Written by GE 138.

This gig was a benefit of some sorts, for wayward kids with no skateboards or something like that, and a bunch of people came together to make this event happen and to buy said kids some much needed skateboard and safety equipment and whatnot. The skateboard community was well represented, with various Skaters, either Pros, Locals, or Amateurs, were all in attendance, and a half pipe was provided by Dean and Blue Tile Lounge Events, naturally, and the early part of the evening was spent raging full on the ramp. I took a few photos of Bob in action, mostly out of boredom, and my girl and I were just chillaxing around the place, checking out the artwork both inside and out, waiting for some band, any band, to get up on the stage and start making some noise.

First up on the bill was The Swamp Gospel, a spooky, blues tinged, voodoo rock trio from Hell that was there to heal the Sick and save the Sinners. They're lead by a sinister looking preacher man of sorts who was playing a fire engine red hollow body guitar and riffing and wailing away on it like a man possessed, all the while singing and screaming and howling into the microphone too. The female bass player was sporting a Priest's collar and rocking out off to the side, playing some rumbling bass runs, and the drummer supplying the beat is Lenny, ex-Dirty Babies drummer extraordinaire, who's death march drumming is perfectly suited for what this band is doing. People were gradually coming forward from the darkness to get closer to the band, to better listen to the message that was being put forward, or just to get some of the free spirits the Reverend was handing out before launching into a blistering cover of Strychnine by the Sonics. They played a few more songs before calling it a night, and they stepped offstage to some well earned applause. We grabbed some free demos from them after they were done. :-) If you're into the evil sounds of Link Wray, Charlie Feathers, or even Screaming Jay Hawkins, then check out The Swamp Gospel, a band carrying on in that fine, classic Rock and Roll tradition. Good stuff.

Crazy Chief was supposed to be playing next, but they weren't, because the word around the campfire was that they had to cancel out due to a Family emergency, so there was a bit of a lull in the band action. Anne and I walked around the place, checking out the Art on display, watching the skaters skate, and we were sitting inside with a group of Friends when I heard Fuzz SoLow's set kick in, and by the time I was able to get out back to where the stage was set up he was just finishing, so I kicked myself in the ass for missing out this time, but I know he's good. I've seen him before. Check out his psychedelic voodoo swamp boogie music whenever you get the chance. Unfair Fight was rushing to set their gear up on the stage, so I stuck around near the front of the stage, so as not to miss any of their set.

The reason why I was hyped on seeing Unfair Fight play was of the way Dan was jumping around beforehand. Like most Singers, he doesn't help move band equipment around, so while everyone else is setting their gear up on stage, Dan just sort of jumps around and stretches out and gets pumped up before hitting the stage. He looked intense, so I figured it was going to be a better than average set from the band. And it was. Unfair Fight just killed it, playing a set of Punk Rock goodness that was great to watch and even better to listen to. Maybe it was the night air, or maybe it was the crowd made up of Skaters, Artists and Downtown Hipsters, but whatever it was, Unfair Fight had their sights set to kill and just played an intense, massive sounding set which was highly energized and full of malicious intent. Chris' guitar playing was as sharp as ever, and Liz was jumping around all over the place while bringing the thunder down with her bass equipment. Pete's still my favorite drummer to watch, and Dan was yelling and screaming and getting all up in people's faces while evoking a reaction from the crowd, and the combo of all 4 was setting the bar pretty high for the rest of us that had to follow them on stage, performance wise, that's for sure. The crowd was eating it up, and every bit of applause they lauded out was well deserved. I love Unfair Fight. I've seen them dozens of times before, but this was one of the best performances I've ever been witnessed to. Yup! :-)

My band American Buckshot was up next, and we had been practicing hard for weeks to play this gig, going over the set list again and again and again to get things as tight and cohesive as possible. Why? I don't know, because once we got on stage, Dean was changing the order of the songs up and calling out for songs that we didn't even rehearse... LOL Rusty was looking like, well, a Rusty smurf, and he was playing as good as I've ever heard him, which ain't saying much, because I couldn't hear either Dean or Rusty very well. Not at all, actually. I couldn't hear a thing, so I just bashed the ever loving shit out of my drum set, looking at the lights in the sky, watching the guys on the ramp shred it up, and hoping that my band mates were in time with me. People seemed to like us, which was cool, and when Dean called up his nephew Jacob from Mersa to sing lead vocals for our cover of Bullet, things just sort of went to Hell for me after that and I stumbled to the end of our set, sweaty and smelly, sober and tired - as usual. Thanks to everyone for the compliments afterwords. It was much appreciated. :-)

I was surrounded by Friends and Family inside the Beauty Bar when I heard Mersa starting up on the stage outside. I dig that band, but I couldn't pull myself away from the circle I was in, so appy polly loggies to thee and thine for missing out on that. I was tired, soaking wet, and I just wanted to get my ass Home and pass the fuck out, so after walking my girl to her car, I headed back to the venue, packed my stuff up, said my good byes to everyone inside, grabbed Bob, smoked the last of my weed with Fuzz and some guy with a Spitfire tattoo on his neck, and then avoided the Po-Po's downtown on my way back to mi casa. It was a cool gig that, hopefully, raised some money for the Push Forward Skateboarding foundation. Hopefully the next fundraising event for it happens sooner than later. :-)

by Karl Bakla.

A punk show on a Wednesday night often results in more people in bands than people in the audience, so I was stoked to see a healthy sized crowd this night. The first band that played was the Pluralses, they played a short quick set of poppy Punk Rock tunes that were funny. They have a song called Who's Dick Do I Got To Suck, To Get A Blowjob?, comedy genius! Sadly the crowd was just starting to get their drink on, so they got a few heads bobbing, but there were no stage dives. I liked them a lot!

The second band was Masters Of Six, I guess this is what you would call "Artsy". The singer / bass player was a black man wearing a swastika t-shirt & sporting a pervert mustache. The guitar player looked like Michael Alig during his pre-prison club kid days. The band played slow tempo funky songs with perverted lyrics, such as putting your dick in it or some shit. I don't remember what the lyrics were, but it was catchy enough for Bethany to drunkenly sing-a-long. A lot of the people I talked to compared them to Flipper, fuck that… Flipper rules! The majority of the crowd seemed bored, but there were a handful of people that looked like they did heroin that seemed to enjoy them.

The Third band was basically the second band with a blonde haired woman singing, they were called Knuckle Fuck Cunt Shit or some shit. This band fucking sucked & not in a fun way! Sure I have been in my fair share of mediocre to awful bands, but at least you could tell we tuned our guitars and practiced enough to make music that was forgettable. This sounded like a bunch of 14 year olds picked up some instruments for the first time & started jamming. If that was the case it would have been brilliant, sadly these people were old. Sure, I hated every moment of this band's set, but the previously mentioned heroin addicts seemed to like it & they were doing their best reenactment of the Buffalo Bill dance. If Buffalo Bill is reading this, my answer is, Yes, I would fuck you! I'd fuck you hard! This band was no Q Lazzarus & the crowd wasn't treated to anything nearly as rocking as Goodbye Horses.  At the end of Kunt Knucle Fuck Shit Piss’s set they did a cover of the Christmas classic Santa Baby, but with lyrics updated to Dumpster Baby.

When Anal Cunt Piss Fuck were done playing, I wanted to leave. That shit was unpleasant, but I stuck it out anyway and I was glad I did because Eat The Turnbuckle combined Hardcore with backyard wrestling! Sure, I'm not usually one for bands with gimmicks, but these guys had the chops musically & physically to keep me interested. From the beginning of their set Eat The Turnbuckle unleashed a barrage of Violence, from barbed wire being bashed into one members head, to another member having a fluorescent tube smashed over his skull. A couple songs in and the entire band was covered in blood, fuck… Aids! Just as fast as Eat The Turnbuckle's set began it ended with a member of the band climbing up a ladder, jumping on top of the PA speakers, diving off, & landing on a guy that was laying on a door that was propped up with two saw horses, the two crashed through the door and onto the floor. The best comparison I can give this band musically is the Bad Luck 13 Riot Extravaganza or possibly early Integrity with a dash of Antiseen! If this band rips through your town or returns to Las Vegas I highly suggest showing up.