Year End

(the) Melvins / Pins Of Light
Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
December 29, 2012 

Parking around the Great American can be a pain in the ass these days.  However, the evening got off to a nice start when I spotted a lone parking space just around the corner from the venue.  Unfortunately the space was on a one way alley and I was at the wrong end of it... but I seized the moment and drove the wrong way down the alley, flipped a y-turn, and got the space.  That's how you drive if you wanna survive in The Big City, motherfuckers..

This was best show to end Umlaut's 2012. At this point a Melvins show in San Francisco is as much a reunion as a concert for Umlaut. Old friends who I never see anymore always come out of the woodwork for the night and that old school vibe is always thick in the air for me. Tonight was no exception as I was able to catch up with several friends who I hadn't seen since the last Melvins show I attended.  Very good times and the show hadn't even started yet.

Pins Of Light have become one of my favorite local live bands this year. Their Punk stylings combined with a very subtle Classic Rock bedrock works perfectly with their blazingly charismatic onstage personality. It was cool seeing them win over a Melvins crowd that was unfamiliar with them... 45 minutes well spent.  It was equally cool seeing all of the Melvins guys watching at least some of their set from stage left as well.  Check. Them. Out.   

According to the Umlaut Archives this was at least my 36th Melvins show. There was a time between 1992-99 when I thought the Melvins were the greatest band, like, ever.  Fast forward to the 21st Century and I'm starting to think that way again here at the end of 2012.  At this point the Melvins basically do whatever the fuck they want, tour in whatever configuration (Melvins / Big Business combo or Melvins Lite) they fucking want, and release whatever the fuck they want.  The recent explosion of Melvins crazy cool vinyl releases via Amphetamine Reptile puts Jack White and Third Man Records to shame.  Anyway, right around 10:30pm I followed the Melvins up the backstage stairs to the stage:

Unlike the Melvins Lite tour earlier this year (which Umlaut unfortunately missed) tonight featured the now classic Melvins / Big Business lineup that has revived and renewed the band's juggernaut in a way I never would have thought possible. There was a time back in the 20th Century when the thought of the Melvins with TWO drummers seemed like a very bad joke... but this configuration still totally and completely works.

Tonight's set was a surgical 75 minutes that featured a nice slice across most of the Melvins world.  Seeing the old brain damage hammers 'Hag Me' and also 'Hung Bunny' / 'Roman Dog Bird' from Lysol (!) performed again was great but it's now awesome to witness the absolutely epic 'Civilized Worm' unfold onstage and watch the crowd unfold with it.  Epic.  Absolutely epic.  Also, the cadence call-and-response of 'The Water Glass' is now a performance wonder to behold as well.  "We are ready!"   At one point Buzz broke a string mid-song (during 'The Bit') and after his tech switched him out his wounded weapon lay next to me. 

It looks so peaceful laying there, right?  Shhhh...

The Great American was pretty much at capacity for the headliners and I could feel the heat from the collected humans from where I stood every now and then.  I watched the set from stage left and it was nice to see that the front rows were mainly younger fans who are probably not much different than I was 20 years ago as a Melvins fanatic.  It's hard to fathom that the Melvins will be celebrating their 30th Anniversary next year.  On the flip side, it's inspiring to see that their crowd isn't just old fart Music Geeks like me but rather a healthy mix of aging Music Geeks as well as the younger generations of Melvins aficionados.  "We are ready, ready, ready!"  As I told Buzz and Dale afterwards:  They're still awesome even after all this time... and I was not blowing smoke up their ass.  Melvins Rule O.K..

Rock Star sightings = Mike Patton.  The next time I see the Melvins won't be until next May at Maryland Deathfest 2013... or as Buzz called it "some Metal Fest".  Should be epic.  I completely spaced because of the socializing and didn't do a merch audit... but the Melvins were offering the limited edition red / white swirl 12" split with Redd Kross.  I thought was only going to be available at the New Year's Eve show the two were playing together in L.A..  Of course a copy went home with me.  The Geeks shall inherit the Earth.

On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag.  Oh, in the backstage hallway the Great American has a small tribute to the legendary epic Amebix show that the venue hosted in 2009!

 

Pretty cool, right?!  No gods, No masters.  Melvins. This was Umlaut's 47th and final gig of 2012..  It was a good year for me (dog bless) and this show was the perfect volume finale.  See y'all next year!

Jello Pudding

Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine / Black Cobra / Pins Of Light
Thee Parkside, San Francisco
March 18, 2012

It was a cold night in San Francisco. It had also been 23 days since I last walked into a building to see a band play live. To be honest I don't feel like I missed anything; it was a good break. I don't go to Thee Parkside very often these days, but it was the perfect venue to visit after watching the season finale of The Walking Dead before I left Casa de Umlaut. Soon after entering Thee Parkside I was reminded that it just might be my favorite local venue, especially since there were a good number of familiar faces in attendance.

Pins Of Light were GREAT! I had heard good things about Pins and their debut album comes out on Alternative Tentacles this week (!). I’m happy to report I have a new favorite local band. Pins are not one of those bands who simply hop onstage and play. When Pins took the stage their energy detonated like a Punk neutron bomb. Unfortunately, I don't know the band members names; I guess it is Punk Rock to only list your first names online and not say who is who in the band... Anyway, Pins is anchored by a solid drummer (who I was told is a recent new member) and their bassist vocalist who holds the shit down. This pillar of volume is framed by two excellent guitarists, one of whom bounced around the stage like the second coming of Rick Nielsen. A great live band with songs to back it up and you also knew it was a good set when the bassist vocalist was standing in a puddle of spilled beer for the last couple of songs. If anybody who knows Pins is reading this please shoot me a message and tell me who is who in the band. Thanks... and the Pins Of Light record release show is on the 30th of this month in S.F. over at The Hemlock. Awesome.

Black Cobra were just back from playing at South By Southwest 2012 and this was the last show before their upcoming European and U.S. Tours with Corrosion Of Conformity in April and June. In between that they'll be with Fu Manchu in Australia and New Zealand in May. In recent years Black Cobra have become classic Road Dogs and all of their hard work is really paying off; tonight was the best Black Cobra hometown set that I’ve seen yet.

If you're lucky, there comes a time when you’ve followed a band long enough that they move to another level with their talent. When that happens it's an epipany of the highest order... and that happened to me tonight with Black Cobra. I’ve seen most of the band’s San Francisco shows since their first one in 2006... and tonight I’m proud to say my boys Jason and Rafa moved to that next level in my head. The epiphany hit me as the monolithic groove of the song 'Chronomega' enveloped Thee Parkside. I looked around and the entire room seemed to be either banging their heads or participating in the pit action at the front. It was magical because I remember a time not too long ago when an audience would stand still with their arms crossed while Black Cobra played. It helps that Jason has fully embraced his inner Nugent and become the front man he was meant to be and that Rafa has developed into an unholy hybrid of Buddy Rich and Philthy Animal Taylor on drums. At one point I literally said "Holy fuck..." after a song because the performance was so brutalicious; Photo Ray can confirm this.

As the dust settled we walked out to the patio and I saw a tall guy with glasses coming towards me and I said out loud "Brian Posehn?".... and BRIAN POSEHN said "Hey, how's it going!", shook my hand, and kept walking inside. What the fuck was Brian Posehn doing at Thee Parkside?? Ohhh, I guess he had a comedy gig across town. It was cool that he ducked out to see a local show while in town, right?

Posehn

Anyway, after that very brief celebrity encounter, for some reason I was hungry and I ordered food from Thee Parkside's great kitchen on the patio. As I sat down at a bench with friends to quickly eat, Jello breezed past us wearing a goofy Victorian-era style long coat thing and left the building via the patio entrance. I predicted he was just going around to the front of the club to make his entrance for his set... and then not a minute later the music started inside. Jello is funny... and with that being said I watched 3 songs, Jello and the band sounded good, but I was tired and had to be up early for the Monday work day. I ducked out into the night, back to Casa de Umlaut, and was in bed by around midnight. I'm sure Jello and his band did a couple of Dead Kennedy's songs.. but that's alright.

If you bought one of every Black Cobra merch item you would have paid around $106. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. I know I've taken Jello for granted more times than I've appreciated him. Trivia: Evidently the basic ingredients of Jell-O are:

• gelatin
• water
• sugar
• artificial flavors
• artificial coloring