Written by GE 138. I seriously cannot believe how GREAT this fucking show was... the bands were good... and the fact that soooo many people were just hanging out waiting for Knife Fight to play tells you something about how great this band is. They were definitely worth it. This was a cool gig. I thought I was late when I showed up at 7 but apparently Marco just said the show starts at 7 to get everyone there by 8, that crafty bastard. So I hung out with Pitt and Bryan and his gaggle of girls that surrounded him and his cool looking new band shirt and just waited around for the first band Jesus Fuck The Sun to begin. Both me and Bryan lamented about how we could have been playing this show, since Mr. Pitt was standing right there, and the only reason why we didn’t play this gig was ‘cuz he was going to that stupid Sex Pistols farce going on at the Hard Rock... boooooooo! Oh well... I guess this means that Bryan can go to his precious Radiohead gig in San Diego, which just happens to be the day that we’re playing with the $wingin' Utter$ & Youth Brigade. Phooey. When Jesus Fuck The Sun finally did play, I was kinda digging their Screamo Metal vibe, but I think it had more to do with the fact that their bass player was so cute than anything they were playing! lol She couldn’t play her bass very well, but still... I heard a couple of good lyrics every now and then and it was funny watching the drummer playing his ass off hitting them blast beats like he was. I was gonna take Pictures of the band, but I couldn’t stop looking at the bass player long enough to work my camera! Still, Jesus Fuck The Sun (or Paws Of Steel, as they announced while playing) sounded OK. They played a short set and the kids liked them a lot. After their set I went back outside to smoke and schmooze with all the cool people that were at the show. Me and Keil went to the store for some cerveza mas fina and came back and slammed them down as we both waited for his band The Weirding Way to play. Once they were set up and ready, the Weirding Way just fucking ripped through a shredding set of Metalcore Noise Thrash that sounded really really good, despite the fact that they have no bass player. I spent most of the set just staring at Keil and laughing out loud at some of the sick shit that he plays on his little tiny drum kit. And those mini-cymbals he uses for accents... hahahaha... Genius. I guess it was a good thing that he quit the Loud Pipes to join this one (as Bryan pointed out to him mid set). He seems happy playing drums, and he's so good at it dammit! Since this was the first time I saw the Weirding Way, after all the crazy things I had been hearing about them, it was good to see that they lived up to the hype. Jess is a madman up front and Cheeze just plays some crazy ass guitar licks that Keil just makes even more crazy with his blast beats from Hell! The crowd was loving every minute of it, and even though Jess was sick as a dog, and Cheeze was having gear difficulties, they played a great set. After the Weirding Way's set both Bobby & Marco told me that Knife Fight was like 80 miles outside of Vegas, and wouldn't be here for at least an hour... FUCK! Now what the fuck was gonna happen? Bobby assured me that the band would play, so me and Rick and Mike from Curl Up And Die and my personal theme music Judy went outside to kill some time... drink some beverages and wait for fucking Knife Fight! Everybody just kind of stood around partying. Since there was sooooo much time to kill while waiting for the rest of Knife Fight to arrive, not only did Jesus Fuck The Sun get up and play again, but there was also an appearance from the Mother Fucking Maniacs, playing without Hank, one of their lead singers, cuz he was either too drunk to play or he was too interested in the cute blonde with glasses he was chatting up to sing. In any event, Spencer took the reins and led the trio through a rather interesting set of Noise and Chaos that only the Mother Fucking Maniacs can do. They played and played and played, whether people wanted them to or not. It was funny when Marco & Bobby both tried to get the band to stop playing after a bit, and Spencer playfully refused to give up the microphone, keeping up screaming until the plug was pulled on the PA. It was a cool set, but even after all that, the band still wasn't here. The mood was starting to turn ugly. It wasn't like anybody was waiting to see Knife Fight or anything, right? You see this guy to the left here, beating the crap out of his drum set... that's Graham. He's also the guitar player for Annihilation Time. He reminds me of Jon from Clawhammer - he could be his little brother he looks so much like him! The reason why Knife Fight couldn't play as scheduled was because Graham decided to ride in the Annihilation Time van, which was overheated somewhere in the desert between here and L.A. Boooooo. He's pretty good as a drummer, but oh so much better as a guitar player. Think Greg Ginn on crack. He's the power behind Knife Fight's brand of old school Punk Rock, and a totally cool guy to boot. Or so Marco tells me anyways... heh heh heh. Anyways, after a bit the overheating van finally pulled into the Balcony Lights parking lot, and everyone inside piled outside, and after a round of apologies Graham went inside to join his band mates who had been waiting for him to show up for minutes, if not hours. Knife Fight set up quickly inside Balcony Lights and the band just fucking ripped through an amazing set that had them playing the entire first side of their single as the opening barrage against the kids who had been waiting for over an hour and were just going ape shit while the band played. The place was getting rowdy and people were getting hurt. Amanda made the mistake of wearing open toed flip flop sandals to this gig, and as soon as Knife Fight started she quickly sought higher ground, away from the pit that was just going full tilt. The bands classic Negative Approach / SS Decontrol sounding tunes are such a breath of fresh air in today's lame ass so called "real" Punk scene, that it's hard not to like them, and it's cool that people made the effort to check out this fantastic band. They were kicking ass and not taking prisoners. It was sooooo much fun to be amongst Friends who were singing along and circle pitting to the beautiful sounds that Knife Fight were spitting out... such Angry, Hate filled Punk Rock... it was like all Bliss and Heaven. I haven't been so hyped on a band in a long long time, and Knife Fight is definitely worth all my praise and adoration. Afterwards I tried to talk to the singer Jon about merch and possibly doing an Interview, but he was so tired and out of breath that he couldn't even stand, much less talk! The whole place was still abuzz over what had just happened, and at how short, fast and loud the band was... it was definitely a moment to remember... one of those I Saw Them Back In The Days kinda thing, ya know? Last but not least were Annihilation Time, playing their Blast / Black Flag style of Punk Rock that I didn't really care for, but some people at Balcony Lights really did, even though the band were hella sloppy and the singer was drunk and obnoxious and acting all stupid, blowing it big time. I loved it when Bobby Franks grabbed the 2 Heineken beer bottles that the singer of Annihilation Time was tossing around inside Balcony Lights (spraying beer everywhere... even on Patrick's schoolbooks) and throws them into the trash, only to have some drunken dumb ass kid grab the bottles out of the trash and hand them back to the singer, who looked mighty sad that they were empty. What an idiot. It's never cool to spray beer all over a record store d00d! I quickly grew bored of Annihilation Time and went back outside to socialize some more and gab with everyone else about how good Knife Fight were. After the show I met Chris Shakes while buying a shirt from Jon Knife Fight and watched Bryan and Gustavo try to out trick each other on their skate boards while I was just hanging around. It was a great night... everybody had a good time. I promised Rick and Pulsar that I'd give them rides home, and after dropping both of them off I drove to my house a happy man. If you missed this show, you sucked big time, and should be ashamed of yourself. Knife Fight just like, totally blew my mind. Literally! ;-) For more Pictures of Annihilation Time, please click here. For more Pictures of Knife Fight, please click here. For more Pictures of The Weirding Way, please click here. For more Pictures of The Mother Fucking Maniacs, please click here.
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