Written by GE 138. Pictures by "Daddy" Pound Town Brown and GE 138. Flyers by Trueland Morrison and whoever did the Tempe flyer. Tempe, AZ. Time Out Lounge. Bring it. :-) After the usual pre-going out of town ritual of removing the back seats from the rental van, the old guys in the band loaded up the gear in the rear and once Jeremy was done running some chores, we all climbed aboard our road vessel and hit the freeway for the quick 5 hour drive to the gig, which included a random stop in Wickenburg for some Filiberto's, and a drive across that newly constructed bridge that people keep jumping off of, and where the creepy fact that the FNG Matt has Siri call him 'Daddy' brought us hours of hilarity every time he asked her to do something... LOL We're such easily amused primates, I tell you. Once we got to AZ., we made a bee line to our hotel, checked into our rooms, relaxed for a bit, and then quickly got thirsty and hungry and then we decided to head off to the venue to suss things out and look for some close by grub. There were already a bunch of people hanging out in front of the Time Out Lounge, which we took as a sign of good things to come, and after parking the van we headed in to figure out what was going on. Everything seemed Kosher. Our only concern was that we were playing last, with 6 bands on the bill total, and that people weren't going to stick around to watch us play. Don't worry, the Booker /Lead Singer from The Industry assured us. They've already seen us. They've all come out to see you. They're gonna stick around. Promise! hahaha OK. With that cleared up I headed off to the bar for some much needed booze, while everyone else just sort of scattered about. Matt set up the merch table, Bob skated the parking lot, Jeff, Trueland and Jeremy were busy chatting up the Locals. I played some Creature From The Black Lagoon pinball, but the left flipper was dead and fucking my game up, and since the first band, We Might Be Wasted were starting up, I decided to head past the pool tables in the back and towards the front of the stage area to check the band out. I didn't come to AZ. to get drunk and play pinball. I can do that at home. I wanted to hear some music. I wanted to check out some of the Local talent. We Might Be Wasted were pretty cool. They had a catchy, Drunk Punk style of singalong songs going on, and there was something happening up on the tiny stage, something I couldn't couldn't quite put my finger on, but whatever it was, I was digging what I was seeing / hearing from the band. The singer was wearing a DIE HIPSTER SCUM shirt, which Jeremy told me I should own, and he seemed to be a pretty confident, fearless guy. I was especially digging the Drummer, who was this little guy just flailing away as hard as he could behind this tiny ass kit, coming up with quirky fills and lots of pocket noise to supplement the bands hard rocking, pounding sound. The band kind of reminded me of early Guttermouth, because I think they were just singing these crazy, goofy, borderline retarded lyrics to their standout Punk tunes, but it was hard to tell through the tiny PA. The guitarist sporting the PBR shirt had this great guitar line during a slow song they played, a song that reminded me of the Crucifucks, believe it or not, and that damn riff was stuck in my head for the rest of the night. Bastard! ha ha A few drunk Punx slammed around while We Might Be Wasted played, and the Singer worked the room like a pro, keeping people interested and never letting any dead air fill the place. They played a few more songs and then called it a night. Nothing new or ground breaking, but still, pretty impressive. I wasn't the only one in the room that thought so A lot of people dug them and so did I. We Might Be Wasted played a pretty tight set. I'm definitely a fan. All of us, except the FNG Matt, headed off to this greasy pizza joint down the way from the venue, right next to Zia Records, and the guy who was working there seemed happy for the business. He was giving us great deals for some pretty good grub, and being the fat boys that we are, we took full advantage of the man's generosity. I completely missed The Dime Museum (sorry) and we came back just as Buried In Red were tearing things up. They were a Rockabilly trio playing some high energy tunes, but people didn't seem too hyped on them for whatever reason, but a few in the crowd were digging them, and the band didn't seem to care that people weren't digging them, so yeah. I watched a few songs, took a few pictures, and then left. Whiskey And The Barrels were up next, and they had the PBR shirt wearing guitarist from opening band We Might Be Wasted on mandolin, and they had an accordion player too, which had our new guy Matt straining his neck from way in the back at the merch table to watch and hear and maybe steal a few riffs from. ;-) Whiskey And The Barrels were hardcore Pogues disciples, doing a few covers from them and sounding a bit like Leftover Crack or some generic Punk shit like that when they weren't. Everyone in the band was speaking / singing in a thick Irish brogue, and one of the lead singers / guitarists was wearing a kilt, which is enough of a Jesse Nabers thing to creep me out now when I see someone wearing one, and the wild eyed Bassist / Singer had me in stitches when he pulled out a bag of potatoes mid-set and asked the crowd, while sounding like the Priest from Gangs Of New York, if anyone was hungry. When a few in the crowd said 'yes', he then announced that There will be noooooo famine here, as long as we got poooo-tate-ooooohs... while throwing potatoes at various people in the crowd LOL On personality alone Whiskey And The Barrels had me, but musically, I was kinda zoning. Not my cup of tea. The crowd dug them though. Check them out if you like the Pogues and Irish stereotypes. I spent the majority of Whiskey And The Barrels set getting ripped off by that damn Creature From The Black Lagoon pinball machine tucked into the back of the venue. It took all my money. Fucker. Watching the next band up, The Industry, was a bit painful. Either the band wasn't well rehearsed, or well too buzzed to play, and it seemed to me like the singer just spent the first 10 minutes of their set yelling at the others in the band on their musical shortcomings and incompetence. I don't think it was shtick? Was it? I dunno. The Industry seemed to have a few moments of Oi! inspired brilliance, sounding a bit like Combat 84 at times, and a few of their hardcore fans were jumping around while the band played, but I dunno. I wasn't feeling it. I think it was a bad night for The Industry, but I'd check them out again to see if I caught them on a bad night or something. I could hear what they were trying for, but they just didn't seem to be able to make it happen. Oh well. I rushed outside to see if Bob needed help with the drum kit. He didn't, but I stayed outside anyways. I didn't think the band was going to get any better. I needed to smoke. More than a few people came up to us while we were all hanging around outside, getting into that 'about to perform' state of mind, asking if we were The Civilians, and mentioning that they came out specifically to see us, chat us up, wish us well, whatnot. Very cool stuff. There was a good turn out of people at the Time Out Lounge, but who knew if they were gonna stay around, ya know? So The Industry finish up, and we rush our gear onto the tiny stage area, hoping people don't leave, and people are just sticking around, queuing up, standing around looking at us. Nobody's leaving, and everyone that was outside is now inside and fully focused on us. Trueland and Jeremy are joking with them like they always do... it was a good vibe in the room. Cool to be playing a gig in AZ. on a Friday night. Let's get this shit going NOW! So we start to play, and people are digging it. A few of those people who introduced themselves to us outside were singing along, obviously taking advantage of the lyric sheet that comes with each and every Civilians CD sold. I haven't read the thing, but I encourage you all to do so, and then tell me what the songs are all about. I really don't know. I'm just the Drummer. All I know is that my drum set sounds awesome in the room, and the band sounds pretty good too. Jeremy is sweating, which means he's having fun and rocking out, noodling his fingers off, and Trueland won't shut up in between songs, which means he's had a bit to drink and is having a fun time, and Jeff is actually talking into the mic, and constantly tuning his geetar, which means he's having fun too. Matt give the thumbs up sign from the merch booth way in the back, and Bob is sitting at the bar drinking cheap beer, which means he's having fun and that everything is OK on his end as well. We had a set list written, but it went out at the window, because people were calling out for songs that weren't on the set list, songs we hadn't played in months (Happy), songs we luckily bluffed and stumbled our way through. HA! How did they know??? We finished up our set to some very generous applause and words of praise, and just like that Day 1 of our little excursion was done. We came to the Time Out Lounge to conquer and impress, and I think we did, and we met some very cool people while we were there, and we played a great set, and we had some major fun in the process, and sold a shitload of merch on top of everything. So much merch, in fact, that it paid for our annual after gig feast at the Waffle House, so next time you see someone wearing a Civilians tee shirt, just remember that the proceeds from that shirt probably paid for some band grub somewhere along the way... ha ha ha Not really, but that's a funny thought. ;-) We did go to the Waffle House though, only after hanging out and saying goodbye to all our new friends and comrades, some of whom were making the trek out to Cottonwood to see us play again on Sat. FUCK THE WAFFLE HOUSE!!!! is all I'm gonna say about that once we got there... ha ha ha Yeah, lots of good people in AZ. It's been a while. I have forgotten, because it's been so long, but I'm gonna work on that not happening again. At least for a while anyways. I always have fun in AZ. I got stories. ;-) For more Pictures of We Might Be Wasted, click here. For more Pictures of Buried In Red, please click here.
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S.F.T. had to practice right before they played their set. Practicing before you're about to play is NEVER a good thing. A few mistakes, a couple of start overs, hopefully they got it all out of their system before they get up on stage in a few minutes. So after that run through was done I jumped in the shower while Bob broke everything down and loaded up the gear and Erika got ready. Once that was all done we quickly jumped into my ride for the sort-of long trek across town to the old Cheyenne Saloon which has now been rechristened the Adrenaline Sports Bar. We quickly made our way in, checked out the new improvements, like the Wing King kitchen in the back, the amazing new sound system, and the greatly improved beer list. While standing around chit-chatting with Tyson and Co., I caught a few songs from the opening band Horripilation, but they didn't have a bass player, and I didn't pay them any attention because of it, but I heard something going on up there on the stage... I could hear what they were trying for, this hard hitting, Metal tinged Hardcore Punk sound, 400 Blows being the obvious comparison, and I was kind of digging it. I don't know if they have a bass player, or if their bass player just didn't show up for the gig, but I'd definitely like to check the band out if they play with a bassist. Check out Horripilation on Facebook by clicking here. Didn't have much time to chit-chat, because Horripilation had just announced that they only had a couple of songs left, so I excused myself and headed outside to help Bob set my drum kit up. Horripilation was done, the borrachos in the parking lot were rounded up, we loaded our gear onto the stage, S.F.T. did a quick sound check, Brian, being the consummate front man that he is, gave us a proper introduction and like that we were off and running. It was during the 3rd song Addiction that I realized I had a monitor directly behind me, pointing to my right for some reason, and if I leaned back while playing I could actually hear everything coming through the PA, and from what I could hear, I think we sounded pretty good. People were digging us, everyone in the band was smiling and having a good time, and that's all that matters. If it wasn't for Carlos telling everybody that we sucked, it would of almost been a great set! LOL As usual, I was spot on, and I didn't hear any mistakes made from anybody else in the band, so maybe there is something to this running through the set before you get up on stage to play thing! I'm sure the amazing PA system @ Adrenaline had a lot to do with it, but S.F.T. played a really good set. It's just a shame that there weren't more people there to see it! Oh well. It was fun. :-) Tyson took some pictures with his trusty cell phone, and you can click here to check those out. "Like" S.F.T. on Facebook by clicking here. After a little sexy parking lot action I headed back inside to check out Unit F, because they were Friends with Tom and he liked them, but he likes that Sounds Of Shit band, so his tastes are a bit wonky at best. The band was raging through their set, sounding very melodic, riff heavy, sing-song harmonies, and Unit F reminded me of bands like Ten Foot Pole or Jughead's Revenge, and it wasn't that they were bad, but more like they just weren't that good. Maybe it was me, maybe the band was having an off night, I dunno. They just kind of ran through their tunes, and I spent the majority of their set saying goodbye to everyone that was leaving for Home or better things to do than watching the band. Unit F wrapped things up to a smattering of applause, and made a few new fans along the way, which is better than making no fans at all, right? Right! Check out the Unit F Facebook page by clicking here. Lambs To Lions were announced as the next band playing, and since everyone was itching to get the Hell out of there, I said my goodbyes to the brave few who stuck around and then I left, making a mental note to try and check out the Lambs To Lions and Unit F when the Vegascendents played with both of them tomorrow night @ the Double Clown. As we were leaving I could see 3D6 unloading their gear from their ride, getting ready to play after Lambs To Lions, and I toyed with the idea of sticking around to see them, but Erika promised me some home made peppered salami, mozzarella, mushroom, spinach pizza, and being the fatty that I am, you know what I opted to do at that point... For more Pictures of S.F.T., please click here. www.facebook.com/3d6bandLasVegas www.facebook.com/lambstolions www.facebook.com/UnitFband www.facebook.com/SFT-386329501453/ www.facebook.com/HorripilationELV Friday nights gig @ Atomic Liquors was majorly fun, despite the over-attendance of all the attention whores and poseurs in patched up Levi vests riding their kiddie bikes around the place. Can this trend just go die already? Seriously? I'm sure it started out as something fun and different and whatever but it's evolved into something else entirely, something dooshy and cliquey. Sometimes I wish a real "Outlaw Bike Club" would just come to town and take all their cuts right off their pretendo Hipster backs. Ugh. Whatever. So here I am heading to their habitat Downtown, a celebration for them and their like, and I told everyone this once I got there, that the only reason I was even in attendance , was to see Alan Six (or Sixx, depending on who you ask in the band), because I dig the band that much. I mean, I knew the Mapes were going to be as amazing as they always are, but if Alan Six weren't on the bill, I probably wouldn't of made the trek Downtown for the gig. Just saying. ;-) Parking was a nightmare, of course, because everything Downtown was closed off for some sort of big event / sheeple fleecing / dooshbag round up, and after driving around in circles for a while, looking for an available spot to park, and right as I was about to give up on finding one, a perfect spot opened up, which was a quick walk away from Atomic Liquors, so Erika and I - plus Bob, of course, ambled over to the venue, passing through a semi-chained, locked fence of some sorts to get there, and it was while walking through all the blatantly open spaces and hundreds of not being used Port-A-Potty's, that it occurred to me how clueless the Downtown mentality is, and just how desperate and pathetic the people that embrace it truly are. It's only from the outside that you can see what's really going on inside. Downtown used to be such a cool, dirty little place. This Disneyfication of the place is terrible. The cleaner it looks, the worse it smells. Ugh. It was while thinking all this that I stood around waiting for Alan Six to play. After a quick talk to Lemonhead and his girl on the way into Atomic Liquors, I grabbed some booze and went outside to smoke everything I could get my hands on while Bob and Erika worked the room, saying 'Hello' to people they knew and whatnot. Must be nice to have friends. LOL Alan Six set their gear up pretty quickly, choosing a far corner of the courtyard to launch their aural attack on everyone, and after a much too long wait they kicked off the nights festivities with little fanfare but lots and lots of rocking. I dig this band. They sounded terribly nervous though. The bands sound was thin outside, but people were coming closer to their little corner of the courtyard to check out what they were throwing down, and once Alan Six got warmed up and found their footing, the band sounded great! I really dig them. Adrienne is definitely the Star of the show, putting everything she's got into the vocals she screams / sings on ever song, and her enthusiastic bass playing on that cute little whatever color it is bass of hers is fun to watch. Same with Dave's drumming. For a guy who just started playing the drums he's getting pretty good at it. More of a basher than a finesse player, his enthusiastic, uneven drumming keeps the band on a pretty steady keel on the rockin' high seas. I don't know what he was thinking by committing to performing twice in one night like he was doing tonight, but he's a madman for doing so, and he was hitting the drums pretty hard and looking cool while doing it. The guitar player of the band, Lance, is known around town as a bit of a curmudgeon ball buster, but despite all that, he's a decent guitar player that just hammers away on the Ramones like riffs of Alan Six with endless gusto, and he adds vocals to everything the band plays, but I doubt anyone's looking at him while he's doing so because again, it's all about Adrienne. She's what makes Alan Six so good, and after a much too short of a set, the band wrapped it up to well deserved rounds of applause. Alan Six played a sloppy good drunk set, and made more than a few fans along the way while doing so. Good stuff. Check them out every chance you get. You'll dig them. The Maxies were up next, and a lot of people seemed hyped on their playing. I had seen them a while ago at the Dive, and didn't really dig what they were all about, which is just some total Pop Punk / Ska musical overload, but since I was there, and buzzed, with not a lot else to do, I thought I'd give the band another chance and check them out and see if it was just me or if the band just sucked. I figure it's just me, because when The Maxies started playing, the crowd started rocking out, and the wannabe's in the denim vests started going ape shit, and I just kind of stood there going 'Meh' at the whole spectacle. I don't get it but again, I seemed to be the only one who didn't, because everybody in the place was digging the band, so I just sat at a table chugging whiskey and taking it all in. People dug the Maxies. Lots of applause and yells. They didn't play for long though. Seemed like they played a short set to give tonight's headliners The Mapes more time for their sure to be debaucherous set. Holy shit was there a buzz in the air while The Mapes were getting ready to play. I'm not sure why, but tonight's gig seemed special, it seemed crazed. Maybe it was the Downtown location, maybe it was the extra high level of intoxicants that everyone in the place seemed to be suffering from? There was some company set up on the patio of Atomic Liquors giving away free shots of some gawd awful tasting whiskey, and people were taking full advantage of the free booze, which isn't the best thing to give to fans and friends of The Mapes... heh heh heh OK, so after what seemed like a zillion years, and with lots of jockeying for position from those of us dumb enough to be standing near the front, especially since all the foods and whatever else they were planning to throw at the crowd was in shopping bags by the amps, bulging bags full of dirty surprises, and it looks like the band is ready to start shit up. The mics are turned on, and The Mapes start egging the crowd on, hurling insults, preparing the crowd for the worst, like poking the lion with a stick, telling them what's about to happen, and nobody cares. It's not our first time at this retarded sexy rodeo. We can take it. Horns are being blown, drinks are being consumed in mass quantities, cameras are set to record, and Sherif Turlett starts cranking out the riff to Me So Horny, and the crowd lets loose a humongous howl of appreciation, and just like that, The Mapes are off and running. Holy fuck is this shit Epic. The crowd is alive and moving. The Mapes have a horn section tonight, comprised of 2 Local musicians so ashamed of themselves and what they're participating in that they had to wear masks and comical hats to conceal their real identities. ;-) They are making Me So Horny sound better than it ever has before, playing perfectly demented brass instrumental leads during the song and the crowd is eating it all up, jumping around, dancing around, just loosing their minds to this musical malady that The Mapes are putting out there. People are tossing around full rolls of toilet paper, and other people are picking them up just as quickly as they hit the ground and throwing them right back in the air, and the rolls of paper are crisscrossing the crowd, like a fibrous pie crust topping, which is only adding to the spectacle. Band members have no idea of what's going on. They cant hear a thing, and they don't seem to care. They're too busy watching the crowd and the craziness that's going on. Full bags of confetti are being unleashed onto the crowd, and it's so thick in the air that it's hard to breathe. It's controlled chaos within a 30 foot area, with technical difficulties to make things awkward, and I'm loving every minute of it. I always do. :-) Captain Whiskey is powering things along behind the drum kit, and the rest of the Mapes just seem to try to follow along. Haywood J. Blowme is climbing on top of his guitar amp, taking in all the chaos with a huge grin on his drunken face, and the band is just plowing through one classic song after another, playing an incredibly sharp and extra fast version of Voltron that was a joy to my ears. It's auto-destructive art, and The Mapes are the Masters at it. The madness had to slow down sometime. It couldn't go along at the pace and level it was for the first half of The Mapes set. No fucking way. The band area is a mess. The crowd area is no better. There's food stuff, flour, fluids, wasted booze, and mounds and mounds of paper everywhere; both confetti and shredded. As the band is settling the crowd down with their slow ballad I Hope You're Just Getting Fat, some brain dead genius (aka Clay) decides to add a little fire to the nights festivities, with lighter fluid on his ride cymbal no less, so just when the band is coming back into the song at the fast part, Captain Whiskey is bashing away at this on fire ride cymbal, sending little balls of fire flying around everywhere, setting multiple little fires everywhere around him. The band finishes up the song, the crowd puts out the rapidly spreading paper fire that's engulfing everything it can feed on with lots of foot stomps and poured out beer, and all is well again. After that little almost disaster, it was all downhill from there, as The Mapes just struggled with one technical difficulty / minor calamity after another, but always winning, and never giving up. They played a few more tunes, ending the night (I think) with Reptillicus, which then morphed into some sort of drunken free for all jam sesh, very Flipper like, and despite the crowd relentlessly begging / daring them to play more songs, they didn't. The Mapes were done. The moment was lost. It now seemed that everyone was too drunk, or would rather be drinking and trying to get drunk, to even care about either playing music, or watching people play music, and so The Mapes called it a night, ending their yearly performance at Atomic Liquors the same as they did before, and as they always do - leaving the stage a huge, sticky, messy, sexy looking crime scene. I took it all in, savoring the moment, and then walked away and off to my vehicle. Perfect ending to a debaucherous night. The Mapes killed it in their own special, dementedly unique way. They always do. I love this band. <3 For more Pictures of Alan Six, please click here. For more Pictures of The Mapes, please click here. www.facebook.com/Alan-Six-834481553230243/ www.facebook.com/The-Mapes-138783816579/ |
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