Just What I Needed

Grinderman
The Warfield, San Francisco
November 29, 2010


On another November 29th MANY years ago, Umlaut was at this show:

Trivia: It was Metallica's first headlining show in San Francisco and Exodus with a baby-faced Kirk Hammett opened the night. Fast forward to the 21st Century and I found myself seeing Nick Cave grace The Warfield's stage for the 9th time; previously I'd seen Nick at The Warfield in 1990, 1992, 1998 (2 nights), 2002, 2003, 2008 (2 nights). So, yeah, I have ALOT of Music Geek history with Nick.

Three years ago Grinderman played a mere FOUR shows in North America and TWO of them were CLUB shows in San Francisco. It was AMAZING.... Click HERE to read Umlaut's reaction to those pair of special nights. To be honest, I haven't really gotten into the new Grinderman album compared to how enamored I was with the first album 3 years ago. However, I was more than ready to witness the new songs live since that's where Nick is best... and I was hoping the new songs would win me over onstage.

The band swaggered out from the darkness of stage left and launched into the new opener 'Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man'... and Cave immediately charged to the lip of the stage and I knew right away it was going to be a great night. According to the Umlaut Archives this was my 18th (!) time seeing Nick live. It was like seeing an old friend again.

Photo courtesy of Photo Ray

Nick was in full blown swagger and he was on a par with some of the best performances that I've seen in years past. I was glad to see that he has shaved off the 70's porn star moustache of 3 years ago and he worked the stage in that bad ass way that only he can. Part Preacher... Part Rock Star... All Bad Ass Motherfucker. It's funny to think of Grinderman as Nick's "side project" when the rest of the band are in his band the Bad Seeds. It's not much different seeing Jim Sclavunos on drums and Martin Casey on bass... but Warren Ellis is a whole new demon in Grinderman than he is with the Bad Seeds and his own band the Dirty Three. Remember when Warren was sort of that dorky Australian guy who told funny stories onstage with Dirty Three while wearing an AC/DC shirt?? Me too... In recent years I've been both fascinated and a bit concerned by Warren's transformation from the dorky intellectual of Dirty Three into the bearded, multi-instrumentalist mad scientist that he is with Grinderman and the Bad Seeds.

The 90 minute set was fairly balanced between songs from the first Grinderman album and new songs. The band were ferocious... They were inspiring... They were badass. Grinderman were exactly the band I needed to see at this point in my year. The new song 'Palaces of Montezuma' was like a Bob Dylan anthem that I've been wanting to hear again for the first time; I found myself completely caught up in the song... which was cool because I'd ignored it when listening to the new album. On the flipside 'What I Know' is one of the worst songs Nick has ever done IMO; it just seems too forced trying to be lyrically clever. However, even Nick's "bad" songs are better than most others' "good" songs... but I still liked the songs from the first album more tonight. Those first Grinderman songs have that extra bit of badass that puts them over the top... 'No Pussy Blues'... 'Get It On'... 'Honey Bee'. Nick dedicated 'Honey Bee' to someone name Tara Jane who he's dedicated songs to at shows in the past. What a lucky girl, right?

I've been going to way too many Metal shows recently and feeling burned out and jaded about most Metal bands. Thankfully, leave it to my hero Nick Cave to revive my faith in music and the live music experience. Nick is the only musician who I've followed blindly over the years since I first discovered him back in 1989. I still buy all of his releases and see him live even when I haven't liked what he's created... but in the end Nick has always won me over. As I said earlier, it was like seeing an old friend again.

To bring this November 29th full circle with my past, evidently Kirk Hammett was in the house tonight as well. Metal Militia! As a friend later observed, I was doing the same thing tonight as I was doing exactly 28 years (!) ago: Seeing a concert. Hope I die before I get old.

If you bought one of every Grinderman merch item you would have paid around $250. For such an artistic and intellectual guy, Nick has always had THE WORST tour shirt designs; this tour was no exception. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. Man, I'm ready to ditch alot of the Metal bands that I've been listening to and going to see lately. They just bore the shit out of me... We'll see how this plays out.

Click HERE to see Photo Ray's shots from the night!

Grind Her Man

The newbies can click HERE for Umlaut's earlier Music Geek rant in anticipation of these shows and click HERE for Umlaut's Fanboy rant about Nick Cave. Despite the anti-scalping measures put into place, tickets were still going for up to $150 each on Craigslist for these sold out shows.

Grinderman
Great American Music Hall, San Franfuckincisco
July 26, 2007


Of course, an event of this magnitude brought the Umlaut Nation out in force.. Night #1: A shout out to Timo, Dema, Todd, Ted, The Sheriff, Raymond, Bob, Ref and I also ran into someone who I hadn't seen in years (Hey Kathy H.). Rock Star sightings: Henry Rollins, the singer from AFI, the singer from Death Angel.

The anticipated Will Call-only ticket clusterfuck didn't happen; kudos to the club's staff. I must say that it was a good looking, intelligent, and well-groomed audience in the GAMH. This was the type of show where people weren't looking around at "who" was there; all eyes were focused on the stage in anticipation of the band. It's the way a gig should be: About the MUSIC.

I dare you to find better song lyrics this year than Grinderman's 'Honey Bee (Let's Fly To Mars)':

"Mad mullahs and dirty bombs,
Alert the Coastal Command,
Ack Ack positions everyone,
She's my honey bee... and here she comes.."

Just when I had gotten jaded about following Nick Cave, he creates something that blows my mind all over again. Grinderman are like The Birthday Party revisited and seeing Cave front a band armed with a guitar was... an epiphany. It was weird seeing Cave tuning a guitar onstage in between songs like a common musician, dyaknowwhatimean? It was infectious seeing Cave obviously having fun and laughing onstage; the dude has lived a life and he's still here.. Thank Dog.

The entire Grinderman album was played, albeit not in order.. which was cool. As expected, the songs were even more mind melting and incredible in person. Every song was, like, woah.. Warren Ellis and his latest Mountain Man look is kind of frightening... and I gained a completely new appreciation for the rhythm section of Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos watching them play in Grinderman's stripped down lineup compared to the Bad Seeds. I've always thought that if I could be in any band it would be the Bad Seeds (either them or Iron Maiden).

The encores consisted of low-fi versions of Bad Seeds songs... Fucking... Epic... 'Red Right Hand', 'Deanna', 'The Weeping Song' (with surprise guest Blixa Bargeld providing his trademark vocals), 'The Ship Song', and 'Jack The Ripper'. 'The Ship Song' took on an Alt-Country feel with Cave on Stratocaster and the version was a revelation to me. WOW... For the Music Geeks: I'm pretty sure it's been 4 years since Blixa and Nick last shared the stage. Cool. Very cool.

Bad day at work beer count = 1. If you bought one of every Grinderman merch item you would have paid nothing, 'cause they weren't selling anything. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags.

Grinderman
Slim's, San Franfuckincisco
July 27, 2007


Of course, an event of this magnitude brought the Umlaut Nation out in force.. Night #2: A shout out to Timo, R.J, The Sheriff, Ted, Ray, Teri, Joey, Brian, Ruth, Raymond and I also saw people who I hadn't seen in years (Hey Frank and Andrea).

The anticipated Will Call-only ticket clusterfuck didn't happen; kudos to the Slim's staff. Once again, every song from the Grinderman album were played to mindblowing effect... However, most of the crowd tonight didn't seem to have even heard the Grinderman album... Aside from the fans down front, the response from the rest of the house was rather lackluster most of the time.. Posers in the house.. Although, maybe it was because Slim's was its usual sweatbox self... Either way, WEIRD because I thought the band performed better (if that was possible) than the previous night.. AND this was probably the final time the United States will ever see Grinderman perform.. A 4-show U.S. Tour and 2 of the shows were in San Franfuckincisco?? I still can't believe it.


Once again the encores were fucking epic low-fi versions of Bad Seeds songs... 'Henry Lee', 'Red Right Hand', 'Lucy' (!), 'The Weeping Song' (sans Blixa this time), 'The Ship Song', and 'Tupelo' (!!)... After a break when some of the crowd headed for the exit, the band returned for a rollicking version of 'Deanna' featuring Henry Rollins and Jello Biafra onstage providing backup singing. WOW.. Cool. Very cool.

As I've whined in this space previously, Umlaut's 2007 has been dominated by some profound jaggedness... Bad things have happened. Stupid things have happened. Things have happened.. and just when I thought things were smoothing out I was blindsided by the type of week that just transpired. There's no need to go into details, but sometimes a paycheck can take a pound of your flesh and suck some of your soul.

During the encores, Cave responded to an audience member's request by saying "We can't leave San Francisco without playing 'Tupelo'??.... Actually, we'd have to leave San Francisco if we played 'Tupelo'..".. and then the band launched into what might have been the most profound version of the song I've ever heard. All of the jaggedness from the past 48 hours was crystallized in the lyrics and the fury of the song; the healing power of music tried to work its magic on me. I'm not sure if it worked, but it helped. "The Beast it cometh, Tupelo bound..."

On the other hand, this show also featured the magic of the Rock Godz as we were able to help a new friend who we'd met in front of the Great American the previous night get into sold out Slim's (Hey John). Long story short, his tale involved having missed every opportunity he's had to see Nick Cave dating back to 1994, him leaving L.A. on Interstate 5 earlier in the day to finally see Cave, him having a tire blow out on I-5, him arriving in S.F. late and missing the Great American show, and then our chance meeting on the sidewalk. The Rock Godz work in mysterious ways. Dude, stay in touch!

Bad day at work beer count = 3. Grinderman shirts = 1 (mine). People who asked where I got it = 4. As with the previous night, if you bought one of every Grinderman merch item you would have gone home with a full wallet 'cause there was none. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags.

Losing myself in the Grinderman / Nick Cave live experience made me forget life's day-to-day bullshit and made me happy to be alive. What do I love about music? To begin with: everything... These were my 22nd and 23rd gigs so far this year; I'm more a Music Junkie than a Music Geek... Twisted and evil.

"He'll rekindle all those dreams it took you a lifetime to destroy..."

Click HERE to see Janey Moffat's great Grinderman - Slim's Flickr set!

This Week In Music Geek

It's gonna be quite a week here in San Francisco, with the mighty Grinderman playing two WAY sold out shows here! In what might have been the coolest 5 minutes of television ever (at least here in the 21st Century), Grinderman made their U.S. television debut on the Late Show with David Letterman last night.


They performed a ripping version 'Honey Bee (Let's Fly To Mars)' with Warren Ellis on guitar sporting his 21st Century mountain man look! After the song crashed to its conclusion I could hear the studio audience collectively say to themselves "What the fuck was that??" even as they politely clapped.

Although Letterman lost his edge years ago, I gotta give him credit for still booking some great musical acts. For the Music Geeks: Nick Cave made his U.S. television debut on Letterman back in 1998.

It's a good week for Umlaut to be alive (knock on wood)! See y'all at the shows... and in another Music Geek moment:

(From the Mark D. Archives)

A 1978 promotional jigsaw puzzle for UFO's Obsession album! How cool is that?? Discuss amongst yourselves.. and THANKS to Mark D. for sharing from his Music Geek Vault.

No Pussy Blues

Umlaut's e-mails, cell phone messages, and conversations with many Music Geek friends for the past 2 weeks has been dominated by this subject: Just when we all thought he had finally given up on touring the States, my songwriting hero Nick Cave and his magnificent side project Grinderman are actually doing a brief U.S. Tour in July... and 1/2 of the shows are in San Franfuckingcisco!! The Rock Godz work in mysterious ways.

• 07-24 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden (supporting White Stripes)
• 07-25 Chicago, IL – Metro
• 07-26 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
• 07-27 San Francisco, CA – Slim's

These are Cave's first Stateside shows of any kind in 4 years... and he's never played venues this small in San Francisco. Due to the significance of these gigs, the GAMH / Slim's posted the following statement:

The electrifying and much-ballyhooed Grinderman, the new quartet comprising Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn P. Casey and Jim Sclavunos, has unexpectedly announced 2 SF appearances! (ALSO AT GAMH ON THUR. JULY 26.) These dates are guaranteed to be unforgettable brushes with the primal forces of rock as steered by one of the most iconic figures working in music today. The odds against Grinderman appearing on these shores in 2007 were very long indeed and no guess can be offered as to when another opportunity may present itself.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING TICKETING INFO... TICKETS ARE ON SALE SAT. JUNE 16 AT 10AM. THEY ARE ONLY BEING SOLD ONLINE THROUGH TICKETS.COM & WWWW.VIRTUOUS.COM

1) There is a two-ticket limit. 2) No hard tickets will be issued at the time of sale. 3) All ticket purchasers will have to present photo ID and the credit card used for purchase at will-call on the night of the show. 4) All purchasers must enter the venue immediately upon receipt of their tickets from the will-call window.

These policies have been put in place to restrict both scalper access and motivation so that we get the most tickets into actual fans’ hands at the reasonable price set. We hope that everyone will forgive the minor inconveniences associated with them in light of the greater good.

As expected, the show at the historic Great American sold out in less than a day. I'll see y'all at both shows! Who's buying me a drink? Discuss amongst yourselves.

I can't think of a better antithesis to the 40th Anniversary of The Summer of Love than Grinderman in San Francisco!! Fuck... that... Hippie Shit!