I've been keeping quiet about this, because I know that this is not the time to be airing such grievances, and I originally wrote this little diatribe and shelved it, because I'm trying to stay away from Drama and focus on the Positive side of things, but after talking to a huge handful of people about what's going on, I figure I gotta let this sentiment go, because I'm not the only one thinking it or saying it. Plus, any chance I get to call out that hack Joe Perv on his misconstrued actions is always relished. :-)
So yeah, it's understandable - people grieve in different ways. This whole Doug De Nada passing has been effecting lots of people hard and in different ways, with his passing being like a rock dropped into the middle of a lake, with the ripples still making their way to the shore, to be dealt with accordingly once they get to their intended destination. Everyone wants to help but nobody knows what to do. So there's some talk about doing benefit shows to help offset the obvious costs that come when one passes away, and as far as I know Doug had no Family here, but he does have a sister somewhere, so, again, as far as I know, there hasn't been any 'Official' benefit shows announced as of yet, but I know that some big ones are in the works. And then there's this gig @ the Bunkhouse this Friday, which seems a bit more capitalistic in nature than helpful. This gig was booked weeks if not months ago at the Bunkhouse this Fri., a gig with some pretty laid back and mellow bands on it, including Big Like Texas, which is Joe Pervz latest band. I had the misfortune to sit through them when Sin dragged me to the Double Clown a month or so ago. And just in case you were wondering what I thought about them, yeah, they suck. Go figure. Hackneyed Countrybilly played by a bunch of old Punk Rock guys. Whatever. People dug them so what do I know? I do know it's only a matter of time before Joe Perv runs out of musical genres to exploit and be a part of, because once people get hip to what he's all about, he runs away and reinvents himself and again tries his hardest to "make it", whatever that means. Anyways, enough Little Man bashing, because I can do this all day, so let me get back to my point.
Like I said, this gig happening this Friday has been booked for months, with flyers being made and the obligatory Facebook invite page made to get people to come to it, and all that jazz. The flyer for the gig says it's a show for some guy named Gary, as well as a benefit for homeless veterans, which means when you bring a can of food they'll give you a discount of the cover price at the door, whatever that is. So a few days after Doug passed away, the Facebook event page was suddenly changed to announce that it was now a "Benefit show for Doug Frye". I thought that was a bit odd so I posted a comment on there asking exactly how it was a benefit for Doug and within minutes my comment was deleted. Hmmmmm. So I posted another comment, saying I wasn't trying to be a dick or cause trouble, but that I was just asking how this was going to benefit Doug, and where the benefit aspect of it was? Was it the money being raised at the door? Where was it going? Was a hat going to be passed around for people to contribute to the cause? I asked these questions and again, my comment was deleted within minutes. Nice. Then I saw who was behind the event page and it all made sense - Joe Perv, that fucking dickhead. Look, I'm all for doing whatever you have to do to get people to come see your shitty band play, whether it's announcing that your Singer will perform in a diaper or letting people know that there will be chubby girls dancing while you play, but when you announce that the show is now a benefit show for a recently deceased person, and then you can't back up your Words with Actions, well, I'm gonna call shenanigans on you. I have to. If I don't do it, nobody else will, ya know? So fuck you Joe Perv. When are you just going to move away and immerse yourself in mediocrity somewhere else. You've burned all your bridges here. Nobody likes you. Just. Go. Away. Please.
So in closing, that gig on Friday at the Bunkhouse may or may not be a benefit gig for Doug, and if it is, and you go, please give until it hurts. Anything helps but trust me, it's not the only benefit gig that's going to be happening for him - believe that. Doug's real Friends are putting something in the works that is going to do the man Justice, a real benefit gig / send-off that's worthy of someone who was so loved and adored as he was. Big names, Big bands, a big fucking benefit, not something tacked on to an already established show. It's gonna be fun, it's going to be electric, and it's going to have the coolest vibe about it - just like Doug did.
I'm sitting in the turn lane at Desert Inn and Paradise when my car just goes dead. No warning lights, no rough running, just instant Death. Phooey. Thankfully my band mate Jeremy rescued me and helped me get my car towed to the rehearsal studio, where it sits awaiting to be taken to a garage and get repaired. The fuel pump went out. Apparently it happens. All of these shenanigans kept me from making it to the 400 Blows gig on time @ the LVCS on Friday, but I walked in just as 400 Blows was finishing up their set to a crowd of about 20 people in the place who could give a flying fuck less at the noise blaring from the stage area. 400 Blows was dying a slow death on stage, and I found myself strangely attracted to watching them do it. The band on stage looked like a bunch of dour L.A. douche bags all dressed in black, with the Singer looking like Brendan Flowers from the Killers if he decided to dress up like a cop. The guitar player looked like he should be playing for Venom and the drummer looked like Stewart Copeland and was just as good a player as he is. The drummer made watching 400 Blows bearable. The dude was just fanfuckingtastic. There was no bass player, but I think the guitarist was making bass noises on his guitar and sending them through to a bass cabinet that was set up directly behind the drummer, resulting in a huge clusterfuck of sound that just wasn't working for me. There was no one watching the band play but me and like 3 other dudes - they seemed to be enjoying it, though, so what do I know. The drummer and guitarist would lock into a groove that would make Jesus Lizard jealous, and then it would get ruined by the Singer's pretentious lyrics and ham handed stage posturing. Phooey. 400 Blows was a huge disappointment, not matching up in any way, shape or form to the band I enjoyed on the Black Rainbow and the Angels Trumpets And Devil's Trombones releases. Maybe I caught a bad gig? Hope so.
I thought the gig was over after 400 Blows, but apparently, the Black Jetts flaked out on playing, perhaps scared of the awesome rock infused power that Pigasus generates, and so all bands played early, and the Tinglerz were left to play clean up to a crowd that was more interested in watching girls ride the mechanical bull than by anything the Tinglerz were playing, which was a shame. They missed out on a guitar laden, energy filled, adrenaline infused set of Rock N Roll that was just vicious to watch. Kei is the guitar overlord Master of his instrument, cranking out thick, crunchy riffs that were perfectly complimented by a bass player that was conjuring up images of Mike Dirnt in both playing and performing. The drummer was young and not a very hard hitter, and even with his drum kit mic'd up, I could barely hear him, and I was standing right against the barriers in front of the stage! LOL It didn't matter one bit, because the Tinglerz played a killer set that had me wondering out loud why more people are not into this band. Was Joe Perv's association with the Tinglerz that bad of a thing? Apparently so. Kei has a lot of work to do if he hopes to over come that tremendous mistake in his musical career. Funny, you think he would of learned his lesson the first time around, when Kei was an original member of the Pervz. Oh well. The highlight of the evening was listening to Jeremy and his friends Brad and Glenn doing this round robin exercise with telling the story of how they got involved with a drunken bar brawl at Hennessey's Tavern downstairs from the LVCS during the Darby O'Gill And The Little People gig, where they skipped out on a bar tab that was well over $100. It would start out with one of them saying, 'And then, a Ninja popped up, and started throwing ninja stars around', and then the next one would say something like 'Yeah, and then I caught one of the ninja stars with my teeth, and I threw it at the waitress, killing her instantly', and then without missing the beat the next one would say, 'And that's why we couldn't pay our bar tab'... hahaha It was funny listening to the camaraderie going on between the 3. Having Friends to fuck around with like that is just the best, and it was a good way to end what could of been a really shitty night.
The rest of the weekend was all about Xbox and Football. Looks like Jesse was right in saying that we needed to get the Pollack in as quarterback, because as soon as the Raiders put Gradkowski in, we actually started looking like a good football team! LOL Granted, it was only against the Lambs, but still, in the NFL, a win is a win, so we'll take it. Next weeks game against Arizona will be interesting, to say the least. Does Gradkowski start? Is the Campbell era over? We will see.
There's a gig with Life's Torment @ the Divebar happening tonight, for those of you who don't care about tonight's Monday Night Football match-up between New Orleans and San Francisco. The Queers are playing @ the Divebar in November. It will take me at least that long to work up the nerve to drag my ass down there... heh heh heh
 Yeah Yeah... it's at the Divebar... I know, I know... There's a house party happening on Wednesday with The State Streets, Away We Go and Start, 2 bands I know nothing about. The State Streets are a Local band creating quite a buzz with their English working class Oi! musical styling. Keep an eye out for these guys (and one girl) and check them out when you can. You can check out the band's Myspace page by clicking here. Everything's updated. Nothing new has been added, but soon will be. I have 2 out of 4 KISS cups from 7-11, so if you see a Peter or an Ace cup, please let me know where, and I'll swoop them up with the quickness. I don't know what it's all about, I assume it's some sort of tie in with Dr. Pepper, but I love those KISS cups from 7-11. Yeah, I know. Ghey. ;-)
Allrighty then... I'm hella buzzed and don't care about nothing right now, but I did post up a Review of last nights show @ Jillian's, and you can read it by clicking here. I also updated the 3-B's Tour page with the link to the Review to the Art's Bar show, and you can go here to check that shit out. It's purple and green dog. Boooooooo to Hank for not being at the show last night. His only excuse is if he was checking out Spencer's new band, otherwise he's fired. I was talking to this chick from Skratch Magazine last night, and she was doing a Review of the show, and it got me to thinking about how that magazine tried to fuck us over, which lead me to thinking about how certain people try to talk shit about us and blackball us in the industry and try to get their wanna-be gang member friends after us, and it's all just so boring and pointless. Why would you want to get on our bad sides? I like to think that we're an alright bunch of blokes (and grrl), but you don't wanna make enemies out of us. Which leads me up to this shit with the Pervz. These fucking assholes have a cunt associated with them named Che that does their P.R. / Media Relations, and she's been trying to start up some shit with us under the guise of "creating an All Ages scene here in Las Vegas", and we've briefly disagreed before, but now it's just war. A story about that previous encounter ran in this weeks L.V. Mercury (click here to read it if you haven't already), and apparently this Che person got her panties in a bunch. Look Che, Roxie never took credit for the show, the author of the story wrote that. It was one of the many things that are wrong with the story they ran. I guess in your perfect world journalists are always right and never make mistakes. They obviously did some research (like how they used Pitt's last name that he had when he was in Third World War), but as a whole the story is shite. I told Roxie that when she sent me the link to it. It's piss poor journalism, and a crappy picture to match. And sorry that Newt didn't mention you or your shitty band by name. Your issue is with him, not us. And Che, as for your remark about "All the Loud Pipes provided was about 10-15 kids.", well lets see. How many kids did the Pervz provide? Let's see... by my count... ZERO! If it wasn't for us and our kids being there it was just another shitty Double Down show, except out in the desert. And this is the scene that you're trying so desperately to exploit and be a part of? Puh-leeze. If you crave attention Che this is not the way to go about it. I personally am too old for this stuff. And as for that shit with the banner, if Joe Pervz would of said to me what he said to Brant from 1/2 Ast... I would of bit his face off, and spit it back at him. Don't talk the talk unless you walk the walk. Guys, you should seriously rein that Che person in before it gets ugly. She's writing checks your asses can't cash.
Well, it's the first day of Summer, and so far I gotta say that it sucks. Hope you all had a good Fathers Day, and that you told your Dads that you love them and that you wanna smoke pot with them or something. Our family tradition for Father's Day was to get stinking drunk and BBQ for our Pops, and man was it a blast, but since my dad isn't with me anymore, I generally hate Fathers Day, but I always make an effort to tell people I know who are Dads themselves Happy Fathers Day. My Pops was the best, and I miss him more everyday. I've been playing with myspace.com a lot lately, and it's just amazing the people you find on there, and it's crazy how people find you. I gave Hank loads and loads of shit about constantly checking his Myspace acct. while on tour, and now that I'm on there myself I can see why he was on there constantly, the big homo. So today we're doing an interview with the L.V. Mercury about our tiff with the Pervz and the All-Ages scene thingy. The desert show that the Pervz set up went pretty good, and even though the directions were horribly fucking wrong, our fans found the place and had a good time. Thanx to all of you for coming out, and thanks for leaving right after we were done. It was supposed to be a Pervz All Ages gig, but the only band with any sort of juice in the All Ages scene that played was us, so if this was their big jump into creating an All Ages scene here in Las Vegas, they're gonna need lots and lots of help. I've posted a Review of the gig here, and I've also thrown up some CD Reviews as well, and you can go here to check that shit out. I also posted the next installment of the Tour Reviews, and you can go here to check that shit out. If you missed out on any installments, you can click on the Show Reviews button in the toolbar just below the logo. That will take you right to the Tour page, where you can read all about just how much fun we have on tour. Click on the Pictures button as well to see the Pictures Hank took of us in that tiny record store in Monterey Park. Oldies forever Holmes... LOL
In honor of a certain person (let's call him Sollywood Hane), I'm gonna update the site to tell you that we have been extremely busy doing all sorts of monotonous things in order to get ready for the Tour. We've been stuffing envelopes, writing up promo posters, confirming and adjusting to show listings, and in between all this fun stuff we occasionally sneak in a practice or two. Roxie is already confirming shows for our NEXT tour, and special thanks for all the help to our friends who are gonna get us into clubs like Chain Reaction, the Glass House and the Knitting Factory. Now if only a certain bouncer at The Whiskey would get off his drunken ass and book us a show there, we'd be set... heh heh heh. My computer is still fucked up, so I haven't been able to give as much time as I'd like to me ol' web site, but hey... Zelda II is taking up all my spare time, and with all the drama going on in my life right now (99 Problems But A Bitch Ain't One), I need every diversion I can get. Like this little feud going on between us and a local band here in town (No, not the Black Jetts), I mean what the fuck? This band (let's call them the Ervz-Pay) was all over our collective nuts to play some All Ages shows with us (Us Local Bands Gotta Stick Together... their words not mine), and we basically said we would, but that we couldn't do anything until we got back from the Tour. Then Roxie gets this e-mail from their Webmaster / PR Person declaring that the Ervz-Pay were gonna create an All Ages scene here in town, since there wasn't one. Now I'm not the smartest man in the world, but I kinda think that the All Ages scene here has been alive and thriving for quite some time now but hey, if the Ervz-Pay are gonna create an All Ages scene, more power to them. When you take into consideration the house parties... the shows at Balcony Lights... the gigs at the Hammer House... and even the shows at the bigger places like the Huntridge and the House Of Blues, isn't that proof enough of an All Ages scene here in Vegas? People that say that there is no scene are usually the ones not involved in the scene, and I really think that's the situation with the Ervz-Pay. I mean, we've played All Ages shows with them, it wasn't our fault that the kids didn't like them. Maybe if they got out of the Double Down every now and then and consistently played for the kids like we do, then they might see that the All Ages scene here is just fine, thank you very much.
Making videos is FUN !!! It seems all you have to do is drink massive amounts of alcohol and act all rocking (and mean) in front of the camera! Although it hasn't been that easy, it's still been most excellent, thanks to Jesse The Super Videographer. After the night's festivities @ The New York Cafe (click here to read all about it), we all ended up at The Club House to celebrate the 1 year Anniversary of it's existence! Woo Hoo! One year's worth of merriment, and plenty more to come. Thanks to The Pervz and the Sin City Ghouls and everyone else that came out and drank with us until 6 in the morning and saw all the weird things happening above The Luxor. Sorry to everyone that came out to The Sultan's Table to see us play on Thursday, but the Man shut that place down while we were loading up our gear into the place. The all ages venue was changed into 21 and over, and since we don't play bars, we said phooey and left. We went back to the Club House to film the video for Insurrection and drank ourselves silly and called it a morning. We're already in the planning stages for a HUGE desert show, with some amazing bands, so keep your eyes and ears peeled to get all the details. We're not gonna be playing anytime soon here in Las Vegas, but you're all more than welcome to come out and see us anywhere else we play. Just don't be like Hollywood Shane and get lost... Hugs and Kisses to Jesse and Bob for making the video shoot to be so much fun, and for being the great pals that they are. The fun continues once we get to AZ. on April 2 & 3...then it's all about Roller Derby and Skateboards, and the girls that love them both. I've been messing around with the web site... posting Pictures... a Review of the new Descendents CD... and just waiting for my car and my camera to get fixed. Once that happens I'll be out and about again! What a deal.
Booooooooo... nothing much going on in this neck of the woods... I sit at home drinking waaay too much and chatting on-line while the real musicians of the band are gonna be tracking their stuff this week at the Club House. I left my damn Game Cube down there and dammit... I WANT IT BACK!!! heh heh heh If and when we practice this week I'm gonna grab it up quick, since I have much more work to do on my Zelda game. Our show this Thursday is gonna kick some major ass... not only 'cuz we're playing with The Pervz, but more because of the video shoot. It's been a while since I've had anything to do with a video shoot (1990-what?), and I'm curious to see how Jesse The Super Roadie handles the situation. If he's as good a Director as he is a Roadie, then this shit will be AWESOME!!! So come out to the show (Patrick, screw your crappy metal-core band practice! lol) and go crazy for the whole world to see...
Not a lot to report... just drinking too much and trying to keep myself occupied. We have a show tonight @ The Double Down with our pals 1/2 Ast for our good friend Charlotte who just recently passed away, so I encourage you all to come out early (the show starts promptly at 9) and donate a little something to the Street Teens Foundation in her memory. On a more lighter note, we're also playing next Thursday the 18th at the Sultan's Table with our friends The Pervz, (recent winners of the L.V. Weekly's Best Local Band contest... hope it does them as much good as it did us! lol) and we're gonna be filming the gig to be used in our upcoming video for Insurrection, so get your ass on down to be a part of the madness happening that night. We also got some dates coming up in AZ. in April, but I'll let you know about those when I get more info on them. I just finished tracking the songs we're gonna use for our upcoming 7", and believe me when I say that they're GREAT! Trust me... these 3 songs are gonna sound KILLER! I'd tell you the track listing, but I don't wanna ruin the surprise. But Hollywood Shane (who's in town ladies, so now's your chance to hook up with him!) was the first person outside of the band to hear the new songs, and he likes them, so that's all that matters. The Smash Magazine Interview we did is generating some good reviews, and the City Life gave tonight's show a quick write up... but why on Earth are they still calling us a Biker Metal Band? Can someone please explain that to me? Maybe it would help if SOMEONE from that paper actually came out to see our shows... maybe then they could come up with a better adjective than "Biker Metal". Oh yeah... I threw some reviews up of the latest stuff from Jane's Addiction, Descendents and Probot... click on the Reviews link to check them out. Hope you can all make it to the show tonight.
Apparently, we have a show coming up at the Sultan's Table, the new all ages place here in town. I've been telling everybody that we weren't playing anytime soon, and a few were disappointed, but now all you peeps out there have a chance to see us blow the roof off a new club in town. It's on March 18 with our good friends The Pervz, but it's gonna be $7, so save your lunch money now. We're getting ready to record our 7" real soon, well, as soon as I get my drums in order. You see, I've been beating the crap out of my set these last few shows, and I've broken every cymbal I own as well as most of my drum hoops and rings. Thank Vishnu for the Guitar Center Extended Warranty Plan. Heh heh heh And uhhm... the Smash Magazine article is out... go grab it and tell us what you think. I've posted some more Pictures, like this one of Jess that I found in a magazine, as well as Joe Strummer's license!. I posted some old pictures I found of The Loud Pipes with Keil singing, and you can look at those here on The Loud Pipes Picture page. As always, it's a work in progress...
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