by GE 138

     I don't even know where to begin to tell you how absolutely SICK this show was... I really don't. Not only was Primus touring behind a new album Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People (which features the stylings of their original drummer Tim Alexander) but they also threw in as an added bonus the fact that they were going to play the entire Sailing The Seas Of Cheese album from beginning to end! That fact alone had me HYPED!! So after battling the regular rush hour traffic I got to the Joint just in time to walk around the place and to see if they had anything posted about cameras being allowed. Since I didn't see anything about it, and there was nothing written on the back of the ticket about it, I just threw my camera in my pocket and devised a cover story in case they asked me about it. I queued up with everyone else in line and walked into the Joint with no search whatsoever... woo hoo! What a deal! Or so I thought...

     I walked around and took a look at the stage set up... Primus had these 2 huge orbs suspended above the stage, and each one had a projector aimed right at it. And the stage had a lot of lights on it... reds... blues... yellows... greens... this was gonna be good! So I headed to the bar for the first of many Chivas on the Rocks... and after awhile the house lights dimmed and Primus came out to the strains of the theme from The Nightmare Before Christmas. And Les looked like a nightmare too! He looked like Al Jorgensen's bass playing psycho brother! The band opened up with The Toys Go Winding Down... and as I start to take some Pictures Security is all over me and they throw me out, telling me No Pictures Allowed. Just like that. They were being so over zealous about the whole No Pictures Allowed thing that they were kicking people out for taking Pictures of the show with their cell phones... I mean come on!! So anyways, after the first wave of us rebel photo takers were unceremoniously booted out of the show, I pulled the ol' get-kicked-out-of-one-door-go-back-in-through-another-one trick... and it worked. No search... nothing. All Security asked me at the other door was for my ticket stub, which I happily showed him. So I walked back in and watched Primus play some more amazing songs... and the crowd was going nuts for them. During My Name Is Mud I tried to take some more Pictures, and once again I was thrown out... this time a little rougher... with a few hostile words exchanged. Fuck this. I went back to the door I was originally kicked out of and walked right back in again... sans search as well. Hee hee hee. This was fun!

     Anyways, I watched the rest of the set before the intermission break. Yup, I said an intermission break. The house lights lit up half way and on the orbs they were showing these cool little propaganda films teaching you how to be a good little citizen, with titles such as How To Be A Drone and How To Better Serve Your Government. After a quick trip to the bar the house lights dimmed again and the crowd roared as Primus came back out on stage, with Les using this crazy looking stand up bass that had a huge lever on the top near the tuning keys that acted like a tremolo bar! It was looney! He used it to play Seas Of Cheese, the first song off the Sailing The Seas of Cheese album, and so it began. Primus played the whole fucking album, from beginning to end. And with the crazy light show going on... the holographic words floating around... the projector show... this was seriously one of the best shows I've ever seen. I was just wishing that I was on acid or mushrooms or something, so that I could enjoy the wondrous spectacle that Primus was laying out.

     And it was beautiful... Sgt. Baker... Jerry Was A Race Car Driver... Tommy The Cat... Those Damn Blue Collar Tweekers... they all sounded amazing... and with the extended jamming and a drum solo or two the set was waaaay longer than the actual album. And I thought the crowd was going nuts before... they were going even crazier now! Punks... Goths... Ravers... Jocks... Freaks... Hippies... all POGOING to Primus! No circle pits... no moshing... POGOING! I completely gave up on the notion of taking Pictures and just started jumping around with everyone else... enjoying the sights and sounds of Primus. And it was fun. And I didn't care. I've seen Primus dozens of times, and this was the first time that I've ever heard Les fuck up... not once but twice! The first time was during Is It Luck?, which wasn't that big of a deal, since the drummer was fucking it up big time. But the second time was a major mistake, during the complex intro to Fish On... the crowd gasped... Les yelled out FUCK!... and then he concentrated and played the intro perfectly. It was beautiful. And then that nightmare scene while they were playing Los Bastardos with people dressed like the Pope and the President all banging out the drum beat... it was definitely a sight to see. After a bit the show ended and everyone stumbled out and stumbled home. I woke up sore the next morning from jumping around, but I didn't care. I was still amazed at how good Primus was... what a deal! Great fucking show.

​Written by GE 138.

     ​Since I was hanging out with Tony Sloka on Saturday, I made sure that I wasn’t going to miss tonight’s show with Sloka and Thunderfist. After saying our goodbyes to Tony & Leena @The Club House, the rest of us made the trek to the Double Down after practice to check out the show. It was a good turnout for a Thursday night, especially considering that both bands were from out of town. Maybe it was because the Renaissance Fair was in town? We walked up just as Sloka had started their set, and I quickly went to the front and started taking pictures. Sloka is a punk rock trio fronted by our friend from The Top Fuel Kawfee House in Hollywood Tony Sloka. They play a mid paced style of pop punk that features lots of guitar playing and sing along back up vocals. They didn’t sound too good tonight, but I think it had a lot to do with the crappy p.a. they use at the Double Down more than anything. The one thing I did notice about Sloka is that Tony can sure play guitar! He was playing some solos that even had Jesse commenting on how good he is. They played lots of songs from their Slap Happy CD, including Do You Feel The Same... I’ll See You Again and Locked Out. It took me awhile to figure out that they were ending their set with the guitar solo from Free Bird... but it seemed to fit with the songs that Sloka were playing. Good set from them, and I hope they start to play here more often.

     After Sloka finished, we went to the bar for another round of Newcastle's and Sierra Nevada's, and then outside to get some air. Pitt had told me that Thunderfist were a good band, and I’m glad to say that once again he was correct. It didn’t take long for them to set up, and the singer /  bass player announced that we were about to get a little bit of Rock And Roll from Salt Lake City. And he wasn’t kidding! Thunderfist play a crazy loud and hard style of punk rock and roll, ala AC/DC... Zeke... and definitely The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs. They sounded really good, and I was impressed with the sounds they were laying down. Not as energetic as The Midnight Evils, but still, Thunderfist is really good for what they do. They played lots of songs from their upcoming release Evil Con Carne (which was mastered by none other than Jeff Dahl so you know it’s gotta sound great!), and the title perfectly matches the  Thunderfist sound! I totally missed this band when they were last in town (at The Cooler Lounge with Ill Repute) but I guarantee that I won’t be making that mistake again! They seemed comfortable inside the Double Down, and handled the crowd of drunks no problem. They even tried to get Pitt to sing Sonic Reducer towards the end of their set, and even though Pitt’s friends were trying to get him up to the microphone, he was having no part of it, so Thunderfist bluffed their way through a cover of the Dead Boys classic. Afterwards I bought a bunch of merch off of Mick the bass player / singer and we finished our drinks and went outside to talk to Tony Sloka and his cute friend before we left. Seems she was there during our whole The Top Fuel Kawfee House fiasco, and we all had a good laugh about the entire evening’s events... especially about that tweeker bitch from Hell! lol After a while we all said good bye and went our separate ways... good show from Sloka and Thunderfist .

For more Pictures of Sloka click here. For more Pictures of Thunderfist click here.

​Written by GE 138.

     ​Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting... or so some rich homosexual once sang... and this motto was never more true then at the Double Down tonight ! I used to love this bar, before all the trendy jock art weirdo's claimed it as their own, and it’s exactly because of night’s like tonight that I avoid going to this place. The tough guy attitude was just EVERYWHERE... and the fact that there were Hell’s Angels there didn’t help either! I went to the Double Down right after practice and talked to Jason the door man / Sin City Ghouls about last weekend’s Rockabilly Weekender (he said it wasn’t that bad, cuz not too many people showed up... hmmm.). He told me that they found their missing band member, and should be playing a show sometime soon, so keep a look out for the Sin City Ghouls! I’m gonna get around to reviewing their demo soon I swear... it’s in the pile of CD’s I have to review! I’m lagging... I know...

​     So the first band up is a local band called Bobrocks... who play a very early 80’s style of punk rock... I’ll leave it up to you to decide if that’s a good thing or not. Real simple... kinda catchy... good back up / sing along vocals. Nothing mind blowing, but still... not bad. The real point of interest is the fact that it’s a father / son band... how cool is that? The dad plays guitar... and the son plays drums. I thought that was really fucking great. I think Pitt and his dad should do the same immediately! lol I went outside after they were done to find Jenn from lvlms.com passed out in the back of Lenny from The Dirty Babies truck. Very strange site indeed. People were walking by and asking what she was on... heh heh. Me and Jaime and Lenny walked across the street to grab some Hostess Cupcakes and Suzy Q’s (hey - I had the munchies... I don’t know what their excuse was!) and as we watched this totally hott blonde chick under the influence of SOMETHING wander around the store I heard The Needles starting to play, so I quickly ran back to the Double Down to check them out.

     ​They weren’t bad... a real energetic Rock and Roll band... lots of Stooges / AC-DC / Rolling Stones influences... it just seemed wasted on this crowd of drunken assholes who were all walking around looking for trouble or looking for someone to fuck. And once the Hell’s Angels came in... I knew it was only gonna get worse. Or so I assumed anyways... I watched as The Needles played one good song after another to a mostly disinterested crowd... but The Needles were really good... like a less ferocious version of The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs... which isn’t a bad thing. I went to the merch booth to talk to them about Sunday’s show and to buy a shirt and a CD. They seemed happy to be in Las Vegas on a Saturday night... after all, they are from North Carolina! I wandered back outside to get some air and to chat with Anne and her very lovely friend Mercedes who was wearing her stolen C.B.G.B.’s shirt. They invited me to go drink with them at the Free Zone, but I declined, since The Dirty Babies were up next and I really wanted to see them.

​     And I’m glad that I did stay to see them, since the boys were on fire tonight... Rick was even jumping around! WTF! Lenny was beating the crap out of his ride and snare and Jamie was just banging his head and thrashing away on his guitar during Burn The Witch... County Jail (which Rick forgot how to play)... Up All Night... blah blah blah. The highlight for me was when they played Pill Box by The Joneses... fucking great song, but that’s pretty much par for the course for The Dirty Babies... they always amaze me with their choice of covers. And I like watching Kei playing his guitar and working his wah-wah pedal... always with a big ol’ smile on his face when he does. It was a great show for the band, who seemed to be at home with all the drunks and weirdos at the Double Down. During their set the Hell’s Angels in attendance found some whores to make out with and finger bang and just generally put on a porno show with... I was glad that they found something else to do than intimidate all the freaks inside. They left after The Dirty Babies finished (maybe they were fans?)... and I was glad that most of the other tough guys had left as well... although the vibe outside was just as shitty.

​     Seems some jackasses were lighting off bottle rockets and shooting them at the cars as they passed by... and the security from Tramp’s told them that a complaint had been filed... big whoop. Lenny & Jamie had already left, so I decided to leave before the cops came, or before someone whose car got hit by a bottle rocket decided to come back and have a few words with these assholes firing the shit off.  I said my goodbyes to Tony Sloka and Jenn and didn’t even bother to find Rick, who was schmoozing inside. It was late and I was tired, but I wished I would have stayed for 1/2 Ast... not to see the band of course but to witness Roy from The Black Jetts coming in and causing a commotion while throwing bottles at the band while they played! Good thing those Hell’s Angels had left! After all was said and done I heard that there was blood everywhere and some people cut up pretty badly from the fracas. Serves them right I guess for going to the Double Down on a Saturday night... seriously... what happened to this once cool place?

by GE 138

     Hmmm...it's always funny looking back at my notes when I'm sober. I'm sure they made a lot of sense when I was drunk off my ass scribbling them down, but in the sober light of the next day it all seems like psycho-babble to me. Doubles all night... Internet Radio... The Van... Pitt... Arizona Charlies grub... Brown beer from Eureka... LOUD... animals. So there ya go! That's my Show Review of the Midnight Evils! Heh heh heh...

     But seriously, I have no idea why some bands can draw people like shit draws flies and why some other bands can't, but in a way I'm kinda glad that NO ONE, and I repeat, NO ONE, was at the Cooler Lounge to see the Midnight Evils... even the people who were supposed to be there flaked out (Hank) but oh well. Their loss. I had such a great time when we played with them a few months ago at Café Roma that there was no way I was gonna miss their return performance to our fair city! So us Loud Pipes got to the Cooler at like 11, with our pal Rick from the Dirty Babies in tow, and we walk into the place and there's nobody there... literally. Fuck. I saw Curan (bass) and Jesse (drums) sitting at the bar and quickly sat down next to them and ordered up a round of drinks. I was talking to them and Steve (guitar) about the Tour they were on and how things were going and all that. They were super happy that we came out to see them play, and since the opening band didn't even bother to show up, it was basically up to the Midnight Evils to provide the night's entertainment, which wasn't a bad thing at all! So after finishing a few rounds, we decided to go out to the van to continue our proud tradition of getting really high before they play, and after a phone call and a short wait we had more than enough weed to get everyone in the Cooler Lounge high as fuck... twice! I never saw the Midnight Evils picture of our last session in the van... but to the left is the only picture I took that came out. Go figure!

     So after we were all somewhere on the moon, we stumbled in to drink some more and to get ready for the Midnight Evils to blow the roof off of the place! Fuck Yeah! Me and Rick and Pitt took our positions right in front of the stage like the fan boys that we are, the band set up their equipment and after a bit they just ripped through an amazing set of some kick ass Rock and fucking Roll. It was beautiful to hear and watch. Their songs are soooo good! I can't believe that their drummer Jesse writes the majority of their material... the man is a drumming machine! Pitt kept calling him Rat Scabies, which is so true... they have very similar drumming styles indeed.

     The Midnight Evils come from Minnesota, but you'd never know it by the Rock and Roll machine that they are... I mean, they are signed to Estrus for Christ's sake! I'm sure I'm not the first person trying to do a Show Review on the Midnight Evils  who was too drunk to remember what songs they played... although I do remember them dedicating ZZ Top’s Thunderbird to me (Get High/Everybody Get High). God I love this band!! It was so fucking cool to just stand there and watch them rip through some high octane Punk Rock and Roll... and I think it was somebody's Birthday tonight as well... which just gave us more reasons to be drunk and happy... and there were no hassles in getting any drinks either! And man, were we drinking like fish... lol. Boozing it up and rocking out to every kick ass song the band was playing... and they were playing them all for us and only us... all 5 of us there! I was in Heaven! After the Midnight Evils finished up their set, we headed straight to the bar and started downing double shots of Jack Daniel's and double shots of Jagermeister (double shots of tequila for Tony)... and I bought some merch from the band to help them out. At first they weren't gonna take my money, but I know that bands depend on merch money when they're out touring, so I pretty much forced them to take the money from me. And then we sat around and bullshitted... went outside and smoked waaaaaay too much weed... drank some more pitchers of Newcastle and even more shots of alcohol... we were all pretty blitzed out of our skulls when someone decided to go to Arizona Charlies for breakfast. I have no idea why but it seemed like a good idea at the time. So we went there... ordered a shit load of food (my part alone was $60! But I was buying all sorts of people grub)... made drunken asses out of our selves in public... Pitt and I ate some really shitty steak sandwiches... and that was that. We said our good byes to the Midnight Evils in the parking lot and went our separate ways. They told us that we'll get treated like royalty once we get to Minnesota... now the real question is WHEN? lol Great fucking time with the Midnight Evils... and sorry that I missed your shout out to us on the radio!

For more Pictures of the Midnight Evils, please click here.