There's Something Hard in There Top-10 lists for 2015

Archers of Loaf at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin (Andy photo)

Cat Rose/There's Something Hard in There, Seattle

We have seen so many great shows this year, and I did have a top 22. Here is the best I could narrow down:

Fun Fun Fun Fest Day 1--Drive Like Jehu, Babes in Toyland, Dwarves and Fuzz

Fun Fun Fun Fest Day 2--Fucked Up and Archers of Loaf

Fun Fun Fun Fest Day 3--L7, Dag Nasty and OFF!

Fu Manchu at Neumos

Two Cow Garage with the Supersuckers at The Tractor

All Eyes West and Black Theory at the Kraken

Cheap Trick at Marymoor Park; (Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/40783276@N06/albums/72157658019683885)

Barbara Lynn at Light in the Attic Record Store

Goatsnake, Black Breath, Battalion of Saints and Obliterations at the Highline

James Atkins Benefit --The Gits reunion and Selene Vigil, Alcohol Funnycar, Stag, Hammerbox, Coffin Break and Gretta Harley

Bonus:
Mudhoney for breakfast at the Rock N Roll Marathon at 11 in the morning

Drive Like Jehu at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin (Andy photo)

Andy/There's Something Hard in There, Seattle

Records, documentaries:

Teenage Time Killers "Greatest Hits Volume 1"

Goatsnake "Black Age Blues"

Tenement "Predatory Headlights"

Chelsea "Saturday Night Sunday Morning"

Rezillos "Zero"

Seaweed "Actions and Indications" reissue

Dot Dash "Earthquakes and Tidal Waves"

"The Jam: About the Young Idea" documentary

"Stranded" (The Saints documentary)

"Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC" documentary

Bonus:
Singing along with the Cockney Rejects on "Flares n' Slippers"!

Andy, right, singing with the Cockney Rejects alongside friends Simon and Christina. (Neil Rogers photo)

John Lisa, New York

Records:

New Order "Music Complete"

Chvches "Every Eye Open"

DJ Quivver (aka John Graham) "Controlled Substance" series on Soundcloud

Motorhead "Bad Medicine"

SWANS "To Be Kind"

Armored Saint "Win Hands Down"

Marilyn Manson "Pale Emperor"

Faith no More "Sol Invictus"

Napalm Death "Apex Predator"

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds "Chasing Yesterday"

Bonus:
Chelsea Wolfe "Abyss"



Sean Harris, Seattle

Gigs, etc:

1- Finishing the Snakes On Champagne record

2- Hosting Today Is The Day, twice.

3- Melt-Banana @ Chop Suey

4- Meeting author/ guitarist of Bitch Magnet, Jon Fine.

5- Kim Gordon convo with Bruce of Sub Pop Records @ Neptune.

6- Eagles Of Death Metal @ Showbox mkt.

7- Mastodon/ Clutch @ Showbox s o d o

8- Iggy Pop tribute at Pike Place Market

9- Colin Bush giving me a Hotel X cd at Shorty's one random afternoon.

10- Having drinks and conversation with the guitarists of Lesbian (the band) from time to time.



William Tuck, Seattle, in no particular order

Gigs:

1. Brothers of the Sonic Cloth-Tractor Tavern

2. Ufomammut-Chop Suey

3. Fu Manchu-Neumos

4. High on Fire-Neumos

5. The Sonics-The Moore Theater

7. Seattle Opera

8. The Burnz-Darrell's Tavern

9. Re-Ignition (Bad Brains tribute)-High Dive

10. Hanging with Cat & Andy



Erin Mountain, San Francisco, in no order

Gigs and such:

1. Useless Eaters ep and lp

2. Cornelius Aspergers & the Bi-Curious Unicorns @Winters Tavern, and their upcoming lp

3. Musk s/t lp

4. Gang Green @ thee parkside

5. Fu Manchu @ Bottom of the Hill

6. Life Stinks ep

7. Cheater Slicks live vol. 3

8. The Fall - Sublingual Tablet lp

9. Despise You @ Oakland Metro and their "All Your Majestic Bullshit" 7"

10. Going up to Seattle to see Andy & Cat, with the added bonus of seeing the Dicks From Texas flick and meeting some rad folks.



James Cornell, Surrey, British Columbia 

Records:

BISHOPS GREEN - "A Chance To Change"

VIOLENT REACTION - "Marching On"

TOE TAG - "Hide The Knives"

ROTTEN UK - "Punk Cult Fetish Vol 1"

SEXFACE - "Village Life" EP

PRIMITIVE PACT - "Acid Rain"

NO - "Treating People Like They Don't Exist"

NIGHT PROWLER - "Stalin's Boots"

EVIL ARMY - "Violence And War" EP

RULETA RUSA - "Euro Tour" 12"



Beth Ramage, Seattle

Gigs:

1) 15 Jan- Eye of Nix and Trannysaurus Rox at the Narwhal

2) 15 March- Ides of March DaDa Masquerade at the Lo-Fi (DJ Dav of the
Dead, Caligula Cartel, The Family Curse and Mongrel Gods)

3) 16 April Christeene at Chop Suey

4) 26 May- Laibach

5) 29 May- Quintron and Miss Pussycat, First!, the Nots, Witches
Titties at the Sunset in Ballard

6) 4 Jun- Nathan Hale High School Orchestra Spring Performance (my
kid's last violin performance before graduating--it was amazing)

7) 18 June- Joey Arias at the Triple Door

8) 11 July- Barroom Writer's Offensive on the banks of the Duwamish

9) 29 Oct- Nakatani Gong Orchestra at the Good Shepard Center

10) 1 Dec- !!! at Crocodile

11) 13 Dec- Psychic TV at Chop Suey



Greg Polard, Ambler, Penn.

Records, gigs:

1) Title Fight "Hyperview" (Anti-) - Album of the year. This band gets better with every release, which is rare nowadays.

2) Morrissey live at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia 6/20/15 - Incredible set and my wife got a piece of his shirt during the shirt toss.

3) Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds "Chasing Yesterday" (Sour Mash) - Solid album, and the tour was great (see below). Better than anything Oasis had done since the '90s.

4) Ryan Adams "1989" (Pax Am) - One of my favorite albums from last year, redone by Ryan Adams in a Smiths meets Springsteen style. Excellent.

5) Morrissey live at Madison Square Garden in NYC 6/27/15 - My first time at this historic venue. He did some tracks that he didn't do in Philadelphia, plus Blondie opened and was awesome.

6) Noel Gallagher live at The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia 6/3/15 - Super nice venue, great sound. Nice mix of solo and Oasis tunes.

7) Into Another "Omens" (Ghost Ship) - First release in 20 years and it's like they never left.  Hoping for more records and shows. RIP Tony Bono.

8) Soulside live at Boot & Saddle in Philadelphia 11/10/15 - Excellent set. Having my band Easy Creatures (https://easycreatures.bandcamp.com) open the show was a huge honor. I hope they keep playing shows.

9) The Replacements / Superchunk live at Festival Pier in Philadelphia 5/9/15 - I never thought I'd have a chance to see the Replacements, so just the fact that this happened and I finally got to see one of my favorite bands was such a treat. The fact that Superchunk opened and played a sweet, high-energy set was an added bonus.

10) Blacklisted "When People Grow, People Go" (Deathwish) - A perfect mix of the experimentation of "No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me" and the flat-out aggression of "Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God."

Lori Herbst with her X glitter vinyl wall art piece, which was auctioned off to help with Billy Zoom's medical bills.

Chris Shary, Stockton, Calif.

Gigs, records, art:

In no particular order:

1. Soulside at Slim's in SF 11/14/15 (how can they be better than they were in '88?)

2. It's Not Dead Fest (first fest I sold art at, and had a great time meeting so many folks)

3. "Devoid and the Cow Town Punks" book by Bob Medina (best book about a blooming punk scene I have ever seen; visually stunning, humorously and honestly written)

4. Evel Knievel Rice (EKR) "Mr. Grover's Room" 7" (my high school band's 1988 recording finally was released on Alona's Dream Records; dreams can come true)

5. $1,425 raised for Billy Zoom by my wife Lori Herbst. Lori made a glitter vinyl wall art piece of X and auctioned it off to help Billy's medical bills.

6. The Damned at Great American Music Hall in SF 9/6/15 (first punk band I ever saw, and still a favorite; Oh, I also did a shirt for them this year!!!)

7. Good Riddance "Peace in Our Time" (best album of the band's career)

8. Teenage Bottlerocket "Tales from Wyoming" (a pop-punk classic)

9. Fat Fest in SF 8/22 & 23/15 (best, most friendly fest ever)

10. Masked Intruder faces 5-shirt set I drew (conceptually the best shirts I have ever done, and they look neat, too!)



Kristin Nystrom Rohan, Sydney, Australia

Beach Boys on Bondi Beach in November!



Toni Portillo, Los Angeles

The Johnny Mathis Christmas show!