Scott Hill rocks with Fu Manchu in Seattle. (All Cat Rose photos)
By Andy
Greg Ginn is Scott Hill's "main man."
When the Fu Manchu guitarist and vocalist straps on his clear Dan Armstrong guitar, slashes at those six strings and furiously shakes his head -- sending his blond mane rocketing every which way -- there's some Black Flag pounding away within the walls of his band's rocked-out, punk-influenced tunes.
Equal parts Flag and Blue Cheer -- and tons of other bands from both genres hammered into the mix -- Fu Manchu has been at it for 23 years. Hailing from San Clemente in Southern California, Hill got his first taste of Flag via a live tape that a friend flowed his way in December 1980.
He's never looked back, and Hill -- along with guitarist Bob Balch, drummer Scott Reeder and bassist Brad Davis -- visited Seattle's El Corazon Jan. 14 to unleash Fu Manchu's "In Search Of..." record on the crowd, along with a host of other Fu favorites.
Hill's partner in crime on guitar, Fu Manchu's Bob Balch.
Prior to the gig, I caught up with Hill in the comfort of the band's van for some conversation about his Flag guitar reverence and how Fu Manchu came into being. Hill and I both separately attended the Flag, Misfits, Vandals gig at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in '83. He also owns a copy of my old band Sorex's "Portrait of a Prisoner" EP circa '85 ... so that's a plus.
--Growing up and seeing some of those hardcore bands, what kind of lit a fire under you to start doing it yourself?
Just love hardcore punk-rock music-- loved it, loved it. I'd go see bands, and instead of skanking or stage diving, I was watching how the guitar player set up or how he tuned, fingers where they went-- that's how I learned to play guitar, just watching... 'Oh, that's it ...oh, he's got a tuner, that's how you put the strings on.'
-- First hardcore tunes: Hearing his pal's Black Flag tape...
I was like, 'What the fuck's THIS?' And he was, 'BLACK FLAG!' I was in junior high, and we had punk day: 'Punk is Bunk,' people wrote on their shirts. I was listening to Deep Purple, Blue Cheer, Nugent and stuff, and I heard Flag, and I was like, 'Holy Shit'... took the tape and didn't even give it back to him. I got turned on to the Adolescents, you know, went from there, Circle Jerks, and it was like, 'Oh Shit,' just bought everything I could, every zine, kept my fliers, wrote bands, just every dime I had went into buying records.
Hill: hair flying, ripping on the Armstrong.
-- What was your first show?
Let's see, Circle Jerks, Shattered Faith and Minutemen... in Riverside, out at the Ritz, I believe, that was January of '81. I snuck out of the house.
--What about some of those guitar players back in the day?
Ginn. Favorite record of all time -- 'Damaged'...everything about it is my favorite, so Ginn. Starts with Ginn, and then it goes Lyle (Preslar) from Minor Threat, (Greg) Hetson Circle Jerks, (Rikk) Agnew Adolescents. Any guitar player in any punk band that I'd see was automatically my favorite. (Also mentioned digging the sounds of Bubba Dupree from Void and Rob McCulloch from Negative Approach on record; SSD and Die Kreuzen get the nod of approval, too.)
-- So then you formed Virulence, and then you came to where you're at today. How did that whole sound come about?
We started Virulence at the end of '84, and we wanted to do fast Gang Green, just BEYOND FAST-- YEAH. Couldn't play that well, so we couldn't get that fast, so it was more like mid-tempo faster. And then mid-to-late '85, saw Bl'ast! live-- shit our pants, just like, 'Here we go, slow down.'
We were at the Balboa Theater (in Los Angeles) with JFA and Die Kreuzen...they were loading up their gear, two Armstrongs, and we're like, 'Holy Shit.' Even to this day, I listen to that (debut) record once a week: it's just a perfect fuckin' record, it just sounds insane, it's just an awesome record. (Mike) Neider does all our merch, prints all our shirts; we just played with Clifford's (Dinsmore's) band (Dusted Angel) the other night in Santa Cruz. We got to be good friends with those guys.
-- Probably dipped back into your old Blue Cheer records?
My buddy, we threw his down the street, his Deep Purple, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Way seriously, skipped them down the street. Mine -- I put in the closet, I put 'em in the back, I'm not gonna thrown 'em.
Yeah, started pulling out Blue Cheer. Then probably '87, started listening to a lot of Swans and Gore from Holland and late-period Flag. We slowed down. Melvins, and we're like, 'Oh Jesus, Melvins-- fuck.' (In '88-'89) Heard Tad and Soundgarden and Nirvana and stuff-- just went from there and we slowed down even more, used a lot of single-note, D tuning and still tried to mix it with our hardcore stuff.
And that's pretty much where we're at today, I just mix Black Flag, Blue Cheer, Deep Purple-- all the colors! (Nowadays, he listens to old hardcore stuff along with Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath and Captain Beyond.)
Hill locks in with bassist Brad Davis.
-- After all these years, you still gain that inspiration from listening to that hardcore stuff? It never leaves you, I play it all the time. The stuff that you grew up with, the stuff that really had that impression on you, especially in a live setting.
That's totally what it is. I'll put on that first DYS record, and just get some 'Yeahh!' -- just STOKED on it.
--The growl (courtesy of Dave Smalley's vocals).
Yeah, that's the first stuff that just got me amped to wanna start a band. Almost every cover we've done is an old hardcore cover -- we obviously slow it down and stuff.
Balch bangs away with drummer Scott Reeder.
-- As an older and wiser gentleman, as we all are -- maybe sometimes-- how does it feel to still be kicking around and still doing your thing?
It's crazy. We started (Fu Manchu) in late '89. I had no clue we'd last this long. I didn't think I'd get to Europe or Australia (they go to Europe twice a year and are going Down Under in a couple of weeks). No clue we'd put out 10-11 records.
Slowing down a little bit, can't tour 8-9 months, I've got a 3-year-old daughter and don't like being away for too long.
-- What does your daughter think of the music? Is she a Fu fan?
Yeah (laughs). She's got her little pink drum set, I can play guitar with her. She wrote a song called 'Everyone's Odd'-- no words, she just told me that title; I was like, 'Let's go, there you go: perfect.'
She likes it. She thinks the pictures are funny with my hair flying all over, she laughs, 'Ah, ha.' I don't play our stuff for her, my wife does.
It's cool, I still enjoy it or obviously I wouldn't be doing it. We're not making millions of dollars, but it's just fun. I like getting in the van with everybody and going out for a couple weeks at a time.
-- Music still speaks to you? Just as vital as it always has been? You could see within the hardcore scene or within whatever scene, people grow out of it and go on and do other things, but just something that hit you hard at first and has never kind of left?
Pretty much. I still get stoked: I'll pull out my old zines and still look at 'em to this day.
Even if I stop playing in a band, I'm sure I'll still be playing guitar, it's just fun.
I just like making noise. Very loud, distorted guitar I love.
Anyone that's heard our stuff knows that it's pretty much what you get with a Fu Manchu record: loud, fuzzy guitar. We don't go off to mellow land or reggae land or whatever -- just pretty much straight rock.
For the Niners finally having a kick-ass winning season, I received a new Niners bowling-bag purse to sport my loyalty. After the many years of pain that have followed us Niners faithful, it feels great to pull our heads out of the sand and stand proud.
Not that I didn't represent, anyway, but I have to admit that my Alex Smith jersey hasn't been seen for a while; it has been tucked away in the back of the closet. Andy got me that jersey in 2006 when he had a decent season (more promising than the previous two years anyway), and at least beat the Seahawks both times=bragging rights for us up here in Seattle. The jersey emerged this year and was welcomed back into the society of my wardrobe.
So no matter how far we get in the playoffs, as I still am not 100% on Mr. Smith as our leader, in honor of the 13-3 record that we have not had since the Young days in 1997, here is a little ditty Andy found for me on 45 circa 1982 for the crowd noise and recorded in 1982--"Go 49ers!"
Sung by Mike Chamberlin and the 49er Faithful; written by Chamberlin and Mike Vasile on Go For It Records.
Die kreuzen's Keith Brammer, left, and Dan Kubinski in action. (All courtesy photos)
By Andy
Two pockets full of quarters.
That’s what my baggy shorts held after the doorman at the Cathay de Grande in Hollywood, Calif., gave me my change for a $20 and admitted me into the dingy club in the summer of ’84 to witness manic hardcore band die kreuzen in the flesh.
As soon as the Milwaukee, Wis., group (which means “the crosses” in German) hit the stage and the small crowd erupted into a dog-pile in front of singer Dan Kubinski, I naturally joined the chaotic scene – and most of the quarters leaped out of my pockets and pinged all over the dance floor. Oh, well. I think I grabbed a few, but since the band’s barrage of screeching vocals and gut-wrenching, blistering and well-played tunes never halted, I returned to the fray and the remaining quarters were left for the other punks, or perhaps the rats and cockroaches that inhabited the club.
That was the only time I saw die kreuzen live, but the band’s tunes have remained in my head for some 30 years.
I first heard some of their tunes on the “Charred Remains” and “Master Tape” compilations while in high school, and then the “Cows and Beer” EP and first LP followed with a vengeance. An unforgettable band, which only became more intense and intriguing with every release that followed.
Die kreuzen kept popping up in my life over the years and I’ve never let them go:
* As I looked through Corrosion of Conformity drummer Reed Mullin’s phone book one day, I saw an entry for Dan Crusin’ … cool.
* In college, a classmate mentioned going to see Mudhoney, and noted that die kreuzen were playing, too. Mud-who? It was die kreuzen whom I was more interested in and asked the guy how they were. (I’ve been a Mudhoney fan for many years since then, thanks to Cat.)
* Also in college, during one of my delivery jobs for a law office, the local college radio station blasted “Earthquakes” from the “Century Days” record and I’m sure the car swerved a bit, since it was the first time I’d heard the tune and was fired up.
* Upon Cat’s return from a business trip to Chicago, she presented me with the “Pink Flag” and “Big Bad Days” singles.
* Later, while visiting with Matt Gentling, Archers of Loaf bassist, before a gig, we discussed our shared love of the “Cement” album.
* And, just recently, buddy and artist Brian Walsby unleashed another of his fine T-shirts: a die kreuzen one, which I wear proudly (along with the person below).
So, what we have here is a Q and A with die kreuzen’s Kubinski, chatting about that band’s days on the music scene and some of his other projects like Decapitado, and life in general. A big thanks to Dan for opening up and sharing his experiences with us. Enjoy.
What are some of your earliest music memories? My father playing guitar and singing to me from as early on as I can remember. Even to this day if/when he gets out his guitar and plays, I instantly feel a warm calmness from deep within. My Dad also plays the accordion. On holidays and other family celebrations, he would get the accordion out and the entire family would start to polka dance (bunch of Pollacks, you know). Great time for me and I think I began to understand the power of music from an early age.
My Father played records all the time, so did my Mom-- Mom jammed Santana and I thank her tons for my love of early Santana records. My Father played lots of Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Moody Blues and lots of different folk music. My father also played in a folk band of sorts before and just after I was born.
As soon as I was old enough to do some chores around the house and earn an allowance, I would take my coins to Kmart and buy 7" records; I had a pretty big collection of music very early on. I also had an AM radio that I took with me everywhere, I even slept with the damn thing and would fall asleep listening to the greatest hits of those times until KISS and Aerosmith came along and changed the game for me. I loved Steven Tyler’s screams: “Get Your Wings,” “Toys in the Attic” and especially “Rocks” hold very, very powerful emotions for me... and I wanted to scream like Tyler did. Then I discovered the Ramones, Sex Pistols and the Clash... more game changers for me. David Bowie also figured in big time here. Bowie had many, many records out by that time and I bought and discovered the gems within one by one... magical! Around this time (high school) I saw the Clash play in Chicago on a tour near to the release of "London Calling" and they totally blew me away, changed my life! My father bought me my ticket for the Clash show, much to his dismay I think sometimes. I think he wanted me to be in the military, a pilot or something, but I had known early on that playing music was what interested me most. Somewhere in my mid-teens, I bought a bass guitar and took some lessons, but never did anything with that knowledge until Decapitado needed a bass player. While I was showing yet another new bassist for Decapitado how to play our songs, I realized that I should be playing bass -- full circle.
What bands struck a chord with you in pointing you toward the punk, die kreuzen and, later Decapitado, path? Starting with my Father’s playing and singing to Creedence to Aerosmith and KISS to the Sex Pistols and the Clash, I too wanted to make my own music. When I started to hear the Germs and Black Flag, I knew the game had changed again. By the time I heard those bands, Brian Egeness (guitar) and I already had a band going that played a ton of early punk stuff like 999, the Saints, Wire, the Damned, Ramones and the Stooges. It seemed like a natural progression to take the punk music to a whole new level. We started writing our own tunes-- the first song I remember us putting together was a little song called "Suffocate," which had a chorus that went something like "you suffocate me, you suffocate me suffocate, suffocate.” Kind of an early "All White," I suppose.
By the time I was trying to put Decapitado together, I had many, many other influences like Einsturzende Neubauten, early Sisters of Mercy, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and many, many other "noisy" and drum-machine oriented bands that I liked. The first Decapitado CD was recorded using a drum machine and we played out live with the machine for a few years.
Your vocals and die kreuzen’s music stood out in the hardcore scene—lots of rage and stellar musicianship to boot – where did that sound come from?
As far as the music goes, everyone contributed at rehearsal... all of our influences were allowed to come through our efforts in writing, so I think that’s what gave die kreuzen its unique sound. We loved the hardcore that was being played by other bands, but we always wanted to expand and grow on what we personally were doing as a band. Trying new and different ways to express the power of our music instead of just turning out the same sounding songs over and over again was always at the forefront at rehearsal... "let’s try this" someone would say, and we'd work the idea and work it again and again until we had something that not only we all liked, but something that sounded different.
Die kreuzen rocks the house.
I believe that is what punk is all about anyways... breaking the fucking rules and doing something on your own terms. I always thought it was strange how the hardcore kids turned on us... here we were doing something outside of the box, and they all wanted us to stay in the box and just play first- album-style die kreuzen tunes. In fact, by the time we recorded the first LP, we were already playing stuff live like "It’s Been So Long,” “Cool Breeze,” "Melt,” "Counting Cracks" and a few others... the so called "change" for die kreuzen started very early on. There never was a change in style, though, it was simply a progression of creativity and a love for what we were doing to keep it fresh and try new things to keep it interesting and creative. My singing came from a love of Steven Tyler’s and Johnny Rotten’s screams and later Darby Crash’s guttural tones.
It’s been said in punk fanzines that DK’s music could peel paint off walls because it was so abrasive – how do you feel about that description? I LOVE that! There are many paint-peeling bands out there now, and if we are in the mix, that’s all the better. Not all of our stuff fits under that description, of course , but I think those words describe a power and prowess that die kreuzen had and so I’m fine with that!
Did you know you had something special with that group of guys? You could tell just from listening to the records that the chemistry was there. Once Erik (Tunison, drums) joined our group and we changed our name to die kreuzen, I think we all knew we had something cool happening. There was a concerted effort among the four of us to try hard and to make "the band" work. We LOVED to rehearse and would go to great lengths... severe lengths, in fact… to get rehearsals in. We would rehearse for hours and hours and drive miles and miles to get to our rehearsal spots. Practice makes perfect, you know, and we wanted to be tight! Thank God we had many wonderful friends and family that let us jam in the basements, attics and wherever else we could set up and plug in.
What was it like playing with the band live? I saw a gig at the Cathay de Grande in Hollywood in ’84 when the crowd went wild, dog-piled on top of each other near the stage – a great night. I read in Your Flesh fanzine that Grant Hart tossed money to you guys during a gig because you were spot-on that night. For me in those early days, playing live was almost better than recording. Those early tours were a whirlwind of lights, sweat and volume that were always intense. Our songs were for real, we worked so hard on them both musically and lyrically so that when we played live, there were pieces of us that were flying out of our instruments and vocal chords and through the PA systems. We weren’t trying to be something, we were just being ourselves. We were for real....
Tell us about the time in ’83 you played on the Milwaukee cable TV show that’s on You Tube these days. How did that come about? It gains a lot of praise these days. We had a friend that was in broadcasting school from what I remember and their final project was to create and direct a television show, thank God he asked us to help him out. That was a lot of fun, I borrowed a small PA head and speaker and we just set up and did what we would do at gigs or at rehearsals. I remember I kept yanking or kicking the mic jack out from my PA head, you might see me back there once or twice plugging my mic back in. It was different being there and playing with next to nobody in the room with us except the camera men and director, but I think we did okay and threw down some pretty rockin’ versions of early die kreuzen tunes.
So you already had “All White” in the repertoire early on, so was moving onward to the slower material just a natural next step? What was it like for the band moving from the HC scene to the “college-rock” realm? I spoke with bassist Keith Brammer at that Cathay gig and he said you guys were excited to move forward. Well, as I said earlier, it was never an out and out decision to "change" or "move in a different direction.” We had always been striving to try different things and to be positive and move forward within our writing. The hardcore scene was dying in ‘86/’87 and we simply kept playing and doing what we were doing, which meant in part getting gigs wherever we could. So we started to mingle with bands that were doing the college-rock scene, which I believe were the beginnings of what people call "grunge.” So, yes, I think it was just a natural next step as you say to die kreuzen in order to survive in the ever-evolving music world that we found ourselves a part of. After all, we never wanted to stay in one place or write the same song twice.
I read something in Creem magazine or one of those rock mags during the “Cement” era that DK was going to be one of the bands to watch for on a national level. What were those days like for you?
Those days were crazy, doing tours with Sonic Youth and the Laughing Hyenas, having a band from NYC called White Zombie open for us on the east coast (that might have been during the “Century Days” period, though), touring Europe with Soul Asylum and 24-7 Spyz... being courted by Michael Alago at Epic records (Michael signed Metallica and was very interested in die kreuzen’s future) --those were very fun and inspiring times. We were on the verge of making our dreams come true within the realms of the popular music industry. In other words, we were about to sign a contract with a major record label so that we might reach more ears, sell more music, do more touring and be more creative as a musical force. It was fun, kind of confusing on one hand as we were about to join up with something that we had ignored and almost fought against (major record companies), but all our peers were getting these contracts, as well... White Zombie, Sonic Youth, Husker Du and Mudhoney to name a few.
Why did DK split, where did everyone go after that music-wise, life-wise?
We had reached an impasse somewhere along our tour of the States while promoting “Cement.” In my opinion, “Cement” didn’t fit the college or grunge rock scene that everyone was going crazy over at the time. The tour was going poorly, a tour of Europe was in the talking stages and doing a tour of Europe was always damn fun and much better than playing in the States as people would come to the shows and really, really have a good time with us. But making money to support ourselves in Europe was a tough one... it took so much money to pay for hotel rooms, van rentals, equipment rentals, food and paying the booking agency that there was never any money left at the end to pay the band and in turn pay our bills at home. So as much as we wanted to Europe again, we all were feeling a strain on our personal lives. We had reached a plateau and couldn’t get to the next one... not quite yet, anyways. A few weeks after we called it quits, Atlantic Records called (Mike Gitter) and he wanted to sign us to the label, unfortunately we had all had enough and couldn’t quite see trying one more time to realize our dreams.
Life was very tough for me during those times... I had lost my identity so to speak. After being in a band with the same three guys for 11 or more years, they were (and are) like brothers. We all knew each other inside and out and I think we all had had enough of each other at that point. Of course, if I could do it all over again, I would've tried harder to make it work and gone for the Atlantic deal, but such is life.
Music-wise, we all had new bands almost immediately: Erik started D-, Keith was in the Carnival Strippers, Brian started Blister and I had Frankenstein Smile, as well as Boy Dirt Car and FuckFace. Brian was also working at his recording skills and doing work in a few studios around town.
I heard Decapitado’s “Blacked” album when it came out in 2003 and was excited to hear you singing (along with playing bass) again. I called it “crushing stuff that will leave a smile on your face” in a CD Baby review--- what is that band all about and what’s its status nowadays? What keeps you playing and making a nice racket these days? You’re in some other bands, as well, right? Decapitado is on semi/permanent retirement now. We actually have an entire new CD length recording in the can but there is no worthy guitar playing on it. So until I can fill the guitar void on the recording, it'll just sit there, I guess. I love the band and the recordings we have done and I feel as though it’s my baby and I hate to let it die, but the music world is a tough mistress and it will tear you apart if you let it. So for now there isn't a Decapitado.
I am playing with two bands at the moment, one is made up of ex-FuckFace people, we've no moniker at this point and only about 10 songs. We hope to get a proper name soon and start doing some gigs this spring. I play guitar in that band. The other band that I just joined a few weeks back (along with Mike Olson/Decapitado drummer) is a more commercial venture. They are called Enemy Star. They have a female singer who is awesome and the guitarist is one of the best the Milwaukee area has to offer. But this is all still in the working stages and we hope to be playing gigs by early spring, as well. I've seen Enemy Star play live and they are really quite good. They also seem to have a strong following around the area and I like that idea... after all I've been playing "art rock/metal" in the shadows for next to nobody ever since die kreuzen broke up and I'd like to step out into the light and actually play for people and do some bigger better gigging, which is a big selling point for me. I will be playing bass and doing back-up vocals with Enemy Star. I also still play and record with Boy Dirt Car. Our latest record will be coming out soon on the After Music Recordings label out of Minneapolis.
With DK and Decapitado, where do the lyrics come from? Is songwriting and playing live a cathartic experience for you?
My favorite time to write lyrics is first thing in the morning. With a clear uncluttered head, I can write a stream of consciousness, so to speak. It may not look like anything or sound like it’s about something in particular, but as I work on the lyrics over the course of weeks or even months (actually, for the most part my lyrics are constantly in a state of flux) they develop and the meanings begin to surface. I never try to write something and say that "this is it, this is what these lyrics are about.” I like to veil things and reword things to give double or triple meanings... never make it plain and simple.
Sometimes there will be a bit of rage that comes out and those I will leave alone and leave plain and simple. For example Decapitado’s "Dirt Farm" is so very simple yet filled and boiling over with rage and anger. I wrote those lyrics straight out at rehearsal in one night/one sitting in about five minutes and it’s one of the few pieces I've never changed.
Yes, my writing is very emotional for me and very much an outlet. I find pain, regret, anger and frustration to be very, very powerful and I've gotten a TON of mileage out of those feelings. There are very few examples of happiness in my lyrics for some reason, maybe because happiness is so much in the forefront of popular music, and deep down inside I am still out to personally destroy mainstream, pasteurized, bullshit music!
What’s life like for you these days (family, kids)? Does the music still speak to you as strong as it did in the early days? No, I've no children, no wife and at this point, no girlfriend. I was just in a very, very intense relationship with a girl that I dated about 20 years ago. We reunited recently and had a wonderful, exhilarating two-year run, but a few months back we called it quits. We are very, very good friends now and I love her deeply and she loves me, but in the end, I guess we are two very different people, and as much as I’d like to make things work, sometimes it’s best to let things go and see what the world has to offer next.... we shall see.....
Newer music doesn’t speak to me much; I’ve been leaning on my old Bowie albums a lot lately. I do like some death-metal stuff like Kill Whitney Dead, Impending Doom and a few others. I even played in a very cool death-metal band called Put Her in the Trunk a few years back and that was a kick! Such powerful, powerful music.... and playing live with that outfit was so damn much fun, really, really heavy! And I’m finding some dub-step stuff to be very entertaining.
Music will always speak to me, I suppose, but I actually have to try a bit to listen these days. It just seems that most everything has been done to death and now it’s being done poorly way too often... but I’m always on the outlook for something new or old that will speak clearly to me.
Your voice has survived all the years of hard singing -- what do you attribute that to?
Somewhere along the way, I actually learned how to sing (kinda/sorta) so I like to mix up the screaming/throaty stuff and add some real singing to it. My voice does have some rough spots, though, and I will admit that it would be tough, if not impossible, to do the entire first die kreuzen LP! I keep trying new things, though, and I love to create with my voice and lyrics, so I’m sure I will do more of that in the near future as I’m just starting to record a solo project that I hope to released before the end of 2012. I’m sure it will have some harsh moments, as well as some sweet moments, but it’s too early to tell what will ultimately come out of me right now...
How do you feel about Die Kreuzen being inducted into the Wisconsin Area Music Industry Hall of Fame (in 2011)? What was it like having all the DK guys together again? Well I am extremely honored to be in the Wisconsin Area Music Industry Hall of Fame. After all, we stand side by side with some greats like Les Paul and Liberace!
It was soooooo cool to have all of my brothers back in the same room at the same time. First time in over 20 years! There was even some talk of reforming to play Roadburn in Holland in 2012 and do some additional gigging in Moscow, London, Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam and a few other European cities, but our schedules just didn’t jive this year, maybe next year. Voivod are curating Roadburn this year and die kreuzen is on their wish list. I will be heading to the fest along with my brother Erik Tunison to hang out and maybe... just maybe, play a die kreuzen tune with a certain band.... but that is all still in the working stages, but he and I will be there this year representing!
Also, what about the Burnt Hickory Brewery "October File" beer? Is it tasty? The fine folks at Burnt Hickory Brewery are some very creative people! That was the second year of brewing a die kreuzen beer, by next year they hope to do a bigger amount of die k. beer and get some in the store here and there.. and yes, it is VERY tasty and packs one hell of a punch!! Once again, we are truly honored to have our own beer, how friggin' cool is that!
Cro-Mags chaos at The Vera Project in Seattle. (All Cat Rose photos except where noted)
"Every Picture Tells a Story," Rod Stewart sang in 1971 ... and that's what we've got on tap here in our final entry of 2011. So many gigs, such an array of pictures to choose from, and we feel these shots best exemplify our musical adventures of the last 12 months. So grab your tasty New Year's beverage of choice and enjoy!
See ya in 2012...
Corrosion of Conformity at Death Fest in Baltimore.
Steve Ignorant belts out Crass songs at Neumos in Seattle.
Archers of Loaf at Neumos.
The Avengers at Neumos.
Scream at the Funhouse in Seattle, (Andy pic)
Oxbow at Neumos.
Mudhoney at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle.
Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. (Andy pic)
Zero Boys at The Vera Project.
The Fastbacks at the West Seattle Street Fair. (Andy pic)
Chuck Dukowski attacks his bass during Black Flag's short set. (All McHank photos)
We missed out on the big gigs last weekend, saluting the Goldenvoice gig-promotion team at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. The weekend featured sets by punk luminaries like Social Distortion, Bad Religion, X, the Descendents, the Dickies... Black Flag ... and more.
Our trusty correspondents McHank and Steve Coombs covered the action for us on the final night. Here's their stories:
By McHank
So, I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach on Saturday, December 17, 2011. This feeling, you know, that the Descendents were going to play the next day in Santa Monica, and that I was going to miss that show, all because of a four-hour drive, each way. I got on Facebook (if you know me, there aren’t long periods of time when I’m not on Facebook.) and I see someone post that Black Flag are going to be playing the Goldenvoice 30th Anniversary show on Sunday. With the Descendents. The show I’d been making excuses to not go to.
Having heard rumors about bands playing and showing up at shows and it not happening, I knew better than to take one person on the Internet’s rumor as the absolute truth. Then I started seeing more posts about it, and more details, and everything seemed to line up. Black Flag’s official page said that Bill Stevenson, Keith Morris and Chuck Dukowski would be performing with Stephen Egerton filling in for Greg Ginn, but they would really be doing a Black Flag set. Yes, I know, No Ginn, No Flag. But still --not something I wanted to miss.
So, I was sold, and then I got that same pit-of-my-stomach feeling that it would be impossible to get tickets. So, I put the plan into motion, found a friend that was willing to go, and got tickets. It was happening.
I had been to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium a few years back, but for some reason it was way smaller than I remembered it. How could THIS venue be big enough to accommodate THIS crowd?
So I went in thinking, the show would be the Descendents, the Vandals, the Dickies, and hopefully, I felt pretty confident, Black(ish) Flag. Someone in line says, “Ill Repute is opening” so, that’s pretty cool, I hope they’ll sound good.
The show starts and we see a banner for Love Canal. I had never heard about them, so I looked them up on my decidedly unpunk iPhone, and see they were a Huntington Beach punk band from the mid-‘80s. Cool. Well, they start playing, most of them look like regular dads, but the singer has that look where you can tell he’s been a character for quite a few years, gone through some shit. I can kind of tell that they probably used to be kind of good, but they sure didn’t seem like they’d played much since 1985. Well, still, I think, pretty cool to see that someone remembered them. The sound person wasn’t doing them any favors, drenching all of their vocals, including between-song banter, in enough reverb to make it sound like we were in a baseball stadium. I could kind of make out that there would be some special guests.
The crowd loved it anyway, and there was a circle pit as soon as the first notes were hit.
As soon as Love Canal finished, Shattered Faith came out and played a few, maybe three songs. The singer looked like a latter-day Johnny Rotten. They started out really strong, the first song sounded pretty rehearsed. The second song fell completely apart, and they struggled through one more. Not terrible, but mercifully short.
John Phaneuf: Nardcore style with Ill Repute.
Ill Repute came up next, sound problems were fixed and they played tight and fast. Finally, a band that had stayed a band -- you could really hear a difference. The singer, John Phaneuf, was electric. Strong stage presence, good awareness of what his voice could and should do. They were great. If they'd monkeyed with their sound since "What Happens Now," they didn't show it. This sounded how I would like to think they sounded when that was new.
The Dickies came on next, and having seen them a year ago, I had a pretty good idea of what I’d be in for. Solid band, obviously since they’d lost several members to death, not all original, but Leonard Graves Phillips’s voice still sounds great, even if he looks a little like a melting Richard Belzer. Stan Lee still is playing the blazing guitar parts, the Stuart puppet still comes out, and they are just incredibly entertaining. Phillips recounted having seen Emerson Lake and Palmer in the same venue we were in when he was 15, and said, “who would have thought, 80 years later, here I’d be…”
If Leonard could talk: Graves Phillips did with the Dickies.
The Dickies had a guest appearance: East Bay Ray from the Dead Kennedys came out and played Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” with them. The crowd was a bit more stationary, but The Dickies left everyone happy.
The Vandals were next and there was a palpable shift in energy. A lot more shoving, a lot more people flying on top of the crowd. The Vandals aren’t my favorite band for records, I can appreciate a novelty song here and there, but I wasn’t expecting TOO much. I have to say, despite maybe not having the strongest straightforward punk songs, they do put a hell of a show on and they are tight and funny. Reminded me to loosen up a little bit and enjoy it. I wouldn’t be so judgmental on The Dead Milkmen, so why be with them. They were great.
He wants to be a cowboy: Vandals singer Dave Quackenbush.
So if there was a shift in energy when the Vandals started—there was a seismic shift in the room when Keith Morris walked out on stage. This was HAPPENING. There was Dukowski, pacing the stage like a hungry lion about to make a kill. Bill Stevenson… everyone could feel we were in the presence of something special. This wasn’t even a lineup that had existed—sure three of the four people about to play were Black Flag band members, but never in this configuration. No matter.
They were announced and there was an absolute CRUSH of people infiltrating their way forward. Black Flag*, with an asterisk , was off and running from the first second. They tore through their set, the entire “Nervous Breakdown” EP in shortly over six minutes. I started the set at the barrier in front of the stage, and by the time they finished, thanks to various pushers, shovers, punchers, and pit goers, I’d been propelled to the back of the floor. Fifteen feet has never felt farther.
There was a strong sense when they finished,almost a “that was it?” feeling. But it hit like a hurricane. I’ve spent most of my life going to concerts on a regular basis. I don’t think I have ever felt that much energy in a room. It was astonishing. I do believe if Ginn had played, there would have been a full-scale riot, just like in the old days. Egerton did a noble job, as he is quite able. The crowd protested a bit that the set was over. Keith came out and apologized that that was all they had rehearsed, and at that it was only that day during sound check. I know for me, and the couple of friends that I had there, there was NOTHING to apologize for.
All grown up: Stephen Egerton and Milo Aukerman of the Descendents.
The Descendents took much longer getting to the stage than any of the other bands had. It didn’t matter, a load had been blown, and people were satiated. The Descendents were amazing by the way—fantastic. They played a solid career-spanning set, and each member of the band was completely on their game. You almost forget just how many incredible songs they have, in so much that the set could have easily been the greatest-hit track listing for an entire generation or three. Milo’s voice sounded as good as it ever has. Perfect. The crowd for them was decidedly more female than male. Not fair-weather fans, either. This crowd was dedicated and came out to worship. The Descendents brought some young kids out and had them recite the All-O-Gistics from ‘stone’ tablets... It was an excellent way to round out the event.
By Steve Coombs
The Goldenvoice 30th Anniversary fest was this past weekend, and I decided to attend on the final day when the Descendents, the Dickies and the Vandals were the headliners.
The word had quickly spread over the Internet that a Black Flag reunion of sorts was taking place to cover the “Nervous Breakdown” EP. It was going to be Keith Morris on vocals, Stephen Egerton of the Descendents on guitar, and rounding out the rhythm section was the legendary Chuck Dukowski himself being kept in time by Bill Stevenson. Although this line up had never existed at the same time or played on the same stage together, this was as close as I was ever going to get to a Black Flag reunion, who are probably my all time favorite band. I had seen the Rollins 2003 show with Keith at Amoeba Records when they were covering Flag songs to raise money for the West Memphis 3's legal fees. The sheer power of that performance was overwhelming. The one-two punch of Rollins and Keith going through the classics was a great memory for me to have. Chuck came out and sang "What I See" and totally went berserk. The chance to see him actually play Flag songs was too good to pass up.
I arrived at the show late, and missed Love Canal, Ill Repute, and the Dickies, but I was never a big fan of them so I didn't feel like I was missing out.
All wound up: Vandals axeman Warren Fitzgerald.
The Vandals (in name only) had started for the nearly sold out capacity crowd of 3,000, and the place was going nuts. They performed all of their hits --"Wanna be Manor","Urban Struggle", "Pirate's Life", "legend of Pat Brown" and "Anarchy Burger." They sounded good, and Josh Freese is an excellent drummer, but the band has no original members and has added metal solos to all of the songs. For a band with a large amount of new material, they seem to be dragging a dead corpse around by only playing the first EP that none of these guys recorded on.
After a short wait I left the seats to engage the crowd for what I had come to see, the Black Flag set. I had already seen the message-board gods debating if this is a glorified cover band or a legitimate second coming of the Flag. I didn't care, I just wanted to see it live.
Chuck came out and was slapping his bass around, like I read he use to do back at the old Flag shows. He was pumped up, despite the graying beard and hair. Keith, Bill and Stephen came out and wasted no time getting into the music. They broke into “Nervous Breakdown” and the place went apeshit. People were throwing plastic cups of beer through the crowd. The small contingent of moshers up front was constantly at war with the bouncers pushing back the crowd surfers into the pit or hauling them over the barricade.
Twenty seconds in, the huge PA system blew out, so the sound became muddled, but the band didn’t give a fuck. It was almost impossible to hear Chuck, but I could see him giving it his all. Egerton is not Greg Ginn, but I would bet he could play any of his riffs with equal proficiency. Stevenson was a beast, and Morris resembled the same form I have seen him give in OFF! in recent shows.
They blazed through "Fix Me", "I've Had It" and finished with "Wasted", which might have gotten the best reaction. It was short. They exited the stage, and some people booed. Keith came back out and said they only had a chance to practice today and those were the only songs they had rehearsed. I guess people were expecting more. For one practice, they sure sounded good. Not as good as the 2003 show, but pretty damn close.
Drum Ogre: Stevenson once again jammed with Flag and the Descendents.
Bassmaster General: Karl Alvarez
The Descendents were on next, and broke out into the song of the same name as their band. No small talk, no intros, just straight to the music. Unfortunately, Egerton's amp blew out. He kept playing the song, but they were minus his sound for the first two songs. They stopped to set up another amp and got right back into the thick of things. The sound was pretty badly mixed, but you could tell the Descendents were in top form. They played songs from all of their albums, and played a heavy dosage of stuff from "Everything Sucks", the 1997 comeback album. They also did the classic songs justice, including "Bikeage", "Myage", "Catalina" and “Suburban Home.” They closed the set with "I'm Not a Loser", and even brought out their kids to read the commandments of ALL on "All-o-gistics."
Kids on coffee? Nope, it's "All-o-gistics" time.
For the encore, Bill announced, "Maybe we can get through three songs without any problems." They closed with "Sour Grapes,” “Coolidge” and "Thank You." People looked happy. I saw couples hugging each other. I saw first-generation fans with their kids. I saw one kid who shaved half of his hair off and had the rest just left there. I didn't see any fights or bullshit for the most part, which is always a good sign. Despite the sound problems, this was a solid show, and I am glad I finally got to see the Descendents and Chuck play live.
Packed house for the Descendents. No telephone booth here.
Eugene Robinson rips through Oxbow's set in Seattle. (All Cat Rose photos except last two)
Oxbow’s Eugene Robinson once told David Yow after his band Jesus Lizard played in San Francisco that when people left the gig, they were ecstatic. When people exit an Oxbow show, Robinson noted that he doesn’t ever want to see them happy.
On Saturday, Robinson and Yow sat down for a Q-and-A session with writer Chris Estey at the Comet Tavern in Seattle before Oxbow and Scratch Acid slayed the crowd across the street at Neumos.
Here’s some Cat Rose pics and choice quotes from the Q and A (Cat was only able to shoot Oxbow because of Scratch Acid's photo policy -- thanks to Robinson for getting Cat clearance to photograph his band):
ROBINSON--
Way back to being a kid … Ray Charles, James Brown, The Beatles. But I think the first music where things started to happen differently for me …was in 1977, I got Eddie and the Hot Rods, somebody gave me “Teenage Depression.” And the first live show that I saw of a band, I actually saw the Plasmatics. They kind of became jokes later on, but the show I saw had Wendy O. Williams like shot-gunning the fucking stage to bits, and I don’t think I’ve seen a show like that before or fucking since. It was completely out of fucking control. (He added that the “baddest-ass rap guy” has nothing on that gig.) -- On his musical upbringing
Robinson sings in the crowd during the acoustic portion of the set.
I wanna do a whole list of things under the heading of “How I See Myself.” And I’ve recently done up my Facebook page and I’ve put some Little Richard clip in Paris where he plays, where he just stops playing the piano and somebody’s fucking pissed him off or something in the audience. And he’s shirtless and he’s stopped playing the piano, he’s got stocking feet on and he just goes to the edge of the stage, he’s kind of singing “Ready Teddy,” but kind of not really singing it—and I was like, ‘That’s him, Tom Jones, this is how I see myself, Teddy Pendergrass… in a wheelchair.’ -- On his influences
Oxbow's Niko Wenner.
If anybody’s having any conversation with me at all about doing something for cash, they’re already insane, right? So, it’s not like Oxbow is gonna start doing pop for TV commercials, it’s impossible, impossible, not because we can’t, but because we choose not to. -- On selling out
Oxbow bassist Dan Adams.
Friends of mine have encouraged me to write a memoir, but there’s no fucking way I could do that. I can’t even fucking talk about the possibility of writing a memoir; I’m enough of an egomaniac where I’d like to, but the life that I’ve led, I can’t fucking write about it. -- On writing
Yow and Robinson at the Q and A.
Yow with Scratch Acid Nov. 12 in Chicago (MXV photo)
YOW--
(Are we) music for lovers? Pretty much everything I’ve been involved with. Before Scratch Acid ever played a show, I made some posters for us and one of them had a really cool photo of a girl’s butt, and it just said, ‘Scratch Acid: music for and about beautiful women.’ And I don’t know how that applies to anything.
I don’t think we had any high hopes. I don’t think we had any sort of vision or anything like that. God, I remember the idea of making a cassette and being able to sell it to people you don’t even know -- that was fucking thrilling, and then we sold like a thousand records—that’s like punk-rock gold. -- On the early days
We had toured most of the US and Europe before we came to the West Coast, and I was scared to go to LA -- I thought, ‘They’re gonna beat the fuck out of me’ … um, fortunately, they didn’t. Yeah, I know we had some bad reactions, but I don’t know if it was necessarily because of dumb-ass skinheads or whatever in the audience. -- On touring
I think a lot of it was sort of based in my sense of humor—spending too much time with people like the Butthole Surfers and stuff like that. -- On his lyrics
Before I was into punk rock, Led Zeppelin was my favorite group, and I liked fusion and stuff like that. And then on a Halloween night, a friend of mine and I, we’d heard about this club called Raul’s (in Austin) and we went and saw the Huns play—and it blew my fucking mind; it had never occurred to me that you could go see musical entertainment and be afraid of the people on stage, and I thought that is fucking cool shit. And just the whole energy and everything, it completely changed my world.
If you pay your hard-earned money, it’s nice if you can leave when it’s over and go, ‘Wow, that was worth the three bucks I just paid.’ -- On seeing bands, performing
