(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.

Punk Rock Archeology

I was watching some live footage of bands like the Bad Brains and Black Flag on YouTube today when it occurred to me that some shows I had actually been at might be on the internet somewhere. I started doing searches on ABC No Rio, CBGBs, and other clubs I used to go to in NYC in the late 80s and early 90s. I discovered a bunch of clips from the False Prophets, one of my favorite local bands in that era, and it looked like the band itself had put them up. I was particularly excited to discover that they had clips from the Rock Against Racism show at the Central Park bandshell on May 1, 1988. I was a sophomore in college at the time and remember that show well. The False Prophets and Nausea were the punk bands on the bill on both put on great sets. I started watching the footage and it really brought me back. Then I noticed something: me! Yes, you can see young Chris at age 19 down in front. So follow this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN4hJyYP-Mw

If you go to the 7:15 mark you will see someone wearing a black trenchcoat with a big white cross in a circle* on the back. That's me. If you then go back to the 5:45 mark and watch for that jacket, you'll see me pogo across the screen and back as the band kicks into "Marat/Sade". Then go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKsa0AeBlYE

At the 1:46 mark the camera pans by me as I'm turning and you can see my face. So young and dour.

I also discovered a clip of Sham 69 playing at CBGBs in 1988 and I also attended this show, though I'm not in the footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbC12RuzAuo

The clip has the band playing "Borstal Breakout," one of their classic sing-a-long anthems. This was one of the high points of a show that overall quite disappointing. You'll note the presence of a keyboardist and saxophonist on stage. On this tour they were showcasing a "new sound", which was some weak-ass pop bullshit.Let's just say the kids were united in not wanting to hear that out of Sham 69.

* I painted that trenchcoat with the symbol of Social Unrest, a California band that I was really into at the time. Social Unrest was, as I'm sure you'll be shocked to find out, a lefty political band. Wearing that symbol almost got me beaten up by black skinheads once though. I was coming out of a diner on 6th Ave at like 3 in the morning when a group of black skins confronted me and asked me if I was a Nazi. I was boggled by the question and said hell no. They asserted that the Social Unrest symbol looked like the cross of Odin, which the Nazi skins had adopted as one of their signs. I explained the Social Unrest connection and they grudgingly accepted that answer. White paint = bad idea.

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!

Still D.O.A.

In 1985 I went to an "Unpatriotic 4th of July" festival on the Boston Common. This was the year I really into punk rock and I saw some formative shows (like Black Flag) that summer. A bunch of bands played that day but two stood out for me. First, the Dicks, led by the mighty Gary Floyd, a self-proclaimed "fat faggot from Texas." I had never heard them before that day but I instantly became a fan and I still love their stuff. The headlining band was D.O.A. from Vancouver, BC. They had been around for six years at that point and they put on a ferocious show. I enjoyed those performances so much that I went to see the Dicks and D.O.A. again a few days later when they played at the Channel.

I didn't think too far in the future in those days, so it certainly never occurred to me that 24 years later I'd be going to another D.O.A. show, but indeed that is where I found myself this past Friday. The band is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a tour and they came down to play El Corazon with Ch3 and the Cute Lepers. The last 10 years have seen a lot of old bands get back together but what makes D.O.A a rarity is that they have been recording and touring the past three decades. There have been many lineup changes, of course, but Joey Shithead is apparently unstoppable. He's pushing 50 and he was still up there tearing it up like it was 1985.

The show was a blast, with D.O.A. playing a great selection of material from across their career. As the show went on, I found myself wanting to hear "Fucked-up Ronnie" (about Reagan, natch, so rather dated). Later in the show when Joey asked what folks wanted to hear, there was a chorus of "Fucked-up Ronnie!" He smiled and said, "He's retired, or hadn't you heard?" Then during the encore they broke into "Deep in the Heart of Texas" and I wondered what was up. Then Joey sang, "...the village idiot has gone home," and they did "Fucked-up Ronnie" as "Fucked-up Bush." A perfect way to celebrate the end of 8 years of bullshit that makes the Reagan Era look tame by comparison. Now Reagan's dead and Bush is disgraced, but D.O.A. is still rocking out. At least some things are right in the world.

Summoning Cthulhu One More Time

If you are in the Seattle area this weekend and you missed seeing the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets at PAX last month, you have another chance to see the masters of Cthulhupunk. On Saturday night the Thickets are playing at the Funhouse, a punk club on 5th Avenue located right near the Space Needle. Toren and Warren will be thrilled to discover that the Funhouse is also about a block from the Scifi Museum/EMP, so they can gaze upon Kirk's command chair if time permits. Also on the bill is Seattle's own Bloodhag, a metal band that sings about scifi and fantasy authors to promote literacy (no really). I don't know for sure, but I'd bet they are gamers too.

Show starts at 9:30. Shoggoths away!

Cool Stuff, Part 1: Finland

I brought home some cool stuff from my travels. I'll do the GenCon swag later, but for now it's Finland. This doesn't count the Finnish booze that Nicole bought.

Bilekuosi: This is a card game whose name translates to Dope Fiend. In the game you get to both deal and take drugs, while playing cards like "Crackwhore" and my favorite, "Damn fucking hippies." Something tells me the American market is not ready for Dope Fiend.

Dragonbane, the Legacy: Dragonbane was an ambitious LARP that took place in Sweden in 2006. Over 300 players trekked out to a fantasy village purpose built for the event. Oh yeah, there was also a fire breathing dragon! This book is a document and post mortem of the LARP, analyzing its successes and failures. Timo Multamäki, the executive producer, was also a volunteer and Ropecon and he gave me a copy of the book as we were leaving the afterparty. It is quite an interesting read, and it comes with a DVD of resources and pictures as well.

Finland at War, Defensive Battles of Summer 1944: I'm hoping I can play this DVD on an American machine. It's a documentary about the battles in 1944 that preserved Finland's independence. The country could have met the same fate as the Baltic States, but the defensive victories of that summer convinced Stalin to make a separate peace with Finland instead.

Isältä Pojalle, Suomipunk 1978-2001: This is a 60 song CD retrospective of Finnish punk rock. Ville, one of the many great folks at Ropecon, gave this to me after learning that I was an old punk. I had found a couple of CDs on a brief trip to a record store to score a metal record that Schwalb wanted, but I really appreciated getting this, so thanks, Ville.

Lama CD: Lama was a key Helsinki punk band from '77 to '82 and this is a CD of their one and only album. If you like bands like the Partisans and Anti-Pasti, you will dig it.

Playground Worlds, Creating and Evaluating Experiences of Role-Playing Games: There's a convention for Nordic roleplayers that happens each year in a different member country. The most recent one, Solmukohta, was in Finland and this is a book of essays that came out of that event. I met Markus Montola, one of the editors, at Ropecon and he gave me a copy of the book. It's an interesting collection of essays divided into three sections: Journalism & Community, Art & Design, and Research & Theory. Like the con the book focuses on LARPs but there is some tabletop RPG stuff as well. Timo wants us to come to the next one, which is in Oslo in February. I would love to go, but money and vacation time probably prohibit it.

Ratsia, 1979-1981: A retrospective of another old Finnish punk band. I don't know much about them but I thought I'd give the CD a shot. They remind a bit of the Undertones, which is not a bad thing in my book.

Roolipelaaja, Issues 15 and 16: I was interviewed for this Finnish RPG magazine and editor Juhana gave me two sample copies. It looks great, with crisp layout and excellent photographs. The text is all Finnish though, so I can't speak to the content. I can tell Fred that Spirit of the Century gets a 5 star review though.

Star Wreck Collection: I was on a panel with Mike Pohjola and he was nice enough to give me a full set of Star Wreck goodies: movie DVD, soundtrack, and the RPG he designed. Star Wreck is a Finnish scifi parody that basically posits what would happen if the Star Trek and Babylon 5 universes clashed. Several years ago Nicole got me a Star Wreck t-shirt for Xmas and I said, "What the hell is Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning?" Now I am well informed!

System Danmarc: In 2005 there was a three day live action roleplaying game in Copenhagen that took place in a shanty town built out of 40 shipping containers. Peter Andreasen, one of the other guests at Ropecon, was an organizer for this event and he gave me this documentary DVD of the event. It's got interviews with participants, footage from the game, and thousands of photos.

The Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna: Katri recommended this novel to me and I'm glad she did. Väinö Linna was a soldier in a Finnish machinegun company in WWII and he based the Unknown Soldier on his experiences. It is not a happy story, but Linna really captures the feel of soldiers at war.

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.

Having a Punk Rock Day

I'm feeling a bit like crap today but I must soldier on. I'm going to do something I haven't done since I lived in NYC: go to two punk shows back to back. Several months ago I noticed that the Street Dogs and the Tossers were playing together and I made plans to go. The new Street Dogs album is really good, and I've wanted to see the Tossers again for a long time. They were through here maybe a year and a half ago and that was first exposure to them. I enjoyed that show quite a bit and since then I've picked up four of their albums and they've become a favorite. They too have an excellent new record, "Agony," so there was no chance I'd miss this show.

Then just a couple of weeks ago my old band mate Amanda told me that Christ on Parade, a political punk band from San Fran that I really liked, had started doing gigs again. I had introduced Amanda to Christ on Parade in the early 90s and our band used to cover their "Landlord Song." In one of those odd twists of fate, Amanda ended up not only moving to San Francisco, but also working with Noah, one of the members of Christ on Parade. I was glad she tipped me off because I went to their MySpace page and discovered they were playing Seattle. At fist I was bummed because I already had a ticket to the other show. Then I realized that the Christ on Parade show was at 4 at the Funhouse and the Street Dogs/Tossers show was at 7 at El Corazon. The clubs are fairly close and I can get between them easily by bus. In short the stars are right for a punk rock day.