The Damned Live Live Live in London 2002: Tiki Nightmare DVD Review (MVD Visual)

A new live release from The Damned is always a welcome thing as, while the band has already released many live albums, The Damned’s constantly rotating lineup (the only constant has been singer Dave Vanian) along with their willingness to regularly reinterpret their songs means that every one of these live albums sounds different. The Damned Live Live Live in London 2002: Tiki Nightmare captures the band at Shepherds Bush Empire on July 12, 2002. This show is the final night of The Damned’s UK tour, where the band was touring behind their 2001 album Grave Disorder.

Not having seen The Damned since their 1991 reunion tour where (at least at the Atlanta show) they seemed very drunk and shambled through their set in just about an hour, I was pleasantly surprised at how tight this lineup sounds. The Grave Disorder lineup of the band was Dave Vanian (Vocals), Captain Sensible (Guitar), Patricia Morrison (Bass), Monty Oxy Moron ( Keyboards) and Andy “Pinch” Pinching (Drums). The nineteen track set list spans the Damned’s back catalogue and includes five numbers from Grave Disorder (“Amen”, “Democracy”, “Song.Com”, “Would You Be So Hot” and “She”), the expected punk chestnuts (“Smash It Up”, “New Rose”, “Neat Neat Neat”), little heard numbers like “Under the Floor Again” and two numbers from the band’s 80’s albums (“Eloise”, “Street of Dreams”) which were recorded while the Captain was out of the band. The Captain even slides in a quick version of “Happy Talk” when the band goes offstage before the encore and he is joined by a pair of “tiki dancers” and Dave does a brief vocal cameo.

Both the playing of the band and their stage presence show how the band has matured over the years. Captain Sensible’s guitar work is top-notch, leading the band through an extended version of “Amen” and using a beer can as a slide on “Ignite”. Dave Vanian and bassist/wife Patricia Morrison are the epitome of cool. Vanian glides and dances his way across the stage - all in black, with slicked back hair, wrap-around sunglasses and gloves - looking like a punk version of Elvis (when he was cool – not fat Elvis) and Morrison looks like a goth pin-up girl. While Captain Sensible clowns around on-stage, the role of ‘comic relief’ seems to have been handed off to keyboardist Monty, who was part of Sensible’s Punk Floyd solo band. “Pinch” is a capable drummer but more of his personality comes out in the bonus feature interview than behind the skins (…and I continue to hope for Rat’s return to the band).

The show is filmed with multiple on-stage cameras so the viewer really has a “you were there” experience as you see the ‘big budget’ shots of the whole band and, from there, the cameras will cut away to close-ups of one of the band members and/or the audience.





There are about 40 minutes of bonus features which are predominately interviews with the individual members of the Damned. Captain Sensible’s interview runs the longest and he sounds remarkably coherent (this isn’t to say that the Captain isn’t off-kilter but I was expecting a raving loony) when talking about The Damned’s place in music, his solo career and more. The other two interesting interviews are Dave Vanian, who is never shown on the screen but rather he talks behind what appears to be found footage of World War I / World War II military bands, and “Pinch”, who sounds like a bit of a nutter. The bonus features wrap up with some very brief (too brief in my opinion) home-movie footage from The Damned’s 2002 Warped Tour appearances.



Set List:
Street of Dreams
Amen
Democracy
Plan 9 Channel 7
Song.Com
Wait for the Blackout
I Just Can’t Be Happy Today
Would You Be So Hot
Disco Man
Under the Floor Again
Ignite
She
Neat Neat Neat
Happy Talk
New Rose
Eloise
Smash It Up
Feel Alright
Love Song

Links:
Official Damned

The Replacements - 'Color Me Obsessed' DVD Review (MVD Visual)

Almost 22 years ago, The Replacements imploded at a July 4, 1991 show in Grant Park, Chicago. The band (which was down to Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson) left the stage and had the roadies close the set with their run-through of "Kiss Me On the Bus". The band never played or recorded again until Westerberg and Stinson reunited last year to record the forthcoming 'Replacements reunion' benefit disc, "Songs for Slim". The Replacements' music was direly important to me in the 80's but it seems a shame that the spirit of The Replacements had to die for Paul Westerberg's solo career to live.

I first heard The Replacements in the mid-80's when a friend gave me a soundboard bootleg of the band playing The Pop Shop in Cleveland in 1984 and I really didn't know what to think of the band's drunkenly slurred version of the Marine Corps Hymn segueing into Kiss' "Black Diamond". Once I heard Let It Be, it all 'clicked' and I was a die-hard fan by the time Tim rolled around. Pleased To Meet Me (the first post-Bob Stinson album) had some good songs (and the demos recorded with Stinson before his departure showed what this album could have been) but Don't Tell A Soul was a disappointing reach for the mainstream. The firing of drummer Chris Mars and the completely forgettable All Shook Down was a regrettable note on which the band ended their career.

So...to get to the point of this review, "Color Me Obsessed" is a 2xDVD set that tells the story of The Replacements through the eyes of the fans. These fans are an eclectic mix of musicians (which include Greg Norton, Grant Hart, Craig Finn, etc.), music critics and journalists, actors and 'normal' concert goers. This is where "Color Me Obsessed" differs from other bio pics as there is no footage of The Replacements or any of its members (live or interview) used - the viewer needs to rely on the 'I was there' narrative of the various fans to build a mental picture of the time and place being described.



The challenge with this sort of picture is that if you weren't around during the original run of The Replacements, you have nothing to anchor to and this film becomes a bunch of talking heads going on and on about how 'this band could have changed your life'. The fan footage is interesting, brilliant in parts but ultimately drags on a bit long. Listening to Grant Hart (who I still believe can do no wrong), Terry Katzman and Mark Trehus (both longtime label/record store owners), Jack Rabid and Robert Christgau (longtime music writers/critics) added color to the band's history. Watching Dave Foley talk about how Kids in the Hall wanted to be 'The Replacements of Comedy' or Geroge Wendt ponder whether "Here Comes a Regular" was written about his Cheers character Norm was somewhat suspect. Watching fans reminisce about how they drove to a Don't Tell a Soul era concert and made out with Tommy doesn't add a lot of value. One of the "fan" interviewees was so stalker/creepy, I didn't know whether to laugh or cringe.

The bottom line is that if you weren't already a Replacements fan prior to watching "Color Me Obsessed", this film isn't going to covert you. You might actually have a hard time making it through the "the band could have been your life" stories without any music from the band to back up these claims as the same thing has been said about the Velvet Underground, Mission of Burma, Minor Threat and many other bands where the legend of the band peaked long after the breakup.

As a long time fan (I guess I can still call myself that), I learned a few things from watching the film. Specifically, I wasn't aware that there was such a power struggle between Paul Westerberg and Bob Stinson. Insider commentary talked about how there was inherent tension from the beginning as Paul joined Bob's band and later - Bob didn't want any part of the the mainstream commercial direction that Paul wanted to take the band. Most of the people interviewed for the film seemed to agree that Bob's departure was the beginning of the end.

Overall - this narrative history of The Replacements was interesting but this isn't a film I would watch more than once every couple of years. In my mind, the video below shows the magic of the original Replacements better than any talking heads.



Getting back on point - the bonus DVD contains uncut interviews with Grant Hart, Robert Christgau, and Jim DeRogatis with Greg Kot, which run an hour each. There are also nineteen deleted scenes (same sort of stuff that is on Disc One) along with interviews with director Gorman Bechard and producer Hansi Oppenheimer.

Links:
Color Me Obsessed

GG Allin & the Murder Junkies - "Blood, Shit, and Fears" DVD Review (MVD)

I was living in DC when G.G. Allin started getting national notoriety and remember watching him on Geraldo. At the time, I really didn’t know what to think - I had seen The Dwarves a number of times blast through their 15 minute “sex, drugs and violence” sets and had watched the NYHC scene on Phil Donahue in the mid-80’s and could relate to both but G.G. seemed completely “out there”. This impression was further reinforced after watching “Hated” a few years back – G.G. seemed more like one of the lunatics that used to hang out in Tompkins Square Park than a Machiavellian punk rock terrorist.

G.G. Allin’s latest archival DVD, Blood, Shit, and Fears (MVD Visual), has made me rethink my original impressions. The disc features five shows with the Murder Junkies – three from November 1991 and two from 1993. With all three of the 1991 shows, I can finally see how G.G.’s reputation was built. These shows are electric and G.G. is coherent, focused and dangerous. The only thing that I can compare this to is the DOA: A Right of Passage footage of the Sex Pistols on their first US tour, storming through the Bible Belt South.

The first show was filmed at the Antenna Club in Memphis, TN – you have to wonder what the club owner was thinking by setting up tables and chairs as G.G. made short work of that. He sets the tone for the show by getting the blood flowing early by banging on his forehead with both a beer bottle and his microphone and follows this by playing most of the set from the floor of the club. It is amusing to watch the audience reactions as a bleeding, sh*t covered, naked G.G. gets close to them. (One person pushed G.G. from behind and then ran). It might have been amusing to see the audience reactions when G.G. sh*ts on-stage and shoves the microphone up his *ss but the point of this disc isn’t to ‘gross out’ the viewer, but to capture G.G. Allin at his rawest and most visceral.

The three 1991 shows each run about 15-20 minutes each (all are complete sets) and the other two sets (Fupped Duck, New Orleans and Orpheus Theater, Knoxville) run similar to the Antenna Club show. Each of the shows was filmed with a reasonably still single camera and the audio is as clear as I would expect G.G. Allin to sound in a punk rock dive.



The mood shifts significantly on the two 1993 shows – G.G. appears less coherent and more violent. The clubs seem larger than the ones played on the 1991 tour and audience seems to be expecting a ‘freak show’…which seemed to further enrage G.G. G.G. plays both shows in his bikini underwear so there is none of the “on the edge” mayhem of the 1991 but rather out-and-out violence and hostility on both sides of the stage. G.G. seems particularly annoyed at the Metro show by the repeated calls of “The Mentors” and “El Duce” and demands for him to sh*t onstage to which he responds that he doesn’t owe anyone sh*t and they can meet him backstage if they want debauchery. This isn’t the tightly honed band from 1991 but rather a band that had lost their way and is now playing to a crowd of meatheads and frat-jocks who want to see G.G. before he dies. The video portion of this footage is a good bit shakier than the 1991 shows but I can imagine that the hostility of the crowd often caused the cameraman to dive for cover.

This material isn't for the faint of heart but Blood, Shit, and Fears does a pretty reasonable job of documenting G.G. Allin's final two tours and proving that the stories of the tours weren't just myths and exaggerations.

Links:
G.G. Allin

New York Dolls - "Lookin' Fine on Television" DVD Review (MVD Video)

"The legendary and infamous New York Dolls at their best! Amazing rare live clips and interviews filmed by Bob Gruen and Nadya Beck in the heady days of the band's ascension in the 70s. Footage from early shows in NYC all the way to the TV studios, clubs and swimming pools of Los Angeles. Black and white film was never so colorful! Includes ripping versions of "Personality Crisis," "Who Are the Mystery Girls?" "Babylon" and more. See the incredible early days of the band that influenced generations of punks and rockers." -- Press Release

I'm the wrong person to write a review of the latest archival DVD from the New York Dolls, Lookin' Fine on Television, as my expectations likely don't match that of a casual fan. To back up, I've bought pretty much every NY Dolls release that I could put my hands over the last twenty years so I have a (too) large collection of the band's commercial releases, quasi-legitamate releases and bootlegs. As such, my expectations are high for any new archival release and Lookin' Fine on Television is a "good" but not "great" addition to the band's catalogue.

This new DVD consists of live audio tracks (likely from the '73 era of the Dolls) over which Gruen and Beck over-layed cut together live footage of the band playing that song from a number of different shows. The footage used came from a variety of shows which include local shows at Kenny's Castaways and Max's Kansas City as well as footage from the band's late '73 West Coast tour. Some of the footage includes clips of the band with Peter Jordan on bass, with Arthur (with his arm still in a cast) looking on, very brief clips from the band's Red Patent Leather era and some great shots of the Dolls' Halloween show at the Waldorf Astoria. As complete performances of songs from some of these shows were released on All Dolled Up, I keep hoping that the full performances will be released so I was a bit disappointed that the cut-together shots on Lookin' Fine on Television end up feeling more like a MTV-style music video than a live performance.



On a positive note, there is some cool interview footage sequenced between the songs. The disc starts with an impromptu interview with the full band who are relaxing on a meadow overlooking the City (and there are some brief shots of future Dolls Peter Jordan and Tony Machine during the interview). There are various clips from a poolside interview with David Johasen which was filmed in Los Angeles and there is also news footage coverage of the Dolls' 1973 Halloween bash.

The disc ends with a bonus clip that is absolutely priceless - this is a 1976 clip of David Johansen interviewing journalist Lisa Robinson on the street outside of CBGB and the taping is 'crashed' midway by a very mod-looking Johnny Thunders.

Links:
New York Dolls

Iggy & the Stooges - "Raw Power Live: In the Hands of the Fans" DVD Review (MVD)

At 63, the “world’s forgotten boy” hasn’t slowed down. On Tuesday, MVD Entertainment will release Iggy and the Stooges' "Raw Power Live: In The Hands Of The Fans" on DVD and Blu-Ray. The video captures Iggy & the Stooges performing their classic album Raw Power along with tracks from the first two Stooges’ albums and Kill City at the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival on Friday, September 3, 2010.

I saw The Stooges at Roseland Ballroom on their first reunion tour. When Iggy jumped into the crowd and seemed to be heading right for me, I quickly stepped to the side as Iggy had an aura of frenetic unpredictableness which the cameras do a nice job of capturing on this disc. The concept behind this first “In The Hands Of The Fans” disc is that six fans were selected to film the concert and, following the performance, the fans meet and interview the band. The various camera angles do a great job of capturing the intensity of The Stooges’ performance and it gives the user the sense of almost being part of the crowd.

The half-naked and heavily muscled Iggy is backed by (retired Sony VP – how that for a career change?) James Williamson, whose licks sounds tighter than they did back in 1973, gunslinger bassist Mike Watt and the ever-steady Rock Action. This show isn’t Iggy and a backing band as return of James Williamson adds a darker tone to the band’s music which the rhythm section then locks on to. With saxophonist Steve Mackay, the band adds some of the free-form freak-out of the early Stooges to songs like "1970 (I Feel Alright)" and "Night Theme". The band plays with the energy that defies their age and their performance is on fire.

Continuing in his role as ‘chief instigator’, Iggy called out for dancers, spazzers and freaks and brought members of the audience on stage to dance and pogo while the band played “Shake Appeal” and he was in the crowd at the end of the band’s set.



Raw Power Live Track List
Raw Power
Search and Destroy
Gimme Danger
Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell
Shake Appeal
I Need Somebody
Penetration
Death Trip
1970 (I Feel Alright)
Night Theme
Beyond the Law
I Got A Right
I Wanna Be Your Dog
Open Up & Bleed
Fun House
No Fun

Some of the bonus features include the original YouTube videos that the six fans who filmed the concert submitted along the post-show Q&A that these fans had with the band.



In an interview earlier this year with The Guardian, Iggy had the following to say on the Raw Power tour: "All we're doing now is finishing off a job…[a]nd I'm pleased to report that James has now learned to use his intelligence in balance with his more impulsive, aggressive side."

Links:
Iggy Pop

The Jesus Lizard - "Club" DVD Review (MVD Visual)

When thinking about audience-baiting lead signers, David Yow ranks up there with likes of Tesco Vee and Lee Ving. The Jesus Lizard’s new DVD, Club, captures the first night of the band’s 2009 reunion tour and Yow started off the set with the ‘joke’: "What's the difference between Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson? About 5 hours" before the band launched into an explosive version of “Puss”.

Age hasn’t slowed The Jesus Lizard and you wouldn’t know by how tight they sounded that this was the band’s first US show in over ten years. Once launched, the band didn’t slow their hammering rhythms and Yow was in the crowd from the first song onward and had his shirt off by the fourth. While Yow made some crack about apologizing for his belly, he did some mad leaps and dives into the crowd that would put a younger stage diver to shame. Surprisingly, all of his clothes stayed on and he only pulled his d*ck out while singing “Blockbuster”.



The band played a sixty minute set and a fifteen minute encore and the set list focused on material from their Touch & Go years. While Yow was in and out of the crowd during the show, only one fan made it onto the stage and the camera crews capture this fan being chased by a VERY heavy security guard (who ultimately falls on his arse) while the band thunders through “Then Comes Dudley”.

The Jesus Lizard
Club Exit/In, Nashville, TN, July 14, 2009

Set List:
Puss
Seasick
Boilermaker
Gladiator
Destroy Before Reading
Mouthbreather
Blue Shot
Glamorous
Killer McHann
One Evening
Then Comes Dudley
Chrome
Nub
Blockbuster
Monkey Trick
7 vs. 8
Thumbscrews
Fly on the Wall
My Own Urine
Dancing Naked Ladies
Bloody Mary
Wheelchair Epidemic

The show was shot by a film crew that obviously knows the band’s work as the angles and transitions are great but the cameras lose Yow during some of his crowd surfing. The audio has both top and bottom-end depth and it is some of the best sound that I’ve heard on a live disc. Bonus features on the DVD include downloadable MP3s of the band’s performance and a photo montage of pictures from this show (which a shot of a chunky David Yow yanking it). If you missed the reunion tour – Club is probably as close as you are going to get to the intensity of a live performance from The Jesus Lizard.

David Yow and David Wm. Sims will hit the road later this year for a very brief Scratch Acid reunion. The only announced show is the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the UK in December 2011 but Sims announced on his blog that Scratch Acid will play some dates in November and December in the US and possibly in Europe.

Links:
The Jesus Lizard

Cro-Mags - "The Final Quarrel: Live at CBGB 2001" DVD Review (MVD Visual)

The latest incarnation of the Cro-Mags (with John Joseph and Mackie Jayson) have been touring pretty regularly over the last few years and it seems hard to believe that it had now been twenty-five years since the release of Age of Quarrel. I’ve read some recent interviews where John has been talking about recording a new Cro-Mags disc which should prove to be interesting as the band’s last recorded legacy was the “final quarrel” show that John, Harley and Doug played at CBGB back in May 2001 under the moniker Street Justice.

To give some background for this show, Harley & Parris (along with Rocky George and Gary Sullivan) released the Cro-Mags final studio disc Revenge (2000) but a major falling out between Harley and Parris resulted in Parris breaking up the band. The Revenge lineup reunited the following year with John Joseph and Doug Holland and started touring in support of Soul Brains (the reunited Bad Brains). Former rhythm guitarist Parris Mayhew attempt to stop this lineup of the band from calling themselves the Cro-Mags (see segment of Parris’ posted quote below) so I can’t remember whether the band was playing CBs as a ‘secret show’ or if this was to avoid Parris’ threatened lawsuits.

"This recent attempt to perpetrate fraud on the fans was easily stopped with the friendly notification to the venues involved in the SOUL BRAINS tour, that the use of the name CRO-MAGS was not permitted by the owner. As of today, most of the venues are voluntarily pulling any current advertisements using the name CRO-MAGS. Their reaction to the issue was apologetic and immediate. They knew and recognized the ethical and legal position they were being deceived into being put in and expressed their shock and regrets.” – Parris Mayhew ‘01

Taking a look back at the Street Justice / Cro-Mags show, this video does a solid job of capturing the vibe and experience of a Cro-Mags show. The band rips through almost the entirety of Age of Quarrel, substituting “Everybody’s Gonna’ Die” (from the band’s 1985 demo) for “Seekers of the Truth” and adding a breakneck cover of “Blitzkrieg Bop”. Both Rocky and Gary are solid players in their own right, so the absence of Parris and Mackie isn’t that noticeable.

The show is filmed with a single camera from above the crowd so I'd have to guess this was filmed from the soundboard loft. The sound is clear but the mix is "off" as Gary Sullivan's drums and Rocky's guitar are too high in the mix while John's vocals are too low. The reality though is that none of this matters as the Cro-Mags were all about aggression, energy and attitude (which is well documented here) and this is what they sounded like from the crowd on any given night.



Included as a bonus feature on the disc is a full set from Harley’s War which was filmed during the final days of CBGB at the “last hardcore matinee” (where the bill also included Agnostic Front,Murphy's Law and Sick Of It All). The show is well filmed and looks and sounds great. Harley is a solid front-man with a great voice for the music and Craig Ahead (from SOIA) joined the band for "Hard Times". The set includes a mix of Cro-Mags songs and tracks from Harley’s War debut CD. Here is the full track list:

1 – Intro > Sign of the Times
2 - World Peace
3 - Show You No Mercy
4 - Malfunction
6 - Days of Confusion
7 - Street Justice
8 - Survival of the Streets
9 - Don't Tread on Me
10 - Do Onto Others
11 - Fuck the Middle East
12 - Down But Not Out
13 - It's The Limit
14 - Crush the Demonic
15 - Life of My Own
16 - Hard Times
17 - We Gotta Know



Other bonus features include Harley giving a tour of post-closure CBGB, Harley and his son in a pre-show warm-up and two live videos ("Life On My Own", "Down But Not Out") from 2002 when Harley's War first got started.

From this corner, I’d love to see one final Cro-Mags tour with the AoQ lineup. Harley’s been trying to bury the long-standing beef between band members but it sounds the likelihood of a full reunion is comparable to “hell freezing over”. A couple years back Harley posted: "Growin' up everyone has favorite bands that break up, and as fans, everyone always wishes they would reform or do a tour, and the fans don't care about the beefs, they just want the band back together. Very seldom do you have the opportunity to make a lot of people happy with one simple act. But unfortunately, it is not all that simple. People have a hard time growing up and old beefs die hard.”

One can always hope though….

Links:
Harley's Cro-Mags Site
Parris' Cro-Mags Site
John's Cro-Mags Site

The Residents - "Randy's Ghost Stories" DVD Review (MVD Visual)

I missed The Residents’ Talking Light tour (late ’10 – early ’11) so I don’t have the complete context around the band’s new DVD, Randy’s Ghost Stories, but I've read some reviews of the tour that stated that portions of this disc were shown on the backdrop at the live show.

Randy’s Ghost Stories is a collection of eight ghost stories and two bonus videos that feature newly composed music from The Residents. These stories aren’t for children or the faint of heart as the subject of the stories include serial killers, psychosis and self-destruction. Each story is narrated (most frequently by “Randy”) and feature off-kilter and disturbing music from The Residents and “bad acid flashback” animated videos. This aura of unease is accentuated by the visual “twisting” of the narrator’s image so that, visually, they look either completely mad or like one of the wide-eyed waifs from the Dondi comic strip. All of this is punctuated with a few TV commercials for food from the 70’s and 80’s that highlight the “perfect” American family and this serves as a striking contrast to the severely dysfunctional people narrating and described within each story. The common thread between each of these stories is that each of the narrators are tortured (whether they acknowledge it or not) by ghosts from their past.



"What are ghosts" ask The Residents - spirits of those no longer inhabiting the flesh, but unable to leave their lives behind? Or could ghosts be a manifestation of something even less tangible, like loneliness, unfulfilled desire or isolation? In a world where nearly everything has become defined and categorized, how do we fill our obvious, purely human need for the fuzzy, vague and supernatural - with TV commercials?

The ghost stories include:

- The ghost of a morbidly obese woman who haunts her lesbian lover, filling the void of death with food and Dr. Phil;

- A man who becomes obsessed by the spirit of an executed serial killer who stuffed the mouths of his victims with Pudding Roll Ups, an extinct kid's food from the 1980's;

- A dead boa constrictor named Leonard (after Leonard Cohen) that plagues the mind of its former owner, who is currently consuming Oscar Meyer hot dogs by the dozen and

- A man who killed his wife while sleep-walking and now believes that his dead wife is giving instruction to their daughter on how to kill him.

The two bonus videos are interesting ventures into the surreal. “Mutts with Mustaches” features an exploration of visuals (with what looks to be tribal photos mixed in) and colors set to an instrumental soundtrack of Eskimo-style piano, keys and swirling background sounds. “Walking Women” is visually set like an early 60’s documentary and follows the evolution of, and is narrated by, a desert. The desert tells the story of a forest overrunning it, eventual man-driven deforestation and the land returning to the desert. This vignette ends with women who have come to (randomly) walk in the desert.

While some discs are perfect for late-night viewing with the lights low, this is the sort of disc that will have you turning on all the lights and checking the locks on the doors. While this disc is disturbing, it is a worthy addition to The Residents’ catalog.

Links:
The Residents

Noel Redding - "The Redding Experience" DVD Review (MVD)

Next month, a previously unseen interview with guitarist/bassist Noel Redding will be released by MVD Entertainment under the title The Redding Experience. This interview runs about 40 minutes and was filmed in 1988 at Redding’s home in Ireland.

While Redding was an accomplished guitarist and played with bands ranging from Fat Mattress to the Noel Redding Band (with Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell), he is best known as bassist for The Jimi Hendrix Experience. This interview with Redding is fascinating as he is very articulate and compelling as he talks the early history of the Experience in a matter-of-fact style. Producer Will Scally explains how the interview came about. "I had known and been friends with Noel for many years and always found him a very upfront, straightforward guy. We often spoke about doing an interview; he wanted to speak about the band, money, drugs and the death of Hendrix and much more – even speaking about the possibility of Hendrix being murdered. He was on good form that day and wanted to record this for posterity."

Redding starts his story with having been recruited into the Experience by manager Chas Chandler after auditioning for Eric Burdon’s New Animals. He goes into some detail about agreeing to switch over to bass and, after ten days of practice, going out on the Experience's first tour. He reminisces fondly about recording the Experience's first two discs (Are You Experienced (1967) and Axis: Bold as Love (1967)) but also talks about how the Electric Ladyland sessions degenerated into all night parties and never-ending overdubs. Somewhat humorously, Redding mentions that he never liked the songs “Hey Joe” and “Purple Haze” but preferred “Can You See Me” and “Fire”.

Redding notes that manger Chandler quit midway through the recording Electric Ladyland and there is the implication that Chandler held the band together. He goes on to talk about how the band unofficially broke up in 1968 but stayed together for one final “contractual obligation” tour. While Hendrix and Redding had some well-known personality clashes, Redding sounds like the two managed to bridge this gap as he was invited to join Band of Gypsys immediately prior to Hendrix’s death after Billy Cox was sidelined after an acid freakout. (Note: I would assume that Redding means the reformed Experience rather than Band of Gypsys).

Redding hasn’t been quiet over the years that he finds the circumstances surrounding Hendrix’s death to be suspicious. In Chris Welch’s 1973 biography of Hendrix, Redding says “I'm not really sure about his death. I think the night before he dropped some acid. I don't know if it was an accident or suicide or murder. I was in the States and I heard that Bill Cox freaked. He was convinced somebody was trying to kill him.” Redding briefly touches on these suspicions in the interview when asked if he thinks Hendrix may have been murdered.

As the Hendrix legend has grown larger-than-life since his death, it was an enjoyable experience to watch Redding tell the story of the Experience from the perspective of someone who was there.

Links:
Noel Redding Obituary with Detailed Bio

EYEHATEGOD: "Live" DVD Review (MVD Visual)

Now into their twenty-third year as a band, veteran sludge metal outfit EYEHATEGOD have just released a 90+ live DVD which contains two complete live shows along with an assortment of bonus tracks. Both shows feature well-recorded, multi-camera footage that capture EYEHATEGOD in all their miscreant glory.

The first show was recorded on the band's 2010 tour at the "scum owned and operated" venue Now That's Class in Cleveland. The band plays a lumbering fourteen song set which includes "Dixie Whiskey", "White N*gger" and the set closer "Methamphetamine". This show was obviously filmed by someone well familiar with the band's music as the camera angles range from on-stage close-ups to B&W cut-aways and capture both the energy of the band and the fist-pumping, ravenous fans who have packed the front of the stage. Below is a live video from the DVD for the song "Jackass in the Will of God" (from the album Kerrang).



The band wrote about this show in a tour diary (posted on decibelmagazine.com): "Openers are the Atlas Moth, Keelhaul, and Strong Intention. Keelhaul played in the basement of the club, unleashing an assault of heavy, yet intricate riffing that we couldn’t begin to figure out. Anytime we play in Cleveland, we play with them; they are like extended family. Tonight’s crowd is a turbulent ocean of flying bodies and the usual blood and broken stuff. A huge skinhead that nobody wants to fuck with and who we guarantee has never heard of us before keeps getting on stage, gets pushed off, gets back up, and is taking up way too much space on a stage with only barely enough room for five. He decides he’s gonna lay down in Mike’s zone. Bad move. At first none of us knew what to do with this dude, then Mike starts spitting all over him while he was laying on stage, which then escalated to the guy catching the iron base of the mic stand in the back of the neck. He finally got off of the stage. All in all, a great night, all captured on five camera angles by our friends at Digital Live. The night ends with the fucking bonehead getting in a fight (surprise surprise!) with some guy, then a bouncer, and then the owner of the club. Wild."

The second show was recorded at the Otto Bar in Baltimore on 10/23/09 and this show's eleven tracks has no overlap with the Cleveland show. Highlights from this show are "$30 Bag", "Kill Your Boss" and "Serving Time in the Middle of Nowhere". Mike IX Williams interacts a bit more with the audience at this show with some crowd baiting ("If you're gonna throw shit at us at least throw money. Quarters are fine.") and calls for "heroin and black girls". This too is a solid show - it appears to have been filmed from the house cameras which gives it a bit more gloss with some of the "above the crowd" camera angles. (Unfortunately, I couldn't find any videos from the DVD posted online for this show so I've included an audience video from the show for the song "Kill Your Boss".)



There are six bonus tracks which include three songs filmed live in Vienna, Austria in 2010 ("Shoplift", "Run It To The Ground" and "Shinobi") and three videos ("Sister Fucker" and the disturbing promo videos for "Anxiety Hangover" and "Age of Bootcamp").



In an interview with the website Global Domination, Mike Williams described EYEHATEGOD's music as "Punk Rock Sabbath. Southern Rock Black Flag. Hardcore Blues. Heroin Metal...Besides music we’re all influenced by shitty jobs, crap record labels, cheap speed, cheaper LSD, bus fumes, sidewalks, old people, long van rides and hospitals."

While musical trends come and go and numerous bands change their sound over time, I have no doubt that EYEHATEGOD will continue to pump out self-loathing Southern sludge for years to come. Both fans of EYEHATEGOD and bands like Down and The Melvins are going to want to pick this release.

Links:
EYEHATEGOD

Shonen Knife - Live at Mohawk Place 2009 DVD Review // Show at the Knitting Factory on Sept. 28th

Shonen Knife's live DVD comes from the last night of the group's 2009 Super Group tour of North America. The band plays an exuberant 18-song // 60 minute set that spans their catalog, playing as many songs from Super Group as they do from Pretty Little Baka Guy.

While there have been some lineup changes over the past decade around core member Naoko (vocals/guitar), the band's brand of bouncy power-pop continues on unchanged. Amusingly, the band breaks from their traditional sound for the doomy "Muddy Bubbles Hell" (from Super Group) and Naoko introduces the song by talking about how the band was influenced by the NWOBHM bands of the 80's. Adding to the fun, original drummer/bassist Atsuko makes a cameo appearance and joins the band on "Fruits and Vegetables".

The band talks with the crowd frequently between songs and seems quite happy to be playing in front of this Buffalo crowd. This show is filmed with multiple camera and the editing does an excellent job of capturing both the enthusiasm of the band and the audience along with the Shonen Knife live experience. This is just pure fun and the show is all about celebrating the moment as opposed to trying to save the world .



Shonen Rock is heading out on a US tour next week in support of their latest CD Free Time (Good Charamel Records). The tour stops at the Knitting Factory on Sept. 28 and Shonen Knife is playing with Hard Nips and Grooms. Tickets are $12 and the show starts at 8PM.

Here is the complete run of tour dates:
09.14.2010 -- Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA
09.14.2010 -- Amoeba Music, Los Angeles, CA (free - 5PM)
09.17.2010 -- Red 7, Austin, TX
09.18.2010 -- The Loft, Dallas, TX
09.19.2010 -- Record Bar, Kansas City, MO
09.20.2010 -- The Cave, Northfield, MN
09.21.2010 -- Schubas Tavern, Chicago, IL
09.22.2010 -- The Strutt, Kalamazoo, MI
09.23.2010 -- Midpoint Music Festival, Cincinnati, OH
09.24.2010 -- 31st St Pub, Pittsburgh, PA
09.25.2010 -- Asia Society and Museum, New York, NY
09.26.2010 -- Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington, DC
09.28.2010 -- Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, NY
09.29.2010 -- Daniel Street, Milford, CT
09.30.2010 -- Pop Fest Montreal, Montreal, ON CAN
10.01.2010 -- Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON CAN
10.02.2010 -- Mohawk Place, Buffalo, NY

Links:
Shonen Knife

Blank Generation - DVD Review (Richard Hell, Carole Bouquet)

Uli Lommel’s 1980 film Blank Generation was just rereleased on DVD (by MVD Entertainment) with a bonus 45-minute interview with Richard Hell.

This is an intriguing film for many reasons – one of which is that Richard Hell is always a fascinating speaker and he gives an insightful interview about the making of the film and the NYC music scene at that time. What is somewhat amusing is that Hell trashes the film during the interview. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Hell said “I actually feel that the interview is better than the movie. It can even be said it’s better as the movie, since it includes clips. The only thing it’s lacking is some of the live performances."

The bottom line is that, while Blank Generation isn’t Academy Awards material, it isn’t that bad. Fans of the NYC punk scene are going to want this disc in their collection – others may wonder what all the fuss is about.

The movie was filmed in early 1978 against the gritty backdrop of near-bankrupt NYC and the plot centers around Billy (played by Richard Hell) who is a punk musician on the verge of major label success and his relationship with French journalist/documentariest Nada (played by future Bond girl Carole Bouquet). The film plays out against this central theme and it is an almost voyeuristic experience. The motivations of the staring and secondary characters are never fully explained so, watching the film, is almost like being a “fly on the wall”. You see all of the dialogue and interplay but can never be sure what is driving it or who some of the secondary characters are that Billy and Nada come into contact with.

Some of non sequiturs around these secondary characters are completely amusing while other of the secondary characters come and go in the blink of an eye. One of the late-stage subplots is the introduction of Lommel himself into the movie and he plays the German journalist Hoffritz who is intent of landing an interview with Andy Warhol. While he waits intently in the television studio for Andy to show up, Walter Stedding show up as “Andy’s assistant” and starts to play electric violin to the bafflement of Hoffritz and the TV studio crew. Warhol eventually makes an in-person appearance and gives a typically bizarre interview to Nada.

One of the highlights of the film is the live Voidoids footage from CBGB. Hell describes the live footage as “the best existing film footage of my band at a time when it was in top condition”. He is right – it is exciting watching much-missed Robert Quine tossing off guitar licks while the pre-Ramones Marc Bell keeps the beat.

While Blank Generation has some flaws, there are more than enough redeeming moments to justify checking out this new re-release of the film.

Links:
Richard Hell