Good As My Word - ALL

What a weekend at The Dive.

First on Fri. it was Duane Peters Birthday Bash, where Duane Peter's Gunfight, The Briggs, and Spotted Dick all played in celebration. I didn't pay any attention to Spotted Dick, as I was busy shmoozing and drinking at the bar, but Dean loved them, and said they were the only band he was there to see, so there ya go. I queued up to the front of the stage along with everyone else to watch The Briggs tear shit up right after Spotted Dick was done playing. I don't know who's original in the band, who's not, but it didn't matter, because they were fantastic good. The Briggs are The Briggs, and they kill it every time. Enough said. Duane Peter's Gunfight were terrible, with Duane looking like he fell off the wagon, and mumbling about how "54 isn't sexy" and all sorts of other boring, non-sequiturs before the band played one note. When they did play a note I wished that they hadn't. The band opened with an embarrassingly sloooowww cover of Black Flag's Nervous Breakdown and I made a beeline to the door. I had waaaaaaaaaaayyy better things to do, like eat tacos and play video games. :-)

Now Sat., Holy sweet baby Jesus, now THAT was a Celebration Bitches!! There was fuck all for coolness inside the bar, as Angie explained to me that 2 out of 3 of the air conditioners were broken, so it was hot and muggy and sticky and just plain miserable inside The Dive, which just made it all the more better when the U.K. Subs fucking kicked the proverbial ass of everyone in the place. They played an incredible set, mixing a few songs off their new album, Yellow Leader, which was reviewed right here a few months ago, and which you can read by clicking right here, and playing some stunning gems from their vast catalog of tunes like Tomorrow's Girls, Emotional Blackmail, Stranglehold, and New York State Police, appropriately changed to Las Vegas State Police. They even did Down On The Farm - the Guns N' Roses version, as Mr. Harper explained that "It's a cover of a cover. We liked they way they did it, so that's how we play it now." Charlie Harper sounded fantastic, BTW - loud and strong, jumping around like a man possessed, double fisting brews the whole time while doing so, and Alvin Gibbs was playing one of the lowest hanging bass' I've ever seen since the days that Dee Dee Ramone walked the Earth. The Subs guitarist Jet has apparently been a fan of The Civilians for a long time now, I think he was just as hyped to see us as we were to see him, and he strutted along the stage and stomped around in his white Creepers and slung his guitar in every direction possible, all while cranking out all the classic U.K. Subs hits the band played. The Drummer they had was fan-fucking-tastic, playing a bit too fast on some songs and overplaying on others, but still, just phenominal to watch. The kid killed me, and I take my defeat at the hands of a better Drummer gracefully. ;-) Gawd, the U.K. Subs were amazing. I needed to be kicked in the face like that. It's been awhile. And then just hanging out with them afterwords, like nothing, was the best. Trying to decipher what Charlie, Kirby, and Trueland were carrying on about was one of the highlights of the night. Another was seeing some washed up self-serving self-created musical character and his marital punishment grovelling for free swag from the U.K. Subs after the gig. We can give you some of our shirts... we don't have a lot of money. Fuck off you Hobos! LOL

But I digress.

Fuck, this is turning into quite the little Gig Review, now isn't it?

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It was also the CD release party for The Civilians, a band I'm loud and proud about being a member of, and the Love and kind words we got all through the night was very appreciated. Thanks to everyone for supporting us all these years, rocking out with us, and buying all the swag that we sell because let's face it - those tacos don't pay for themselves now do they? ;-) Congratulations! to that lucky girl that won the Civilians prize package. I was gonna take a picture of her holding the prize up but it happened when I was elsewhere. It was nights like this that make all the band BS worth every aggravating minute. Again, Thanks! to everyone for everything. You reading this, you know who you are. <3

The surprise of the night was Dead At Midnite. They were really fucking good. First time I ever saw them play, and I was pretty impressed with what they were throwing down. I thought they were going to be puro Psychobilly band, but they're actually just a Punk Rock band with a stand up bass player. Kinda Rancid-y, but they remind me of The Generators, if you can believe that. Poor Lemonhead was busting his ass trying to keep up with those young guys in the band... LOL Very cool stuff, they were working the crowd hard, trying to rile people up, but it was just too damn hot in there to move. I had to leave after 3 songs to set my drums up but what I heard from Dead At Midnite sounded pretty good. I dug them. Click here to check them out on Facebook and become their friend and like them and all that ghey shit. They're worth it. And fucking Holy Hell - Brutal Resistance actually played!! LOL I saw them all there in the parking lot getting ready to play and I got hyped!! Unfortunately, since Trueland had forgotten the Civilians CD's back at the Dojo, I had to leave the bar to go back home and grab them, and thus, I missed out on seeing Brutal Resistance play, but at least they did play. I lost a few bets on that one. :-) And I couldn't even muster up even the slightest of interest in The Negative Nancys. Not my cup of tea at all. Their sound was thin and tinny and hurting my ears. I couldn't even fake an interest to take pictures of them playing, because I just wasn't feeling it. Super sugary sweetly ridiculous venomous Pop Punk played by a bunch of Rocker girls. Think Bad Cop/Bad Cop but not as talented. I'll pass. Bass player was cool though. She looked like she would be more comfortable playing in a Dave Matthews cover band though... heh. It was a spectacular night full of Punk Rocking musical goodness, and having the U.K. Subs headline over it all was something special. Fantastic night. Crazy weekend.

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