The Damned unleash its 'Evil Spirits' on Seattle crowd (with openers Giuda) | Live review, photos

The Damned, top, and Giuda, below. (All Cat Rose photos)

By Andy 

Captain Sensible eyed the crowd, grinned and then unleashed his first snarky word barrage of the evening.

"We ain't no Clash or Sex Pistols rubbish!" he exclaimed before The Damned kicked things into gear on Saturday night at the Showbox in Seattle.

With Sensible's broken ribs healed and crooner Dave Vanian's left arm free of a sling after last year's on-stage accidents, the main Damned gents and their comrades were a blistering bolt of energy as they tore into the opener "Wait for the Blackout" and powered on from there during the stunning set.

What's great about The Damned is that they can take a new song like "Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow" from the "Evil Spirits" album and wedge it in just grand among "Plan 9 Channel 7," "Anti-Pope" and "Love Song" to get people moving from the get-go. It's like "Edge" is an old favorite that pairs nicely with the others.

Same goes for "Devil in Disguise," another new one that may or may not be about (SCROTUS) Trump. You be the judge, Vanian told the crowd.

Before launching into the killer "Ignite," Sensible jokingly said that it came to his attention that there weren't enough guitar solos during the set. In order to rectify the situation, he laughed and said that "Ignite" featured seven solos. Guitar aficionados, rejoice!

"Ignite" also featured a crowd sing-along, during which Sensible halted his soloing and led the vocalizing by sticking the microphone stand into the thrilled throng.

"Eloise" was a crowd-stopper, and then Vanian asked the crowd if any of them wake up in the morning and don't know who they are. There's two sides to everyone... and then, of course, it was time for "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

The crowd went nuts for "New Rose," which had keyboard guru Monty Oxymoron doing the crazy-man's dance while his skull-laden pajamas nearly fell off his body. That dude's all right.

As for the raucous "Neat Neat Neat," well, the crowd got the floor springing so much, that we nearly did "Break on Through (To the Other Side)," which the band wove into the middle of their song.

And here came Sensible for one of his final orations of the evening, giving a nod to the England soccer squad for advancing to the World Cup semifinals that day. He said they scraped by without cheating, naming Neymar of Brazil for diving, rolling and more.

A few laughs later, we were into "Jet Boy, Jet Girl" and the always raging "Smash it Up" to send us smiling into the night.

Openers Giuda from Italy stomped up a storm and had the crowd bobbing their heads and shouting along to songs like the soccer anthem "Number 10," "Roll the Balls" and others. Score.


Here's photos from Cat Rose:


THE DAMNED

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GIUDA

Let the shredding commence: Primus, Mastodon and JJUUJJUU | Live review and photos

Mastodon, top, and Primus. (All Cat Rose photos)

By Andy

Let's deem it the triple-threat tour: Primus, Mastodon and JJUUJJUU.

Off-kilter, scratchy and shredding guitar from Larry LaLonde, thumping bass that had Les Claypool doing finger calisthenics and a cavalcade of drum beats via Tim Alexander never fail to enthrall a Primus crowd, and that’s exactly what went down June 22 at Marymoor Park near Redmond, WA.

As the crowd packed tight up front for Mastodon, a ringing bell filled the air — and then the band’s onslaught began. The band skillfully straddled the line between menacing and joyful with growling and melodious vocals galore and tunes that spanned copious genres — from super fast to heavy to right in between on the band’s journey to hit all moods and cylinders.

JJUUJJUU's atmospheric tunes often built slowly, softly into heaviness. As Phil Pirrone’s auburn hair waved in the breeze, his vocals soared and the second guitarist twitched during solos and lifted his instrument during key spots.

Here's Cat Rose's pics from the evening:


PRIMUS

MASTODON

JJUUJJUU

For the full review, visit: http://www.redmond-reporter.com/life/primus-and-pals-rev-up-crowd-at-marymoor-concert/

Me and the Bay City Rollers

Alan Longmuir of the Bay City Rollers passed away on Monday at the age of 70. RIP, Alan. Here’s my Rollers story from long ago.


By Andy

In the summer of 1976, I had my first meeting with a rock band.

At age 9, I got word from the 93 KHJ radio grapevine that one of my favorite bands, the Bay City Rollers, would be in town to visit with fans at The Wherehouse record store in Torrance, Calif. Hey, mom, can you drive us over there to possibly get a chat in with the Scottish guys who sang “Saturday Night,” which you’ve heard repeatedly blasting from our little blue Sears stereo? Sure, Andy, let’s go. (My older brother Ed was present as well, and years later would usher me to punk gigs.)

On one fine summer day, we were off, with my kid sister Kristin in tow (she too dug the Rollers) but would stay in the car for this experience, which would be both exhilarating and dangerous, kind of like trying to cross Loch Ness with a boat crafted out of bagpipes.

I remember arriving at the store and Ed and I getting dropped off in front, and then all of a sudden we were surrounded by a screaming throng of teenage girls waiting for the Rollers to arrive. As the crowd packed in tighter toward the front door, security guards took control and kept holding us back and delaying the start time. Were the Rollers there yet? Could we catch a glimpse of them from our spot on the other side of the mammoth glass windows? What are these Rollers chants that everyone’s singing? Will I make it out of here alive? Those were the questions I was asking myself.

And then it happened …. A deafening sound and even more screams filled the air. The force of the throng had crashed a section of the front windows. No one was injured we learned later, but it was frightening.

During the frenzy, a security guard grabbed me — the smallest one there — and whisked me into the store to protect me. I was now first in line. It happened so fast, I didn’t even think about what was going on outside anymore.

When I saw that the Rollers were present, I walked forward toward the smiling lads at the table, said hi, shook some hands, got some autographs and then it was over. That’s all I remember, it was such a rush.

After we returned to the car and told our tale, my mom and sister said they saw the Rollers arrive and wave to them from their limo before the window-smashing experience went down.

And then it was off to baseball practice and most likely cranking some Rollers on the hi-fi when I got home. Oh, yeah, those autographs are long gone, but I can still picture them on a page torn from my little green notepad.

RIP, Steve Soto

Steve Soto with the Adolescents in Seattle in 2015. (Cat Rose photo)

By Andy 

Steve Soto’s deft bass playing and soaring harmonies help put the Adolescents’ “Blue” album near the top of the all-time punk-rock heap. With songs like "Kids of the Black Hole," "Amoeba," "No Way," "Rip it Up," etc. within its grooves, all copies -- original or reissued -- of that platter should be ready to snap at any moment from constant play.

Soto passed away today at age 54. He will be truly missed.

My brother Ed and I devoured the "Blue" album and caught the Adolescents live for the first time in the summer of '81 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium alongside Black Flag, DOA and the Minutemen. It was a monumental gig: pure bliss with heaps of chaos, raging tunes and plenty of vocal growls and melody piercing the air.

Bad Religion’s Jay Bentley spoke about Soto in his most-influential-bassists piece for There’s Something Hard in There in 2014:

“There were a half dozen or so of us that stuck together early on to learn from each other. Steve had chops and could sing like a motherfucker. Another bass player stuck between two great guitar players, he found and played the most musical lines. Really taught me a lot about harmony between all the instruments.”

While watching Soto lead his band the Twisted Hearts in an opening slot for X in Seattle in 2009, I looked over at Cat and nodded that I was going to do it. Someone had to.

I yelled out, jokingly, “Play ‘Amoeba’!”

Soto glanced my way and laughed. He didn’t play the song, but he gave us that beaming smile.

I spotted him in the crowd later and we chatted for a bit. We chuckled about my call-out, and he patted me on the back and headed off.

RIP, Steve.