Gorilla Biscuits Live @ CBGB, NYC Sept. 3, 2006

I was out of town when Gorilla Biscuits reunited last year to play at one the Save CBGB benefit shows. Yesterday's show was well worth waiting for because the band was in top form. The music scene has strongly missed bands like Gorilla Biscuits who break down the walls between the band and the audience and within the audience. It almost felt like the late 80s again.

For a band that hasn't toured or played together since 1991 (last year's reunion aside), it was amazing how good the band sounded. In listening to Civ, it sounds like the band is now permanently reunited and Time Out reported that they are working on new material for a future release. For the 75 minutes that they played yesterday, the band concentrated predominately on the back catalog and gave homage to their past. Porcell (Youth of Today) jammed with the band as did Toby Morse from H20. Toby and Gorilla Biscuits covered a Warzone song as a tribute to Raybeez. Ray got a number of shout-outs from the stage and was described by Civ as the skinhead ghost that haunts CBs.

At the show, the band was selling a limited edition tour grey vinyl single of two newly recorded songs (pictures below) and At the Matinee was played, according to Civ, for the first time live yesterday. It is things like this that will get me to finally hook up my turntable again.




Pictures of the Tour Single

HR (Bad Brains) Surprise Guest at Gorilla Biscuits Show at CBGB (Sept. 3, 2006)

It is hard to believe that CBGB will be closed as of the end of this month. The last announced show is Agnostic Front on October 1 and, if yeaterday's Gorilla Biscuits show was any indication, all of the "old guard" will by out in force for the show. It was great to see so many familiar faces yesterday, both on and off the stage.

It is a bit sad that it take CBs closing to bring back the Sunday hardcore matinee. Bain and Bold did great sets (more on this in a later post) but one of the highlights for me was the surprise appearance of HR (of the Bad Brains). I grew up outside of DC and saw the Bad Brains numerous times. HR did a three song acoustic reggae set performing seated at the front of the stage. The only song I recognized was Day Tripper but all three songs sounded great. When I left the club at the end of the night, HR was sitting with his guitar outside the Gallary and appeared to have been playing for the spill-over crowd on the sidewalk. I have another picture of HR and some pictures of Gorilla Biscuits posted to Flickr.

As I left the club, someone was passing out a flyer listing the remaining shows at the club. RocksOff has really booked a great lineup. Friday's The Avengers show is a must-see as Penelope Houston is one of nicest persons in the world and can still rock as hard as when The Avengers opened for the Sex Pistols final show in San Francisco in 1978. The only show that I will probably pass on is the Dead Kennedys as I can't seeing paying $35 for a Jello-less band.

Dismember to play BB King's, NYC on October 1st

Swedish death-metalers Dismember returns to the U.S. at the end of this month for a 13-date tour of the East Coast and Mid-West. Dismember returned after a multi-year absence in 2004 and their sound has gotten more interesting. They now seem to be extending beyond the traditional death metal sound and are now embracing elements of doom and power-metal. Opening for Dismember on this leg of the tour are Vital Remains, Grave, Demiricious and Withered. Tickets for the show at B.B. King's are only $17.50 and are available through Ticketmaster or directly through B.B. King's box office (with no service charge).


Complete tour dates are:

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2006 w/ Vital Remains, Grave, Demiricious and Withered
Sep. 30 - Mark's Place - Bedford, NH
Oct. 01 - B.B. Kings Blues Club - New York, NY
Oct. 02 - Jaxx - Springfield, VA
Oct. 04 - Culture Room - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Oct. 05 - The State Theater - St. Petersberg, FL
Oct. 06 - Swayzes - Marietta, GA
Oct. 07 - Creepy Crawl - St. Louis, MI
Oct. 09 - Station 4 - St. Paul, MN
Oct. 10 - Abbey Pub - Chicago, IL
Oct. 11 - The Agora Ballroom - Cleveland, OH
Oct. 12 - Backstreet Billiards - Saratoga Springs, NY
Oct. 13 - The Middle East - Boston, Mass
Oct. 14 - Le Medley (BW&BK Six Pack) - Montreal, CA


MASTERS OF DEATH TOUR 2006 w/ Entombed, Grave and Unleashed
Nov 3rd Leeuwarden (NL) Romein
Nov 4th London (UK) Carling Accademy
Nov 5th Dudley (UK) JB’s
Nov 8th Essen (DE) Turock
Nov 9th Saarbrücken (DE) Garage
Nov 10th Erstfeld (CH) Transilvania
Nov 11th Milan (IT) Transilvania live
Nov 12th Padua (IT) La Gabbia
Nov 13th Althofen (AT) Kulturhaus
Nov 14th Vienna (AT) Planet Music
Nov 15th Munich (AT) Metropolis
Nov 16th Chemnitz (DE) AJZ Taalschock
Nov 17th Adelsheim (DE) Live Factory
Nov 18th Hannover (DE) Faust
Nov 19th Eindhoven (NL) Dynamo

NORTH AMERICA TOUR w/ Entombed and Grave
Dec 1st Hollywood (US) Knitting Factory
Dec 2nd San Francisco (US) The Pound
Dec 3rd Chico (US) TBA
Dec 4th Portland (US) Rock N Roll Pizza
Dec 5th Vancouver (CA) TBA
Dec 6th Seattle (US) Studio 7
Dec 7th Boise (US) TBA
Dec 8th Salt Lake City (US) TBA
Dec 9th Denver (US) Hubba's
Dec 9th Albuquerque (US) Hubba's
Dec 10th Tulsa (US) TBA
Dec 11th Tulsa (US) TBA
Dec 12th El Paso (US) TBA
Dec 13th Phoenix (US) Clubhouse
Dec 14th Mexicali (MX) The Forum
Dec 15th Corona (US) Showcase Theater
Dec 16th San Marcos (US) The Jumping Turtle

Dismember's current CD is entitled The God That Never Was and Escapi Music released a great double-DVD of the band live in concert entitled Live Blasphemies. I haven't heard the new CD yet but the double-DVD set chronicles the complete history and evolution of the band. The DVD includes a documentary containing rare concert footage from as far back as 1989, and also includes a full concert taken from a sold out performance at Klubben in the band's homeland of Stockholm, Sweden. Both of these releases are available at Amazon.com.

Dragonlord Announces Northern California Tour Dates

Dragonlord continues their tour in support of their Escapi Music release Black Wings of Destiny with five shows in No. California prior to heading off to the Trash Dominion Festival in Japan. The band did a great show about a year ago at The Continental and hopefully their tour will take them back to the East Coast.

Tour Dates are:

SEPTEMBER 2006
Sept. 06 Bourbon Street Bar & Grill - Concord, CA
Sept. 07 Kennel Club - Sacramento, CA
Sept. 08 Tremors - Riverside,CA
Sept. 09 Tap Daddy's Bar - San Jacinto, CA
Sept. 10 Galaxy Theater - Santa Ana, CA

Thrash Domination Fest 2006 in Japan
w/ Venom, Death Angel, Sodom, Onslaught & DragonLord
Sept. 16 Club Citta - Kanagawa, Japan
Sept. 17 Club Citta - Kanagawa, Japan

GSX - "Manifest" CD Review

I really like this CD! Most CDs get rotated out of my CD player after a couple plays and end up on the shelf until a later month. "Manifest" has yet to leave my CD player and I have played it start-to-finish a number of times these past few weeks. I am partial to raw, angry rock and this CD captures the intensity of GSX's live performance. This is an impressive debut CD and there isn't a bad track on the disc.

Standout tracks are Too Far , which is currently getting some play on New York's Q104 radio station and I Got What I Came For. All eight tracks from the disc are also streaming on GSX's website. What I really enjoy about this disc is that the band really meshes. Sarah Greenwood has a killer voice, that goes from a whisper to a roar, but her voice doesn't overshadow top-notch guitar, bass and drum work. Manifest is available on GSX's website for $10 postpaid and I strongly recommend picking it up.

GSX is playing the Medusa Festival at CBGB on September 7th. There is a great lineup this night (GSX, Mahavatar, Lourds and others) so for a $10 ticket -- this is a "must see" show.

Ice-T and Body Count @ Knitting Factory, August 5, 2006

After being gone for more than a decade, Ice-T & Body Count returned with a vengeance. In looking at the band's tour schedule, the Knitting Factory show appears to have been the only US date and the band is now on a brief tour of Europe. I had a chance to speak with one of the Body Count crew after the show and he mentioned that because of Ice's Law & Order committments, the tour had to be kept short.

I last saw Body Count when they played the old 9:30 Club in DC in 1994. Ice continues to be one of the most compelling frontmen to rock the mic and Ernie C. is an amazing guitarist. Ernie is the only holdover fron the original Body Count as a number of former band mambers have passed on. The current band consists of Ice-T, Ernie C., drummer OT, bassist Vincent Price and rhythm guitarist Bendrix. The only thing that has really changed in the 12 years since I saw the band is the crowd. Twelve years ago, the DC show drew a hardcore-rap crowd and the opening band was Ice's "homeboys from South Central". As Ice has gotten a bit more mainstream acceptance, he seems to be drawing from a wider audience segment. While on one hand, the element of danger added to the show 12 years ago, Body Count is still a top-notch live act that kept the crowd moving the whole night.

The set ranged from crowd favorites like KKK Bitch , Cop Killer and There Goes the Neighborhood to new material from Body Count's new CD that was well received. Body Count left the stage after playing a killer version of Hey Joe as a tribute to Jimi Hendrix. Body Count recently signed with Escapi Music and their new CD Murder 4 Hire was released in the US on August 1st. I liked what I heard of the new material and will have to pick up the new CD sometime in the near-term future.

I have a couple additional pictures of Body Count, along with pictures of the opening acts Mahavatar and Dirty Rig posted to Flickr.

There is a really amusing interview with Ice-T on Conan O'Brien posted on YouTube. Who knew that Tupperware was O.G.?

Dirty Rig @ Knitting Factory, August 5, 2006

Dirty Rig was second on the bill this night and went on before Body Count. Like Mahavatar, Dirty Rig's live show has gotten stronger over the years. I had seen Dirty Rig a number of times at The Continental with original lead singer Ed Sebastian but this was the first I had seen them with Korey Clarke (x-Warrior Soul) on vocals. The band seems to have toned down some of their southern-fried influences and are now playing more straight-ahead hard rock with a strong funk/boogie influence. I would compare their sound to a cross between mid-70s Aerosmith and the funk rock of some of the bands that appeared in the early 90s like White Trash and Lucy Brown.

If you are a fan of this style of music, Dirty Rig is well worth seeing. The band has two dates in the area before going off the England.

Aug 31 2006 8:30P The CRAZY DONKEY Farmingdale, NY

Sep 1 2006 11:00P DINGBATZ Clifton, NJ

I have more pictures of the band on Flickr, along with some pictures of opener Mahavatar. It is hard to mention Korey Clarke without mentioning Warrior Soul. Warrior Soul fans will be excited to know Esacapi Music has reissued all five of the Warrior Soul CDs which have been out of print for years. (See the Escapi Music press release below)

ESCAPI TO RE-RELEASE ALL 5 WARRIOR SOUL GEMS FROM THE ‘90s
New York, NY (February 27, 2006)—Escapi Records will re-release all five albums from the acclaimed band Warrior Soul. On March 14, Escapi will re-release the band’s 1990 Last Decade Dead Century debut, the 1991 Drugs God & The New Republic followup, and 1992’s Salutations From The Ghetto Nation. Then, on April 4, Warrior Soul’s groundbreaking fourth album, Chill Pill (originally released in 1993) and Space Age Playboys (originally released in 1995) will be re-released. All tracks on all albums will be remixed and remastered.

New York, NY (February 27, 2006)—Escapi Records will re-release all five albums from the acclaimed band Warrior Soul. On March 14, Escapi will re-release the band’s 1990 Last Decade Dead Century debut, the 1991 Drugs God & The New Republic followup, and 1992’s Salutations From The Ghetto Nation. Then, on April 4, Warrior Soul’s groundbreaking fourth album, Chill Pill (originally released in 1993) and Space Age Playboys (originally released in 1995) will be re-released. All tracks on all albums will be remixed and remastered.

The constant in all five albums is frontman Kory Clarke. It’s Clarke’s vision that permeates the proceedings: from the trippy Doors-influenced debut to some of the more punk-oriented and heavy metal material. Clarke was a man on a mission. He had something to say. Drenched in angry politics, Clarke used his podium as a soapbox to expose what he saw as major social inequities, yet he did it in such a profound and poetic way that it never came off preachy. Taken as a whole, the five records show an incredible arc…there’s a basic continuity that blossoms from one record to the next in a spiraling orgy of sound that, in its five-year tenure, was criminally overlooked and underrated.

Much of what Clarke warned about on these records has come to pass…and more. But he’s not gloating. In fact, he was hoping that wouldn’t be the case. For right now, Clarke is thinking of doing some shows featuring this material with former Warrior Soul members, outside of his new band Dirty Rig.

Escapi Records has been making waves of late. UK’s hard rockers, Tokyo Dragons, had its Give Me The Fear debut released last October by Escapi; and rapper/actor Ice-T’s heavy metal band, Body Count, had its Live In L.A. DVD released last November by the label.

2006 is a perfect time to revisit the glory that was Warrior Soul. The times today almost demand it.

Mahavatar @ Knitting Factory, August 5, 2006 (NYC Metal)

I haven't seen Mahavatar since L'Amour closed a few years ago. The band's live show has gotten significantly stronger over the past few years. It was always tough to get a real sense for the sound and abilities of some of the opening acts at L'Amour as they seemed to book about 5 acts in front of the headliner and give each of the openers about 20 minutes to play.


If you are a fan of Nightwish, you are sure to like Mahavatar. Their sound is very goth-oriented and borders on doom, but the tempos never get quite that slow. Mahavatar's sound extends beyond "traditional" metal and incorporates a number of world/ethnic elements. Their sound might be better compared to that of a female fronted Moonspell.

Obviously, Mahavatar is gaining a national reputation as they just announced that they signed with Escapi Music and their new CD is due to be released in the US on August 15th.

From the band's website:

NEW LABEL - NEW ALBUM - NEW DRUMMER!!

Greetings Mahavatarians!

Yes, we know we've been silent for far too long, so now it's we fill you in on what we've been up to...

First off, Mahavatar are very excited to announce that we are now signed to Escapi Music from Sweden. We are very proud to be apart of the Escapi family and look forward to a great future in music revolution.

I have a few more pictures of the band posted to Flickr and I will try to get my picture of Dirty Rig and Ice-T & Body Count posted over the next couple days.

The Matches @ Knitting Factory, July 23, 2006

The Matches @ Knitting Factory, NYC July 23, 2006 

Epitaph Records continues to have some of the most interesting artists on its label. I went to The Matches' show Sunday night expecting the music to be stereotypical So. California skate punk. The Matches have taken the skate punk sound as a jumping off point and have created a sound that is much more unique. The band's live show is extremely powerful and crowd alternated between moshing and pogoing.


The Matches @ Knitting Factory, NYC July 23, 2006 

The crowd was interesting as there appeared to be a fair number of underage attendees and a small cluster of parents at the back of the room. I was quite amused that some of the parents looked fairly traumatized when the pit broke out close to them.

I have a number of additional picture of the band, along with some pictures of Action Action who opened, posted on Flickr.

Here is a link to purchase The Matches first CD which I just picked up and is great.

Action Action @ Knitting Factory, July 23, 2006

I wasn't that familar with Action Action before catching their show at the Knitting Factory last night. I was very impressed -- very few bands can play every song with the passion and intensity that most bands play their encore and pull it off. Action Action pulled it off, sounded great and a very full Knitting Factory main floor loved it.


For those who haven't seen the band before, I would describe their sound as the rythms of PiL or Gang of 4 combined with the goth-synth keyboards and vocals of Joy Division. The band has been playing around New York for the last two years and is touring behind their recently released CD "An Army of Shapes Between Wars", which is out on Victory Records. If the CD sounds anything like the band's live show, this would be a great CD to pick up.

Anyway, back to the beginning of the night...I haven't been to the Knitting Factory in years. I think the last time I was there was for The Chameleons reunion, which shows just many years ago this was. I assumed that an 8:00PM show time meant that the first band would take the stage about 9:00PM. When I got to the club just before 9:00PM, I had already missed the first two bands and Action Action was just about to go on. Who knew that there was a club in this town that actually keeps to the scheduled set times??

I have some additional pictures of the band posted on Flickr. There are also a couple bootleg Action Action video clips up on YouTube that capture the band's live show instensity. While the clip below is very brief, it is one of my favorites.

Tokyo Police Club @ Mercury Lounge, June 27, 2006

I have been hearing the hype about Tokyo Police Club for some time so I was glad that I finally got a chance to see the band play live. My opinion -- while TPC is solid musically, they aren't "there" yet. They are certainly a band to watch though as I would expect that they will get better with time. My biggest complaint is that TPC simply lacked the energy and conviction of the bands that followed them. This review shouldn't scare anyone away from seeing them live as I'd see TPC again. I would just wait 6 months or so to give some time for their sound and live show to evolve.


Tokyo Police Club @ Mercury Lounge, NYC June 27, 2006 

GSX on Q104.3's "Out of the Box" Show Tomorrow (Sunday) @ 9PM

Jonathan Clarke will be debuting "Too Far" from GSX's Manifest CD on "Out of the Box" tomorrow night at 9PM. For those not familiar with the show, "Out of the Box" is a great program where every Sunday night, Clarke plays artists that you know and introduces you to artists that you should know. If you you like what you hear, call the station at (888) 872-1043 to request more GSX.

For those outside of the NY area (or simply don't have a radio handy), you can stream "Out of the Box" from the Q104 website.

GSX @ CBGB, June 7, 2006

I saw GSX live for the first time opening for Joan Jett at her June CBGB show. Sarah Greenwood, GSX front-person, is an impressive performer and the rest of the band is top-notch. The band's sound was unique but reminicent of the original Pretenders.


GSX @ CBGB, NYC June 7, 2006 

One of my regrets is not picking up GSX's CD "Manifest". I would be very interested to hear how the band's live performance intensity translates to the studio.


GSX @ CBGB, NYC June 7, 2006 

I have a few more pictures of the band posted @ my Flickr site.

Dinah Cancer / 45 Grave - Back From the Dead

45 Grave @ CBGB, NYC March 5, 2006 

Today I have going through pictures from shows I attended earlier this year and found my pictures from 45 Grave's show at CBGB this past March. I saw 45 Grave last year at one of the "Save CBGB" benefit shows when the band had recently reformed.


Dinah Cancer & 45 Grave @ CBGB, NYC March 5, 2006 


The only original member of the band is Dinah Cancer . At last year's show, the guitarist was Rikk Agnew (x-Christian Death, Adolsecent) but this year, Dinah's band appears to be unknowns. The shows were a lot of fun if you want to relive the 80's death rock era but these shows won't convert new fans. There were no new songs and, while the backing band was competent, they didn't have the musical chops of Don Bolles, Rob Graves/Ritter or Paul Cuttler.

As a side note, I had a chance to talk with Don Bolles a few months back and told him that I had seen the reunited 45 Grave at a "Save CBGB" show. His immediate comment was "I'm sure they sucked".


45 Grave @ CBGB, NYC March 5, 2006 

What was fairly interesting is that the band had some of their original CDs for sale which have been long out of print and have just been reissued. As titles like "Sleep In Safety" and "Only the Good Die Young" have been long out of print (and going for too much on eBay), I was glad to be able to pick up both of these CDs at an affordable price. Both CDs are great and highly recommended.



If you are a fan of early Christian Death, Sisters of Mercy, The Misfits and the like, 45 Grave are certainly worth catching live.

UPDATE:
I was surfing YouTube and ran across a video of the original 45 Grave.
>
45 Grave - Live on New Wave Theater 

Lauren Harris - MySpace URL and Final Pictures from Don Hill's

I was cleaning up my hard drive this afternoon and didn't realize that I had a number of unposted pictures from Lauren Harris' show @ Don Hill's in May. I just added the remaining pictures to Flickr.


Lauren Harris @ Don Hill's, NYC May 12, 2006 

While I previously posted Lauren's management company website and MySpace site, she also has a MySpace site that has one additional song posted.

The Lovely Feathers @ Mercury Lounge, NYC June 27, 2006 

The Lovely Feathers @ Mercury Lounge, NYC June 27, 2006 

The Lovely Feathers @ Mercury Lounge, NYC June 27, 2006 

The Lovely Feathers @ Mercury Lounge, NYC June 27, 2006 

The Grates Mercury Lounge, NYC June 27, 2006 

The Grates Mercury Lounge, NYC June 27, 2006 

The Grates Mercury Lounge, NYC June 27, 2006 

The Grates Mercury Lounge, NYC June 27, 2006 

The Grates Mercury Lounge, NYC June 27, 2006 

Joan Jett Live at CBGB, June 7, 2006 (Updated to include setlist)

Joan Jett continues puts on an incredible show. Looking at the pictures I took, it is hard to believe that she is now 47 years old. I haven't seen her perform in 10 years but she doesn't seem to have aged over the years.

Joan did a four night New York club tour last week to promote her forthcoming CD "Sinner". She started things off Monday night at the Bowery Ballroom; Tuesday night, she played Southpaw and she followed the CBGB show by playing Northsix on Thursday. The New York Times review of the Southpaw is available on Joan's Bad Reputation site.

Her backing band, the Blackhearts, hasn't changed much in recent years. Thommy Price is on the drums, Kenny Laguna plays keyboards and tambourine, and Dougie Needles is on guitar. Newcomer, Enzo Penizzotto is on bass.

Joan played about a 90 minute set the spanned her entire career ranging from "Cherry Bomb" through new cuts from "Sinner". I have been to a few tour warmup shows where bands play their new, unreleased CD end-to-end and the crowd doesn't know how to react because the music is completely unfamiliar. This wasn't the case with Joan -- she played all of the her big hits and kept the crowd moving.

Joan's setlist for the night was:
- Victim of Circumstance
- Cherry Bomb
- Light of Day
- Do You Wanna Touch Me
- Bad Reputation
- Androgynous
- Change The World
- Five
- Love is Pain
- ACDC
- Naked
- Love Is All Around
- Riddles
- Roadrunner
- Fetish
- I Love Rock and Roll
- Crimson & Clover
- I Hate Myself for Loving You

E:
- A Hundred Feet Away
- Real Wild Child
- Everyday People

GSX, the opening band, was a lot of fun. I am interested in hearing their CD but didn't feel like fighting the crowds to get to the merch table at the end of the night. I'll have to pick this up another night.

I have a lot more pictures of Joan and also took a number of pictures of GSX which I will try to post to Flickr later this weekend.

Joan Jett - Live at CBGB, June 7, 2006 

Joan Jett - Live at CBGB, June 7, 2006 

Joan Jett - Live at CBGB, June 7, 2006