Ergs!, Hunchback @ 924 Gilman

So, waking up saturday, i got shamus riled out of bed (still drunk). got an oil change, and got shamus and we left for the famed 924 gilman st. venue in oakland, for a show i could have seen in new brunswick for the past 6 years but for some reason (i'm stupid), never did. drove through the san joaquin valley with no A/C, and it sucked. burned my arm even after looking at and almost taking the sunblock with me, saying "no, i woudlnt need that". got to 924 around 7 (left at 11).

ran into jay insult at some point, who was already in his "OHMNYGOD IM AT 924 GILMAN" stateofmind. he had some choice photo ops, especially my favorite, which was "Sweet children" written on a rafter.

Hunchback went on, again, were good. not as theatrical until the end what with rolling on the stage/floor, and balancing on a walker. The Ergs! were up next. they went on, a few kids were dancing, having a grand old time, kids were singing, also having a grand old time. seemed to play the same set. looked like they were having ablast. joe ranted about how he didnt want to tell everyone about 924 gilman and how cool it was to play there as all those people already knew, about as much as we wouldnt want to hear someone go to cbgb's and talk about how cool it was to play there. closed with hey jealousy, a request on my part, and everyone got excited. excellent set.

the next day, decided not to drive through the valley again with no A/C, but to take the mostly more coastal route, stopped at sound and fury for about 5 seconds, and then just kept going. i didnt take into account santa barbara traffic on a sunday night, and it sucked. later, we hopped on the pacific coast highway and ended up caught in more sunday beach traffic, but would have been nothing compared to taking the 101 into LA. got down into santa monica and took the dreaded i-10/405 combo all the way to the 5, and it was glorious, no traffic whatsoever on the 405 (STILL CANT BELIEVE IT) until the last 3 miles, and that was because of a john meier concert. fuck that guy.

Things learned:

I need A/C
I need brakes
Don't take the PCH on a sunday.

ergs!, hunchback, tiltwheel at the tower bar

vena cava, hunchback, tiltwheel, rich white males, the bugs, the ergs

So we went to the tower bar "late" we thought, actually well before the show was to start, so we came back at a better time. anyway, lots of people, lots of drunk, happy people. The Rich White Males were on, dressed as rabbits and possibly other furry animals. I didn't stick around, as the place is way too small to watch a band I only like a bit, but I'll still watch them at a bigger place. Vena cava played, then tiltwheel was supposed to go on, but we saw some people run to their car and come out with guitars and The Bugs jumped on the show. it was ok, but i was waiting for the other bands really.

So tiltwheel got on, played a pretty short set, but real fun. shamus kept patting davey on the head, it was a good time. Later, Hunchback set up, i'd never seen them before actually, so i was surprised at the theatrical show they put on, the keyboard/antenna man attacked the crowd, who then attacked him back....i thought it was all joking, but apparently not. still awesome though. Would watch again.

The Ergs! went on next. My first time seeing them actually knowing their songs (stupid, i know). Ripped through the set, playing almost every song i wanted to hear, actually. A mix of upstairs/downstairs and dorkrockcorkrod (probably what they always play). Everyone in the bar was having an absolute blast, singing, dancing, etc. Before they could play their last 2-3 songs, for some reason, the bar decided to kick everyone out (only 1:40am at this point).

Outside, the incredibly drunk Shamus was playing in the middle of the road, etc, and talked me into going to the show the next day. It went something like this:

s: doug, we should probably go to the show tomorrow at 924 gilman
d: hmmm....okay.
s: doug, we should go to the show otmorrow, i'll pay for gas.
d: ok
s: doug, we can we go to the show tomorrow?
d: ....Yes!

etc.

none more black and the ergs at the barbery, reviewed

bearface, the first band: i think they said it was their first show. music wasnt bad, but between every song they just talked to each other, the last song and the instrumental were real good though. seemed to drag a little

the ergs - played well, a bunch of kids into it, i enjoyed it.

none more black - opened with we dance on the ruins of this stupid stage.
closed with drop the pop.

also played :

nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy
under my feet
my wallpaper looks like paint
zing pong
opinions and assholes
i see london
who crosses statelines without a shirt?
d is for doorman
10 ton jigawatts
you suck but your peanut butter is ok
majestic
oh theres legwork
peace on mars
genuine malaise and misery
i'll buy you the fucking single
everyday balloons
dinners for suckers
banned from teen arts


played pretty well i thought. colin almost forcing them into getting 30 more minutes was crucial. a bunch of kids were there, it was really really crushed at the front, i couldnt handle it. shirtless moshers arent that cool, but at least they knew the words. i thought they should open with oh theres legwork but when they played it, the intro isnt really as distinctive, so i guess it made sense not to.


awesome show. talked to a cute girl about face to face playing in california and she said she recognized me from the cb's none more black show hanging off the speaker because she was right behind me. unfortunately im stupid and didnt talk to her more.

upcoming shows

likely shows to attend:

june 28 1916 I ave national city 6pm graveyard drifters, el hombre lobo, apathetic youth, la raza pura, modern aggression, reset status

mon june 30 san diego fair (del mar) wierd al (concert free with admission)

jul 11 8pm 6116 brooklyn ave infitada, abrade, liberate, the americans, abject

july 13 King's music (3592 Main St. Lemon Grove ) social sickness, X-Communicated, the Imposters, Gross Negligence and Boneless

jul 17 o'connells bar murphys law

jul 22 House of blues jesse lacey

7/23 The Maac ( 1385 3rd Ave., Chula Vista) Furious styles, kids like us, mongloids, life or death, wages of war

july 24 6116 brooklyn ave 8pm annihilation time, mother speed, SBV, broken patterns (ex tear it up), titanarum

july 25 the ergs, hunchback, vena cava

july 31 KIMBARA (530 calle 8 between avenidas pio pico and quintana Roo Zona Centro) spanish bombs, Shipwrek AD, Red Awakening, A Better Hope Foundation, MYPAQ

aug 7 canes agent orange

sep 19 soma Rancid

seasick, ANS @ brooklyn ave encanto

So I drove 10 minutes to Encanto, San Diego, also known as one of the most "hood" sections of san diego. Driving through on an earlier date, my roommate and I saw a drugpin getting taken down by the cops (during the day).

So i drove up to the house: 6116 Brooklyn Ave aka the brooklyn bazaare, aka the ninja lair. a few kids are there, just hanging around in the driveway drinking. a cop was 2 houses up and paid no mind to the gathering of white kids and hispanic kids in the hood.

Find out that while the show is at the house, the bands actually play on the back porch of the house, with the PA speakers pointing directly at the next house, across the driveway, a distance of 10 feet at most. you stand in the driveway and watch, pretty cool.

THe first band goes on, Clocked In. Not just a black flag reference, as they had their own song called clocked in (about work obviously). pretty good.

up next was a band i had been meaning to check out for a while named gross negligence... i went to get a bottle of water, and unfortunately due to my stubborness to not turn around and the lack of unsynchronized lights and terrible drivers AND ENDING UP GETTING CAUGHT IN STADIUM TRAFFIC AND DRIVING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE STREET i fucking ended up MISSING this band. but i digress...

up next was Mother Speed, pretty good band. kids circle pitting in the driveway (which was on a minor slope) , pretty cool. as if to test the will cops (who werent there) the singer repeatedly called for people to smoke pot in the next 5 minutes because "its probably better than whatever else you would be doing", and during a lull in the song runs into the house and comes out with a whitewalled bong, pretty amusing.

unfortunately, about half of the kids left after that band as it was about midnight at this point, but it didnt really matter. seasick was up next, and pretty much killed it. nick is a madman and the band played well. the singer of the previous band jumped off the roof into the circle pit, pretty crazy. covered the cromags. good set

ANS was up next. While there werent too many kids left, the ones that were were PUMPED. played crazy for the whole set, even as mark was playing his second set of the night on guitar. covered poison idea. singer commented at about 1am, "I cant believe no one has called the cops yet!?" i found out later that apparently the cops are "too scared" to shut down shows there.

So we went on down to tj and have a few beers, shoot some pool in an empty bar, head over to the Escape Club on AVENIDA REVOLUCION. There are a few kids there, not much, hang out a little before heading in.

The venue, the escape club, was the upstairs half of a bar, pretty damn small. upstairs was a small showspace with high ceilings, stage on the side of the room with a railing and staircase to the crowd, weird setup. on the far end was merch and a small seating area that opened up to the street. there was also a balcony type thing, including a weird part that came right up to the stage with a ladder going up to it.

Vena Cava went on and it was alright, I wasn't that into it.

After that I ended up talking to this awesome mexican kid for a while all about everything, he had a pretty cool POV on shit, then i went to watch the next band.

Tiltwheel went on after that and played a pretty short set a lot more kids were paying attention to them than vc, mostly SD kids though, it seemed. However afterwards, that mexican kid came up to me and told me he thought it was awesome.

After that, some very loud band named BLUMBKLAAT went on. not really sure what was going on.

After that, Citizen Fish went on. I watched from the balcony for a little bit, there was a giant circle pit, it was pretty cool, not that rough it didnt look like. They played well and for a while, and then got off.

Finally, at 12:45, Leftover Crack went on. Brad played on the part of the balcony that came out to the stage, while the rest of the band played on the stage. played a bunch of songs, scott was standing on the railing and jumping up to the balcony a lot, touched a disco ball on the ceiling and almost fell on the crowd multiple times. kids were surging onto the stage from the weird staircase and had to be pushed back by the sound guy, it was pretty weird.

cool show

Hello!

so, i guess im going to use this from now on, add me pleaseze.