Best of 2012, yalls

In no real order, but the first three really slayed me this year...


Spacin' - Deep Thuds (Richie Records)

Black Bananas - Rad Times Xpress IV (Drag City)

Blues Control - Valley Tangents (Drag City)

Acid Mothers Temple - Son of a Bitches Brew (Important)

Goat - World Music (Rocket Recordings)

Acid Mothers Temple - La Novia LP (Prophase)

Antiseen - Blood of Freaks LP (TKO)

Void - Sessions (Dischord)

Howlin Rain - The Russian Wilds (Birdman)

Djin Aquarian & Plastic Crimewave Sound - Save the World (Prophase)

Moss Icon - Complete (Temporary Residence)

Antiseen/Brody's Militia - Primal Roar split 7" (Give Praise Records)

Aleister X - Thong Beach EP (Golden Haze Society)

Lee Scratch Perry Meets Aura - Full Experience EP (Sunspot)

Upcoming Awesomeness: ANTiSEEN, Limecell, Bad Vibes at the M Room Dec 10 2011

Yep, the mighty ANTiSEEN make their way back to Hostile City USA in less than a week! The M Room with Limecell, the Bad Vibes, Scareho and Eat the Turnbuckle.

Antiseen, Bad Vibes & The Workhorse 3 @ the Balcony July 10 2010 (review & pics)

Wow, another Philly Antiseen show! That makes two in the same year, before that it was five fucking years between shows! Do you know how lucky you people are!? And a Bad Vibes reunion!

We did roll in late because the Phils went into extra innings so we missed The Workhorse 3 unfortunately. Heard they were great and the CD on DRP is cool.

Anyways, we got some Guinness and ran into Seth from the old days of WKDU, The Dreck Merchants (!!) and the Astrocade, a most awes surprise indeed. And we talked about Bill from Harry Pussy who is playing at Brickbat Books on July 22nd. Yeah! So we moved to the floor for the Bad Vibes as they started my fave BV jam "You're My Fucking Problem" (again, you can download all their stuff here). Unfortunately there were some sound probs, but it was a great opener. More unfortunate was the big baldy guys just ramming into people and making us spill our Guinness. What the fuck!? I am somewhat torn about bitching about people doing the punker dance and such, not to sound like an old fogey, but there is definitely a difference between a 16 yr old kid running around, stage diving and a bunch of 200 lb grown ass men running full blast into your faithful editor. And the "put your arms around your buddy and run into a bunch of spectators" was always gay. Even at Kitschchao shows! So yeah, beers spilled and a foot stepped on, but no real damage, but completely annoying. But in spite of that silliness, the Bad Vibes were fucking great. The bass player is just killer, those are the riffs of the band, and Gavin is a scary as fuck front man. I know they were under appreciated when they existed but damn, what a killer fucking bummer punk band still flying and frying the (black) flag.




And after a quick smoke and another beer, it was time for Antiseen. They keep on keeping on and all those cliches and such... but really, in this era of hardcore bands doing reunions and shit (not that I am against that at all, see ya at the Pagan Babies show in Sept!), Jeff Clayton and Joe Young have keep the Antiseen death train on the tracks for over 25 years! And damn, it has been an incredible ride. One of the frustrating parts of being an Antiseen fan is that they have so many good songs that often get ignored from the stage, but tonight they opened up with two I hadn't seen them do yet, "Death Train Comin'" and "Alpha Male." I definitely was losing my shit for "Alpha Male" from their last full length, Badwill Ambassadors. That is another key to the Antiseen puzzle, they have somehow beat the odds and continue to release vital music without watering down their "brand." Hell their records keep getting better and better in my view and who the fuck else can you say that about?



The new drummer and bassist are no longer new and sounded great, the well-oiled machine we have come to expect. Ya know Clayton and Joe aren't going out with any hacks! The hits continued with "Queen City Stomp," "Cactus Jack," "Nothings Cool" and the new jam "Curses." Luckily the excited dudes from earlier calmed down or left and the floor was a relatively safe place to watch the destruction. Right as the band was playing Nice Pooper/summer of beads fave "Hippy Punk" the fucking Cosmic Commander of Wrestling rolled in in all his glory. Perfect! Rest of the set was fucking great, killer renditions of "Today Your Love -> Stormtrooper," "I Don't Like You" and of course the real deal anthem "Fuck All Y'all." Sure, I woulda loved to have heard "Run My World," "Sod," "Talk Show Trash," "Walking Dead," and probably like a dozen more, but I am not complaining at all. If anything, this was an 80% different set from the Khyber show a few months ago, right fuckin' on!






After the show, blabbed with Cosmo (he had just come from seeing Further!) and Clayton, but Seth had skipped out, hopefully back to his lair to get those Ascension and Dreck Merchants tapes. An easy drive and a night of ringing ears awaited us, but I am quite ready for the next Antiseen show, and if I was a super hack this is where I would say "Y'all Come Back Now, Ya Hear?" so count yourselves lucky I am only a general issue hack. Bang Bang!!

This Saturday: Antiseen, Bad Vibes and The Workhorse III @ the Troc

Super excited for the return of the only real punk band left! This Saturday, July 10th at the Troc, well the Balcony Bar anyways. Rare reunion show from the Bad Vibes opening, fuck yeah. Go download their stuff here, All The Right Ways to Do You Wrong is one of thee best Philly punk albums of all time. Also on the bill is the Workhorse III with Eric Perfect from Rancid Vat and Limecell on drums.

Oh Hells Yeah, ANTiSEEN coming back to Philly July 10 2010

Just got an email stating that ANTiSEEN, the only real punk band left (my words, not the email's) are coming back to Hostile City USA, July 10 to play the Troc... I will post details as I get 'em...

Five fucking years without Antiseen in Philly and now two shows in the span of a year. Awwright!

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.

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!

Finally... ANTiSEEN come back to Philadelphia! Oct 10 Khyber

Fuck yeah, one of the best punk rock bands in the world, EVER make their long long long awaited return to Hostile City USA. ANTiSEEN Oct 10 at the Khyber.