Badr Vogu, Negative Standards, DHC, and Arrastrados

The Blogspot program is being a chump about some of my photos so I'm just going to go with what I have. This show was another killer one at the Swamp. I freely admit that the proximity to my house of this venue endears it to me but they have been bringing some really rad bands there lately. I believe this was an all locals show with Badr Vogu, Negative Standards, DHC, and Arrastrados.

I don't think that this was their first show but Arrastrados are a brand new crust band from the North Bay. They have two female singers who trade off screams, one a bit prettier and the other totally gnarly. The PA was fucked up so when the gnarly screams singer was singing, she was totally blasting out the sound and it sounded incredible.

DHC played next and they were a lot of fun. The Swamp is a pretty enclosed space so Eric really got up in the crowd's face. This really is a solid band and despite the name, they keep it together. With a name like Drunken Hardcore you don't really expect much out of them.

Negative Standards are always quality. Here's an elusive photo where you can see both Wills' faces in the same shot.

Badr Vogu closed things up. They have really been playing a lot and the set is getting pretty tight. You can tell that they are a touring band now. They are getting a little theatrical with lots of feedback and adding more samples. It keeps getting better.

No Statik, DHC, Face the Rail, the Deadbeats, Side Effects

It has been way too long since I updated and there are a lot of shows I've been to that I'm going to have to give the rush job to. Like this one: No Statik, DHC, Face the Rail, Side Effects, and the Deadbeats. I'm pretty sure this happened on Feb. 5th and was a birthday show for the rad lady who runs the Swamp whose name is probably something like Allie. There's no pictures for this one because I had the pleasure of getting a ride and was partying at my house pre-show and forgot the damn camera. This was a really rad show out at Burnt Ramen, which I don't think I'd been to for almost a year.

I don't remember Side Effects at all, I probably didn't like them and hung out in the back. Face the Rail gets better each time I see them. They keep getting more garage and less hardcore as they feel out their sound more. It was my first time seeing DHC and they were a lot better than I expected. Fast '80s style hardcore with lyrics about drinking. The members of this band are people I've seen around and, for the most part, wrote them off as punk rock fuckups who were more into partying than music. I was wrong, somehow these dudes pull it all together into a pretty good band. And yeah they party. Immediately after the set, Eric the singer jumped off stage, ran to the bathroom, and threw up about 7 times.

No Statik are always awesome. I probably gush enough about them as it is but this show was fun because there was enough space in the room for people to escape Ruby when she started crashing into people. You could see the apprehension on people's faces as they shuffled backward when she charged across the floor at them, trying to look like they weren't running away and losing any punk points.

The Deadbeats finished out the night but the car I was riding in left early so I didn't see much of them. They played throwback rock 'n' roll and some kids got a little dancey. I had come to see a punk show so they were a little strange for the bill and I wasn't stoked on them but they seemed pretty good. I'll have to give them a second chance when I haven't been watching a bunch of hardcore bands.

Sorrower, Badr Vogu, Negative Standards, Burial Tide, Hellbeard

This show happened at Victory Warehouse in Oakland on Jan. 29. There were some bad bands. Like Hellbeard, they sucked. If a new metal band tried to play stoner noise it would sound like this.

Second up was Negative Standards. I see them a lot lately but they're always good. And Will is always good for a pissed off looking picture:

The Burial Tide features Greg from Thousandswilldie on drums and is a really boring ambient stoner band that sounds like there is too much bad emo being listened to by someone in the group. They have a keyboard player who plays facing away from the audience. I want to stab him in the back of the skull. I just want to see Greg's next great fastcore band or an awesome metal band. I know he's more than capable of that shit.



Sorrower from Arizona played next and they were pretty competent scumbag death metal. It wasn't fucking great but it was solid. If I hadn't hated two of the three previous bands then I would have liked them more. They had some fat dudes in the band so that's cool.

Badr Vogu played last. They are good still. I was pretty wrecked by the end of their set, probably from the secondhand pot smoke. Yeah, that's it.

Vaccuum, Occult Blood, Pig Heart Transplant, Ivens

This show happened Jan. 28 at the Five Points Art House in SF which is the cool new all ages basement in the Shitty that actually has good bands regularly. Two of the bands on this bill were cult underground heroes from Australia and one was a supergroup side project so the cred was in abundance for how small the show was.

The first band was the Ivens from Australia. It was a two piece hip hop noise thing that was kind of cool when I first started watching them but they got progressively less interesting because they pretty much did the same thing the entire set which was growling atonal rapping over simple beats and amp fuzz. Great band for a comp but not a whole LP.



Occult Blood played second and shared members with the Ivens. They played weird and crazy powerviolence with a saxaphone. It was rad and reminded me of Colored Rice Men a bit.

Pig Heart Translplant is a side project of Jon from Iron Lung. He told me about the band like a year ago and I finally got to check them out live. While they set up I noticed that on drums was Greg Wilkinson from Laudanum and Brainoil, all of a sudden people were twice as stoked on the band and they hadn't even played yet. This band is punishing. Slow in a grinding way and noisy. Word on the street is that they call it industrial music but that sure as fuck left any Coal Chamber song I heard in the '90s in the dust.


Last up was Vaccuum and they killed it as usual. I hadn't seen them in a basement before, they went off. Beards, fists, and hair were flying.

Surrender and Arctic Flowers

I don't know if I'm built to be a regular blogger, I'm so far behind it's embarrassing. This show happened a month ago on Jan. 26 at the Hazmat in Oakland. It was a peace punk show so I didn't really care much about the bands other than Surrender who play the whole noisy peace punk pretty singing/angry shouting thing really well. I would have loved this band so much when I was 19. Now I'm old and crusty and hate everything so I primarily went to the show to meet up with friends and say hi to Surrender folks. There was a band that opened but they were so great that I forgot their name and don't care.

The headlining band was Arctic Flowers from Portland. They do a less interesting and poppier version of what Surrender does. They aren't as good but competent. The best part of their set was right at the end when some douchebag moshed into a girl and knocked her over and she jumped up and belted him in the face a few times.


There were a lot of hot girls at this show. I need to go to more shows like that.

PLF,Flagitious Idiosynchrosy in the Dilapidation (FID), Bastard Noise, Capitalist Casualties, Despise You, Population Reduction

The second day (Jan. 22) of the Short, Fast, and Loud fest was even more brutal than the first. I got in for free on Yosef's plus one so no waiting in line for me. There were a bunch of taco and nacho fixings in the stoar and I ate a lot of rad tacos waiting for bands to start.


The first band up was Population Reduction. They were just kind of OK rather than fucking awesome like all the other bands on the bill that night. They did have a cool moment when Dave from PLF and Athena from Voetsek got on stage and they did a Terrorizer cover.


PLF is the best grind band in the world, that's just the way it is. They were my favorite act of the entire fest.


I never really dug Despise You that much, other than the awesome name, but this show they were on some next level shit. The last few times seemed like they hadn't played together in a long time and it wasn't on the way it was this time. The woman that they usually trot out late in the show to awkwardly do vocals on a few songs was fully in the band and going nuts with rad call and response parts. The whole band seemed way more energized and down to be playing and being on stage together. This picture pretty much captured their set, there was a lot of stagediving.


Capitalist Casualties are more of an iconic band than one that I actually like a lot. I have a few of their records on my ipod and I like the music but they just aren't one of my favorite powerviolence bands despite being a very influential force in that scene. They were better than I've ever seen them at this show. Bands generally seemed really stoked to be playing this fest and bands that I'm not super stoked on blew me away. The place was totally packed when they played and the closest I felt like getting was hanging out in the sound booth, hence the photo.


I made sure to come inside early for FID because I wanted to get up close to check them out. This was the first time they had been to California from Japan and I've been stoked on their music and the video of the set they played the first time they came to North America. Usually when you see a band with a bunch of cute girls in it, you don't really expect much out of them musically because that's kind of a gimmicky way to make a band more popular. FID just fucking tears. I don't like them because of their bone-ability, they just plain are a kickass band. There were a few hip fucks in the crowd that would shout out how adorable they were. Those people were moshed into, hard.


Closing the night was Bastard Noise which was about as different as you could get from the other bands that played while still being in the realm of a powerviolence band. They are more of a slow and noisy band with blistering fast parts. A woman that I see around and always forget what band she is in runs a bunch of sound processors to make crazy ambient noise. I hear that the box and the equipment she uses is the old Man is the Bastard rig, and so is the bass player. He seems like a pretty nutty dude. He kept yelling at Will the sound guy about the feedback his amps were making and insisting that the sound was coming over the p.a. At the end of the set he turned down his master volume before switching off and it went away. He looked kind of sheepish, but still a bit crazy. By the time they finished about half the crowd had left. I looked around and the room was nothing but the older weirdos who were really into this kind of music. All the kids and hipsters had left the building. I wish every show was like that.

Brutal Truth, Iron Lung, Plutocracy, Lack of Interest: Short, Fast, and Loud fest

I've fallen super behind. Too much partying. This show was on Jan. 21 and was the first night of the Short, Fast, and Loud 'zine's 10 year anniversary fest at Gilman. Those fucking people know how to put on a show. Almost every active fastcore band that would pack the house played this thing. Both shows were the highest grossing shows at Gilman ever, which makes it the biggest weekend Gilman has ever had. The line was long.

The first band was DHC which I literally got in the door only to see the part where they said, "we're DHC, goodnight." They sounded pretty good from outside. I'm doing a metal band with the singer and I'd imagine that any band he's in would be pretty decent since he has rad taste in music.



The second band up was Iron Lung which is lame because they are one of the biggest drawing bands on the bill. They killed it as usual, it was not an issue at all to see them two nights in a row and not being stoked. They even played the same set, but they are all really good songs.

After Iron Lung, Voetsek played. I was stoked on them when they were a thrash punk band 10 years ago. They got caught up in the stupid thrash metal revival in the punk scene and now they pretty much suck. I don't even like to watch them play. In fact I went across the street to the Pyramid Brewery where Brutal Truth and members of Capitalist Casualties and PLF among others were drinking. It was the fucking cred party at the bar. I was not the coolest person in the room.

I had never seen Plutocracy but I have smoked weed with one of the dudes who plays guitar. They had a lot of sound issues with their sampler and gave my friend Will the sound guy a lot of shit about it. They were rad Best Coast powerviolence with a lot of vato tendencies. I support this.


I've seen Lack of Interst a couple of times but I always get them confused with Despise You, who played the next night. It seems like when one of these bands plays up here, the other comes along and they have some common characteristics. Lack of Interest is better in my opinion. Brutal and fast LA powerviolence and a great show.

After Lack of Interest's set I ran into Stinkweed from Plutocracy and we reconnected on our bro-down a couple weeks before at the Hatred Surge show. He invited me to smoke weed with him and I got tore up.


Brutal Truth closed the show. They played for a long time and by the end I was ready to go. I was so messed up I had a hard time seeing the band in focus and there were so many people there I couldn't get up to the front. Hence the picture of the backs of people's heads and the Gilman heater. They are a good band but not everything they ever wrote needs to be played in one sitting, especially the family song that they closed the set with. It sucked. I can mark that legendary band off my list of acts to see but it would have been nice if the sound was working right.

I had to leave my car there and get a ride home with Chuck.

Iron Lung, No Statik, Acephalix, Merdoso

This was the Prank Records showcase of some of the label's local bands at Balazo on Thursday, January 19. It was also kind of the unofficial kickoff party for the Short, Fast, and Loud anniversary fest at Gilman the next two days.

The first band up was Merdoso who played such a short set that I didn't get a picture of them. They were a solid D-beat band that I'm going to be seeing again in the future.


No Statik killed. My favorite local band. They should really be at the point of being a headlining band at a show this size but they consistently open shows or play second. That's cool but I'm going to a show where they are on the bill because of them at this point.


Acephalix was a weird choice of band for this bill because they are such a metal band now that some of the crusto kids don't like them. They play fast so at least it wasn't like they interrupted the flow of the night too bad. They were rad as usual. Dan is really getting to be a fan of running into me when they play. I told him that one of these days I'm going to headbutt him and he seemed stoked on the idea.



Iron Lung are rather amazing live. I've seen them enough times now that I've got their current set pretty much down and kind of want them to play some of the other songs, they have enough.

Neurosis, Saviours, US Christmas

No pictures this time because it was at Great American Music Hall but with this post I will be caught up with the blog (I'm a bad blogger). The show went down on Sunday, Jan. 16 and Neurosis fucking killed it.

I got hooked up with a free ticket from a friend of a friend who had bought an extra one for each night and got canceled on. US Christmas was playing when I got there and I thought they were all right at first but they steadily broke me down. It was very ambient stony doomish music that sounded like a hippie version of Neurosis without any of the aggression. They had a violin player and a dude dressed in some East Indian cultist outfit and face tattoos playing tambourine. I just couldn't hang and went outside where half the people I know in the Bay Area punk scene were hanging out.

Next up was Saviours who I've seen about five times too many. They aren't terrible but they always kind of impressed me as hipsters who saw Metalocalypse and decided to start a death metal band. It's just pretty generic and vapid and they are always opening for an awesome band that they should be ashamed to darken a stage before. Once again, outside was where the party was at. Some guy walked by and said "hey what's up Jason" to me because I was standing next to Jason Stormcrow's girlfriend and he's a fat dude with dreads and a beard too. We had a good laugh about it.

I had never seen Neurosis before and to tell you the truth I'm not very familiar with their catalog, although I've always been stoked to hear them come on the stereo at a party. I was standing next to a Redding friend when they took the stage and the guitar player came out looking exactly like our friend Curt from Redding who has played in a bunch of bands. Our chuckling was cut short as Neurosis proceeded to blow our minds. They played for about two hours which is just a little too long for my fat ass to stand in one place but it was sufficiently incredible that I didn't mind much. They went off, the playing was excellent, the projected film behind them was disturbingly trippy, and the intensity made me want to punch somebody. I am converted.

Hammerlock, The Shankers, Shivaree

This one's a twofer. I went to the East Bay Rats party on Saturday, Jan. 15 and ran into some Chico kids, some of who I used to play with, who were headed to a show down the street at Copland where some of them were playing. The Rats show was some shitty Pyrate Punx related bands so I ended up heading down to Copland after doing some flyering and watching some of Hammerlock's set. Hammerlock play weak "metal" that sounds like it's influenced by classic rock. They do have a cute bass player though. Here she is:



Not the douchebag with the hipster mustache in the foreground, the hot chick in the back. I swear, you can't just snap a picture of a pretty lady and leave to hang out with your friends without some dipshit walking into the frame.

Down at Copland the Chico bands were shunted to the end of the bill so the lame hipster bands could play together. The other bands were terrible so I just hung out upstairs until the hipster element had cleared the building.



The Shankers are probably my favorite band in Chico despite being a rockabilly outfit. There isn't any of that punkabilly or psychobilly shit in their act. They play old school proto-rock 'n' roll and cover people like Jerry Jeff Walker. Johnny the guitar player used to play in a punk band with me and the guy is the best musician I've played with and a rad dude. I would want to play bass in this band if it wasn't for Kerra his girlfriend who plays better than me and looks better in a dress. The last couple years when I see them I've noticed that Kerra sings more songs than in the early days, which gives the band added depth. I was also stoked to see Christine back on drums after a few drummers had cycled through in the past couple years. She plays a stripped down kit standing up and it's cool to see live and adds a crashy simplified element that some of the dudes who have played in the band who play full kits lack. With this kind of band, less is more. Stoked to see them again.


Last was Shivaree which features another old friend who I used to play with on drums. Sean looks about as stoked on his band as I am in that picture right up there. It's a folk punk band more in the style of the Pogues than Defiance Ohio which doesn't really make it fun to watch but at least they picked good material to rip off. I'm just over folk punk in general unless it's Mischief Brew. The shit is played out and that scene is filled with douchbags and scumfucks. Sean argues that they aren't a folk punk band but there's a dude named Rat that sings and plays guitar and a fiddle player with dreads.

And the backpatch of the week award goes to this guy:

And yes the dude was of African descent.

Owen Hart, Blood Hunger

I've fallen behind again. This show was at Gilman on Friday, Jan. 14. I was originally going to another show to see Mata Mata, who I've never seen before, over Owen Hart who are one of my favorite bands but I've seen a few times already.

It was a little weird because the four or so bands that played the first part of the show were all crappy screamo shit that wasn't worth watching so I got there late and hung out with people outside the club who were there to see Owen Hart too. I guess it was a combo show to accommodate Owen Hart's wish to have a Gilman show to release their new record at. Bummer thing was that all the screamo fucks left and the crowd was small.


The other Tacoma band touring with Owen Hart was actually a pretty decent death metal group called Blood Hunger. They were a little goofy, as you can see the singer wore a wolf hood thing that didn't really make me like them any better. They had some competent jams and really it was just the singer who was ridiculous.



Owen Hart played stuff off of their new record and it was hella good. I kind of liked them more when they had two guitarists because they would play off of each other and it was one of those weird things about the band that made them more notable. They still kill and are less gimmicky and more straight ahead. I got the new record but haven't been able to listen to it all the way through yet because my turntable is being a fucking asshole. It keeps switching the speed from 33 to 45 randomly by itself. It might get the toss soon.

After the show I went to the other show I was originally going to but it was dying down into the afterparty. Talked to a bunch of people there and then some people headed over to another house to party some more. As we were leaving some teenage crusties beat up some jackass tagger kid in the street in front of the place.

When we got to Will's house the two Tacoma bands from the Gilman show were staying there. I got pretty messed up with the dudes in Blood Hunger because the goofball singer kept passing me his bottle of whiskey. I stumbled home around 4:30 and don't remember getting in.

Hatred Surge and Mammoth Grinder round 2, plus hipster shit

So this show happened a few days ago at Copland in Oakland. The show was Tuesday the 11th and I got super hammered and spent most of the night hanging out upstairs. I met a dude who might be down to play drums in a metal project I'm trying to put together. I also saw Andreas who used to be in Vitamin Piss and we talked for a bit about how he's living in Sweden now. That's fucking cool.

It was a weird show with a bunch of really bad hipster bands trying to play fastcore or black metal since those are the new hip flavors in music so I didn't even bother with names of bands after immediately realizing that they sucked. Hatread Surge and Mammoth Grinder were fucking awesome again.


I couldn't get a picture of this dude where he isn't making a funny face. He spends lots of time headbanging. Also, the drummer for Mammoth Grinder has like 1% fat and when he plays all his veins stand out and he looks all buff and crazy.


The crusties in the crowd went pretty nuts for both bands, especially Hatred Surge. You can't quite see that shit is going off the hook here but notice that the dude in front of me is getting hit in the back of the head with the headstock of a bass.

This girl that I see at shows and sometimes talk to stood next to me during Hatred Surge and was aggressively dancing. I don't know her name and I don't know where I met her but barring that I think that we might get to the hanging out together level sometime if I can stop myself from being a weirdo long enough. Probably not going to happen.

Hatred Surge, Mammoth Grinder, Pink Nightmare, Torture Unit

God, I've been to the fucking Balazo three nights in a row. I need to get away from that place. I worked the door at this show so at times my attention wasn't focused on the bands and I had to deal with that asshole security dude they have there. He kept giving me shit about ins and outs when people would leave to get money to buy merch or drinks at the show.


The first band was Torture Unit which apparently has some well known people from other bands in it but I was busy taking money at the door most of the set. It was good fast hardcore punk. I'm down to see them again.


Pink Nightmare shares members with another band called Foreign Objects who are rumored to be awesome and were playing another show down the street and they didn't get there until right before they were supposed to play. They were kind of boring to watch but the band played decent riot grrrlish punk in the slower and snarling vein. The grrrl singing has a super deep voice and I thought it was a dude until I checked out up by the stage and saw a petite female belting it out.

I've wanted to name a band Pink Nightmare for years and perform in the pink bunny PJs from the "Christmas Story" movie. Of course a bunch of SF riot grrrls beat me to it.


Mammoth Grinder was more of a metal band than a grind band but they were pretty good. I was vaguely upset that their name misled me but they made up for it. During the end of their set, that dude Stinkweed who plays guitar and sings in Plutocracy drunkenly made friends with me and insisted we smoke weed in the back room. That didn't hurt Hatred Surge's set at all.


After switching out a drummer and adding a dedicated singer, Mammoth Grinder returned to the stage as Hatred Surge. Killer band, brutal grind assault. Enough said.



I brought a box of records to the show to give to Hatred Surge from Martin at Lengua Armada and Martin hooked me up with the new Lengua Armada stuff most of which is already sold out. I got it on limited colored vinyl too bitches. High points are the new Vaccuum 7' and the Totsugeki Sensya 7'. Fucking stoked.

Nomos, The Men, Skin Like Iron, Face the Rail, Lie Still

Another night at Balazo/Submission. I'm going back there tonight to see Hatred Surge and Mammoth Grinder. Been taking way too many trips to the city.


Lie Still is a brand new band featuring Pete who has been in a bunch of metal and hardcore projects like Benumbed and Agenda of Swine. They played powerviolence with lots of stops and slowdowns and look like they could turn out pretty good. I think they would be better if I was playing bass for them.


Face the Rail comes out of that whole ex-Warkrime scene that I'm split down the middle on. This particular band was pretty fucking good, very garage rockish with a midtempo hardcore sensibility. Definitely worth seeing.

Next up was Skin Like Iron. I don't like them and their weirdo hardcore trying to incorporate bad elements of thrash metal. And they have a dude from Ceremony in the band which usually counts as a strike against in my book. I had a way better time trying to hash out a crusty metal project with a friend out in the back patio than watching that shit.


There have been a lot of New York bands coming through in a burst now that there isn't a blizzard canceling all tours. The Men are from Brooklyn and played a very catchy type of aggressive pop punk. That's not really what they sounded like. I kept thinking I heard a Dead Moon influence in there with some noisy garage style guitars, lots of effects and solos, and a driving style that builds up and dies down multiple times in each song. I really liked them and almost bought a 7' but they were $7 and the line was long so I said fuck it.


I had heard good things about Nomos and they delivered despite an initial prejudice against them when the pudgy singer immediately took his shirt off and started punching the stage. Yeah we've all seen Fucked Up and I can do without that gimmick again. By the end of the first song they had won me over however. They played good, aggressive East Coast hardcore with lots of fist pumping parts and moshy breakdowns.


The Nomos pit was wild and the singer spent most of the set in the crowd crashing into dudes. I like.

Comadre, Punch, Vaccine, Negative Standards

Last night's jams were at Balazo/Submission and were the second night in a row for me to see Vaccine and Punch. Both were worth it.


The first band up was Negative Standards. I'm friends with all these dudes so I may be biased but I like them quite a bit. The music is a heavy, crusty hardcore with parts that are almost ambient and a lot of samples. When they play live they have TVs that play a bunch of violent psychedelic images behind them. The whole thing is right up my alley. Here is their demo for download:

2010 cassette



For the second night in a row Vaccine was awesome. Fast and furious in a way that Vin Diesel couldn't comprehend. The Balazo is a bit more intimate than Gilman so there were a lot more kids packed up front and the vocalist took the opportunity to go apeshit in the crowd for a bit. This band is really fucking good live. That reminds me that I've got two of their 7's that I haven't listened to yet. Putting them on now.




Punch was also pretty rad but Meghan sat down on a stool on the corner of the stage the whole show because she had gotten a screw taken out of her foot and couldn't stand for long periods of time. I broke my ankle on tour once upon a time and sympathize with her completely with the injury. There are plenty of bands who just wouldn't play the show if their singer was injured. The mosh kids were wild during the Punch set. I couldn't get close enough for a decent picture.



Comadre finished up the show and I was stoked to see them after so long. It's been at least a year, maybe closer to two. They are basically a screamo band but with a lot of great hardcore influences and they are pretty good at the whole caring-so-much-I'm-pissed thing. And I'm a sucker for those parts of songs where the band doesn't play but just screams the lyrics together. Yeah.

The show was over before 11 p.m. that was fucking awesome.

Punch, Vaccine, No Statik, Loma Prieta

Still trying to catch up with posting. This show happened Friday, Jan. 7 at Gilman. I hadn't been to Gilman in almost two months, there are barely ever shows there anymore that interest me.

I got there late and missed Secret People. I found out later that Matt from Right On! is in that band so I'm checking them out later this month when they play in Oakland.



No Statik is the best hardcore band going in the Bay Area right now. By extension they are one of the best bands in hardcore, probably my favorite band that is playing shows right now. Every show I stand in awe of how much energy Michelle the singer has. And the rest of the band is constantly thrashing around with huge beards and long dreads flying.



Vaccine had a tough act to follow but killed it as well. When I think Boston straight edge this is not what I envision. Vaccine plays great straight ahead and aggressive hardcore with lots of '80s influence and none of that chug chug tough guy shit that I think of when I think Boston.



I found out what the young kids were there for when Loma Prieta started playing. The band features Val and the new bass player from Punch so I stayed for a song to check it out. It's a screamo band with some aggressive youth crew thrown in. I went and had a beer across the street.



Punch finished up the night and were pretty great as usual. I really think that this band sounded better a year or two ago when they had more of a powerviolence thing going on but they are still a rad hardcore band. Meghan the singer is still in a walking cast from breaking her ankle on their European tour a few months ago so she wasn't in her usual form and Dan Africa has apparently quit the band. I didn't really like the two guitar sound live anyway but Dan was a pretty cool part of the band. I liked him on bass a lot better than the dude they have playing now. I'm probably just jealous that it's not me playing with them.



I finally had some money at a show and spent it on rad hardcore accessories. I'm stoked No Statik had a shirt big enough to fit my fat ass.

Cervix, Acephalix, Bruxers, Neurotoxicity, and Shitty Fucker

I've been out doing too much shit the last few days and haven't been keeping up. This show happened on Thursday, Jan. 6.

I intentionally got to the show a little late because they never start on time at Hazmat and the opening bands were shitpiles that I had already seen. Little did I know that the lineup had been reorganized and I got there right as Shitty Fucker played their last song. They sounded like pretty decent crusty fastcore and I'll check them out in full in the future.


The second band up was Bruxers from San Jose. Nobody knew shit about them at the show and they surprised the crowd with some competent death metal. They weren't super exciting to watch and I pretty much instinctively distrust the suburban shaved head metal look that the singer was sporting but the jams were right on. The talk at the show was that they are pretty young and new so they might grow into something pretty fucking good in the future.


If you haven't seen Acephalix then do yourself a favor. They are a bunch of huge dudes going wild and playing a blend of D-beat crust mixed with black and death metal. They have been one of my favorite bands to see in the Bay Area for a few years now and as their music gets more into the realm of brutal metal, it seems like more people are into them and respond aggressively in the pit.

The next band was Neurotoxicity, which is a dumb as fuck name for a band and they are about as good as their name. Greg from Thousandswilldie plays drums for them and that is the only saving grace. The guitars sound like punks with little aptitude are trying to play black metal and failing, which is pretty much what it is. I spent this set outside the building. I've seen the band before and when they play they all look like they would rather be somewhere else, probably sitting with me outside the building.


The last band of the night was Cervix from New York. They are a crusty metal band. I didn't find them very interesting other than the petite female guitarist that fucking wailed. The cutesy-crusty female singer striking poses thing kind of seemed like a gimmick but the guitarist was on some shit.