Vote With A Bullet

Corrosion Of Conformity / Brant Bjork & The Low Desert Punk Band / Saviours / Mothership
Slim's, San Francisco
November 18, 2015

Hello blog, my old friend.. I've come to talk with you again.   Yeah.. I've been on a writer's block hiatus from "writing" in this space for most of this year.  I have seen a few great shows but I just haven't been motivated to write about them.  It's not you, it's me...  Let's see how I do with this as I attempt to get back on the horse.

The first word that came to mind when I heard about this tour was "volume".  As is usually the case with Slim's shows, Umlaut's arrival was surgically precise and completely without any guest list drama at all.  It should be noted that according to the Umlaut Archives this was close to the 100th time I've attended a show at Slim's since it opened in 1988.  Anyway...  My beer of choice tonight was Speakeasy Prohibition accompanied by the following...

Mothership - A friend suggested I arrive early to check this band out.. so I did.  Their Texas-style foot stompin' energy onstage was infectious and a perfect warm up for the night.  That being said, their inclusion of Zeppelin's 'Heartbreaker' in the middle of one of their songs kind of summed it up for me.. in a good and a bad way.  Good inspiration for their riffs.. but all of their riffs sound like someone else's.  Honesty is my only excuse.

Saviours - I was fearful that this Oakland band would disappear into the ether awhile back when 2 of the guys moved to L.A. leaving the remaining member(s) in The Bay Area.  Thankfully the move seems to have only made the Saviours better, stronger, faster!  Their new album is absolutely monstrous and the songs pound like crazy live.

[Photo courtesy of Umlaut's iPhone]

I will arm wrestle anyone who disagrees with me that Scott is the heir to Cozy Powell's double bass drum throne.  I will also arm wrestle anyone who disagrees with me that Austin and Sonny are the closest thing to the Dave Murray / Adrian Smith harmony drenched guitar duo The Bay Area has ever produced.  I liked how Saviours dedicated a song to Oakland.  I liked how Saviours played my fave song 'Acid Hand'.  I also liked how I was able to chat with the guys after their set.  Great band.  Great dudes.  Saviours have been road dogs for years now and it's inspiring to see them still fighting the good fight and keeping shit real.

Brant Bjork - I haven't kept up with everything that Bjork has done but I can say I've seen him in Kyuss, Fu Manchu, and Kyuss Lives over the years. That being said, and this coming from someone who was a huge Kyuss nerd back in The Day, I found his set boring.  My head just wasn't in the desert tonight I guess.. so I hung out at the back waiting for the headliner and let my beer take selfies with my phone.

Corrosion Of Conformity -  The reunited and most popular version of C.O.C. finally visited San Francisco with Pepper Keenan and those MTV Headbangers Ball hit songs back in the fold.  Having seen the original version of C.O.C. several times in recent years I'd forgotten how popular this version of the band was almost 25 (!) years ago when MTV Headbangers Ball was a thing.  As soon as C.O.C. walked onstage it suddenly became very 1992 in the room.

[Photo courtesy of Photo Ray]

It was so 1992 that I found myself standing in the "VIP" area at stage left behind 1/2 of Metallica during the set.  Watching the guy who sings 'Enter Sandman' play air guitar as the guy who plays drums on 'Enter Sandman' take pictures of C.O.C. with his phone was absolutely adorable.  I will arm wrestle anyone who disagrees with me that Reed and Mike are as important of a rhythm section as Ian Paice / Roger Glover to heavy music.  Locked and loaded as one entity with a profound dose of groove.  The version of 'Long Whip / Big America' was tonight's best example of this and it was nice to see the punters go off during the set and keeping the Slim's security mosh pit detail busy.  The show ending early-90's double shot of 'Vote With A Bullet' into 'Clean My Wounds' was so good it made fanny packs in style again.

For the record, besides the members of the local band who were right about Napster, other Bay Area music types who stood next to me were Jello Biafra and members of Death Angel, Ghoul, and Forbidden.  Star Power.  Ironically today was also the birthday of the guy who plays lead guitar on 'Enter Sandman'... but he chose to celebrate it somewhere else.

I'm out of practice and didn't do a merch audit.. but I did stare at the merch for awhile.  On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag.  All in all a solid and easy Wednesday night out in San Francisco.

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.

Rage

Corrosion Of Conformity / Goatsnake / Eagle Twin / Black Breath / Righteous Fool
DNA Lounge, San Francisco
August 10, 2010

Earlier in the day, Toby Rage, one of the absolute legends of the original 80's Bay Area Metal Scene, passed away from injuries he suffered in a jet ski accident. It was ironic that the original lineup of C.O.C. were playing tonight since I'm sure Toby created mayhem at many of their shows back in The Day.

Toby onstage with Exodus - Berkeley, August 1984
(Photo by Umlaut)

R.I.P... Kidz these days don't... even... know.

Practically next door at Slim's was the other Metal show in town tonight featuring Devil Driver / Kataklysm / Saviours / Skeletonwitch... and I could have done a doubleheader... and my name was on the headliner's guest list... but I decided to keep it simple and stay at the DNA especially since my night was going to involve an intermission of sorts.

I arrived late but just in time to catch the last song of Righteous Fool's set, which is a band made up of Mike (bass) and Reed (drums) of C.O.C. and another guy on guitar. I can't say much more than that since I basically missed them... Oh well.. but 1/2 of C.O.C. onstage bright and early in the show was different.

Black Breath:

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

I've been wanting to see Black Breath for at least a year since I picked up their excellent Razor to Oblivion EP (4-songs... 15 minutes..), but I kept missing them. Their latest CD has been getting a good amount of spins on Umlaut's stereo and you can't go too wrong with a band who takes their name from Tolkien (For the newbies: Black Breath is the toxic aura given off by the Nazgûl). The band hit the stage hard and generated some good heat during their 30 minutes with a slice 'n dice selection of older and new songs. The space wasn't terribly crowded this early so Black Breath attempted to ratchet things up a notch when Neil the singer jumped off the stage to generate some better pit action. Nice attempt, lad. At the end of the day, I'd have to say I need to see Black Breath when they're playing a smaller room like Thee Parkside where they can get in the face of an audience instead of being removed from them on a big stage... I also need to get The Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Blu-Ray.

Eagle Twin: This is where my night got kind of crazy (but not in a bad way). I watched 1 song of Eagle Twin's Doom Duo Sludge (Black Cobra do the volume duo thing better IMO) and then had to bail for a quick trip back to Casa de Umlaut, then to SFO to pick up Skychick, then back to Casa de Umlaut to drop her off. Then I raced back to the DNA, parked, saw a couple of friends outside smoking and ducked back inside in time to see...

Goatsnake:

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

I'm guessing that I probably missed no more than 2 songs of their set; thankfully the show was running a little behind schedule. After I ducked inside I zigzagged my way up to the front and stood in front of Greg Anderson as he laid down his 6-string tone and then I remembered that it was fucking Scott Reeder (Kyuss!!) on bass and Greg Rogers (The Obsessed!!) on drums. Having members of Kyuss, The Obsessed, Sunn O))), Wool, and Scream onstage together was one of the highlights of the year for me. Umlaut is a Doom Guy and I'm totally down for a set of black groove like Goatsnake. Their set was exactly what I needed to hear on this day of death and reflection on the past. Remember when Kyuss played The Bottom of the Hill? Me too. After Goatsnake's soul shattering set I had to get my head back together after my mad airport dash... so I got a beer and ran into some old friends to pass the break with until...

Corrosion Of Conformity:

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

When C.O.C. first came onto the scene it was around the time in my life when I was starting to listen to other music beyond Metal (Bob Dylan and Nick Cave mofos!) so I didn't latch onto them during the Metal / Punk Crossover of the late 80's. I'm more of a fan of the Pepper-era stuff just because that's when I started listening to them and seeing the band live. Hey! I'd rather be honest than a poser, man. However, even I knew the Animosity lineup of the band would bring people out of the woodwork... and it did, but it was mostly Old Metalheads and not very many Old Punks. Thankfully C.O.C. lived up to everyone's expectations. Woody's axe tone was dead on... Reed on drums was old school killer in that deceptively minimalist way... and I'd forgotten how great Mike is on bass. It sort of felt like a show from back in The Day except the pit action never got out of hand thanks to the DNA security running The Pit... which is so wrong. Let The Pit police itself! Number of kidz thrown out during C.O.C.'s set = 1.

According to the Umlaut Archives this was my 50th show of 2010. The night was like a collision of Umlaut's World past and present; sort of like the time machine that Rush used as a theme the night before! There were at least 6 people in the room who I've known since I was a teenager and there were alot of Umlaut Nation members and close friends in the house as well. Given the earlier passing of Toby Rage it was kind of eerie having so many eras of my life meeting in the DNA on this night. Trippy, man.

I had so much stuff going on in my head that I completely spaced on even looking at C.O.C.'s merch. Oh well... On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. When I got home I stayed up until 2:00am for no good reason...