Corrosion of Conformity 10/25/1994

Many folks in metal know Corrosion of Conformity.  They started with punk and have pretty much reinvented their sound with each consecutive album.

I had moved away from some friends and came back for a weekend visit.  I picked up my friend from work and he poked his head out the back door and  yelled something that I couldn’t hear.  He then said it again: “Wanna go see COC play a bar in Chicago?!”.  The answer was yes.  We split and bought tickets at a local record store and then headed north.

Chicago was a  2 1/2 hour drive for us.  The show was at the Double Door which is a small bar.  We arrived and had a great parking spot right near the front.

I got into CoC via the thrash heavy album Blind.  The album Deliverance  had just been released and the first time I heard it, I almost threw it out the window.  After thinking I was going to get Blind type tunes, I was pissed.  My mind was open enough yet.  They played some of the songs that night and it made me appreciate the album a lot more.  I don’t remember many of the songs, but I do remember “Vote With a Bullet” and “Broken Man” being played.  It was in such a small place and extremely loud.  If you’re in Chicago and get a chance to visit, you should.

They ended their set, got some pizza, and went upstairs to eat.  My friend offered to get high with Mike Dean who said yes but after they had eaten.  We didn’t have time to wait since we had to drive back so we took off.

CoC recently released a self-titled that is excellent and seems to encompass their whole career.  Pick it up!

Stone Temple Pilots w/ Meat Puppets 8/16/1994

Fresh off the Milwaukee Metalfest and 3 days of non-stop metal, it was time to tone it down a bit.  I loved Stone Temple Pilots (STP).  I still like their first two albums quite a bit.  If you ignore the time period and all that came with it (grunge, flannel, etc.), they actually wrote some great songs.

This show was at the Illinois State Fair.  Typically any state fair has garbage for musical entertainment.  I’m not sure how other states are, but IL usually had a couple ‘country’ acts, an act from the 80′s, and then some other stuff no one really cares about.  The fact that STP was playing the state fair was a big deal.  I remember a co-worker of mine at T.G.I. Fridays called in sick the day tickets went on sale.  Word got around to our boss (only a few years older than us) and he called the guy and said if he got him a ticket, all was well.  If not, he had no job.  We were only cooks so it wasn’t that big of a deal, but needless to say, they got tickets.

The show sold out quickly and I figured I wouldn’t get in.  Some of my friends and I lined up and I was two people away from getting the last of the tickets that were released that day.  However, there were some handicap seats available that no one bought.  The ticket office called someone who called someone and asked if they could be sold.  About 10 minutes later, I was in line and bought 8 tickets and they were sold out after a couple more folks behind me bought tickets.

The event was held at the grandstand which meant folks on the race track had to stand and the rest of us were in seats.

I wasn’t familiar with the Meat Puppets.  They had a song called “Backwater” on MTV and I believe were a Nirvana influence.  That was about all I knew of them.  They put on a good show and warmed up the crowd.  When STP came out, it was quite insane.  There was a chain link fence separating those of us in the grandstand from the track.  I wanted to get up closer with some friends so we walked down about halfway through the set and found a hole in the fence.  I looked around, saw no one, and off we went to get up to about the third ‘row’ of the show.  It was a lot of fun and when they sand the song “Plush”, the crowd sang it louder than the band.  “Sex Type Thing” was the last song and they immediately left.  Rumor has it the guys hated each other by this point and rock and roll got the best of them.

The Internet never ceases to amaze me.  I went to look up what songs were played and actually found the setlist:

STP setlist at the IL State Fair

Milwaukee Metalfest 8/6/1994

Metal fests.  They seem to be a dime a dozen these days.  Maryland Deathfest, Dudefest, Chaos in Tejas, and the list goes on and on.  It seems every time I turn around I read an announcement of another fest involving metal bands.  Twenty-0ne year old me loves the idea.  Thirty-eight year old me thinks it’s too much and the ‘market’ is being saturated with sub par fests which either don’t work out as planned, or only have a few good bands.

The Milwaukee Metalfest was always in the summer.  They started having these fest in 1986 or so.  It started small and was primarily death metal.  It was an exciting time for metal and the fact that this was one of the only fests in the country at the time and was only 3 hours from me blew my mind.  I was into metal (obviously), but the underground metal scene was completely new to me.  This was my first Milwaukee Metalfest and would change my view of music forever.

My main reason for going was this would be Slayer’s first live performance in 3 years (if memory serves me correctly).  Rumor was they were going to play a new song or two (to be released on Divine Intervention).  I was more than ready for this show.

This fest was two days.  The first day started at 5PM and ended well into the early morning.  The next day started at 11AM and went all the way to about 1AM the next day.  My friend and I drove up and secured a hotel room first.  Then we made our way to the venue.  There were booths set up everywhere, bands walking around giving away free cassettes, and it was just a cool vibe.  I believe there was a free door prize too wherein you received fliers and free stuff from various labels.  I think this was a year that sparked all the controversy around the promoter Jack Koschick.  One of the freebies was a sampler for a white power label.  I didn’t know it at the time and didn’t pay much attention.  I think the label was Resistance Records but I could be mistaken.  There were boards up with the bands and set times, but it rarely followed the timeline.  The Eagles Ballroom has a huge ballroom upstairs and a smaller stage downstairs.  The bands overlapped all day so you had to climb stairs to watch bands and then go back down and try to coordinate it with the bands you really wanted to see.  A fucking nightmare to say the least.

I was blown away by the amount of cool people at the festival.  It was a time before the Internet and there really wasn’t a ‘scene’ so to speak.  Everyone was there for the same reason and we all got along.

Keep in mind this was about 18 years ago and my memory is a little blurry.  I will post a list of bands below (taken from the program).  Also, not all these bands played.  Some didn’t make it (wonder if it was Josh’s tricks with saying a band would be there and they weren’t booked).  Josh was known to charge bands $1,000 to play the fest (which usually amounted to 20 minutes of stage time).  They were given tickets to sell in exchange to recoup the cost.

I was a HUGE Nuclear Assault fan.  They didn’t play and I was bummed.  However, Morbid Angel played and Biohazard were hanging out a day early.  Rumor is they started shit with David Vincent (Morbid Angel who was playing next) because of some racist remark.  There was a delay and then MA came out and killed it.  I was not a big fan, but after that show, I was an instant fan.  Trey put a fan in front of his speakers to create a unique sound, his solo was insane and it was mind-bending to say the least.

The moment that really threw me for a loop was Anal Cunt’s set earlier in the day.

I had never heard a note of Anal Cunt.  I thought they had a cool name and thought I’d check them out.  I heard someone mention Seth Putnam was at the keg drinking free beer the whole day (you can see their set time above).  I didn’t know who he was but figured he was in Anal Cunt.  They played on the smaller stage and things were somewhat quiet at the time.  AC took the stage and they no bass player.  What the fuck?  A band with no bass?  I got closer to check it out.  What happened after that was about 25 minutes of noise and violence.  I was floored.  What the fuck was I witnessing?  Unhappy with the crowd response, Seth grabbed a chair and threw it at the crowd.  He then did a stage dive and tackled someone to the ground (all while yelling into the mic).  They were done playing and left the stage.  I know many folks don’t care for the funny titles of AC songs and the comments Seth has made over the years (he passed away in 2011), but they changed my life.  My whole view of the underground hit me and I had to dig more.  I went to every booth and grabbed anything free I could find (I still have most of what I grabbed that day including early issues of Pit Magazine, early Relapse stuff, etc.

I wasn’t a huge Motorhead fan and were exhausted so we headed back to the hotel.  The next day I woke up and had all kinds of stuff to go through.  I was like a kid in a candy store.

We headed back for the festivities of the day starting at 11AM.  Fucking early.  I don’t remember seeing Only Living Witness or Acid Bath (stupid me), Murphy’s Law was great as was Skrew.  Internal Bleeding (slam pioneers) really got things moving on the smaller stage.  Overkill were good.  I think Cannibal Corpse canceled, and then there was Slayer.

The whole place was buzzing about Slayer playing.  As we were waiting to go upstairs, Tom Araya walked right by me.  We headed up stairs and waited for the show.  If you’ve seen Slayer, you know what to expect and they did not disappoint that night.  We heard two new songs and for me, this is where things got weird and it’s like a story out of horror movie.

Slayer wrote a song about Jeffrey Dahmer called “213″ named after his apartment number.  Many of his killings were done in the 3 block radius from the Eagles Ballroom.  In fact, one of killings was at a hotel across the street.  So Tom did a little intro to the song about Dahmer.  Creepy enough.  The show was great and we headed home the next morning.

I was on vacation that week and when I got home, I took my girlfriend to St. Louis to hang out.  Keep in mind this was a day after I saw Slayer.  We get to a hotel outside St. Louis and checked in.  It was a cheap place, but I had blown a lot of money the previous few days.  We check in and get ready to leave the hotel room and when I shut the door, I just happened to take a long, hard look at the door.  We had been given room 213.  True story.

Anthrax w/ Fight 4/30/1994

I am not entirely certain the year was 1994.  This may have been 1995.  The picture above is a flier that the Riviera Theatre always had available at shows to let you know what was coming .  I was a big Anthrax fan and had just discovered Fight (featuring Rob Halford of Judas Priest on vocals).

I went to the show with a friend of mine named Tim.  He was a big guy with long hair and glasses and was extremely cool and down to Earth.  We were actually more excited about seeing Fight since we both had already seen Anthrax.  Also, Anthrax now had John Bush which was different to us having known Anthrax with Joey Belladonna.  I prefer the Belladonna vocals.  I know many folks disagree.  I think it just depends on how you first heard Anthrax.  If you grew up in the Bush era, I can see how folks would prefer that vocal style.

Those unfamiliar with Fight should probably go track it down.  Imagine Rob Halford fronting Anthrax.  That’s the best way I can describe Fight’s music.  He had a lot of young musicians around him and they put on a killer show.  It was one song after another.  Halford had on the leather and spikes and seemed to really enjoy himself.

Anthrax always puts on a good show.  I can’t recall ever leaving an Anthrax show and being disappointed.  They played all the ‘hits’; “Caught in a Mosh”, “Only”, “A.I.R.”, “N.F.L.”, “Indians”, etc.  The best was this was my first time seeing Anthrax in a small venue.  I have always preferred a smaller venue to a larger venue.  It’s more intimate and much louder.  I find myself almost ‘bored’ at larger arena shows.

If you go to the Rob Halford link I posted above, you can get everything done by Fight including a DVD for $10.  It’s a great deal and their album War of Words still holds up today.

Pantera w/ Crowbar 4/20/1994

I’m around 38 years old right now.  If you’re close to me in this age, you remember by this time in 94, Metallica were HUGE.  The band that swore they’d never make a video made 5 or so for the ‘black album’.  We felt betrayed and misguided by the band.  You could walk into any mall and find a Metallica t-shirt being worn by some douche nozzle who, at one time, made fun of you for wearing it.

Enter Pantera.  I wasn’t familiar with Cowboys From Hell at all.  A stoner friend of mine used to have folks over to watch Headbanger’s Ball and he said I had to check out this band Pantera.  The video was for the song “Mouth for War”.  The first time I heard it I almost cried tears of joy.  FINALLY someone was putting the balls back into metal!!!  I immediately went out and picked up Vulgar Display of Power.  The production on it was so crisp and those grooves and riffs were infectious.  I played the CD non-stop for over a month.  Goodbye Metallica.  Hello Pantera.

By the time this show came around, they had released Far Beyond Driven.  To this day, I think it’s their finest moment and one of the greatest releases in metal.  Anyone around during this time remember the excitement and anxiety that filled the air when Pantera played live.  It was usually very loud and very violent.

We drove up to Chicago to the show at the famous Aragon Ballroom.  It’s basically a floor with a balcony on 3 sides (no balcony on the stage side).  My friends and I met up with others and we were ready.  Crowbar played and I wasn’t familiar with them at the time (stupid me).  They were slow and plodding and that just wasn’t my thing back then.  I was impressed by their live show however and the crowed loved ‘em.

Next up was Pantera.  I was on the floor about halfway back.  My friends and I had no ‘meet up spot’ should we become separated.  The lights went out and I became very nervous.  This was the first show where I was in a ‘pit’.  Just so happens this pit was a floor of about 3,000 people.  I don’t remember what song they opened with, but I do remember the whole floor turned into a mass of flying bodies.  Song after song punished our ears.  My arms were sore from holding them up to protect my body from fans bouncing off of me.  It was quite an experience.  The whole crowd knew the words and it was quite a moment to be in.  Here I was, a kid not really sure where I was going in life, surrounded by 4,000 others who felt this same way.  This is metal, and this is why it draws so many fans to this day.

I remember them playing “Becoming” which is still a favorite of mine and the whole crowd yelled the part in the chorus “BECOMING!!!”  It was an experience I will never forget.

I eventually found my friends.  They were worried I had become ‘floor pizza’ because they had been waiting at the car.  Turns out I got lost and forget what street I had parked on.  The ride home was quite interesting as well.

The friends we met up there said they knew of a party going on off of I-57 on the way back home.  We were game.  We all followed each other like a metal convoy.  We all told stories of the shows highlights, our favorite songs, where everyone stood, etc.  There was a truck with a few guys leading the way, a car with 4 guys in, and then me with 4 guys.  It was around 1 in the morning and out of nowhere, a deer ran across the interstate.  We were about 100 yard back, but saw it.  The truck missed the deer as the deer went to the median.  My good friends in the car in front of me weren’t so lucky.  The deer came back across the interstate and my friends car plowed into the deer.  We slowed down and approached as there was smoke and car parts all over the highway.

My friend was pulled over and the car wouldn’t drive anymore.  The front quarter panel was smashed and the engine was smoking.  There were beer cans and various other substances in the car.  They all proceeded to throw things out to avoid the cops, the only option was to pile 4 more in my car.  My car at the time was a Honda Civic.  It seats 4 or even 5 comfortably.  Not 8.  I folded down the backseat so two guys could lay down partially in the trunk, 3 guys sat on the seats in the back, and we fit 3 guys up front.  I was driving and sober which was a plus.  It was a tight fit we were starting to have limbs go numb.  We had a total of about 1 1/2 hours to go.  We though we were home free.  My friend only pay a few hundred bucks for the car, so he was going to leave it there.  It was about 2 in the morning and not many cars were on the road.  Some headlights approached very slowly and someone said, “Cop”.  I was pretty sure we were toast.  Eight guys in a Honda Civic meant only 2 of we wearing safety belts.  The cop slowly passed me and went on by.  The Honda Civic must’ve made him feel we weren’t trouble makers.  Whatever happened, I’m quite thankful.

I dropped some folks off and we stretched out and I made it to my buddies house around 4 am.  I was exhausted and had to sleep on a small couch, but I didn’t care.  I had just seen one of the best metal shows to date, and I was thirsty for more.  Next up was Rob Halford’s Fight!

Year-end goodness

I know everyone is putting out Top-whatever lists of 2011.  Flourishing, Imbroglio, and Tiger Flowers have been given some love.  I will try to post all those links here.  We will also have our own Top-whatever list of 2011.  We not only put out music, but enjoy listening to it as well.

Flourishing:
Invisible Oranges
Crustcake (Chase Macabre)
Crustcake (Andrew Wilhelm)
MetalReviews
No Clean Singing
Alternative Matter
Forever Cursed
The Grind That Annoys

Tiger Flowers:
MetalSucks (Koala Bear Wingerschmidt)

The Derailers MM/DD/YYYY (date unknown)

During this time of my life, I had moved to Springfield, IL around 1993 or so.  I met a guy who was into country.  He was more into the old country which I grew up on which I thought was odd at the time.  I was trying to have an open mind and didn’t think real country music existed.  This guy told me The Derailers were ‘the real deal so we headed to Urbana, IL to check them out at The Canopy Club.

The Canopy Club is an old movie theater that has turned into a bar/venue for shows.  When I was a kid, I saw The Karate Kid there.  Very surreal to go to shows at this place.  Every summers there’s the Central Illinois Metalfest.  Very strange to see Gravehill play a place where you were once a little boy enjoying a movie

They had all the seats ripped out and replaced them with some couches and an area to stand.  We took a couch and took in the show.

The Heater Sons opened and I honestly don’t remember them at all.  I believe they were a local band.

The Derailers came out and had on sequined suits and tore up the stage.  They had some synchronized moves and just killed it.  I was hooked and back into REAL country music I went.  It’s always refreshing when you open up your mind and something sticks to it.  The Derailers did it to me that night.

They’re still around playing shows and have a pretty big following.  On one of their CD’s they have a hidden track which is a cover of “Raspberry Barret” by Prince.  Track it down.

Def Leppard 12/6/1992

FFFFFFFoolin'!

Given the time that I grew up, you all had to know plenty of cock rock was going to be here.  Admittedly, I was dating a girl who really liked Def Leppard, but I was somewhat of a fan myself.  I believe this was right around the time Hysteria came out and they became HUGE and I of course started to hate them

All I remember of this show is there were no openers, lots of lights and lasers, and Joe Elliott had a cold so they didn’t sing “Photograph” and I was PISSED!  I love the song and kept thinking the next one would be  it, but no such luck!

For those that somehow don’t know who these guys are, you can click on their Wikipedia link and learn all about them!  I always gave them a pass, but when their drummer lost an arm and they switched to electronic drums, things changed.

They put out some great songs over the years.  Most of the those great songs were on their first 3 releases which were On Through the Night, High ‘n’ Dry, and Pyromania.

Just Kids by Patti Smith

 

Just Kids

I’m not much of a book reader.  It usually takes me a LONG time to get through a book when I make the decision to actually purchase one and read.  Just Kids was hard to put down.  Many in the music world know Patti Smith.  This is a book that chronicles her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe.  The ups and downs are told with great detail and the reader feels like part of their lives.  Tragedy and triumph are all part of a great story and best told in a true story.  If you’re an artist/musician/writer, I suggest picking this one up.

Amazon

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