(Not) Very Metal

I read a review today of a movie called Until the Light Takes Us. It's a documentary about black metal. I did some internet searches to find out more about it and so ran across a British documentary called Murder Music: A History of Black Metal. I ended up watching most of it on YouTube and it was interesting. It occurred to me midway through that I've watched several documentaries about the history of heavy metal. I've enjoyed them in an academic sense but here's the funny bit: I hate heavy metal.

I mean, sure, I dabbled a bit when I was a teenager. I used to like Iron Maiden and some bands who are sometimes (incorrectly, in my opinion) lumped into metal, like Blue Oyster Cult and Rush. Come on, BOC had a song about Elric, I had to check that out. There is that place where fantasy fiction, gaming, and metal meet and I could have gone there, but no. I would look at albums by bands like Cirith Ungol and Celtic Frost in the record store, but they were not for me.

My dislike of metal has two components: attitude and music. Regarding the former, I hated the machismo, the misogyny, and the idiots these things attracted. Nor did the music itself have any appeal. The endless songs, the wanky guitar solos, the high-pitched shrieking--not my thing. Kind of ironic when you consider I went through a brief progressive rock phase when I was 13 and 14 but that thankfully passed.

Then I found punk rock and it was exactly what I needed. It was angry, rebellious, and high-velocity. It was a music that spoke to my alienation and it was made by misfits like me. And as far as I was concerned, punk and metal were like oil and water. When punk bands starting "crossing over," I was appalled. I liked the FUs but not the Straw Dogs, dug early DRI but loathed their later material (in fact, I sold my copy of the first DRI album, which is worth a mint now). I laughed when the metal guys discovered thrash. Slayer? Anthrax? Fuck that shit. A pale imitation of the great hardcore bands of the early 80s (but too long and with the aforementioned wanky guitar solos). Hell, even stuff like Corrosion of Conformity and Amebix was too metal for me.

These days I'm not quite as dogmatic. I think that's why I can watch these documentaries. And I can even appreciate some aspects of sub-genres like black metal. One could argue that it's just a different form of rebel music, albeit one tied to nonsense like Satanism. But the worst part of these documentaries for me? Yep, still the music. When the interviews stop and the music swells, I check out until someone starts talking again. You bang your head; I'll flex mine.

Kate Rocks Out

A couple of years ago Nicole and I took Kate to see a documentary called Girls Rock. It's about the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls, which started in Portland in 2001. Kate loved it and was totally inspired. She wanted to go but didn't have much experience with music at the time. Through the video game Rock Band, however, we discovered that she had a talent for drumming. Nicole took her down to the Seattle Drum School in Georgetown and signed her up for some lessons. Last year she did a day camp there but it was mostly boys and there were less than ten kids. She did really well and her teachers down there started tossing around the phrase "drum prodigy."

So last month Nicole and Kate spent a week in Portland so Kate could go to Rock 'n' Camp for Girls. She had a great time. During the camp the girls form into bands, and each band writes and rehearses a song. They also take workshops on screen printing, zine making, self-defense and other useful arts. The week culminates with a big show, held this year the Bagdad Theater.

I worked during the week but on Friday night Ray and I drove down to Portland so we could see the show Saturday. Kate was nervous because she was going to be playing in front of 700 people. And indeed it was quite a scene. There were sixteen girls bands to play and another that was made up of older camp volunteers. The bands had great names like the Bionic Poodles and the Thunder Bats. Kate's band, Employees Only, was the last of the girls bands to play, and the other bands took over two hours to do their songs. Some of them were fun and energetic, others sort of fell apart onstage, but all of them had spirit and it was pretty awesome to see them rocking out at such a young age. My favorite of them was Vent, who did a song called, "It Came from the Vent."

Finally Employees Only hit the stage. It then became clear why they had the last slot. They were tighter than many of the other bands and the song was catchy and speedy. Kate fuckin' rocked the drums. She was really awesome and we were ridiculously proud of her. I remember thinking that Kate was clearly the best drummer of the girls bands, and then realizing this was a totally dad thing to assert. I stand behind it though; Kate has mad skills for a 13 year old.

After the show we took Kate out for a celebratory sushi dinner. She was jazzed by the whole experience and wants to go back with her friend Gloria next year. Big thumbs up to the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls. They are doing something truly cool there and tomorrow's music scene will be better for it.

The Clash by The Clash

Short Review
If you are a Clash fan, buy this book immediately.

Long Review
At the end of last year a new book about The Clash was released. It's a year by year history of the band and it's terrific for three reasons. First, most of the book is simply the band telling their own story. Many hours of interviews were recorded during the making of Don Letts' excellent documentary Westway to the World and these form the basis of the book. There are many entertaining anecdotes and I learned quite a bit about the band's history, the origins of the various songs, and the tensions that led to the breakup. We are fortunate the interviews took place before Joe Strummer's untimely passing. Second, it's packed with great photos and other interesting visual bits like pages from songbooks, Topper Headon's postcards, and record sleeves. Third, it lists all the dates of the various tours and recaps the set list on each one. It's cool to be able to see how the set list changed over time and the covers they chose to do. I think the bridging material could have used another edit, as there were a few errors that crept in. One tour had its final date in Turku, a city in Finland, and this is correctly listed in the tour schedule. The text, however, says the last show was in Turkey. That stuff is generally minor though and perhaps it'll be cleaned up in the softback edition that's due this year. Overall The Clash by The Clash is a essential document of one of the greatest punk bands of all time. No Elvis, Beatles, or the Rolling Stones in 1977!

Fun World

It's been a busy week here in Seattle and there's more to come. Last night Nicole and I caught Mission of Burma at Neumo's. Long time readers may remember that Burma is one of my favorite bands and I never miss a chance to see them (since for many years I thought I'd never have the chance). This time they were playing the entirety of their classic Vs. album in order and it was a treat. I remember buying Vs. from Rockit Records in MA when I was 16 years old. I remember my dad coming in my room one day and asking me what they were singing on "New Nails." I said, "The Roman Empire never died; just turned into the Catholic Church." This seemed to amuse him. Vs. was recently reissued on CD and I may need to replace my long suffering vinyl (there's been a skip on "Mica" since the day I got it). Last night they did it all, from "Secrets" to "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate." They rounded out the set with a half dozen other songs, including "This Is Not a Photograph" and the rare B-side "OK/No Way". Considering that I was in a shit mood in the afternoon, the show was most welcome and put a smile on my face.

Tonight I'm having dinner with former Ronin Rob Schwalb, who is town for some meetings at WotC. Then I'm off to see the HorrorPops, a psychobilly band I've been trying to see for years now. Well, tonight it is finally happening and I'm looking forward to it. From there it's right to the airport and then a redeye to NYC, where I'm spending the weekend. My college game group is having a reunion of sorts and we're getting together at my friend Bill's place to play RPGs, minis games, and boardgames for three days. I'll probably be a wreck as a I stumble around Manhattan tomorrow, but I did it this way so I won't waste all of Friday traveling. Nicole calls NYC my mistress and it's time for a booty call.

A Farewell to Kings

The first band I ever really got into was Rush. I was 12 or so and bought the album Moving Pictures. In one of my first bits of record collecting, I delved into their back catalog. As a kid already reading Lord of the Rings and playing AD&D, I was easily sold on songs like The Necromancer and By-Tor and the Snow Dog. My first rock concert was Rush on the Signals tour at the Worcester Centrum. They started to lose me with their more synth-oriented direction and a few years later I got into punk rock and that phase pretty much ended for me. Every once in a while I will bust out some old Rush stuff, but I haven't really kept up with them for ages.

I bring this up because my brother has been in touch with Donna Halper, the woman apparently credited with "discovering" Rush. She was telling him that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame won't even consider honoring Rush, which pretty much follows the way the rock establishment has treated them for 30+ years. Some friends of hers are trying to get Rush a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a way of drawing more attention to them so they might eventually get into the Hall of Fame. They are looking to get testimonials from fans about why Rush deserves a star. While there are few things less punk rock than the Walk of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I do find the idea of making the rock establishment recognize a band that has made a career of doing their own thing appealing. I know there are some Rush fans amongst my readeers (I'm looking at you, Wick). If you want to help out, send a testimonial to Kevin Purdy at kevin.d.purdy@boeing.com.

"Square for battle. Let the fray begin!"

Horror Business

Man, this year is just flying by. How can June be approaching already? How can Ropecon and GenCon be right around the corner? How is it was like 50 degrees a couple of days ago and it's supposed to be 90 tomorrow? The hell.

Without really being conscious of it, I've been on a bit of a horror kick lately. It started musically, as I've been frequently listening to Danish psychobilly stalwarts the Nekromantix and the Horror Pops. I finally realized what it is about the Nekromantix I find endearing. It's that their over the top, B-movie lyrics really remind of classic Misfits. I've kicked off almost every day at work for the past week with "Gargoyles Over Copenhagen." The Horror Pops, who share a member with the Nekromantix, also should not be underestimated. "Walk Like a Zombie" is awesome. Their non-conformist anthem "MissFit" is also great. It's got a ska flavor, which is only fitting when they break into the tune from "Our House" by Madness but sing instead, "My fist--in the middle of your face!"

I also just finished reading the first volume of Fall of Cthulhu, a comic by Boom Studios. It takes your basic Lovecraft storyline and updates it to the modern era. Not groundbreaking by any means (which I guess is par for the course with Lovecraftiana), but enjoyable and has a couple of good twists. I've got Jenny Finn: Doom Messiah on deck. This is a new title from Mike "Hellboy" Mignola that takes place in Victorian London and is said to be "reminiscent of Lewis Carroll, H.P. Lovecraft, and Captain Ahab." Sounds good to me.

What Poor Gods We Do Make

You may recall me blogging about seeing Naked Raygun back in December. They were touring in support of a new DVD called "What Poor Gods We Do Make: the Story and Music Behind Naked Raygun." I picked up a copy at Easy Street Records on my Friday lunch break and had a chance to watch it today. Short review: a must for any NR fan.

Longer review. This is a two disc set. The main event is a documentary that chronicles rise, fall, and return of one of the great Chicago punk bands. There is very little archival footage of Naked Raygun but the film makes up for that in two ways. First, it features interviews with the band itself and other Chicago scenesters like Steve Albini (Big Black) and various members of the Effigies. Second, it has good footage from two 2006 reunion shows. These provide clips for the band doing many of their best songs. Back in the day, Raygun used to do a blistering cover of "Suspect Device" by Stiff Little Fingers. Jake Burns of SLF lives in Chicago now and he agreed to come out and sing it with Naked Raygun at one of the shows. That moment is captured here, along with a rough bit of rehersal footage. Overall, the documentary is well done, and features some fun stories and great music. The only real downside is that previous members, most notably long time guitarist John Haggerty, do not appear. I don't know if they were asked and refused or if the band itself preferred to focus on the current lineup.

The second disc is an audio CD. It has about 20 songs recorded at the 2006 shows. The percussion is a bit loud and the production isn't as good as the previous NR live album Free Shit, but as it's hard to complain about such a nice DVD extra. The whole thing cost all of $18, which is a bargain for a documentary and a CD full of music.

I've heard there is another documentary in the works called "You Weren't There", which covers the Chicago punk scene at large. It looks like it's going to cover bands like the Effigies, Strike Under, Articles of Faith, Big Black, Bhopal Stiffs, Pegboy, and more. If it's anything like "What Poor Gods We Do Make", I am very much looking forward to it.

Rocking the Igloo

I got out of work a bit early yesterday, which was nice. Downtown was such a madhouse though that it took me over two hours to get home on the bus, which wasn't as nice. I finally made it though and thought, "Damn, glad I'm not going out tonight."

So of course Nik and I went out. There was a show down at Studio 7 and it lured me back into the turkey day craziness. It would have been silly not to go see two bands I like, Brain Failure and Whole Wheat Bread, when they were playing a 10 minute drive from the house. I had seen both bands a couple of years back doing opening slots. Brain Failure was the first (and so far only) Chinese punk band I've seen, and since that previous show I had picked up one of their albums and enjoyed it. I liked Whole Wheat Bread at an earlier show too, but it was Nik who became the real fan and got two of their records.

The show was a good time except for one thing: the club was freezing. Inexplicably, Studio 7 kept its doors open for the entire show and yesterday was the coldest day of the winter so far. If anything shows are usually overheated, particularly once you pack in a bunch of dancing punks. I've left the Rat in Boston and CBGB in NYC sopping wet with sweat, but I've never exited a show chilled to the bone. I was stomping my feet trying to keep the circulation going and even the slamming didn't do much to warm the place up.

We got their in time to see the Diablotones, a local ska act that was entirely by the numbers. I joked with Nik that I was waiting for them to play a song called "Rude Boy Being Rude, Rudely". Brain Failure was up next and they rocked. The only disappointment was that they didn't play "Call the Police," my favorite song of theirs. Otherwise, they put in a great, high energy set and it seems their touring has paid off because they had a lot of fans at the show. I sometimes call them Beijing's answer to Operation Ivy but they actually didn't play much of their ska punk stuff last night. They were followed by Whole Wheat Bread, the only band of the night that entirely eschewed ska stylings. Most of their songs were straight ahead melodic hardcore, though this time they mixed it up with a couple of rap-punk numbers. While those poor Florida boys were no doubt freezing, they rocked the place and made Nik smile. We then stuck around for the first couple of songs of Big D and the Kids Table, but their white boy ska didn't impress and we were so cold we decided to skip the rest of their set.

So today I give thanks for punk rock. Stay free, ya'll.

Tiger Army Never Dies!

I worked on GR stuff all day Saturday and Sunday, and then treated myself to a show last night as a reward. Tiger Army and the Street Dogs were playing at Neumo’s and I could not resist. I first saw Tiger Army a few years ago on the Punks vs. Psychos tour and they were great. Their first record has since become one of my favorites of the last few years. I had not had a chance to see them since though, because they only came to town supporting Social Distortion and that show was too expensive for my tastes (I instead chose to treasure my memory of seeing Social D at the Channel in Boston in 1987). Neumo’s was doing an all ages show and they did something strange to allow for it. They cut the room in half with metal barricades. The all ages section was down in front, while the 21 and over section was in the back (where the stairway to the bar was). I spent the show with “the kids” so I could be closer to the stage.

The opening band was Said Radio and they were OK. They said they were on Fat Records and that seemed right, as they had that kind of sound. Next up was the Street Dogs. I had just seen them in August, so their presence on the bill was just icing on the Tiger Army cake. Or so I believed before the show anyway. Now the Street Dogs always put on a good show, but last night they killed. Do you know the best time to see a Boston band that really loves its hometown? The day the Red Sox win the World Series. They were pumped, and their energy got the crowd whipped up into a frenzy. When a giant circle pit erupted, what could I do but jump in? I wouldn’t exactly say that the Street Dogs showed up Tiger Army, but the headliners certainly had their work cut out for them when they took the stage. Luckily, Nik13 and crew also delivered a high energy set with a nice mix of songs from all their records. They did play “Nocturnal” (which ENnies attendees would recognize as GR’s signature song this year) or “Outlaw Heart”, but otherwise I have no complaints. By the time they played “Fuck the World” the crowd was once again going off. “Never Die” about brought the house down. Other than the barricades, this was a great show all around.

Leave the Poet at Home

Thursday night Nik and I went to see the Subhumans at El Corazon. It took four times seeing them but they finally played “Ex-Teenage Rebel”, the song for which this blog is named. Woot. It was another great show, with a good mix of songs from all their albums. That day that had just gotten in the first 300 copies of their new record, “Internal Riot.” This is their first proper new LP in 21 years. Naturally I picked it up at the show and it does indeed rock. Good songs and clever lyrics totally in the spirit of the band’s original output.

My one gripe about the Subhumans US tours is that they always have this “punk poet” with them. Now I’ve got nothing against poets per se, but this guy (Mark something or other) is a menace. I think he wants to be the next Attila the Stockbroker, but his poems are for shit. By the numbers punk politics delivered in by the number rhyming couplets. It’s like listening to someone recite the lyrics of early MDC songs. What’s that, you’ve never heard MDC? Well, here’s a sample song from their first record called “Church and State.”

Nationalism in school
Perpetrating their rule
Lying textbooks rant
Their patriotic slant
"Your country's great"
cry the church and state
"All that've died
Were on God's side"

President and pope
Your pride and hope
Families build
Christian ethic instilled
The biblical truth?
Faith not proof!
Wield a sword
Walk with the lord
Be a man
Protect your land
Hear your call
Martyrs all

Your life's lost
Nailed to a cross
Dead on foreign soil
For your God
(And their oil)

Now imagine 15 minutes of being beaten about the head by such “poetry” and you’ve got an idea of what sitting through his set is like. I will give him credit for performing through the abuse being heaped upon him by the audience, but please Subhmans, next time leave him at home.