Your man on a train, on a plane, or in a car (heck, even a bicycle here and there) spent the last several weeks bouncing all over the place taking in a number of shows along the way.
First up was the annual Caterwaul Fest in Minneapolis. Last year was the first year I went and it was a who’s who of current bands I absolutely adore. That version of the fest, while wonderful, was unbelievably exhausting, jam-packed with upwards of 14 bands a day over 4 days and I need to just accept that I’m a man into the back half of my 40’s and not a 20 year-old maniac anymore. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m really OK with less bands. And I think most of the crowd (also many 40-somethings) felt that same way, and thus the organizer gods heard our plea for a good night’s sleep and the lineup was culled back a bit, which felt pretty good.
Like any trip out of town it was not my intention to solely linger around a dank venue all weekend so I was able to take in a wonderful Keith Haring exhibit in the local museum, take a long hike through the exceptional Minnehaha Falls, eat plenty of good food, and explore a couple record stores that weren’t Extreme Noise (no offense to the excellent Extreme Noise, but variety is the spice of life as they say).
That first night though local drone/sludge/noise duo Dug opened things up with their crushing sound. It didn’t quite have the impact of witnessing them level the place when I saw them in Texas a couple years ago, but I think a lot of that had to do with a killer sound system. Even so, Dug were a great way to kick things off with their tectonic plate-shifting sounds.
Pretty Please
Also of note were Atlanta grunge rock trio Pretty Please, who I have enjoyed quite a bit on record and was glad to see them finally on stage where they brought a dirty, noisy (but catchy) set that included a cover of “Touch Me I’m Sick”. Closing out the night were Murf and their deranged chaotic hardcore punk. They were a sight to behold with their singer in full bondage gear, corpse paint, and brandishing a hatchet while their bassist donned a creepy pig mask their whole set. Things got wild for them and all hell broke loose. It was late but I just had a feeling they were going to offer up something memorable and fun and I was not let down.
Saturday’s lineup consisted of a lot of drone, sludge, and experimental groups, which is not ideally something I want an entire day of. Still, one couldn’t dismiss the alien sludge drone of powertakeoff, or the one-man power riffing of Thrones. Some of that was tempered with the catchy punk/indie snarl of Ganser, as well as seeing Part Chimp for the first time ever and witnessing their dedication to the sludge pop riff factory they served up so well. Also of note was finally seeing Oxbow, a band in their own lane entirely who have been around some 30 years and I’ve never had the opportunity to catch. But extremely glad I did on this night as they were in top form, regardless of topless and mostly bottomless clothing attire. It wasn’t that warm out either. They brought that evil heat though and it was awesome- bluesy, dark, sinister, and rocking.
Things switched over to the other venue for the night portion where the back-to-back sets from Bronson Arm, Facet, and Neckbolt were all extraordinary. Bronson Arm are a Michigan duo that make incredible use of dynamics and a know-how of getting the most out of a guitar and drums to sound like a full band while remaining unique and catchy. I’m partial to Facet but there’s no denying they kill it every night- massive volume dialed in for maximum efficiency and crazy lights to enhance their set of killer post-hardcore/noise rock. As for Neckbolt- I don’t do drugs but just seeing those dudes take the stage make me think someone slipped me an acid tab and then they started in with hectic and wirey psychedelic punk/indie made more unusual through various vocal effects. I’ve seen them before but this felt like a more intimate affair and everyone in the band was freaking out and it was awesome. One of the best sets I saw all weekend. By this point I was beyond beat so I hoofed it back to my place of rest and bedded down and missed nearly all of headliners Art Grey Noise Quintet.
On day three I was already getting pretty tired. But I wanted to make sure to get to the show relatively early because I could finally get to see Porcelain, who I’d been waiting to catch for some time now. If you haven’t heard them, or picked up their debut record it’s quite excellent. And as much as hearing those songs live for the first time was indeed excellent it was the newer, not-yet-recorded stuff that really blew me away. They opened with a new song and I cannot wait to see what they do with it on record. They have progressed quickly and seeing them was certainly a highlight of the fest. The same can be said of J. Robbins, who closed out the day/evening show (yeah, I skipped way ahead). The entirety of the set was his ‘solo’ material (but playing as a trio) and it kind of doesn’t matter what he is playing it’s going to be great. J. Robbins just has such a great way of singing, a unique style of playing and the other people that make up his band are stellar musicians in their own right. It was a shame he got cut off a little early due to curfew (it was an outdoor stage).
For the night show I took my time getting over so I could eat some dinner and relax just a bit and I was just in time for Cougars. Initially I didn’t feel one way or another about them, but seeing as the rhythm section for Big’n was half the band I knew it would be good. And they were quite incredible with a huge sound and a rhythmic swing that was unparalleled. Also, their singer kept doing this thing where he would lick his hand and do a sort of fake slap with it, which got really weird after like the 10th time he did it. You realize you’re in a dank bar and your hand has touched who knows what. I hope he got himself a check-up after the fest. Couch Slut closed out the night and they were another band I’d been hoping to see for some time now. A friend described them as ‘a mental health crisis unfolding on stage’ and it’s sort of apt. Between song banter consisted of harsh, uncomfortable stories coupled with the bleakest humor imaginable where you’re not sure if it’s ok to laugh (one example, “this next song is about the razors I use to cut myself…. it’s called “Wilkinson’s Sword” but we might have to change it because we got a cease and desist about it.”). They were down one guitarist so the sound was a little less punishing than I had imagined it would be, but lots of screaming, bloodied foreheads, and- oddly enough- someone with a bubble machine bringing a little levity to the scuzzy metal noise rock made it a pretty sweet way to end the night.
In Lieu
On the last day I was treated to things starting off with locals In Lieu. I knew nothing about them beforehand but was pleasantly surprised with their brash and deft chunky rock. So yeah, a good way to get things moving. Go check out In Lieu. Halfway through the day things had to be moved inside for a spell due to a brief downpour but thankfully the tiny corner-wedge stage only needed to support the duo of Austerity Program doing their best Big Black worship with a pounding drum machine and some very loud guitars, as well as pop-punk (the gritty rough and tumble kind) upstart trio The Scrunchies…. who were great by the way.
The clouds parted and things moved back outside where CNTS leveled the place with their tweaked-out shirtless convenience store robber get-ups and rowdy hardcore shredding, while Djunah performed solo with backing drum tracks. I don’t need to go into detail about Whores- everyone knows them, everyone loves them, they always sound huge on stage and they go off when they play. No different this time. But I will expand a bit on Brainiac, who closed out the whole thing. I never saw them when they were around. I knew their music a little bit, but didn’t really dive into it hard. But I’m glad I saw them because they were excellent. They definitely worship at the alter of Devo, but it’s as if Devo had a glitch in their programming and everything they played was slightly broken. That’s kind of how to describe Brainiac. Tons of warbbly vocal effects, frantic dance-y punk, and a super fun attitude. That’s how to keep a reunion going. Good for them. Glad I could witness it.
I had to bail out super early the next morning to catch a flight to Syracuse where I had no plans to see any shows, and just hang with family. But I did get roped into seeing a small punk show while there and I’m happy to report my hometown has an awesome scene going right now with a ton of younger excited people and a ton of bands. Urban Camouflage (great name) ripped it up with fast, vicious caveman hardcore.
USA Nails
So that brings me to going to Europe. I had wanted to have a real-deal vacation this year but was unsure of where to go. Then I saw, months ago, that USA Nails and Mums would be playing together in Liverpool, England. Since I love USA Nails and have seen them a couple times on this side of the Atlantic I thought it would be cool to catch them on their turf. And I totally love Mums, and am pretty sure they are unable to do a tour in the US. So I had to go to them. I’d been to England before, but it was a long time ago. So I spent some time on the continent as well, hitting up Belgium and Netherlands before going back to the UK for the show. So, fun fact: I actually grew up in a town called Liverpool but I had never been to the actual Liverpool. So that was kind of a plus, though the show was in a part of town that was nothing but bars, night clubs, and general club trash for blocks and blocks. So I likely missed out on any neat cultural things in town. The show was in a tiny room in the back part of a beer garden type spot. I’m all for small spaces for shows. False Advertising played and while the guitars sounded a bit quiet they had an overall great style and was a fun way to get things started. USA Nails followed and not only was it great to hear them play a bunch of the older songs I know and love, it was a pleasure to hear some of the new stuff from their excellent current record “Feel Worse” in a live setting for the first time. They consistently sound awesome and there’s no way you can’t bop around to their stuff. Mums closed things out and if you look at their gear you’d think that maybe they’re not quite as loud as their record implies. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. They sound checked and my eardrums nearly burst. This is exactly what I was hoping for- to be buried by their ridiculously huge, fuzzy, sludged out sound. But everything was still super fun and catchy and they looked like they were just having a great time and joking around. It was the best possible experience of seeing them on stage. They played the entire new record ("Legs", you really ought to get it) and I was all smiles afterwards.
What didn’t make me smile was having to catch a train dead early the next morning back to London to catch a flight back to the US when all I really wanted to do was hang out a bit more in Liverpool with my UK pals. But I did really miss my cats, so you know, I wanted to get home as well.
with the UK homies
Wrapping up this whirlwind of traveling and show-going was the final farewell of the Botch reunion up in Seattle. After having been all over the place in the last few weeks it snuck up on me that I’d have to go up to Seattle again and was sort of numb to the idea.
But then I thought of how awesome Botch is/was and the excitement returned. Just as a preface, I’ve seen Botch a lot. They played the first show I ever booked. I got to see them play every night for a couple weeks a year later when I roadied for a band they were on tour with and was blown away each time. I bore witness to them on several more occasions over the years as they received more recognition and played to bigger crowds (usually). And I was at their original ‘last’ show on June 15th, 2002 when I drove across the country to see them. Since doing the reunion I caught a couple of the shows and they somehow got even better and were still operating with I’d say a good 90% of the stage energy they had in the past (c’mon, age is a thing and where are those giant Dave Knudson high kicks?).
But at this final show they laid it all out and then some.
It was beautiful how the show was held 22 years to the day from their original last performance, and was essentially the same lineup as that one- Great Falls (Demian and Shane from Playing Enemy) and Helms Alee (Ben from Harkonen) who are both incredibly influential to me as well as musicians creating sounds all their own and completely ruling.
But Botch were something else that night. Just firing with everything they had. Each of them dove into the crowd on multiple occasions while still playing everything exact. For the first few songs I was mushed right up front and despite how uncomfortable that was I kind of didn’t care because it was all a blast. Even so, after awhile I needed some breathing room and the best way to get out of being crushed by jam-packed humans is to climb over some heads and then jump off the other side of the stage to somewhere I could actually catch my breath. I’m small and spry, I can make that work.
Even still, as energetic a live band as they were, joking with the crowd, shouting out friends and family (even dabbling in a little Undertow homage), it was jaw-dropping just how much passion they displayed throughout the hour-plus set. Even before they were done frontman Dave Verellen went full-on Pat Roach as the big German fighting Indiana Jones in “Raiders…” shirtless and jumping on people’s faces.
Botch
Having seen them so often and in all different places there are a few highlights about them I’ll never forget: seeing them play “Transitions From Persona To Object” for the first time in Philly the day that “We Are the Romans” came out and my jaw on the floor because I’d never heard sounds like that come out of a guitar and knowing right then and there that they would help alter the landscape of heavy music. Seeing their final show in 2002 (at the same venue no less) to a completely sold out crowd, with so many familiar faces coming out from all corners of the country, a small group of people championing them every chance we got, and them getting their bona fides finally. And then this show, where they closed out a reunion run in the best way possible at the absolute top of their game and leaving all of it out on the stage. That’s how you do it. Congratulations to them, they did it the right way and completely crushed it.
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