Howlin Rain @ the Khyber March 30 2008

Weird Sunday night in Olde City. Rolled down with coworkers and walked into an almost empty Khyber. So bizarre, I was totally thinking this show would be sold out, people falling out of the door, etc. While it was nice to have a lot of space, a little more crowd probably woulda been nice. Caught one song from openers Heavy Hand and it was decent, kinda like a slicked up Birds of Maya?

About 3/4s of a cookie were eaten, so I nursed some porters while waiting for the second band to finish. Didn't catch their name, but they played a very long folk/rock type set that really didn't keep my interest at all.



Howlin Rain took off with a full five member band, two guitars, bass, drums and keyboards, just like their recent killer album Magnificent Fiend. Going right off the deep end with "Dancers at the End of Time," a perfect opener, fuzz shred guitar riffing mixing with the B-3 sounds and some tight tight drums. The general vibe of the band was a tad tense, what with sound problems and the second guitarist's strap breaking during the second song (and not a replacement to be found, he wound up finishing the set with one leg on a chair, propping up his axe). It was hard to tell if the lack of audience came into play; they seemed to be having a decent time on stage and the music didn't suffer at all. Basically it kinda sounded like the Howlin Rain songbook put through the computer program that generated the first High Rise record plus a little bit of the Allman Brothers' Live at the Fillmore East. Not a bad thing at all, maybe the best thing ever, at least in this house. Anyway, my cookie did seem timed pretty well with their set, and I was head bobbing right along.



That said, they played a crazy short set, clocking in at only 40 minutes, which is barely enough to get going. It probably seemed even shorter, what with seeing Acid Mothers Temple play twice as long only a week earlier. What they did play was fantastic, though. Just what I wanted/hoped for. Raw fuzz burn mixing with the acid sear of the B-3 in a wash of chaos, only to come out of it with some Allmans style dual guitar action! Always a huge sucker for that sound, and those fractal jams were totally right on in my cookie filled brain. They did jam out the songs, making them longer and giving them deeper noise/space out portions, and even some honest to god improvisation (I think so anyway, god). Just wish they had played like 3 hours, alas! Anyways, I guess this stop was early on their tour and hopefully they will tighten it up and add some jams. Oh yeah, the cover of the Vanilla Fudge version "You Keep Me Hanging On" was pretty damn strutty and boisterous. Nice. And yeah, the lead dude does look like Earl Hickey.

Acid Mothers Temple @ Johnny Brenda's March 24 2008

Another fantastic Acid Mothers Temple (& The Melting Paraiso UFO) show... Monday night in Fishtown with the best freakout/trip band in the world today, baby! Here are some pics. Full review forthcoming... but rest assured it was great! The best bet there is, always delivering. Yeah!



UPDATE: So I rolled down to the show with Prophase main man Mike and met up with Acid Mothers Temple vet Susannah and her dude Josh. Beers and such and blather about The Wire (tv show, not the mag). Caught some of Danava's opening set, about two songs... quite tight rifforama that seemed to give up the goods quite well.



This time around it was the core group of Kawabata, Higashi, Tsuyama and drummer Shimura Koji on their "Recurring Dream And Apocalypse Of Darkness Tour." The last few AMT tours I have hit at least two or three shows, but this time around, due to so many shows coming up, this one was the only one I was gonna catch. Anyways, since I drove, prob the most sober I have been at an AMT show. Johnny Brenda's is defintely a great place to see them, the sound was pretty good and with the balcony there are a lot of vantage points. They took off with a cool improvisational opening jam as they are wont to do. Some low mumble vocals from Tsuyama led to a little bit of "Douchebag."



For the last few years, despite releasing two, three or four full lengths a year, the band's live shows concentrate on basically three songs: "Pink Lady Lemonade," "La Novia" and "Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky (aka Dark Star Blues)." That said, the jams and arrangements change regularly and new aspects are added and discarded, making their standards substantially different each tour, hell even each show. This show was no different. The heavy throb of "Dark Stars..." followed up and always feature some great vocals from Tsuyama... this one ended with a little bit of what may or may not have been "Pussyhead Man From Outer Space."




A new arrangement of "La Novia" was next, after some whistling and such. This seemed to be a more serious Tsuyama night, no puppet shows or Pete Rose impressions. There is definitely something to the "if Phil is on, the band is on" deal with Tsuyama and AMT. This arrangement was very quiet and subdued compared to the overwhelming riff of the usual "La Novia" and it also included a bit of "La Le Lo." The band interplay was really starting to gell and it was pretty easy to get lost in the spiral solos Kawabata was spinning against the almost dub bass action. By the time of the final "real" riff, the heads were bobbing and rocking out. Some hippies rocking out too... man, next stop Bonnaroo for AMT! Fingers crossed.



At this point the opening riff of "Pink Lady Lemonade" was unfolded to a nice cheer and I snuck out of the Tsyuamazone for a little awesomeness and a bathroom break. Some almost sound effect comic snorting in the stall next to me followed by some puking! Wow. Just like a Dead show! Where is overalls guy?




"Pink Lady Lemonade" was the highlight of the night, for sure. The main riff went on forever, totally hypnotizing, only to be taken over by a crunching (but with wings!) solo from Kawabata, swinging with Shimura perfectly. Things eventually got fuzzy and spacey... refocusing on a very Krautrock influenced jam: motor drumming laced in with a pummeling but simple bassline; Kawabata's three note climbing riff blazing in wah wah as the jam went faster and deeper... the music just flying off of his fingers. Incredible. One of thee best versions of the song I have seen ended with them slamming full on into "Speed Guru" with Kawabata spinning his guitar by the neck and then hanging it off the balcony in a wash of feedback as people flipped out and screamed and clapped. Finally everyone else fizzled out and left the stage. Whew. Alas, no crazy encore to report, but it was an hour and 20 minutes well spent for sure.



Always pushing the boundaries, always taking the frame up and out. Amazing. Here is a recording of "Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky" from the Philly show. Thanks to Zappa Penguin for recording the show. While this jam is awesome, it is a lowish bit rate and I highly recommend you track down the full show on a torrent site or archive.org when it gets posted (posted now, along with three other shows from the East Coast tour, be sure to read ZP's reviews of the shows too)... And go see AMT!

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso- Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky live @ Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia PA March 24 2008.

upcoming shows

A bunch of great bands in the next few weeks....

March 24- Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. @ Johnny Brenda's

March 26- Vincent Black Shadow @ Danger Danger Gallery

March 30- Howlin Rain @ the Khyber

March 31- Phillies Home Opener vs the Nationals @ Citizen's Bank Park

April 2- Boredoms @ the Starlight Ballroom

April 8- Ya Ho Wha 13 & No Neck Blues Band @ Knitting Factory NYC

satan place!

Like 15 years ago or so I saw an ad for Ecstatic Peace records in Forced Exposure (I think) that mentioned this tape. It was an upcoming release and purported to feature interviews with various Long Island teen satanists! The ad I read definitely ran a year or more after the famous Ricky Kasso teen drug/satan murder in Northport, Long Island in 1984. I remember reading about the murder in Rolling Stone and the full page pic of wild eyed Kasso scared the shit out of me. Anyways, with that pic of Kasso burned into my brain forever, I couldn't wait to hear this tape. The ad even said "Ricky Kasso is an asshole" or something like that (I will scan in the ad when I track it down).



I don't recall it being mentioned or having much of a description in Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace rundown in a mid 90s issue of Muckraker. It seems it was never actually released, leading to more legendary status (in my head).

So, lo and behold Eric from We Have Heaven sent around a link with a download for the tape a few days ago! It seems it was issued briefly by Hanson records, the home of Wolf Eyes but is no longer available or even referenced on their website. A little bit of a wrap up on this release can be found here (ya gotta scroll, yo).

When I finally downloaded the tape and gave it a listen, it totally delivers, much like the live Venom 7" on Ecstatic Peace, another oddity that I didn't hear until years after it's release. The tape seems to be recorded before the Kasso murder, since there is no reference to it and I am sure it would have been a topic of conversation had it been recorded after the murder/arrest. But it is all Long Island, all heavy metal (the dark side of Heavy Metal Parking lot?), and all DUMB. So fucking dumb and awesome and silly. That said, none of the folks involved in the Kasso murder are on the tape (which includes full names and even one kid's address!), so one can assume the 'burbs of Long Island were just a hotbed of babbling devil kids on PCP, mesc and acid.

Over an hour of drug stories, Satan talk, heavy metal discussions, Long Island accents and even some impromptu jamming on a guitar and keyboard (!). Giddy excitement over their petty crimes! A million awesome quotes ("This guitar is possesed" "Ozzy is a fruity malutie"), references to Hit Parader TV (on ch 21), the bizarre cocksure confidence of early 80s dirt weed metal culture. When the interviewer mentions that he heard Venom are not really into Satanism, that it is a gimmick, the incredulous response of "Not into it??" is just perfect. Convoluted logic about Lucifer and his many wings, getting devil books out of the "lieberry." Ahh I could go on and on, but just give it a listen for yourself. Here are the first two parts of the tape. I will be adding more in the next few days. Enjoy this snapshot of a world that was all too real/dumb back in the early to mid 80s. This shit really existed, as a teen stoner into acid and such back then, you usually had to deal with these types, at least on the edges of the drug scene. Til you made friends with the school deadheads anyways. Keep your eyes out for the Hermit With the Knowledge.

UPDATE: Parts 3 and 4 added.

Satan Place - Side A Part 1
Satan Place - Side A Part 2
Satan Place - Side A Part 3
Satan Place - Side A Part 4

UPDATE II: Whole thing here... enjoy.

snow day!

Also, because of the snow, the show tonight (Friday Feb 22) at the Banana Factory is canceled and will be rescheduled.

shows this weekend

On Friday Feb 22, We Have Heaven is playing the Banana Factory in Bethlehem with Mostly Other People Do the Killing:


Mostly Other People Do the Killing
are a free-wheeling Jazz quartet hailing from New York City featuring
Moppa Elliot, Kevin Shea, Jon Irabagon, and Peter Evans - if you
aren't a "names" person, these dudes have played in other bands like
Bright Eyes, the Coptic Light Orchestra, Talibam!, the Moppa Elliot
Quartet, the Peter Evans Quartet and SO MANY MORE. Extremely talented
players who are breathing new life and liveliness into Jazz & Bop.
http://www.myspace.com/mostlyotherpeopledothekilling

We Have Heaven
are intricate progressive jams which transcend this world and will
take you to a new, higher consciousness if you'll go along for the
ride. Beautiful music for daydreaming and other psychedelic times.
Special guest drummer Kyle Rage
http://www.myspace.com/wehaveheaven

Asking $5-10 donations for bands.

In the main gallery at the Banana Factory, 25 W 3rd Street in
Bethlehem. PA.



UPDATE: Due to the weather, the We Have Heaven/Mostly Other People Do the Killing show in Bethlehem is canceled and will be rescheduled.

And then on Sunday, Doomed to Obscurity is playing the Khyber with friggin' MOD. While my weekend is kinda booked, I would like to swing by the Khyber just to see who the fuck goes to see MOD in 2008. That said, I did see DTO at the Tritone last week and they were great.

a preview

Ok for like 12+ years I have been threatening to write and publish my treatise on Dag Nasty's Field Day and why it is by far the most awesome Dag Nasty album, and also the best and worst at the same time and how it relates to a burnt teenagehood spent in Central PA... so yeah at some point this year, the 20th anniversary of Field Day, I will explain it all.

As a quick preview, here are some live Dag Nasty tracks from City Gardens May 18 1988, including a live version of "Crucial Three"!

Dag Nasty- Field Day (Live May 18 1988)
Dag Nasty- Crucial Three (Live May 18 1988)