The Asian Man Records 15th Anniversary with Alkaline Trio

When Mike Park announced that he was holding a string of shows for the 15th Anniversary of his San Jose based Ska/Pop Punk label Asian Man records, the tickets for particular shows sold out immediately. This show was one of them. I was lucky enough to get a free pass into this show and see Alkaline trio is a very intimate setting. Alkaline Trio has been around since the mid 90s, consistently becoming more and more popular. After their releases with Asian Man and independent punk label Vagrant records they moved on to working with Epic records, home of artists like Shakira, George Michael and Ozzy Osborne.The last time they played in the bay area, they were at the Fillmore which is significantly larger than Bottom of the Hill. This was the third time I had seen Alkaline Trio and not only was it the best setlist and performance I had seen by them, it was also by far the most intimate space I had  seen them in. Alkaline Trio was accompanied by other Asian Man artists like The Hot Toddies, Kepi Ghoulie and Atom Age. The Hot Toddies are a group of really cute girls who sing surf influenced pop punk that often has lyrics that revolve around love and alcohol. They even sang their song Matt Skiba Sandwich which was referring to the frontman of Alkaline Trio(If you didn’t know). I also saw the king of 3rd generation pop punk Mikey Erg on the sidelines of the stage, I was hoping he would sing Radio with them at the end but it never happened. They started off their set with Cringe, the first track off of their first album Goddamnit which made the audience go insane. The crowd sang along so loud that Skiba and Adrianno’s vocals were hard to hear at times. They played all of their classics including Nose Over Tail, Clavicle, Crawl, Goodbye Forever, Bleeder, Radio, Snake Oil Tanker, Trouble Breathing, Emma, Maybe I’ll Catch Fire, Armageddon and one of my personal favorites My Friend Peter. When they played My Friend Peter, Matt Skiba explained that the song was about Peter Anna, the Trombone player from Slapstick who was actually in the crowd that evening. When they played Radio a bunch of people were pulled up on stage, it was quite a spectacle. Then they ended their set with a cover from Canadian Art Punk Jazz Fusion group NoMeansNo. This show was definitely tailored to diehard Alkaline Trio fans because they primarily stuck to the classics. They completely avoided their 2008 Release Agony and Irony, they only played one track each off of Crimson and This Addiction as well. Overall this was a truly amazing show that I am really glad I went to.

- Joe

Alter- Narrative Free Film Screening in SF

Hey Kids,

This Friday June the 17th at 7:00 P.M., there will be a free screening of short films from some upcoming filmmakers. A few of the films that will be show include director Jaena Sta. Ana‘s Catch the Clock, Dominic Mercurio’s Nuclear Family, and Ashely Doss’ Into the Depths. The screening will be at The Viz Cinema located in Japantown in San Francisco.

Alter Narratives Screening in SF

Make sure to get there early. It’s first come, first serve for seating. You’ll be glad you did.

Keep it classy.

- Donnie

In Case You Missed It: Santa Cruz Public Access Explosion with David Liebe Hart and MC Spilly Chile’

Back on May 19th, a collision of two public access icons took place at 105 Pioneer st. in Santa Cruz. David Liebe Hart, the puppet wielding christian scientist from Adult Swim‘s Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job and his punk band played a show at 105 Pioneer. My friend and Santa Cruz’s most prolific producer/public access identity Spilly Chile’ was awesome enough to host the show too.Two people on completely different sides of the public access spectrum teamed up and rocked Santa Cruz’s world. These two public access legends were accompanied by a diverse plethora of Santa Cruz’s local talent. Hermit Convention opened up the show with his Minimalistic brand of folk rock. Spilly referred to his sound as “New Order meets Blink 182“. After Hermit Convention came James Rabbit which played a mashup of electronic, pop punk, indie rock and Ska. Some of their songs reminded me of a more upbeat version of the short lived Indie Pop group The Anniversary. After them came Mothers who played their own unique mix of Psychedelic, Hardcore and Metal. I had seen these guys open for Fast Asleep a while back and they were great. Their performance definitely didn’t disappoint. When David Liebe Hart and his band hit the stage the show had officially sold out. The lyrical stylings of Hart and a the backings by a punk band worked surprisingly well. David Liebe Hart almost sounded like Jello Biafra from the Dead Kennedys. David and his band put on an awesome show, playing all of my personal favorites like Fabian, Ellen Degeneres, All my Friends Like Asian Girls and many others. He even did a very long winded encore. At the merch table David was selling a Descendents tribute shirt, emulating the iconic Milo Goes to College album cover. His version involved Milo with a bluetooth in his ear and a cat puppet named Jason. Rather than it saying Milo Goes to College it says David’s Jason Goes to Star Korendor.When I asked Hart’s fellow bandmates where the Descendents influence came from they explained that Adam Papagan turned him onto the genre. Interestingly enough it was said that David enjoyed the band Jawbreaker in particular during the van rides on the tour. Hart was also drawing sketches of people for a sliding scale price that was from 2-5 dollars. On top of that Nick Bane provided amazing posters for the show which you can see above. After the show I was given the opportunity to get Spilly to interview Hart. They were both kind enough to give me a half an hour interview, I had to cut out half of it due to background noise but it really exceeded my expectations. After recording it I also noticed that they were behind a bright blue wall so I felt like this would be a great opportunity to use it as a green screen and give the interview more of a public access feel. By the end of the interview Spilly talks about getting David’s show to be aired in Santa Cruz so look forward to that in the near future.

-Joe

Sunday night with the Shook Ones

Over in Santa Cruz at 418 Front st., Nick Bane booked yet another awesome show for all those Hardcore fans out there. Seattle’s own Shook Ones along with some of the bay areas more well received hardcore acts Comadre, Punch & All Teeth. Surprisingly enough the last two shows I covered had the same openers(Punch for Ceremony & All Teeth for Youth of Today), but the Shook Ones seem to come around once every blue moon so I was exited to see them play in the bay yet again. Comadre played the show to no big surprise, I think every time I’ve seen them its been with the Shookies. For those of you who don’t pay much attention to the hardcore music scene of today, the Shook Ones are the heavily Lifetime and Kid Dynamite influenced 3rd generation Revelation records band that I would say for a while was keeping the label going strong. With their catchy guitar riffs, scratchy vocals and energetic live performances its always nice to see them come to the bay. The night before this show they actually played at Gilman with Touche Amore and Title Fight. When the Shook Ones hit the stage(or floor) they started with a few tracks off of their newest Paper and Plastik release The Unquotable A.M.H. After that they went into their older material, making it well balanced by playing two songs off of their sophomore release Facetious Folly Feat and their first release Sixteen. They even played their song Order Form off of their split with Japanese Pop Punkers Easel, one of their greatest songs in my opinion. Unfortunately my camera died of a low battery in the middle of the song, I got most of it though which you can see below. Overall the Shook Ones played a great show, I anticipate their next release whenever that may be.

-Joe

 

In Case You Missed It: Ceremony, Iron Lung, Extortion and Punch at 924 Gilman

Every band on this lineup seems to frequently play Gilman, but rarely all in the same night. Bridge 9 heavyweights Ceremony brought a large crowd, as they usually do when they play the bay area. Iron Lung and Punch brought the Power Violence and Australia’s Extortion was so loud my camera couldn’t even get a full song of theirs. Punch, the up and coming hardcore outfit started out the show with a very high energy. Their performance was definitely well received by the crowd. After them came the mighty Extortion from Australia. Definitely the loudest band of the evening. After them came my personal favorite, Iron Lung. Two dudes making some really fast power violence music. Drummer/vocalist Jensen Ward tends to usually heckle the hecklers really well, especially during this show when he kept referring to a redhead in the audience as fire. Apparently she said she was going to fight people so Ward continually used her as an example throughout the evening. By the time Ceremony came on everything went to madness. I had seen Ceremony almost dozen times prior to this show and the band and crowd havent lost the energy they once had back in the mid 2000′s. I made the mistake of getting up front and almost destroying my camera. That’ll teach me to get cocky. I’ve been to more intense Ceremony shows but this lineup definitely brought the crowds into Gilman that night and things got pretty crazy.

-Joe

Youth of Today’s triumphant return to the bay area(and hardcore)

Youth of Today, one of Hardcore’s most powerful and influential artists made an appearance in Oakland tonight alongside 90′s hardcore legends Mouthpiece and up and coming Santa Cruz power violence super trio Fast Asleep as well as others. For those of you who don’t know, Youth of Today was the beginning of a new era in hardcore music, notably responsible for the Youth Crew sub genre of hardcore. They are also credited as one of the earlier hardcore bands to incorporate vegetarianism into their message and to propel the term Straight Edge into what it has become today. All of their albums were hosted by Revelation Records, home of The Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand, Sick of it All, Bold, Judge, Chain of Strength, Inside Out(featuring Zach De La Rocha of Rage Against the Machine), The Nerve Agents and countless other pillars of the hardcore community. Frontman of Youth of Today Ray Cappo even started his own record label Equal Vision which went on to release albums from Saves the Day, Bane, Bear Vs. Shark, Snapcase, Give up the Ghost, Good Clean Fun, Converge, Refused, H20, Circa Survive, and many other notable artists. When I first arrived at the show I caught the last few songs from Fast Asleep. Fast Asleep is a Santa Cruz super group composed of ex Good Riddance Bass player Chuck Platt, Ex Nerve Agents drummer Andy Outbreak and one other member. Surprisingly they sound nothing like the bands they came from. They have a very fast paced Power Violence, almost 90′s Screamo(Jenny Piccolo) sound. They were amazing. I felt like they should have been higher on the line up. Up next was up and coming hardcore band All Teeth, they had an energetic performance and a sound that was reminiscent to Iowa punk band Modern Life is War. After All teeth was Mouthpiece. These guys were mainly active in the 90′s but recently reunited because of their discography release on Revelation records. Finally Youth of Today hit the stage. Ray Cappo came on stage explaining that the night before when they had played at the Glasshouse in Pomona, a bouncer messed up his knee because he was trying to get rid of the barrier between the stage and the crowd. Although Ray was unable to do any of his signature leg kicks, he still put a lot of energy into the set. The crowd exploded as soon as they began playing and by the end of the show the amplifiers were almost destroyed by stage divers. The set ended with Minor Threat and 7 Seconds covers. I feel like this show would have been perfect at Gilman, for some reason the Oakland Metro gets amazing shows and is an awesome venue but they don’t advertise their shows good enough. Despite that it was an amazing show that exceeded my expectations.

-Joe

(Last) Friday night with The Dwarves at Bottom of the Hill

Thats right, one of the dirtiest, raunchiest, most underrated Punk bands ever played at Bottom of the Hill last Friday. The Dwarves have stirred up a lot of controversy singing about sexually taboo topics, having album covers of naked women and midgets covered in blood and having very loud, fast and sexually driven live shows. Their sound has often been compared to the work of GG Allin and other Scum Rock artists like The Meatmen. I was hoping to see these guys in Vegas the same weekend with the Descendents but unfortunately that show was sold out ages ago. For a band that has been around since 1986 they certainly put on an amazing show. I was surprised to see at the beginning of the show core member of the group HeWhoCannotBeNamed‘s signature wrestling mask wasn’t present, that is until a topless woman wearing the mask appeared on stage during Detention Girl and frontman Blag explained that HeWhoCannotBeNamed had a sex change. From there the woman was thrown into the audience. I got all this on tape, hopefully Youtube won’t take it down before you get a chance to see it. Frontman Blag played with a very high energy, running all over the stage and diving into the crowd mid song on many occasions. There was even a moment where I had to use one of my hands to hold him back from knocking my camera down. Overall it was a great show, I suggest you check out their newest album in which they were supporting entitled The Dwarves are Born Again.

-Joe