Saturday, December 19, 2009

Acid Mothers Sunday vol 21: Penguin House Dec 18 2009



Full on blizzard mode here on the East Coast USA... so here is an AMT Sunday a day early. This time around, we have three sets from basically last night at Penguin House in Tokyo Koenji. Miminokoto (with Kawabata), Leningrad Blues Machine and Tsurubami recorded and uploaded by AMT message board poster Fuyuki. Great sets and awesome recordings with an AMT tie in for each band. Kawabata sits in with Miminokoto, Leningrad Blues Machine is Cosmic Inferno bassist Tabata's psych band (and of course we all recall Leningrad Psychedelic Blues Machine) and Tsurubami features Kawabata and Hiroshi from AMT. Whew!

Miminokoto with Kawabata - Live Dec 18 2009 Penguin House

Leningrad Blues Machine - Live Dec 18 2009 Penguin House

Tsurubami - Live Dec 18 2009 Penguin House

(can I just mention the awesome jam about 6 minutes into the Leningrad Blues Machine set sounds like Legion of Mary? Wow.. amazing.)

Thanks again, Fuyuki!

Yesterday I received the new AMT label disc, Acid Mothers Temple with with Ichiraku Yoshimitsu, AMT Festival Vol 7, a 16 track live recording that sounds phenomenal, but wow... check out the artwork!!


Friday, December 11, 2009

Marble Sheep Live Nov 7 2009 M Room Philadelphia




Hey now... here is the audio from the Marble Sheep show at the M Room in Philly from last month courtesy of Mike from Prophase. I am not quite sure of the track listing, so any help in the comments is appreciated of course!

Marble Sheep - Nov 7 2009 M Room Philadelphia (12 songs @ 192)

Monday, December 7, 2009

Kawabata & Michishita - Maru Sankaku Shikaku (Circle Triangle Square) LP



The super duper awesome and long awaited Kawabata Makoto and Michishita Shinsuke LP Maru Sankaku Shikaku (Circle Triangle Square) just arrived and is available now from ye olde Prophase Music.

Two side long jams created by the Acid Mothers Temple main man Kawbata and Michishita from LSD March. This time around they use acoustic "ethnic" instruments creating some nice havoc in the drone world. Gorgeous green splatter vinyl in a gatefold sleeve! More pics coming later today... also this release is available on iTunes, yalls!
iTunes US


Sunday, December 6, 2009

First snow of the season....


Acid Mothers Sunday Vol 20: Blues for the Narcotic Kangaroo



This one is one of my all time favorite Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO tracks. "Blues for the Narcotic Kangaroo" is a 20+ plus minute jam that is one of the most unique songs in the AMT cannon. This one was only released on the tour vinyl that AMT were selling on their 2007 Crystal Rainbow Pyramid tour. Released by Important Records on splattered vinyl in an edition of 1000. The regular CD of Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under the Stars is one of my fave AMT releases and it is a slight shame that "Blues For the Narcotic Kangaroo" is not on the CD, but hell, the vinyl looks and sounds fantastic.

In addition to the "regular" AMT members, this song includes Kitagawa Hao on vocals and Ono Ryoko on saxophone. Ono Ryoko also plays with Sax Ruins and she plays in O-jazz with Tsuyama.

I just can't stress enough how much I love Ono's playing with AMT, it is a match made in heaven. She has the power and control to make some fantastic noise and washes of free squawk. But... as the blues of the title refers, this one features some rather trad playing, big Clarence Clemons storm clouds of emotional wow. Things get weirder and weirder with Ono and Kawabata way out front on this recording and the interplay between his guitar and her sax is just incredible. Things get super chaotic and the only thing holding on is a one note "Interstellar Overdrive" style plink while everything else swirls and pans from left to right at a dizzying pace. Things get more "Speed Guru" as the song goes on, faster and extreme, Ono keeping up most of the time. Unreal. I wish they would tour the USA with her, would love to hear her playing on a whole AMT set, especially "Pink Lady Lemonade." Oh man! Anyways, check it out and enjoy. It seems the LP is still available, so pick it up if you can.


Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO - Blues For the Narcotic Kangaroo vinyl rip @ 320

(photo is from AMT 2007 at the Unitarian Church Philadelphia, their only tour with vocalist Kitagawa Hao)

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Acid Mothers Sunday: Vol. 19: Live In Occident

Wow, I haven't done one of these in ages. Anyways, for this one, I have uploaded a rip of the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO's first live vinyl, Live In Occident.

The seemingly gone Detector put this 2 LP colored vinyl gatefold in 2000. Decent live recordings of Acid Mothers Temple's various live shows in 1999, though unfortunately the Philly show at the Khyber that was my first AMT live show is not represented. If anyone has a recording of that one, please get in touch!

Anyways, this is the classic line up with Kawabata, Cotton, Higashi, Tsuyama and Koizumi Hajime tearing through America and the UK. It features the weird ass free jazz spazz jams like "Rising From the Cool Fool Inferno" that this line up squeezed in between the earlyish versions of "Pink Lady Lemonade" and "Speed Guru." And of course the over the top improv jam of "Acid Milk Milky Way Also Jupiter 888."

The highlight on this one for me is the sublime and beautiful "Astrological Overdrive." Cotton's vocals may be the most missed aspect of modern AMT and this performance gives a solid reason why. Her vocals mix perfectly with Tsuyama's, especially when he gets demonic and she remains angelic. It is a one of the great lost Acid Mothers songs, appearing no where else to the best of my knowledge, but it is 18 minutes of swirling but simple psych, foreshadowing jams like "La Novia" and "Soleil de Cristal et Lune d'argent" and even "Cometary Orbital Drive." Another mandatory jam on this one is another kinda lost song, "Blue Velvet Blues." This one didn't survive the AMT set list much after the first two tours it seems, but such a great song, again, another showcase for Cotton's vocals. While the ultimate version of the song is on the 2LP reissue of Pataphisical Freak Out Mu!!, this version is heavy and deep features a weird clapping jam with the audience not to far into the song, hazy and totally strange, almost like the "Chanting" on this Dead show. The super pretty main riff is colored by very light guitar playing and then crushing synth noise blasts. Totally incredible.

Detector didn't seem to last too long, though they did release a 7" and a 10" by Cotton's pre AMT band, Mady Gula Blue Heaven. This one has been out of print for a pretty long time and if it ever gets reissued I will pull it down, of course, but it is a key part to the AMT puzzle for sure.


This one is loaded at 256. Enjoy.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO - Live In Occident (Detector Records, 2000)

1. Acid Milk Milkyway Also Jupiter 888
2. banter
3. Rising From The Cool Fool Inferno
4. Astrological Overdrive
5. Pink Lady Lemonade
6. Blue Velvet Blues
7. Speed Guru
8. Lucille

UPDATE: The fine folks at Essence Music have reissued this in a remixed version on CD, limited to 500 copies in a gatefold sleeve. The sound is great, highly recommended!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Pics: Strapping Field Hands Nov 19 2009 @ Kung Fu Necktie



After an awesome Jesus Lizard show at the Starlight Ballroom on Wednesday, the class of '94 week totally continued with a rare (reunion?) show from the Strapping Field Hands at Kung Fu Necktie. Tons of old heads at both shows, lots of bald spots and glasses, mine included. I swear there more girls at the Field Hands show than the Lizard one.

Anyways, the Field Hands were great, a tad sloppy, sometimes out of tune, but totally perfect in their deal. Sure, I wish they had played more songs from Discus and I wish they were rocking the 2 drummer line up, but so it goes. The remastered reissue of the CD is due in Jan 2010 (available now on iTunes) and hopefully will lead to more Field Hands show. I would love to see them hop on that "do an album front to back" trend and play the entire Discus album in the future. At the Khyber. Fingers crossed. Anyway, here are some pics from from the shambling shamen. Sorry for the extra blurriness, but I was trying to recreate my mind state of 1994 with lots of porter and smoke.




Thursday, November 19, 2009

Acid Mothers Temple 2010 USA Tour Dates

From Windish

Philly show is April 9 at Johnny Brenda's...

Sun 03/21/10 Plush - Tucson AZ
Mon 03/22/10 Casbah - San Diego CA
Tue 03/23/10 Spaceland - Los Angeles CA
Wed 03/24/10 Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco CA
Fri 03/26/10 Mississippi Studios - Portland OR
Sat 03/27/10 Biltmore Cabaret - Vancouver BC
Sun 03/28/10 Sunset Tavern - Seattle WA
Wed 03/31/10 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis MN
Thu 04/01/10 The Picador - Iowa City IA
Fri 04/02/10 Empty Bottle - Chicago IL
Sat 04/03/10 Crofoot Ballroom Pike Room - Pontiac MI
Sun 04/04/10 El Mocambo - Toronto ON
Mon 04/05/10 La Sala Rossa - Montreal PQ
Tue 04/06/10 Middle East Upstairs - Cambridge MA
Wed 04/07/10 Knitting Factory - Brooklyn NY
Thu 04/08/10 DC9 - Washington DC
Fri 04/09/10 Johnny Brendas - Philadelphia PA
Sat 04/10/10 Ottobar - Baltimore MD
Sun 04/11/10 Local 506 - Chapel Hill NC
Mon 04/12/10 Pilot Light - Knoxville TN
Tue 04/13/10 Grey Eagle Tavern - Asheville NC
Wed 04/14/10 Cosmic Charlie's - Lexington KY
Thu 04/15/10 Hi-Tone Cafe - Memphis TN
Fri 04/16/10 The Loft - Dallas TX
Sat 04/17/10 Emos Alternative Lounge - Austin TX


UPDATED

Monday, November 9, 2009

Marble Sheep: Live June 8 1991 Shinjuku Antiknock Tokyo

With all the pics and stuff about Marble Sheep's recent visit to the Keystone State, I figured I would load up an older Marble Sheep & The Run Down Sun's Children show. This one is from 1991, June 8 at Shinjuku Antiknock in Tokyo. I got this one on cassette back in the mid 90s when I was on a crazy tape trade binge with a Japanese dude, my G.Dead for his Marble Sheep! Man... Anyways, not sure on the track list, drop a line if you know it, etc. or leave comments... thanks!

Marble Sheep & The Run Down Sun's Children - Live June 8 1991 Shinjuku Antiknock

UPDATE: Marble Sheep interview on jrawk blog here.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Marble Sheep, Plastic Crimewave Sound, Kohoutek: M Room Philly Nov 7 2009



Day two of the Eastern PA Marble Sheep/Plastic Crimewave tour landed at the M Room in Philly! Woo! We were kinda burnt from the awesome whirl of the night before in Bethlehem but hopes and excitement was high for this one. After the usual scramble for parking, we rolled in and hung out with Prophase Mike and Kenzinger pints.

Kohoutek played a great heavy set with Clint from Bardo Pond on bass. The tribal jam action mixed with Monster Magnet big riffs sometimes bouncing around, joined by blasts of musically murky noise, kinda like that Boris and Merzbow live album. The blasts were big and echoed around the small space, more like clouds than lasers. A really peppy set that found them hitting pockets of greatness regularly. Mike mentioned a bit of shoegaze and I can definitely see that as well. Regardless, every Kohoutek gig is different, so don't miss any!




Sean from The Twin Atlas rolled in and we were stoked to see him. Plastic Crimewave Sound kicked out the jams as they say. The definitely benefited from a better sound system than the night before, Steve's vocals were actually audible so that was cool. That said, I have to concur with Mike again, it was a darker vibe from them, mixing a bit more snarl, putting more of the punk in the space punk, but more angry noise too. Regardless, they still had tons of chaos mixing some Altamont with, uh, I don't know, the Playboy Mansion?





After a stroll outside, we headed in for Marble Sheep, the long running psychedelic institution from Japan. Their wild and woolly show from the night before was still making our ears ring, but I couldn't help but get up front once again, who knows when this will happen again? Another powered up, high energy set, again the sound was a bit better in some ways, but the way the dual drums filled up the space in Bethlehem was tough to beat. Similar set as the night before, again hitting that super rock tribal high regularly. Space Punk indeed! I have to admit, watching them work it two nights in a row definitely winded me and I was just watching. Go see the rest of the tour if you can!! We snagged some merch (the Sheep's merch table rivals Acid Mothers Temple's!) and said our goodbyes and got pics with Captain Trip head honcho Ken and all that jazz to a slow motion drive home listening to the Clipse while rolling past Club Plush!





Saturday, November 7, 2009

Marble Sheep, Plastic Crimewave Sound, Fursaxa, We Have Heaven Bethlehem Nov 6 2009



Great show last night in Bethlehem featuring great sets from all four freak outfits which have magically been preserved for download here.

Don't forget, Marble Sheep, Plastic Crimewave Sound, Kohoutek and Gondola at the M Room in Philly tonight, Saturday Nov 7!

We rolled up after work and while looking for the place, we saw some Japanese freaks crossing the street and going into a bar so we knew we were close. Saw Eric Raw Pogo and parked and hit the same bar (and you can smoke there!)for some beers and watching the Sheep hold court before heading over to the space, a cool basement with couches and murals, ya know.

We Have Heaven were great, stripped to a three piece of two guitars and drums. Shimmering chimey guitar chugging in that early Spacemen 3 school of drone, really connected tonight. After heading out for a smoke and such, we rolled back in all smiles for an amazing piece from Fursaxa. I haven't see Tara perform in ages and this simple set up of sampler (etc) and bells and voice was really powerful and perfect. Swirling layers of sound, filling up the room; the lights and shadows playing all over the walls, really meshing everything together. We were totally blown away and stunned after her short performance. Definitely needed some fresh air and thought collecting, Tara's music totally took my brain out of a cinderblock basement and into some sorta time travelish void, nothing super out there, daydreaming but being nudged along by the sound and vision...





After that fresh air, we rolled in for our first sight of the new Plastic Crimewave Sound, new bass player and Crimewave's bro on second guitar. Super psychy crunch, a bit more noise and way more heaviosity from that SG using bro. A weird inversion of the Djin & Plastic Crimewave Sound tour from last year, this one was more like Tony Iommi Wayne Kramer sitting in with the Sound. Super riffage with way effected solos and noise.



Couldn't believe I was actually gonna see Marble Sheep... One of thee first Japanese psych bands I got into, never thought I would actually see them live. So excited! Right up front for the weirdness... Captain Trip records head Ken on guitar and vocals and then... two drummers... SG rocking clown... and a leopard gal on bass. It made no sense, it was great! While I will always love the G.Dead era of the Sheep, their new stuff made a lot more sense after witnessing the deal live. Full on tribal killer space psych, definitely hitting on hard rock with big ass riffs and overloaded effects kinda like Hawkwind. Definitely cramming a ton of sounds into a small space, propelled by the two drummers vs the two guitarists while the leopard bass held down the down. Total frenzy that was really fun but taking some super frying trips into inner space. So worth the wait. So awesome.





Friday, November 6, 2009

Marble Sheep tonight!! Bethlehem!


Tonight's the night, yo!

The long long long awaited Marble Sheep USA tour is underway and the ship lands tonight in Bethlehem. Drop a line if you need directions!

Also tonight... Plastic Crimewave Sound, We Have Heaven and Fursaxa... it is truly a dream show!!! Just Stay On The Up Side!!!!

UPDATE: Tonight's show will be streamed online here: http://radio23.org/listen3.m3u

WOW!!!

And of course... Marble Sheep and PCWS are at the M Room in Philly tomorrow with Kohoutek!



(argh, how do I make that top video fit my margins!?)

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Marble Sheep & Plastic Crimewave Sound Nov 2009 USA Tour Again

Thanks to comment from ark, here are the dates for the Marble Sheep/ Plastic Crimewave Sound with addresses, times and such! Wooo!

*11/03--Chicago--The Whistler w/Great Society Mind Destroyers, 9:30pm
*11/04--Detroit--Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (5141 Rosa Parks Blvd.) w/Frustrations Katt Hernandez/Eve Risser and Darkred (ex-Paik), 8pm
*11/05--Pittsburgh--The Nerve (500 Dargan Street at Minerva St.) w/Dire Wolves, 7pm (yes, an early show)
11/06 bethlehem, pa secret arts space. with fursaxa and we have heaven
*11/07--Philadelphia--The M Room (15 W. Girard Ave) w/Kohoutek and Gondola, 9:30pm
*11/08--Brooklyn--The Knitting Factory (361 Metropolitan Ave.) w/No Neck Blues Band and 12000 Trees, 8pm
*11/09--Brooklyn-Matchless bar (557 Manhattan Ave.) w/Verily White Hills and Slasher Risk, 8:30pm
*11/10--Baltimore--Golden West Cafe (1105 W.36th St) w/Mother Sun Flower (mem. of Flying Eyes), 10pm
*11/11--Cleveland--Now That's Class (11213 Detroit Ave, Cleveland OH 44102) w/Puffy Areolas and Flat Can Co.,10pm

(go Phillies!)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Makoto Kawabata US West Coast Solo Tour 2009

Here ya go!

All dates feature Makoto Kawabata and ?Alos (Stefania Pedretti of OvO, from Italy).



myspace.com/kawabatamakoto

myspace.com/signorinaalos

thu
29-Oct-09
Portland
Berbati's - Fall Into Darkness festival
w/Earth, SubArachnoid Space, Aerial Ruin

fri
30-Oct-09
Seattle
Dissonant Plane Records (7-9)
in-store w/Aerial Ruin

sat
31-Oct-09
Seattle, WA
Rendezvous
w/Amber Asylum, Thrones, Sugar Skulls, Aerial Ruin

sun
1-Nov-09
drive

mon
2-Nov-09
Santa Cruz, CA
Blue Lagoon
w/Mammatus

tue
3-Nov-09
San Francisco, CA
Hemlock
w/3 Leafs

wed
4-Nov-09
Los Angeles, CA
Mountain Bar
w/Exhausted Prayer, Aerial Ruin

thu
5-Nov-09
Fresno, CA
Tokyo Garden
w/Fights Monsters

fri
6-Nov-09
Oakland, CA
Terminal

sat
7-Nov-09
Arcata, CA
Jambalaya

World Series Game One: Phils 6, Yanks 1




Awesome! Phuck Yeah!

Gif via The Fightins




Black Taco via Ruiz for Life!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Phillies Win 2009 NLCS!!!! Wooooo!



Oh hell yeah! Taste it, Dodgers... go Angels, at least to seven games anyways!

Catch up on the best videos/fan reactions, dumb asses, etc over at The Fightins

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Fav Song Today: Prize Country - Regular Nights



Ok, full disclosure, the company I work for distro's this title, but even if we didn't, it is fucking awesome. As far as new school punk stuff goes, this reminds me of Hose.Got.Cable, Heroin, Indian Summer, but a little more NOW. Anyways, enjoy!

Prize Country - Regular Nights from With Love on Hex Records. Awesome album cover too.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Mable Sheep/Plastic Crimewave Sound Tour Nov 2009

Just some more info on the local shows for the super awesome and much anticipated Marble Sheep USA 2009 tour with Plastic Crimewave Sound. Here are the dates in full:

nov.3-chicago-whistler
nov.4-detroit-detroit contemorary
nov.5-pittsburg-the nerve
nov.6-bethlehem, PA-Secret Art Space (with We Have Heaven and Fursaxa)
nov.7-philadelphia- the M Room
nov.8-ny-knitting factory
nov.9-ny-matchless
nov.10-baltimore-golden west cafe
nov.11-cleveland-now that's class

So the Philly show is now at the M Room and the opening bands are Kohoutek and Gondola.


Here is a flyer for the Bethlehem show and a post from Eric about it here.



It is gonna be so awesome, esp with super rad openers Fursaxa and We Have Heaven.

And of course, don't forget Chicago's psych punk road warriors, Plastic Crimewave Sound opening all shows. I hear Marble Sheep and PCWS are gonna jam the fuck out of Pavement's "5-4= Unity!"

Marble Sheep were one of thee first Japanese psych bands I picked up on and their mid period with intense Grateful Dead love is/was so in tune with my head, I will always be a mark for 'em, even if they seemed to have dropped the Deadness more or less... I am stoked to finally meet Marble main man and Captain Trip Records honcho Ken Matsutani (Captain Trip put out the God and Hair Yahowha 13 Box Set originally, so it all is CONNECTED!!!).

Monday, October 19, 2009

RANCID VAT - Deeds of the Damned video

Wow, this came out of nowhere, I was looking for that Surgery video where they are in their ambulance, but holy crap, never even knew this existed! The West Coast/Steve Wilson era of Rancid Vat!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

some live Antiseen

Courtesy of the Drunk, Loud and Shoddy blog that I found while searching for some info on the Maximum Rock and Raoul comp that Eric posted recently. Something to listen to while you are reading Going Underground.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Nov 19: The Return of the Strapping Fieldhands!!!


Wow, most awesome! To celebrate the remastered re-release of their debut LP Discus, the Strapping Field Hands are playing on Nov 19 at Kung Fu Necktie.

Wooo!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Photos: Antiseen at the Khyber Oct 10 2009



Headed down to this one solo, literally worrying about parking in Olde City for like a day before I actually went down. One loop around and found parking within a block of the Khyber. Yay! As I was heading in I saw Joe Young from Antiseen checking out the parking restriction signs on 2nd street, so I was stoked they made it and hoping they were not getting towed, etc. PPA Must Die! I was also happy the Phils/Rockies game was postponed, not that the Khyber is a bad place to watch a playoff game, but ya know. Strolling up the street I saw lots of inked up punker types outside smoking and holding court. I honestly have no idea how popular Antiseen are these days, they haven't played Philly in 5 years, so I was definitely stoked to see a crowd already hanging out. $$$!


Caught some of the opening bands who were not the bands listed on the Khyber calender to the best of my knowledge. First band was kinda Howlin Rain, southern rock. Decent jams and a great guitarist and the bass player had an awesome kinda dub sound compared to the Skynardisms of the guitarist. I can see good things once they tighten up, definitely. Not very punk but still a good band to play with Antiseen so that was rad. Not sure who they were, though. Alas. I was enjoying some Yuengling Porter at this point, but I had seen two sets of flashing lights pulling folks over on the drive down, so I was keeping it pretty much in check for this one. Saw Jeff from Antiseen and said howdy and commenced my deal of hanging outside, smoking cigarettes and watching the mess that is Olde City in the 21st Century. It really is pretty amazing, if you have been to any shows at Nick's back in the previous millennium, you know the deal. Used to be a ghost town, now I literally saw 4 bridal parties or whatever that shit is when the chicks wear crowns and get all drunk. So many short skirts and high heels, all having to walk/teeter between hulking skinhead looking types and lots of ink and leather and denim. Such a bizarre culture clash. Hilarious, but ya still want to drive a steamroller down the sidewalk sometimes (and I stole that line from the Cosmic Commander of Wrestling).

Man, the next band, The Murderkill 100 were fucking great. Heavy as shit and gruff vocals, but tight and menacing. Again, not sounding much like "punk rock" or Antiseen, but totally perfect for opening for them. After checking out their myspace, I see that Dane from Derelict Hotel, Alcoholics Unanimous plays drums for 'em. Shit! I had no idea and didn't recognize him at all. Also... there were two other dudes with canes at this show! Antiseen brings out the handicapped. Awww!

Made my way up front for the Badwill Ambassadors themselves, the masters of disaster... and all that. Antiseen. The only punk band that matters. Sorry kids, keep trying. I had high hopes, I mean I haven't seen 'em in five years, they have a new bass player and drummer and they are one of my fave bands of all time, and live, they really have no equals. Some days I think all I need is Antiseen and Acid Mothers Temple. And the Grateful Dead. Seriously.






They blew up immediately, fucking perfect. A few old songs and lots of feedback, "Wifebeater" was great and all that jazz. The new songs they played were cool, too. They amaze me how they have a sound more or less and don't vary from it too often, but they continue to make insanely memorable songs that all stand out. If this was 1980 I would put them up against the Misfits as a perfect singles band. At this point I noticed long time drummer/Triple H lookalike Sir Barry Hannibal was on the drums, most awesome! Glad he is still playing with Joe and Jeff. New bassist was really awesome, he had a melodic sound that reminded me of whomever played bass on the NC Royalty EP. I was wedged up front on the left side of the stage and just as I was thinking "the crowd is kinda mellow" (though super into it, there were lots of sing alongs with the crew, haha) a bunch of fellas got all punky and started running around and jumping into each other. Of course this pile of male bonding wound up plowing into me and everyone else in the front. My knees were about stage level, a little higher and I was knocked over, but my knees stayed still, ground into the stage. Ouch. While I think some of these fellas were a little old to be running into each other all hyped up on suburban angst, perhaps I am a little old to be standing up front at an Antiseen show? Regardless, my knees are pretty bruised up and hurt a lot more the next day. A few brave chicks were in there mixing it up as well and one actually helped me up! Oh well.




The band just kept right on trucking, a well oiled machine plowing through "Up All Night," "Funk U," and the always awesome Ramones cover "Today Your Love" into the 'Seen original "Stormtrooper." While I definitely missed them playing "Sabu" and I really, really wanted to hear "Run My World" and "FTK" I was quite alright with the setlist and the buzzsaw blitz that ended with the anthem "Fuck All Y'all." Around this time Thee Cosmic Commander of Wrestling arrived! Finally! He took the stage to harangue the audience a little and hype everyone for the encore and such. A cooking version of "Fornication" and great singalong of "Animals, Eat 'Em" was an amazing and exhausting finale. Fuck yeah. They do what they do and they keep it fresh and man... kudos to them. 25 years and counting. Awesome. I need this kind of cleansing/purging on a yearly basis, damn!






After blabbing with Cosmo and watching the cops close down the streets as the bars all let out and the fights start (I didn't see any this time around, but my car was only a block away)I hit the road like an old man. My knees are still incredibly sore and bruised, but the Phils won and Antiseen are STILL the best punk band in the world!