a Tragedy/doomcrust type sound that I can get into sometimes but tonight I just wasn’t feeling it. It was all about “take two pulls and pass” and unloading the bladder for me. I ended up just shootin’ the shit with some people upstairs.

Up next were the Pedestrians who I’ve probably seen more than any local band so I wasn’t that excited about it, but then they reminded me why they are one of my favorite bands from around here by playing one of the best sets I’ve seen them play. They keep getting better and better and Jordan manages to get the crowd involved without being obnoxious about it. Everyone in the band is solid at what they do and the songs seem to be set up to have parts drop out and come back in which I think accentuates the different instruments. I want to compare these guys to the Observers but I think they have more of an edge going on. Be sure to check them out on tour though because as I said before they’re one of Chicago’s best and not too many bands from here tour that much.

I also got to meet this old schol punk named Marie and her husband who were in the punk scene back in the late 70’s/early 80’s. Marie has an awesome site up with old photos and shit she took from back in the day. If you want to check them out as well as flyers and her old zine go here: 1980’s Chicago Punk Scene

Let me just start off by saying there is a reason I don’t read Pitchfork.. Daniel over at Dead Metaphor brought this snobby/confusing review of Jade Tree’s reissues of Avail’s Dixie, 4am Friday, and Over the James to my attention on his site: . I agree with Daniel’s sentiments but am probably even a little more disgusted with the review so I go off on it below.. Maybe even a little too much. Oh well.

Ugghhh.. Avail has not been considered “cool” to like since around 1998, and Zach Baron sums that up pretty well. Thanks again Pitchfork. It seems like he wants to say good shit, but doesn’t want to look bad in front of a million other mindless hipsters. The band has continued to write great songs over the past 18 years but I guess Zach jumped off the bandwagon as soon as it departed. This guy is not alone by any means because there are tons of taste-making hardcore kids on the other end of the spectrum that trash Avail because of the same reason, and/or that they’re on fat records. Meanwhile the band’s in debt working their asses off to survive. “Fucking sellouts”!

I love how he calls these records “disposable” yet rates them around 8/10 (way to go you spineless trend hopping loser). I’m not surprised either because none of these records appeared on the pitchfork top 100 albums of the 90’s list which is such a shame. I’ll be content singing along to “not impressed with who knows who” and wearing a sweatshirt and jeans while this guys getting his mind blown by some complex noise band and hanging out with like minded vintage clothed manniquins.. Maybe that’s a little harsh because at least he acknowledges how fun Avail was.

“Should anybody care about 1990s rec-room hardcore a decade after the fact– especially when the band is actually still together? Well, yeah: If you care about fun.”

By the way, I saw Avail on Saturday and it was the best show I’ve been to all year. There were no fights and the songs as well as a lot of the lyrics hit home just as much as they did when I was 19 (I’m 31 now). But maybe I’m just immature and a little bit simple. That reminds me, I need to get a “simple man” tattoo.

Porch Mob has been around DC/VA for at least five years now in one form or another. The only consistent part being the singer/songwriter/gutarist Mr. Dave Stone. It’s so good to see this get an official release because for one it fucking rocks! And for personal reasons because this band started, and for the most part only existed in my basement for years. I’ve heard most of the songs so many times that I know them by heart. One could argue that I’m biased because of it, but honestly if I didn’t really like them I wouldn’t be writing this. At one point I didn’t think Porch Mob would materialize into anything more than dudes rocking out in the basement, but for the past year or so they’ve been playing out a lot more and on some pretty interesting bills as well.

Of course none of this matters unless you like what they are doing musically so let me try to convey that as well as I can. As far as band comparisons go it’s safe to say they conjure up aspects of the Bad Brains, RKL, and even a little Metallica (in the vocal delivery). The back bone of this band is Stone’s interesting guitar riffs. While you could compare some of it to the bands mentioned above Dave has a style of his own, which is kind of rare if you ask me. Especially when it comes to anything resembling punk and hardcore these days. Porch Mob are definitely not a straight forward hardcore punk band. I can hear influences from all the decades of punk/hardcore. Most of the songs are very manic with lots of melody thrown in. The last studio track will probably catch a few people off guard with it’s jangly slow, almost radio type feel. I’m not sure exactly what the song is about but I think it has something to do with distaste with the current state of America. Dorks rejoice that John Stabb (GI) cameos in the song with a good redneck impersonation.

The second half of the cd is a live performance from the Velvet Lounge in DC which is kind of cool but also makes the release a little uneven. The first two songs suffer from some sound issues. Once the sound man tightened up or whatever was going on, the band hits their stride. As a whole I think the live set flexes some muscle that is not as apparent on the studio tracks. The final track is a great rendition of “At the movies” which not many bands could pull off this well. My only real compaint with this disc is the different levels with the recording. If they can keep a steady lineup for awhile and muster up some funds for recording watch the hell out! I think Porch Mob is headed in the right direction though and hopefully more people will get a chance to hear them.

Wow, it’s been a long time since I wrote anything in here. Life just burns away and next thing you know another year has gone by. It really is crazy. I just realized I’ve been living in Chicago for over a year now. It’s kind of hard not to get bummed just because I really haven’t done shit but you know what, that’s not very posi. Through the ups and the downs my girlfriend and I are still together. I’ve had numerous people tell me the first year is the hardest and boy do I really hope this is true..

Saturday I went out with a crew of people from my work which was real cool. Such a diverse crowd which is always nice. We had the token white dude (me), a comedic Peruvian (Mickey), a surly black man (Eric), the awesome middle easterner (Naseer), and two friendly white women (Kiersten and Leslie). We ended up going to this bar Murphy’s that was nothing I had ever experienced in an irish pub before. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Whiteboyz” then there’s a pretty good picture for you. Suburban white dudes acting hard to an extremely uncapable dj playing club music. Primo place for black chicks to pick up white dudes as my friend Eric pointed out. Bad dancing provided excellant entertainment. Fuck, I’m going back to this place. It was that ridiculous. I met a dude from london who worked for FHM that was in chicago for two weeks to review bars. Good times.

Sunday Izzy and I went to Home Depot so she could get stuff to start our garden. She’s gets so excited about the garden, I hope it turns out well. Last year the turnout was pretty lackluster as far as anything flourishing but hopefully this year it will work out better. My day was capped off by making some of the best bloody mary’s I’ve ever had in my life and watching George Mason knock off #1 ranked UCONN in the NCAA tournament!! Holy shit man. I’m not sure it gets better than that.. Except for maybe on friday when I took a personal day and went to Hot Doug’s and got a “Cognac-Infused Smoked Pheasant Sausage with Truffle Sauce Moutarde and Toma Piemontese Cheese..” Yeah, amazing to say the least. Then on the way I home I swung by best buy on a whim and picked up a new record player! Yee haw, now I can listen to records in the living room and record shit whenever I want to (on tape that is). I’m still old school and behind the times. Tapes man, TAPES! First on my list is to make Daniel Lupton a good one.

Shows I’m looking forward to in chicago:
Avail
Lucero
Inmates/Darvocets/PITF
Damnation ad
Forward/Warhead/Tragedy
and a ton more I’ve forgetting. It’s getting warm and shit’s gonna start booming.

Records that have been dominating:
No Bullshit comp on No Way
Deep Wound LP
Gregor Samsa - 55:27
Porch Mob - Can of Worms
Chronic Seizure - Brainsick ep
Iron Age - Constant Struggle

Right now I’m listening to: Turbonegro - Never is Forever

Records I can’t wait for:
Government Warning LP
Avail LP
new Set to Explode
Supreme Commander
Inmates
Soul Swallower

“Wednesday morning we received news that Andrew Wagonhoffer, drummer of Official, was found dead by his roommates at his home in Wheaton, MD this past Sunday. Exact cause of death is still unknown until the medical report is finished.”

Andy (Wagon) was an awesome dude. Not only was he one of the most crazy and energetic drummers that I’ve seen but he had the rare quality of making everyone smile. He was definitely a little 0ut there and that’s part of what made him special. I guess he wasn’t made for this world. My heart goes out to his family and Matt and Mike from Official. I always had a great time when these dudes rocked the goon house. May Andy munch on heavenly steak tips for eternity. RIP dude. FUCK, this sucks.

I just got word that Bomber from RKL passed away. I guess Brandon Cruz called up some radio station this morning and broke the news that he OD’d. What a drag.. They were one of my favorite hardcore bands growing up. Especially when Bomber was behind the kit. He was such a talented guy. I’m not really sure what else to say. Here’s a link to the bands Myspace page

So after a crazy 60 degrees yesterday it seems my first brutal Chicago winter begins today. It’s 30 and fucking windy as shit. We’ve already had a few days in the teens and I’m really sick of everyone that doesn’t live here telling me how cold it is here. I KNOW THIS MAN! I’m ready, facemask and all. I also just had my first Thanksgiving without any of my family which was pretty weird, but nice at the same time. Liz and I just cooked a shitload of food and chilled out. I think I stayed up til 5am and slept til 3pm for 3 days straight. That’s the life.

Tonight I’m off to see Bang Bang and some other bands I’ve never heard of. Then on Thursday it’s Gouka (Japan), Punch in the Face, Raining Bricks, Pedestrians, and No Slogan. Such a good lineup so I’m really looking forward to it. I haven’t really been scoring any good music lately so if anyone has any suggestions leave me a message. Liz just helped me build a big ass shelf for all my records because I had no more room. Now it’s time to fill that sucker up! Not really, because I can’t afford to spend much on music since money’s been tight as hell lately. Everythings been pretty good around here lately. I’m kind of scared the seasonal depression is going to kick in soon. I’m so bored at work right now, someone entertain me!?!?! Here’s a few things for you to choke on.

Here’s a link to the new supagroup Dirtywordz. Tru rap from the streets of Vagina Beach, Virginia. Recognize bitches!
www.myspace.com/dirtywordz