Jersey Shore

"That not dead which eternal lies.. Stranger eons Death may die.." - Metallica / 'The Thing That Should Not Be'

"Everything dies that's a fact.. but maybe everything that dies someday comes back.." - Bruce Springsteen / 'Atlantic City'

According to my publicist:

METALLICA's Orion Fest Presents Live Q&A With
"Murder in the Front Row" Coauthor Brian Lew

Upcoming this weekend (June 23 - June 24), Metallica's heralded Orion Music + More Festival at Bader Field in Atlantic City will present Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold, Modest Mouse, Roky Erickson, and dozens of emerging metal and rock bands, plus a full metal expo, including an hourlong Q&A with Murder in the Front Row: Shots from the Bay Area Thrash Metal Epicenter coauthor and photographer Brian Lew.

As displayed in heavy archival detail in Murder in the Front Row, Brian Lew was present and photographed several pivotal moments during Metallica's formative years, including: the young band's first San Francisco and Bay Area live appearances and afterparties; their first jam session with former bassist Cliff Burton; and the first soundcheck and live show with a legendary but short-lived lineup including Cliff Burton, Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, and Dave Mustaine.

Says Brian Lew: "Being invited by Metallica to chat about Murder In The Front Row at their Orion Fest means a lot to me personally. The original Bay Area metal days were a profoundly important time for my coauthor Harald Oimoen and I, and it's cool that those memories obviously still mean a lot to Metallica. The fact that my Q&A session is scheduled for the same day that Metallica will be playing the Ride The Lightning album in its entirety for the first time is mind blowing!"

Brian Lew's session will take place June 23 at 4PM at Orion fest in the Enter Met Club lounge. Also scheduled to participate in Q&A sessions during the festival are longtime Metallica audio engineer "Big" Mick Hughes, Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel, and band father Torben Ulrich. For more info, visit the Orion Music + More site:

http://www.orionmusicandmore.com/

MURDER IN THE FRONT ROW, by Harald Oimoen and Brian Lew, is a stunning collection over 400 color and black-and-white photos of the birth of thrash metal in San Francisco, capturing historic moments including the earliest shows by Slayer, Metallica, and Megadeth, and events such as the first night Slayer met the young members of Metallica. The book also includes passionate personal accounts by Bay Area veterans Harald Oimoen, Brian Lew, Ron Quintana of Metal Mania, Gary Holt of Exodus, Alex Skolnick of Testament, and Robb Flynn of Vio-lence/Machine Head. From DIY origins to world domination, the Bay Area thrash metal scene screams to life in these fearless pages.

http://www.murderinthefrontrow.com

Thank you! Brian Lew is available for further comment.

CONTACT: Bazillion Points / bazillion@bazillionpoints.com / 718-383-7122

Animosity

Corrosion Of Conformity / Torche / Black Cobra / Gaza
Slim's, San Francisco, California
June 9, 2012

Corrosion Of Conformity are a unique band in my mind because they seem to exist as 2 separate bands: the original "Punk" version and, when Pepper Keenan is involved, the "Metal" version. For the past couple of years the original Animosity era lineup has been touring and they released an excellent new self-titled new album earlier this year.

Prior to the show I was able to hang out with Umlaut hometown brothers Rafa and Jason of Black Cobra. They've been away on tour for the past several months so it was good to catch up with them. They also facilitated me giving C.O.C. a copy of Murder In The Front Row and this moment happened:

"It looks like a text book!" - Mike Dean

I have to say this was my favorite bill of the year so far; the diversity of the volume was pretty inspired compared to the unimaginative and downright boring package tours that have been crisscrossing the continent in recent times. Unfortunately, since I was being a social butterfly, I only managed to catch the last couple of songs of Gaza's angry set. Sorry, guys..

It's always fun to watch Black Cobra play in front of a crowd of mostly non-believers. Although it was amusing that there were no less than 5 photographers along the front of the stage for their set; pretty boys making noise. To be honest, I can't say anything about Black Cobra that I haven't already said in this space before. Tonight was my 15th time seeing them and Jason and Rafa are playing and performing at a higher level these days. The band has been dialed in by constant touring and a commitment forged in volume; I think the boys will have played over 100 shows this year by the end of July. Black Cobra commands a stage better than most bands with twice as many members. The crowd reaction after their 40 minutes indicated their merch guy did a healthy business while they loaded out.. which is how the Rock Show thing is supposed to work.

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

Torche seemed to be the big draw tonight judging by the crowd reaction. Although I was surprised that Slim's was no more than half full on a Saturday night; this bill deserved more than that. Sometimes the San Francisco music scene is annoying in its fickle nature. If Torche are considered a Hipster Metal band then I must be a Hipster because I totally dig them. The songs off their new album translated great to the stage with 'Letting Go' coming across like a call to arms. The set was brutal in an understated way, like getting hit repeatedly with a unicorn print pillow filled with polished stones. Torche songs offer light through volume and I'm completely down with that. The dark thing is being done to death by bands these days. Being loud and hopeful is not a sin if it's done well. For some reason whenever I hear Torche I think of the band Big Country... in a good way... "Come up screaming..".

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

After my Murder In The Front Row moment with Corrosion Of Conformity earlier, I was ready to watch their set remembering they were one of the bands who influenced the original Bay Area Metal scene. Given the current lineup the setlist mainly consisted of the Animosity album and the songs off the band's excellent new self-titled album. They also threw in snippets from songs like 'Vote With A Bullet' into the mix which acted more as a tease than anything else. Given their years on the road and playing small venues like Slim's, it was cool to watch the band's interaction with each other... with Reed all smiles behind the kit, Woody looking like he was having the time of his life playing his beaten up white SG, and Mike leading the charge as he always does. Although C.O.C. absolutely killed it I was surprised, even shocked, by how sedate the audience was for their set. At the end of the set a decent pit finally opened up, but it almost seemed gratuitous at that point... but that wasn't the band's fault. What was up with San Francisco tonight?

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

If you bought one of every C.O.C. merch item you would have paid around $240. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. Although the C.O.C. crowd action had been lackluster, it was an unusually warm night in San Francisco and the show ended at an early hour. Instead of going directly home to Casa de Umlaut I made a detour to Taqueria Cancun for a late night burrito. As I approached the counter a dude waiting for his to-go order noticed my Sleep shirt and asked "Did you go to the show the other night?" I said I had and agreed how awesome it had been. A cool moment of Music Geekdom; San Francisco's music scene is not without its charms after all.

The Beast On The Road

The exciting sequel to No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn, Random Rock Star Moment: Bon Scott, Welcome To Hell, and Over The Top!

A million years ago back in The Old Metal Days I was penpals with a Metalhead in St. Louis named Trace Rayfield. Besides the usual penpal activities such as tape trading, Trace also contributed to my fanzine Whiplash. Of course, Iron Maiden was one of the bands that Trace and I bonded over. So sit back and enjoy Trace's memories of his adventures following Maiden around the Midwest back in those ancient times!

THE BEAST ON THE ROAD
ADVENTURES WITH MAIDEN FROM KILLERS TO THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST

Trace's autographed copy of Killers

Iron Maiden was one of the first NWOBHM bands that I heard back in the dawn of a new era of 1980. With all the buzz coming from across the Atlantic about Maiden's live performances it was only our true Metalhead duty to witness the band in person ourselves! So it began.

My buddies Wade Brooks, Tim Peplaw, Will and myself all piled into Wade's car for a road trip to Memphis (300 miles from our hometown of St. Louis) to catch the band on their debut tour of the States opening for Judas Priest. The date was July 12, 1981. Now by this time I’d seen Priest 6 times since ’77 so this trip was all about the new British Invasion that was about to take place.

It was a typical Memphis July day; about 107 degrees and humid. We had a tip on where the band was staying but with little time to spare before showtime we headed right to the Dixon-Myers Hall Auditorium because Maiden was kicking off the show before Whitesnake finished warming up the crowd for Priest. It’s fair to say that most in the crowd had no idea who the openers were but it took little convincing them that they were witnessing something special. Of course we did not know this would be our only opportunity to see this incarnation of Maiden; Paul Di’Anno was ousted a short time later. We expected Maiden to deliver the goods and they did! Galloping through a nice blend of tracks from their first two classic albums, they left the audience begging for more instead of wanting the David Coverdale show that they had to sit through next before Priest.

After the conclusion of Priest's 'Living After Midnight / Tyrant' encore, we proceeded to make our way to Maiden's hotel bar, where of course we found all of Maiden tasting the local brews and wondering why we served it so cold! We met and got our coveted autographs and photos from the entire band while engaging in small talk with whatever band member would listen. They could tell by our patch and badge covered denim jackets that we were serious about our addiction to Metal. Most of the band were soft spoken and shy with the exception of the gregarious leader of the pack Steve Harris.

Dave Murray and Steve Harris with Wade, Tim, and Trace

We were the only fans in the bar so Steve joined our table to discuss all things Metal. We asked his opinion on some of the up and coming NWOBHM bands as well as the vets like Priest, Sabbath, and UFO. You could tell that there was something going on with Paul because he wasn’t really socializing with the rest of the band. We had no idea that Steve was already thinking about replacing the vocalist. At one point we even asked Steve if Paul was doing coke and he snapped “He better not be!!" After a couple more beers, each band member drifted back to their rooms with Steve being the last to go (lucky for us!).

Clive Burr joins the photo op

Paul Di'Anno sort of joins the photo op

The arrival of 1982 would become the year of Iron Maiden for my good friend Wade Brooks and I. We would end up seeing the band 6 times with new vocalist Bruce Dickinson as they supported arguably their finest LP, The Number of the Beast. Although Bruce’s vocals introduced a new level of melody to the group, the dual guitar attack continued to shred our sensibilities as the rhythm section pummeled our insides. We had no intention of waiting for any local concert announcements while the band had already started touring the States. There was only one thing for us to do: ROAD TRIP!!

Trace's autographed copy of The Number Of The Beast

We had already planned a 2 day trip to see Motörhead on their Iron Fist tour dates in Detroit and Chicago on May 21st and 22nd. However, after finding out that Maiden had a show in Cincinnati the day before on May 20th, it only made sense for a 3-day, mega Metal excursion! As it turned out, this first show of the year for us was the best opportunity that we would have to spend time with the Maiden gang.

We had a knack for finding out the band hotels that would have made most groupies envious. Once we confirmed the band's location, we then checked into the rather unimpressive “motel” in Cincy. It was the type of motel where you parked right outside your room, with all rooms accessible from the parking lot. This trip also included Wade’s girlfriend Polly as well as our good friend Eric Brummett (aka “Natas”). Natas was an aspiring artist (he did some early Shrapnel Records LP covers) and also a Metal bassist. After settling into our room and with our cooler of beer in place, we set off to search for any signs of our Metal heroes.

Not long into our search we find our buddy from Memphis, Steve Harris! After introducing the new members of our entourage and snapping a few pix, we were instructed to meet at the bar across the street after the show for more autographs and alcohol consumption. Since this was our second time meeting Steve, his understanding of our devotion to travel hundreds of miles to see his band made it much easier to ask him if he could put us on the guest list. We had also met manager, and sixth member of the band, Rod Smallwood back in Memphis. This would turn out to be an asset along the way because nothing happens with Maiden without his knowledge or approval.

Backstage at the Cincinnati Gardens had a strange ambiance with security being tighter than we were used to back then. After asking some local groupies what all the fuss was about they reminded us that things were never the same here after The Who concert back in December of ’79 when 11 people were killed in a pre-concert stampede. They warned us that if you even lit a cigarette in the building you would be tossed out on your ass. Besides all of that, the lineup for this tour had us on edge, with the Dio-less Rainbow co-headlining with southern boogie band .38 Special! We were thinking about just watching Maiden and then getting out of there, but we did stick around to see some of Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar antics. Unfortunately the band was a shell of itself without Dio.

This was our first opportunity to see the “new” Iron Maiden and what a new level of energy Bruce brought to the stage! He whipped the crowd into a frenzy that D'anno could of only have dreamed of doing. Steve Harris had a look on his face like he knew he made the right decision when replacing his previous singer with the more energetic ex-Samson vocalist.

After the show as promised we were able to meet up with some of Maiden back at the local bar. One memory from this encounter was Adrian having trouble getting served alcohol. He had to go back to his room to get his passport if my memory serves me! It’s funny to realize how Maiden were still very young back in ‘82. More autographs were collected with our new LP and 12” EP’s purchased since our last meeting. We even brought our Samson albums for Bruce to autograph, although there was no sign of Bruce in the bar yet. Here's one of the only photos from that night:

It was taken outside of the band's Cincinnati hotel. That's Steve Harris second from the right with Polly (Wade's girlfriend), myself, and our buddy Natas (aka Eric).

We made our way back to our room instead of drinking in the bar since our cooler of beer was already paid for and put on a tape of some NWOBHM on Wade’s shitty little tape player. We then proceeded to dig into the cooler. It was a warm spring night in Cincinnati so we left our door open as we began our After Party - Part 2. We hadn’t really thought that a stray band member might hear our music and stumble by to see where the familiar sounds were coming from. You can imagine the look on our faces when Bruce Dickinson poked his head into the door to check out the party!

After seeing our stocked cooler of beer and stack of albums to be autographed, he felt right at home. We were pretty pumped to have Bruce right there in our room, all to ourselves. The look of surprise when we whipped out our Sampson LP’s to get signed spoke volumes. He knew we were not novice fans and he seemed to enjoy the company (and brew). Bruce hung out and listened to tunes and drank beer with his new found friends for close to 2 hours. We really lucked out this night as Bruce was in a talkative mood and was so cool hanging out with us and we took advantage of the opportunity to get to know the new guy in the band. It was a great way to end our first trip to Cincinnati and then we were off to Detroit in the morning for our next adventures with Motörhead.

Later that year in July we planned another monster metal road trip to see more Maiden. By now, the band had moved up the bill and was sandwiched between Scorpions and another NWOBHM favorite of our's Girlschool. This leg of the tour hit Chicago and then moved 100 miles across the border into Wisconsin to play the Alpine Valley ski resort/amphitheater (made famous for ending Stevie Ray Vaughn’s life as his helicopter flew into the side of a ski hill in a bank of fog after a show 8 years later). Not to compare to Stevie’s misfortune but we also had a bunch of bad luck on this trip.

We would start off in Chicago at the Chicago Circle Pavilion (later Rosemont Horizon and now Allstate Arena) on a Friday night and drove up to Alpine Valley for a Saturday night show featuring another of our NWOBHM faves Saxon opening for Krokus and headliners Cheap Trick with a 4th of July spectacular repeating the Friday night Scorps / Maiden show.

This trip saw our buddy Natas left behind as we recruited friends Ken Dallas (Scorch) and Bob Monko for this adventure. Now, the interesting thing about our travel companions on this trip was that Scorch was on leave from the Navy and was due to report back that weekend. In other words, he went AWOL to go on this metal rendezvous! Not the smartest thing to do, but a testament to his dedication to the music that we all loved!

1982 Tour Program
[From the Umlaut Archives]

Things were dicey from the beginning with Polly’s brother Mike traveling down from Wisconsin to meet us for the show. This made 6 in our entourage, which was a tall order for any guest list-seekers. It was a struggle and most of us ended up buying tickets at the last minute causing us to miss a couple of Girlschool's songs. The rest of the show was a blast and was by far the biggest Maiden set we had witnessed thus far. More sound, lights, and stage props including much more Eddie, which the fans really ate up. The Scorpions left the crowd drained after a blistering set.

As we left the venue a light rain began to fall, which was an ominous sign of things to come. Wade made the decision that Bob and I should join Polly’s brother in his car for the trip to Alpine Valley. I was not really pleased by this but it was Wade’s car after all. Then when I saw the dude's beater of a car, I knew our fate had been sealed. Well, we decided to the make the most of it as we popped some beers and agreed to follow Wade to the Wisconsin venue. Of course, we had no map and only vague travel instructions but it’s okay, we will simply follow Wade. Anyone reading this who has been to Alpine Valley knows that it’s a bitch to find on a sunny afternoon (do you see where I’m going with this?). By now I’m comatose, as we’ve been drinking for several hours and was just looking forward to catching a few Z’s on the ride. There is a series of tollbooths between Chicago and Wisconsin along the toll way for those of you unfamiliar with the area. All of a sudden I was awakened by a large "bang" and as I looked out my passenger side window I was blinded by a police officer’s flashlight! I think he hit the side of the car with the flashlight to get the driver’s attention. “Pull over there-and everybody get out!!” the officer roared. Meanwhile, Wade and crew in the lead car had pulled over and waited on the shoulder of the highway after realizing they had lost us. The were oblivious to the predicament we found ourselves in back at the rainy toll crossing.

Meanwhile, I did what any half conscious underage punk would do: I rolled my half full beer under the seat creating a Busch beer river. Oops! That was not a great idea as the cop pointed out. We all piled out of the car on the side of the Illinois toll way as the rain intensity picked up.

"Where you boys headed??" asked cop.

(Of course, I’m now the spokesman since my partners in crime are having a hard time putting a sentence together.)

"Alpine Valley.." I confidently replied.

"Well you might not being going anywhere tonight, son. And you might be spending the night in the shit house if you don’t have bail money." the cop responded with as he stared me down.

My confidence took a hit in the nuts right about that time. Open container appeared to be the infraction at hand until the officer discovered none of us were 21 years old! Also, understand that Illinois is the most corrupt state in the Midwest. I was 2 months shy of my 21st birthday and the oldest in the car, so I would take the hit. The cop told me $50 was the fine and I should expect to receive a summons to appear in court later. I gave the cop the cash and off we went but with no paperwork in hand! I guess we actually had been lucky but I didn’t feel lucky as we realized we had lost Wade in the lead car in the rainy night.

It wasn’t until we exited the highway in Wisconsin did I realize our chariot's real deficiencies: poor headlights and bad wipers. And we had no directions to Alpine Valley! I knew what exit to take and that was about it. I had hoped that our driver Mike, being a Wisconsin native, would help us but he was from upstate and unfamiliar with this area. We stopped for directions at a couple of shit-kicker bars and the only other store we could find open, but it seemed like an eternity before we found the large gated entrance to Alpine Valley. Thank God!

We found our hotel and I couldn’t wait to hit that pillow. Thrilled to enter the lobby, we made our way to the check-in counter looking like we just swam from Chicago. "I need the room number for Wade Brooks.. Please!!" I demanded. Tired, wet, somewhere between drunk and hungover I was in no mood for anymore drama. "Well sir, we can’t give you another guest’s room number but we can call them for you." We got very suspicious looks from behind the counter as they were expecting a crazy weekend of sold out concerts and they knew what kind of people these shows drew into this quiet part of the country.

Wade finally answered the phone half asleep and warned us that we can’t come to the room because the front desk already knows they’ve already got a full room! He told us to go around the side of the hotel and he'd sneak us in that way. I listened to this and tried not to use any foul language as I digested what Wade was trying to say. At the same time I was trying to keep a poker face as the curious stares continued from the lovely staff.

I’ve been in better moods as we began to trudge through the rivers of rain water and mud making our way to the hotel's side entrances. Of course, it took 3 attempts before we found a familiar face ready to let us in. At last, I had a pillow to help relieve the pain! However, it might have been 5 minutes before we were startled by a banging at the door. "SECURITY!!" someone yells from the other side. The door opened, lights went on, bodies were everywhere. Quite a scene I’m sure. "Four guests is the maximum for this room!", the muscle headed security declared. Two volunteers left the room to go hide out for awhile, but I wasn’t going anywhere. They would have had to drag my ass away from that pillow! Unfortunately, we were now on the hotel security's radar for the rest of the weekend.

The rain finally stopped and the sun rose in the morning to end the nightmare experience of the hell ride from Chicago. I told the others about our journey as I explained how an Illinois police officer now had my share of hotel money. Oops. However, we could now relax and enjoy 2 nights of headbangin’ music and not have to leave the premises as the hotel was on the same grounds as the venue.

We met up with our mates from Saxon who still remembered us from our party with them back in St. Louis earlier that year. Guitarist Graham Oliver invited us back to his room to hang out for a while during the afternoon. One of the highlights of the weekend was driving around the beautiful resort while playing Graham the new Judas Priest album Screaming For Vengeance on Wade’s car stereo. Graham is one of the coolest guys in the business and hung out with us for the duration of the album.

Graham Oliver of Saxon at Alpine Valley

PAUSE STORY: While I was in the middle of writing this story, Wade made contact with Graham Oliver on Facebook. He remembers this weekend vividly and recalled we slid a note under his hotel room door with our room number so that we could make contact. AWESOME!!

Saxon went on to steal the show that night although Krokus was always entertaining as well. A full day of no drama and we actually got some sleep, which would come in handy later as you will see.

The next day turned out to be one of the most special shows that we would see Maiden perform that year. Being the 4th of July, plus this was the only outdoor venue we would see the band at on this tour, made this show unique. Ironically, we were celebrating our independence from the British tyrants while being entertained by 2 new British bands in Girlschool and Iron Maiden! Great atmosphere, great lineup once again, and Maiden was on top of their game for this show. I'm sure that any Cheeseheads in attendance who didn't know about Maiden already probably visited their local record stores after this show! The Scorpions again closed the show with a bang as the exhausted Metal throng filed out into the Wisconsin night. Great day, killer show, what could possibly go wrong now (I told you to stay tuned)?!

We got back to our overflowing room for one last party before hitting the road home the next morning. We just needed no drama and a few hours of shut-eye to cap off the weekend of madness.

For any non-believers of the next part of this story, the events were actually documented in an interview with the musician in question some years later in an international publication.

It wasn’t unusual to hear people running up and down the hallways during the night but what really annoyed us was when we heard people running on the roof of the hotel. We were getting pretty wasted by now and in fact were near the end of our party. After awhile we opened our sliding balcony door to see if we could figure out what buffoon would be stupid enough to be climbing on the roof of the hotel.

As we opened the balcony door we saw a white leather boot coming over the edge feeling for the balcony rail to balance himself before jumping onto our balcony! As we begin to reprimand this idiot, we were shocked when we realized it was none other than Rudolf Schenker of the Scorpions! Rudolf had a crazed look on his face like he had just seen a UFO (pun intended). As we attempted to compose ourselves, we realized that we had one of the biggest Rock Stars of the weekend in our room.

Trace's autographed copy of Lovedrive

However, before we could say anything, Rudolf bolted for the door and simultaneously we heard a bang at the door just as Rudolf attempted to make his getaway. Rudy opened the door and darted past the suits in the hallway just as they yelled “SECURITY!! EVERYBODY OUT!!" Oh no, not again! It was the same Security Guard who we had encountered on our first night and he was pissed off this time. Of course, they assumed we were the ones climbing on the roof as they had gotten several complaints from the adjacent rooms.

We attempted to reason and explain that it was a drunken, crazed, German guitarist and not us that was at fault. I wouldn’t have believed us either. By then it didn’t matter anyway, we were toast. We actually found another member of the Scorpions entourage who returned Rudy to the scene of the crime, but by now the Pope couldn’t have saved us. The next couple of hours were really ugly as we threw our stuff together and argued with the hotel front desk staff as we declared our innocence. Wade did most of the arguing since the rest of us retreated to the lobby attempting to ease the pain. This was not something you want to experience just as you are preparing to hit the sack after a long day of Metal and alcohol. Wade even remembers a futile attempt by us to crash in Iron Maiden's tour bus but manager Rod Smallwood would have none of it (can you blame him). "This is how this weekend is gonna end?!" I asked myself.

We finally ended up in our cars in the parking lot waiting for the sun to rise and tried to get some sleep in the July heat. We bid farewell to Polly’s brother (and his piece of shit car) and the remaining 5 of us piled into Wade’s Plymouth for the uncomfortable 7 hour ride home. Oh, there was one last task: We had to drop off Scorch at the Naval base in Chicago so that he could turn himself in after going AWOL for the weekend. I still remember the look on the military guards’ faces as this motley crew pulled up and an exhausted Scorch peeled himself out of the car to accept his punishment.

We would go on to see the great Iron Maiden three more times that summer. The same Scorpions bill later that month in St. Louis and Springfield, Illinois (I could never look at Rudolf Schenker the same after the Alpine Valley escapade). Once more in September in St. Louis opening for Judas Priest rounded out an incredible tour that we will remember forever.

July 9, 1982 - St. Louis, Missouri
Scorpions / Iron Maiden / Girlschool

July 31, 1982 - Springfield, Ilinois

September 14, 1982 - St. Louis, Missouri
Judas Priest / Iron Maiden

"I left alone, my mind was blank. I needed time to get the memories from my mind..."

No Sleep 'Til Oakland

The exciting sequel to 48 Hours Of Sleep!

Sleep / Oxbow / Kowloon Walled City
The Fox Theatre, Oakland, California
June 5, 2012

Remember when Sleep opened for Hawkwind in San Francisco in 1994? Me too.

It's been 3 years since Sleep awakened like Cthulhu to perform on Earth again. However, part of me can't call the recent version of Sleep a "reunion" since Chris on drums isn't involved... but given the shared history Sleep and Neurosis have (they played so many shows together back in The Day..) Jason is still a great replacement and still validates this new era of Sleep. Although I will say that it's somewhat concerning how Jason now has a beard and long hair to display his inner Dopesmoker aura. Funny. What wasn't funny was over 2,000 people entering the Fox to witness a hometown Sleep show. Crazy.

It warmed my heart that tonight was an all local band bill. Kowloon Walled City sounded absolutely huge on the Fox stage... and Oxbow has a hypnotic and charismatic volume thing going on... but I was only focused on seeing Sleep tonight. As soon as Al, Matt, and Chris walked onstage the air suddenly filled with an astonishing amount of pot smoke. There was so much doobage that it gave a new meaning to "contact high"... and I was the recipient from the output of 3 pipes and a huge spliff all next to me. All least they offered to share... but Umlaut doesn't smoke. Thanks anyway, dude.

Quote of the Night: "None of it was good weed..." - Johnny

This was one of those rare shows where any kind of noise restrictions were thrown out and everything was on 12. As it should be for a Sleep show, the air was literally moving and my clothes were literally vibrating. The Fox is a beautiful old art deco venue and it became a Cathedral of Volume tonight.

I did something that I haven't done in awhile at a show: I closed my eyes and let the music mix with my contact high flying head and spin around in there. Sleep are that kind of transcendental band and tonight really reminded me of their shows back in 1993-94... when they were ahead of their time and most people didn't *get* them... but for us enlightened ones they were total fucking godhead... and they still are. All of these years later, it's fascinating to see the Yin and the Yang of Sleep onstage together again. The cerebral chess master Al who does his Yin with OM and the warbeast hammer of the godz Matt who does his Yang with High On Fire; put them together and they're absolutely crushing. Brothers of Tone.

Photo courtesy of Photo Ray

I liked this Sleep performance more than the other 2 reunion shows I saw in 2010. After 2 years the 3 guys were just more in a collective groove as a single entity with Jason. This was symbolized in my contact high flying head by Matt only playing his iconic Sleep-era orange sunbust Les Paul the entire night instead of switching between that and his custom High On Fire 9-string. Matt and his Les Paul = Sleep. Al and his Rickenbacker = Sleep. Instruments matter.

Photo courtesy of Photo Ray

This show made me feel all 1993 again and I wanted to stop everything and follow Sleep to R'lyeh or Mars. If you bought one of every Sleep merch item you would have paid around $150. It's not often that a band inspires me to buy merch these days... but I dropped a $20 tonight. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. I had seen Sleep crush their hometown and then early the next morning I found myself on a plane flying on no sleep. No rest for the wicked, man.

Sadly, only 2 days after this night it was announced that Matt had entered rehab and High On Fire had cancelled their Summer Tour. Matt is now 40 years old and I realized I’ve been a witness to his Rock Star odyssey since he was 19 years old. Godspeed Matt and we'll be waiting for the volume to continue when you return to the safety of the mothership. To quote Sleep:

"Gypsy casts a spell of frost.. Frozen solid our lives are paused.."

Anyway, just so I don't end on a downer note: The back of the Sleep tour jersey is what they're about in a nutshell:

Stoners.. Rockers... and above all.. Geeks! The Geeks shall inherit the Earth.

Give Me Fire

G.B.H.
The Independent, San Francisco
June 3, 2012

From 1981-85 Umlaut was dogmatically and fanatically all about METAL. Although I'd seen Suicidal Tendencies with Slayer a year earlier, the first all Punk show I ever attended was this one back in June 1985:


Crossover A-Go-Go. Tonight's G.B.H. show was only 1 day past the 27th anniversary of that first show! Amazing, right? Ironically, on this same night over in Oakland, Van Halen staggered into town on their geriatric reunion tour. Of course, Van Halen meant alot to me in my Salad Days... but I honestly haven't been a VH fan since 1981. That was the year I discovered Iron Maiden... and it changed everything... which led me on a musical journey that included that night in 1985 when I attended that first Punk show headlined by none other than G.B.H.. Fast forward to the 21st Century and it was a no-brainer that I would choose the $20 G.B.H. ticket over the $200 for Van Halen. Cue some random Eddie Van Halen guitar wank.

The old school energy as G.B.H. took the stage was sharp enough to cut my soul with a knife... and I mean that in a good, life affirming way. The crowd action was steamrolling and the crowd singalongs were heartwarming. As the set stomped through one G.B.H. classic after another it was like traveling back through the years and I returned to a mindset when I wasn't serious about life yet but I was serious about music. I was serious about music and it was all that mattered to me and if the music was aggressive and angry it mattered to me the most. 'Sick Boy', 'Time Bomb', 'Drugs Party In 526'... 'City Baby Attacked By Rats' that went straight into 'City Baby's Revenge'.. 'I Am The Hunted'.. 'Diplomatic Immunity'. Bruising! It's special when you see a veteran band perform their songs and they take you right back to a specific time in your life in a profound way. G.B.H. took me back to that crazy Summer of 1985 immediately, but not just because of the songs. G.B.H. took me back to those days because of the legitimate, angry energy they can still inspire without pandering to nostalgia in any way, shape, or form. Anger can still be an authentic energy even when you're older.

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse iPhone

The crowd action during 'Give Me Fire' was as inspiring as any dated Eddie Van Halen guitar solo that was happening over in Oakland at the same moment. This was G.B.H.'s first Bay Area show in almost 4 years and the punks are still 3/4 of the original lineup strong and the drummer has been with them over 15 years. I would also bet ownership of Casa de Umlaut that Colin Abrahall could take both David Lee Roth AND Wolfgang Van Halen out without messing up a single spike of bleached blond hair on his head.

As 'Give Me Fire' started Photo Ray suddenly bolted into the pit action. Woah!! It was an inspiring move and I almost handed my beer to our friend Scott to enter the pit myself... However, I then thought how it would really suck if I turned my ankle in the pit and how it would fuck up my work week. So I held onto my beer and moshed vicariously through Photo Ray and the dozens of other fearless ones. Hope I die before I get old.

As great as the performance was, the most memorable moment of the night came just before G.B.H. came onstage. A guy wearing an old C.O.C. shirt came up and said he reads this blog. He then said his dad was in a band I had written about. I asked what band.. and he said "Y&T".. I asked who his dad was.. and he said "Phil Kennemore". I was speechless for a second. The rest of our brief conversation was profoundly amazing. I told him that his dad was the first "Rock Star" who I ever met and asked for an autograph after a Keystone Palo Alto show (circa 1981). True. R.I.P. Phil... and thank you to his son for giving me a full circle moment like that.

If you bought one of every G.B.H. merch item you would have paid around $240. However, the one aspect of the night where the Punks failed was their merch person left me standing there too long... so I walked away with my $20 still in my pocket. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced Punks called me a fag. The next shows on the G.B.H. schedule after S.F. were in... Honolulu... Hawaii. That's not very "Atomic Punk"...

Women And Children First Tour
[From the Umlaut Archives]

Memorial Day

Nasum / Landmine Marathon / Brainoil
Oakland Metro, Oakland, California
May 28, 2012

Memorial Day Weekend 2012. The day before the show it was nice to have some quality hang time with Umlaut kindred spirit friends Landmine Marathon. The band arrived in The Bay Area a day early to rehearse with their new drummer Raul (formerly of the East Bay’s own mighty Impaled!) at the legendary Soundwaves Studios. Landmine’s bloodcurdling Metal was in stark contrast to the sweet sounding Indie Rock band who were rehearsing in the space next door. Good times… and later that night this happened:

LandMIME Marathon
[Photo courtesy of No Ceiling Photography]

Fast forward to the next day and I found myself inside the comfortable crusty interior of the Oakland Metro. It had been 9 months since the last time I saw Brainoil. Much to my delight, the band were on fire and really entrenched themselves with me once again. Their sound, especially onstage, has a ridiculously heavy groove that could go on for days. I also still love how Brainoil seems to literally bleed the grit and grime of the East Bay with every note. Maybe it's just my old man brain, but the old skool 510 attitude just oozes out of every note that Brainoil plays. A local treasure... of volume.

Umlaut has a special kinship with Landmine Marathon and it's been downright awesome to watch their progression over the past 3 years since I first met them. I'm gonna just come right out and say how proud I am of the kidz being handpicked by Metallica to play at their Orion Festival in Atlantic City later this month. From Metal blog buzz band to their tunes being on James Hetfield's iPod. You'd be a dick to deny that's not awesome. Tonight was only their 3rd show with Raul on drums and included the live debut of the song 'Morbidity'. Ferocious. Great band. Great friends. 'Nuff said. I'd take a bullet for them.

All the way from Sweden for the first time ever, Nasum are a band whose tragedy could easily overshadow their substantial legacy. For the newbies: The band's singer and guitarist Mieszko Talarczyk was tragically killed in the 2005 tsunami in Thailand while on vacation. The band's brief one-off U.S. Tour was meant to celebrate the band's 20th Anniversary... and also served as their Farewell Tour. Bizarre and sad. To be honest, Nasum means alot more to others than to Umlaut and it was cool to see the awe and excitement the band's visit caused. A nice grind groove... a nice grind vibe. However, I'll come clean and say Nasum have never been on Umlaut's radar... but it was heartwarming to witness the celebration their appearance on these shores caused amongst friends. Maybe Umlaut in Swedish means poser? Discuss amongst yourselves.

If you bought one of every Landmine Marathon merch item you would have paid around $200. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. Early the next morning, running on 4 hours of sleep and coffee, Umlaut found himself on a plane bound for L.A. for work. No rest for the wicked, man.