20. MAGNETIX – Drogue Electrique LP/CD (Slovenly) Clinically insane fun!

19. RICCARDO LUCCHESI – When They Are Dying, People Sing… CASS (Los Discos Enfantasmes) Superb experimental music from the RED MASS electronics wizard.

18. YUNG MUMS – s/t CASS (Scumbuzz) It’s no coincidence that this Vancouver trio has a poster of The Dishrags up in their jamspace!

17. RED MASS – Suicide / Crawl Space 7″ (Certified PR) BDSM Rock: Music to flog your gimp to!

16. V/A – Bloodstains Across BC 7″ (Mammoth Cave) 13 of my favourite local Vancouver bands each with a 1 minute-long song together on one slab of vinyl.

15. V/A – Daddy Rockin’ Strong: A Tribute to Nolan Strong (Norton) Nolan Strong and The Diablos songs are lovingly reinterpreted by contemporary artists.

14. BARE WIRES – Seeking Love LP/CD/CASS (Castle Face/Burger) My favourite band from Sled Island (saw them twice!) haven’t stopped touring all year. This CD on John Dwyer’s (Thee Oh-Sees) Castle Face label is the perfect soundtrack for breaking into your neighbours’ drained backyard pools with your skateboard.

13. JC SATAN – Hell Death Samba LP/CD (Slovenly) Heavy psychedelia from France. Every song is unexpected!

12. JACK OF HEART – In Yer Mouth LP/CD (Born Bad) Sexually depraved rock’n’roll from the South of France.

11. V/A – Turkish Freakout 2: Psych-Folk 1970-1978 (Bouzouki Joe) Another beautiful compilation of  rarities.

10. RED MASS – Drink My Blood/Freak Show 7″ (HoZac) They put out enough to get two releases on our list. This single is more of a palate cleanser in between the sonically intense offerings Red Mass usually puts out. Perfect tunes to get you bopping before going out and going crazy.

9. B-LINES – s/t LP (Deranged/Nominal) The fastest, shortest, tightest punk band in Vancouver have produced a perfect representation of their sound. There isn’t a song on this album that doesn’t get stuck in my head.

8. MARK SULTAN – Whenever I Want LP (In the Red) One of two simultaneously released albums (with Whatever I Want). MARK SULTAN still manages to up his game, keeping his work both fun and inventive.

7. THE BEECHWOODS – Party Time CD (Double Crown) Surprising twist, shimmy, and shake tunes from the teenstomp surf scene of California. The Beechwoods are super wholesome fun but I dig them!

6. HUNX AND HIS PUNX – Too Young To Be In Love LP/CASS (Hardly Art/Burger) Everyone fell in love with Hunx this year and for good reason. Seth Bogart isn’t just leopard print thongs and Glenn Hughes biker hats, he also writes insanely catchy and fun ’50s style rock’n'roll tunes with his Punkettes Erin, Michelle, Amy, and Shannon from Shannon & The Clams.

5. QUINTRON – Sucre du Sauvage LP (Goner) Double LP recorded in a nature preserve at New Orleans Museum of Art during QUINTRON’S Parallel Universe exhibit.

4. Bloodied but Unbowed – Special 3 Disc Limited Edition DVD (Tabata Productions) The main Bloodied But Unbowed feature on Vancouver’s ‘70/’80s punk scene is incredible enough on its own due to the sheer amount of documentation available on bands like DOA, SUBHUMANS (Canada), THE DISHRAGS, THE POINTED STICKS, MODERNETTES and others, but then director Susanne Tabata throws in two more discs with a shitload of bonus material including the TUNNEL CANARY documentary by Eric Lohrenz, a photo diary by local photographer Bev Davies, plus tonnes of music performance extras and a Vancouver punk family tree insert. Full review coming up in Mongrel Zine #11!

3.THE SPITS – V (In the Red) The Spits rule the galaxy.

2. BURNING ITCH – Satisfied 7″ (Goodbye Boozy) Perhaps the best to date of Italian label Goodbye Boozy’s One Side Fucking Records. Their singer delivers payload like a hardcore porno on FFWD.

And our number one album of the year is…

1. INDIAN WARS – Walk Around the Park LP (Bachelor) A perfectly pristine debut LP by country/garage band INDIAN WARS. Best LP to come outta Vancouver recorded in local studio Little Red Sounds. It makes my heart soar like a hawk.

We put together a guest mix for Get Bent, head over to letsgetbent.tumblr.com to listen!

MARK SULTAN
Whatever I Want LP / Whenever I Want LP / Whatever I Want, Whenever I Want CD
In the Red 2011

Listen to “Party Crasher” from Whenever I Want:

Two exciting vinyl releases by MARK SULTAN which are the result of  productive recording sessions titled Whatever I Want and Whenever I Want plus an abridged version of both albums issued on CD, all on In The Red Records. Please regard this review as “abridged” because if I had really picked these records over my head may have exploded and you would be in a coma from reading it.

Many of the tunes on both records are of the wonderful doo wop/r&b variety we’ve always loved to get from Mark like “Pancakes” on Whenever I Want, which is about the simple pleasure of making tasty pancakes in the morning. There’s also ‘60s garage and psychedelic music tricked out with strange time signatures, experimental passages, and jazz. “Apophis to the Slaughter” is a return to his garage rock combo days with LES SEXAREENOS, who played their first show in ten years at the 2011 Pop Montreal Festival in Montreal. Mark revisits MIND CONTROLS material with “Let Me Freeze” (MIND CONTROLS 2006′s s/t LP on Dirtnap is genius!) plus a couple of more punk songs used sparingly.On Whatever I Want, “Quit The Human Race” is so short and angry that before I could even wonder if LEE VING was a homosexual the record veers into new wave territory with a cover of ULTRAVOX’s “Just for A Moment” (from 1978′s System Of Romance LP). This song seems to be about a very rare and special moment that is fleeting. The music fades into in a silence as blanketing as a Montreal snowstorm. Thanks for unblocking my fear of ULTRAVOX Mark, I was only aware of Midge Ure and how lame “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes” was. “Repulse Me, Baby” begins with a calm and isolating krautrock synth interlude that reminded me of DAVID BOWIE’s “Sense Of Doubt”, an instrumental track from his Christiane F. film score, while “Calloused Hands” ends with a very SWEET sounding synthesizer solo! “Party Crasher,” a collaboration with Cole Alexander, compartmentalizes all what he’s trying to do with these albums into one totally amazing song.

Other guest musicians include Jared Swilley  fusing THE BLACK LIPS flavour into “Graveyard Eyes”. The video for that song makes great use of Christopher Lee’s bugged out red Dracula eyes! While the video for “In Future Worlds” on Whenever I Want has bubbling Gremlins! Plus Choyce (RED MASS, NIGHTSEEKER), Erin SPITS, and Danny from THE GORIES and others.

At the peak of their powers on SST, HüSKER Dü could blast out their albums as fast as Mark juggles his tours and various musical projects. For the amount of wild and inventive songs you get in the experience, both the Whatever I Want and Whenever I Want LPs combined equal the Mark Sultan equivalent of Zen Arcade.

A third release, the Whatever I Want Whenever I Want CD, is a selection of tracks from both of the vinyl releases with a great cover portrait of Mark painted by artist WILFORD BARRINGTON. Hearing the CD first, knowing there were two full albums of new material, made me want to know how this album fragment fit into the whole sessions. Whatever/Whenever acts as its own release, but I preferred the Double Penetration of both LPs knowing I was hearing all of it. That aside, the Whatever/Whenever CD completes a triptych of sensational music.

One of the best things about listening to Mark’s studio recordings is getting to hear more musicians and instruments playing simultaneously that aren’t humanly possible at his live shows to date. That’s not a slight on his live one-man-band performances, pared down but no less awesome because the shows are unpredictable and downright raucous! Compare for example the studio version of “Keep ‘Em Satisfied Pt. 1″ to the more stripped down “War of Rock and Roll” (free download atwww.marksultan.com), a 50+ minute live album’s worth of stuff recorded September 2011 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

With 20 years of experience under his belt Mark Sultan still manages to up his game, keeping his work both fun and inventive! For further listening check out the first 3 new releases on his own freshly resurrected Sultan Records label, including his 7″ for “Livin’ My Life.” (Bob Scott)

THIS REVIEW WILL RUN IN MONGREL ZINE #11. OUT JANUARY 2012

TROUBLE IN THE CAMERA CLUB: A PHOTOGRAPHIC NARRATIVE OF TORONTO’S PUNK HISTORY 1976-1980
Don Pyle
ECW Press 2011

For those not familiar, author/photog Don Pyle was the drummer for SHADOWY MEN ON A SHADOWY PLANET, CRASH KILLS 5, KING COBB STEELIE, PHONOCOMB, GREEK BUCK, and probably many others. He was a teenager with a taste for cool rock’n’roll when the Toronto punk scene emerged and managed to capture many of the Toronto combos in their infancy with his trusty camera. This book is by no means a documentation of all the Toronto and visiting bands from that era, but it gives a behind the scenes look at many of those bands that are still revered to this day. Toronto legends such as THE DIODES, THE VILETONES, THE UGLY, and THE MODS are all caught in their glory days by Don and his camera! Visiting combos such as DOA, TEENAGE HEAD, THE RAMONES, THE DEAD BOYS, and many others all get more than their share of amazing photos that just make you want to stop and listen to their music while browsing this book. Plus there are many candid pictures of the people/fans involved in the scene, which really brings everything to life. Highly recommended for fans of the late ‘70s punk era and a great companion piece to Liz Worth’s Treat Me Like Dirt: An Oral History of Punk In Toronto and Beyond (reviewed in MZ#8) as both cover similar ground. (Dave O’Halloran)

THIS REVIEW WILL RUN IN MONGREL ZINE #11. OUT JANUARY 2012

KING KHAN IN THE BEST OF MONGREL ZINE #1-3

KING KHAN INTERVIEW BY BOB SCOTT

This interview ran in the Best of Mongrel Zine #1-3 issue. Buy it here!

Old Gunga Din, a song King Khan sent me for the Best of Mongrel Zine compilation is by his new country group Khanwood Clarke. That’s Jeff Clarke (Demon’s Claws, Hellshovel) and Sean Spits! They need to raise $3000 in order to fly Sean Spits to Berlin by September 6th, 2011 to finish recording their LP at Khan’s Moon Studios. A Kickstarter page has been set up with a campaign video. I want to see this happen and hear more of these King Khan Kountry stylings! I hope he makes it there or they’ll have to record songs using the internet like Frank Black did and that won’t be as fun. It was a pleasure and relief to hear that King Khan is better after a much needed break and is back in top form ready to raise a shitstorm this year!

BOB SCOTT: Hello King Khan, nice to hear from you! Where does your appreciation of Country and Western music stem from?

KING KHAN: When I was growing up I used to think country music was embarrassing, as a child being brought up in the eighties country music to me was “funny” and not “bad ass”. I don’t know how old I was but Hank Williams Sr. changed that and opened my eyes to a much deeper world then what Dukes of Hazzard had introduced to me… not that i don’t appreciate a fine pair of daisy dukes on a lady. Hank Williams was as important to me as the Velvet Underground, and it was precisely those two artists that my little brother, little sister, and I shared a serious common love for without influencing each other. We kinda discovered that our Indian blood just gravitated towards the Velvets and Hank so much so that the first time we recorded together at Moon Studios in 2000, I thought we had invented a new genre called “velvet country”.

BS: You recorded Blind Boys of Alabama? Was that at Moon Studios Berlin too? What else has been piling up at your studio besides Jeff’s empties?

KK: I only hung out with the Blind Boys when I played at the Sydney Opera House and unfortunately they haven’t come over to record yet… hopefully some day… I saw them play the song “Jesus” with Lou Reed and it was pretty amazing. Since I had my nervous breakdown I went through one of the darkest periods of my life and wasn’t able to write any music for months. My brain was basically shut off by medications I was given at the mental hospital. Thanks to the love and support of my wife and kids I was able to really find out what my purpose in life is and like a phoenix rising out of its ashes I feel like I have come out stronger than I ever was. I have had an explosion of new ideas and songs. I am working on about 5 major projects…

The Black Jaspers, my scum punk band that I started in 2000 with Jasper Hood, is finally getting some respect…. Both of us are being flown in to Oakland California to do our first show ever with The Spits, Personal & The Pizzas, and Apache!!!! We even have an all-star line up with Russell Quan and Tina Lucchesi on drums, Darren from Supercharger on guitar and Oscar from the Gris Gris on bass… this is a serious dream come true and takes place in the end of July!

King Khan & The Gris Gris… yes I have officially reunited the Gris Gris and will be playing guitar with them. I have been very close friends with Greg and Oscar for years and I got them to reform and back me up a few years ago in San Fran. It is pretty funny cuz I never saw them live up until I got them back together and then they asked me to write the set list… it was like a dream come true. I have a bunch of songs that I have never done with any band that I will do with them. We will do a small west coast tour in July also with two gigs in Chicago also.

While I am in Oakland this summer Oscar (from the Gris Gris) and I have planned to do a cooking show with our favorite folks from the Bay Area. I also got in touch with Bobby Seale (co founder of the Black Panther) and Jello Biafra to come on my cooking show and do a revolution episode. Bobby Seale is the true master of BBQ. I couldn’t believe that he called me, he is one of the most inspiring people and to have him and Jello Biafra hanging with me cooking is gonna be great…. even though Jello told me he can’t cook. I said that I would like to film me and him making Jell-O… we’ll see what happens.

BS: Genius! You were dubbed Lord Khan by GZA, please tell me you’ll be MC-ing with him and his crew!

KK: I met GZA thru Fab 5 Freddy, who came to a KKBBQ show in Toronto and loved us. I got invited to a press conference that him and GZA were doing the next day in Toronto. During the conference Fab 5 Freddy gave me a shout out and we hung out a whole bunch after drinking bloody caesars with Gza. It was then that I proposed we try and play music together, so Gza invited me back to his hotel room on the top floor and I hooked up a guitar and amp (thanks Nyles from Moog Music). We smoked a ton of reef and he basically invited me to play as many songs as I could remember the next day. I never ever thought I would be dubbed a member of the Wu… but I guess I also never thought I would be cooking with Bobby Seale. The week before I met Gza I hung out with Cypress Hill in France. Their manager is a big fan of mine and invited me to come on stage and hang with Cypress in front of a crowd of 60,000 people. I was standing there smoking a million joints while they played. Sen Dog would just come and rap next to me and pass me a new joint.

Video by Janelle Hollyrock

BS: You had a good break I hope too. Everyone needs to chill sometimes. You had a brainscan, just checking shit out? I hope you are fine and enjoying parenthood and life.

KK: I had a full check up, mind, body and soul… I am feeling great and just chillin’… If anything I have turned into the sun with sunglasses on the Raisin Bran box…

BS: You played with the Shrines and DJ’d with Tim Warren on The Guilty Party Boat Cruise in the Venice Lagoon (Italy) in May 2011, what’s going on, is there a New King Khan & the Shrines album happening? You also played with Mark, that’s good to hear.

KK: New Shrines album is being finished now and should come out next February before the next booze cruise. Mark and I recorded a new single but I don’t think we will be touring together for a while… sometimes it’s better to just be buddies.

BS: Tandoori Knights are poised to tour with Bloodshot Bill in the USA this fall when he is going on his Comeback Tour, any Canadian Tandoori Knights dates planned? How will you be traveling? In a mobile deli I hope!

KK: We will be traveling in a mobile home called “LeperKHAN”. This tour will be the return of Bloodshot Bill in the USA so there will be maximum hijinxs. I will be cooking up tasty treats the whole way so be sure to come and support your Tandoori Knights…

Send me some Owls please!!!!!!

BS: I’ll get those Demon’s Claws Owl t-shirts out to you ASAP! Thanks!!!

BEST OF MONGREL ZINE #1-3 + CD COMP

(July 2011, 58 pages, 7″ x 8.5″)

CLICK HERE TO BUY

It wasn’t until MZ #4 that we really nailed how we want the zine to look, by decreasing the zine’s size from 8.5″ x 11″ to 7″ x 8.5″, dropping the expensive colour cover, and including a CD Comp with each issue. So we are excited to finally have our Best of MZ #1-3 out which has all the look and content our zine is now known for!

This Best Of issue is a digest sized zine with reprinted interviews from Mark Sultan (MZ#3), the last CPC Gangbangs interview (MZ#2), Bloodshot Bill (MZ#3), Rick Trembles (MZ#3), Cinema Sewer’s Robin Bougie (MZ#1), The Tranzmitors (MZ#3), and the Pack A.D. (MZ#1). There’s new stuff on here too, including a brand new King Khan interview, a new Storytime with Jeff Clarke, and an all new CD Comp featuring odds and ends we’ve had for a while that may not have fit on other comps. Click here for tracklist

(July 2011, 58 pages, 7″ x 8.5″)

CLICK HERE TO BUY

We are very excited to present… THE DEMON’S CLAWS LATE SHOW!

Unofficial afterparty with
DEMON’S CLAWS (Montreal)
TEENANGER (Toronto)
INDIAN WARS (Vancouver)
and TIMECOPZ (Vancouver)

All playing late! We’ll have free pulled pork sandwiches and/or spalumbos sausage sandwiches, cheap drinks, and tonnes of merch (zines, Red Mass prints, Demon’s Claws t-shirts and Primitive Hands/Indian Wars t-shirts, and 7″s). Only 10 bucks, you do not need a Sled Island pass for this show!

We’re also giving away prizes from Dick and Janes!

Friday June 24th 10-late at Concept Lounge (Lower Level 908 17 Ave SW, Calgary AB)

Friday June 24th 10-Late

And we are stoked to have an official Sled Island showcase this year too!

Saturday afternoon swing by Broken City for:
HUNX & HIS PUNX (San Francisco)
SHANNON & THE CLAMS (San Francisco)
THE JOLTS (Vancouver)
and THE MANDATES (Calgary)

There will be free BBQ on the patio for your hangover, drink giveaways, and $800 dollars in Dick and Janes prizes!

Saturday June 25th 1-6pm

SXSW JOURNAL IN MZ#10

WORDS AND VIDEOS BY MORGAN DONOR

My venture to the South by Southwest Music Festival began on a high note March 15th at 2:00 pm at the Vancouver bus station where a security guard made the international sign for toking up and asked me if I “had any weed”. He informed me that my trip to Seattle would be crossing a border and that “they aren’t like us over there”. No shit. When I think of the U.S. I think cheap beer, guns, and no healthcare, which my delusional paranoid-stoner mind translates to “somebody’s gonna get drunk and shoot me… where’s my travel insurance?” I think he was just trying to score. As I wasn’t actually smuggling any drugs the rest of my border crossing was extremely uneventful and my four hour bus trip was taken up with a last minute Spanish cram session to try and insure I would know when RATAS DEL VATICANO and INSERVIBLES were having fun at my expense. Bob and Janelle had scored me a press pass for SXSW and the only strong directive I had been given was “HANG OUT WITH RATAS AND INSERVIBLES ‘cause that’s what I was gonna do”, from Bob.

Got soaked through with rain on the way from the Seattle bus station to the airport. Probably shouldn’t have worn shoes with huge holes in them but I figured Texas was about the driest place they were gonna get worn before I had to surrender them to the false idols which are the Converse gods. I laid around on the floor at the Seattle airport for a couple of hours and then at 11:00 pm flew to Dallas/Fort Worth. On the flight the woman across the aisle from me stood up and promptly passed out and then the lucky bitch got all the oxygen a girl could want. Maybe I sound bitter but I had quit drinking for a month before heading to Texas as a sort of cleanse/training session so I was getting a bit desperate to reach my destination i.e. beer and inebriation.

The Dallas/Fort Worth airport is so freaking huge they have their own light rail transit system and Clinique vending machines. It was while crowding onto the mini train that I first started to see the obvious SXSW showgoers: Skinny jeans and ironic hair in abundance. No clocks in the airport seems highly counterproductive to me, but what do I know? I obviously didn’t realize the need for copious amounts of military/homeland security personnel. People in uniform were given priority boarding on the flight. This completely blew my little Canadian mind. Who knew that a willingness to kill meant you need to sit down sooner than a single mom with two kids in tow or a couple of senior citizens? They boarded half the plane, then unboarded because of improper barf bag placement or a missing engine or whatever. Then moved us to a different gate and we boarded a fresh plane. The flight was just long enough to get uncomfortable and then I arrived in Austin about 8:00 am their time on March 16th. Due to the delay I missed Nardwuar’s Video Vault and the chance to hang out with him. I was soon to learn that missing shows and having a hard time connecting with friends would be a running gag/theme to my trip. From the airport I phoned the hotel to request the “free shuttle” advertised on the website. The conversation went as follows,
Me: Hi, I’m a guest at your hotel and I just arrived at the airport. I’m under the impression you offer a free shuttle service?
Smartass Dude from Hotel: Who told you that?
Humourless Sleep-Deprived Me: Uh… the Internet?
Dude: Hahaha just kidding! We will send someone over as soon as possible.
Me: Huhn?

I got to the hotel and waited in the lobby for them to make up my room. Thank god they were willing to check me in early as at this point it was about 9:00 am and I had had no slumber in 24 hours and smelled strongly of Combos/Cornuts (I have a disgusting addiction to powdered cheese which is especially prone to rear its ugly head when traveling). They had this nifty little office with computer access so I made contact with MANIC ATTRACTS, DIZZY EYES and Vancouver’s resident party-dude Fraser With and waited some more. Ate an absolutely disgusting “continental buffet” breakfast with aplomb. It was free and that makes even used bandaids taste good to me. True story. At breakfast I saw my first “white Mexicans”. Dave Rata (RATAS DEL VATICANO) had informed me that if I dyed my hair I could pass for one of these phenoms which seem to be regular ass uber-trendy ultra-skinny North American rich kids… and I guess that’s what they are, the Mexican version. I don’t think it was intended as a compliment.

Around 10:30 am I got to check into my room where I promptly passed out face first for three hours before having a shower and heading into town. I paid $50 for a wristband that entitled me to ride a shuttle to and from the convention centre and the hotel from Wednesday to Saturday until 2:00 a.m. The shuttle dropped me off at the Convention Centre where I proceeded to have my photo taken, receive my press pass, have my camera tagged and pass up a bag of free shwag = download codes and shitty cds of bands I never want to hear. Ran into the first of many friends, Rory of SHIMMERING STARS. I paraded my jaded ass out onto the street where I was promptly assaulted by the sights, sounds, and smells of hordes of “the next big thing”. Shooting publicity photos, hauling gear in fedoras and shades, and everywhere tapping on little screens. Desperate for cigarettes, beer, tacos, and music that doesn’t create nausea-inducing boredom I started trying to withdraw money from various ATMs to no avail. I spent 2 of the only 9 American dollars (it’s always good to plan ahead when you’re travelling!) I had on a pulled pork taco and decided to walk and skip the cab from downtown to Trailerspace Records where the Burger Records showcase was being held. The walk was lovely once I was out of the downtown but was definitely marred by thoughts of “hmmmm, I’ve never been here before. What if I turn the corner and I’m suddenly a woman alone in the ‘wrong’ neighbourhood?” But hey, this is Austin, Texas not East Vancouver. At this point I did run into some creepo dude with a fanny pack who suggested I join him for a beer and shower in his motel room. But nobody tried to sell me dilaudid so I knew I wasn’t at home.

Trailerspace is just out of town and up a little rise and I knew it as soon as I saw it up in the distance. The area’s mostly residential but this little oasis of a record store has a pizza place right next door, a food truck in the parking lot, and another parking lot across the side street which was providing shade to half the band-shirt and jean short wearing masses milling about.

Upon arrival I immediately ran into old Ottawa roommates Craig and Pierre of the Bruised Tongue tape label, fellow Ottaweiners Luke Nuclear (WHITE WIRES, MILLION DOLLAR MARXISTS) and Kristina Smiff (PEACH KELLI POP). Also bumped into DEAD GHOSTS, BARE WIRES, MEAN JEANS, and the STEVE ADAMYK BAND. At this point Luke Nuclear made an attempt to explain to me how the free shows, free beers phenomenon at SXSW works. LUKE: Everyone just wants to party. And they’re going to party anyways.
ME: Who pays for the beer?
To which Luke responded with a shrug and a huge bite of his pizza.

Outside the temperature was in the low 90’s (just the way I like it!) but inside the record store it must have been a steamy 100 degrees. Coolers full of ice and beer were being replenished and emptied and replenished again at an astonishing rate and were on the ebb tide at this point so I missed my chance for a bit. Instead of beer, inside the record store I found my Vancouver accomplices MANIC ATTRACTS and Fraser With as well as the sorely missed Alejandro of DIZZY EYES. There was some teary-eyed hugging and kissing as this was our first meeting since his deportation from Canada six months prior. Nathalia (MANIC ATTRACTS, CHAINS OF LOVE, THE SPREADS) and I snuck away to girl talk and buy some cheap beer and smokes at the shop across the street. Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was standing in such close proximity to one of the most attractive women I’ve ever met, more likely it was the fact that I hadn’t had a drink in a month but that first beer hit me HARD and the second and third in rapid succession did me pretty good too.

JAIL, MEAN JEANS, WHITE MYSTERY, and a lot of other bands had already played that day but GENTLEMAN JESSE AND HIS MEN were the first band I got to see in Austin. If you don’t know them it’s sweet, sweet ‘70s powerpop brought to us by the former bassist of the CARBONAS. With them and the majority of bands I caught that week I got to watch their set from start to finish. Almost everywhere I went set times seemed to be restricted to a tasty 15 minute sampler which enabled me to catch everything without dying of heat exhaustion or spacing out into the land of stoned short attention spans. Next I saw AUDACITY for the first time. Four young dudes from Fullerton, California playing trashy garage with a variety of influences. Maybe this wasn’t them at their best… I had been expecting a bit more and got a wee little bit bored. Or maybe I was just over-stimulated and needed something a little more high-energy. At this point I was very drunk, giddy, and excited to be running into old and new friends everywhere I turned. Lots of laughing and hugging and drinking and yelling. I know there was a period of rolling around laughing with some of DEAD GHOSTS. I only know this because there seems to be photographic evidence in their online tour diary. I remember informing Davey Quesnel (MALE NURSE, STEVE ADAMYK BAND) that I loved him completely and cherished our friendship, after not having seen him for almost two years. Freaked out when I ran into my sweet buddy HAILEY POYSER (organizer of the SMMR BMMR festival in Portland). Around this time everything started to feel like the ultimate family reunion… if you liked your family, a lot. The next band I remember was APACHE and then a super hot, super sweaty, super short set from HUNX AND HIS PUNX. They couldn’t have played more than five songs. The crowd was one solid sweaty mass of bodies pushing back and forth against the band. BAD SPORTS played next, which was the highlight of SXSW for some. Skipped PEACH KELLI POP and snuck back to the hotel to pass out before KING TUFF went on, knowing I would get to see him up close and personal soon.

Okay… so… I spent Thursday morning wandering around getting pissed off and missing shit. Seriously pissed. Seriously missing shit. Psychic Lunch/CMRTYZ had a showcase that was supposed to be held in the parking lot of Cheer Up Charlie’s. It got moved because a “secret” STROKES show was being held inside Cheer up Charlie’s and was most likely going to overrun the CMRTYZ showcase. I made my way to the new location which was in someone’s yard in the Southwest section of town. When I got there, I found an empty yard with two palettes, drunk and sunburnt DEAD GHOSTS, Fraser With, and the FUNGI GIRLS… and nothing else. Not that I wouldn’t normally consider this a potential party… but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for from a show whose lineup was supposed to include CHEAP TIME, GUANTANAMO BAYWATCH, BUTTS, XRAY EYEBALLS, DIZZY EYES, HUNX & HIS PUNX, STRANGE BOYS, CHRISTMAS, THEE OH SEES and GRAVE BABIES. At this point I was a bit confused. Ty and Carlos (TYZ and CMR of CMRTYZ respectively) were loading gear into a van and moving everything to someone’s backyard down the street because apparently the cops had come along and shut them down. They told me to go down to the new location and “get the party started”. I’m not always a cynical bitch but at this point the showcase was already two hours behind schedule, had moved twice, and I had a hard time seeing how the cops weren’t going to come back and shut down the new party. I guess the fact that the show had been set up in a FRONT yard and was now moving to a BACK yard was the crucial fact that I overlooked. Assuming that shit was just going to get fucked up/busted by the police again I bailed and went looking for other shows. For the record, I was wrong, while I was off trying to catch HUNX & HIS PUNX at a shithole venue full of pitbulls, punk rock families, and screaming frontmen with dreadlocks, THEE OH SEES were blowing everyone’s minds back at the CMRTYZ showcase.
I went up to 12th St. to the Baby Blue Studio where GRASS WIDOW, CREAMERS, WEIRD TV from Olympia, and a compromised RATAS DEL VATICANO and INSERVIBLES would be playing with an assortment of weird/noise/punk bands. INSERVIBLES and RATAS DEL VATICANO are thee Mexican punks bands you need to check out. From Mexico City and Monterrey respectively, both bands were slightly fucked for their SXSW shows. It seems INSERVIBLES were drummer-less because of passport/visa problems so Rafael of RATAS DEL VATICANO was to fill in for their sets. Well, twelve hours before they crossed the border Rafael realized that his passport expired that very same day. Two great bands, shit. out. of. luck. Until Dave Rata (lead guitar for RATAS) decided he would play drums so that at least they could play the three shows that RATAS DEL VATICANO were scheduled for.

Once I made it to the Baby Blue Studio late on Thursday afternoon (the venue seemed to consist of a big shack with a can in the back) it was pretty sweet to sit down for a bit and hang out. I spent a good amount of that afternoon drinking beer and smoking Delicados (cheap, tasty, fast-burning Mexican cigarettes that Yecatl of INSERVIBLES informed me used to be smoked only by whores and criminals) with my new Mexican friends and the kids from WEIRD TV. Lots of jokes, most of them in Spanish, not too many at the expense of the only werita around (yah, it means white girl… or at least that’s what they told me) and lots of hysterical translation/interpretations. I would generalize that from my experience hanging out with my new friends that Mexicans are quite concerned with the issue of race. You would be too if you were the subject of constant racial profiling. These folks needed valid passports and approved visas just to visit the U.S. They were fun, open-hearted, silly, and great to spend a sunny afternoon with getting loaded and listening to music. This show was the ONLY show/party that I went to over the weekend where cover was charged, $5, not that I paid it. Every single other show that I went to was free. And I don’t mean free with wristband or press pass, I mean FREE. This show and every other I went to, except ONE house party, also provided free beer. Yah. That’s what said.

Got a little bored with the bands at Baby Blue Studio, lots of noisy experimental stuff that left me feeling old and thinking, “It’s too loud! What are those video screens for?” Couldn’t help wondering what was going on back at the CMRTYZ showcase. I got a text message from Fraser informing me that “shit is rad right now”. I took this as sign to make an exit with promises to be back in time to see RATAS play at the end of the night.

I made it back to the south end in time for the second half of DEAD GHOSTS stellar maniacal set. Mid-tour these fuckers still seemed to be having more fun than is logical, keeping it tight until a final collapse which resulted in Drew lying on the ground getting covered in beer. DIZZY EYES were up next and it was beautiful and bittersweet, just like their songs, to see them perform together again after six months of forced separation. Luckily the band put out a 7” on Hardly Art shortly before Alejandros’ departure and Steve Ferreira (TIMECOPZ, MANIC ATTRACTS) was able to fill in on drums as Jordon had just welcomed his first spawn into the world. Alejandro’s voice was slightly shot from partying/screaming/singing/laughing and maybe even a few tears of joy and Marissa’s vocals were loud and blowing out the speakers but somehow this just added to the heartfelt and dramatic feel of the music. After DIZZY EYES’ set, it’s about the time in the night things started to get right fucked for me. I was milling about waiting for QUINTRON to start when the aforementioned Steve offered to smoke a joint with me if I could find some papers. He knows my weak points. For the record, people in Austin obviously don’t smoke as much grass as people in Vancouver. I systematically asked each and every person I could find at the party for a rolling paper and had no luck. I eventually hit on a big group of guys who undoubtedly smoke pot but were more excited about the idea of teasing the drunk blonde trying to elicit a favour from them than in actually helping me. Eventually Steve found a paper and saved me from throwing a minor but most likely embarrassing hissy fit. So we snuck behind a trailer and smoked a joint, a relatively large one, just the two of us. I believe at about the halfway point Steve, who was twenty something beers into the night, told me to go ahead and finish it. Thinking this might be the only pot I would get to smoke for awhile I was greedy and stupid and already loaded and proceeded to get myself nicely blotto. Sucking back smoke and holding until it felt like the lights were going out. Stumbled back to the party, touched base with a few more friends — drooled into Hailey Poyser’s ear, literally ran into Aaron Kempley (BATTLE STATIONS) and then realized I was going to miss RATAS if I didn’t start booking it back to the north end of town immediately. I started walking east as fast as I could and ran into Nate (DETECTIVE AGENCY) who I hadn’t seen yet, big hug, brief chat, and then back on my way. I started to realize how messed up I was and decided to try for a good old-fashioned barf to sober myself up a bit. This has never worked for me. I can gag until the cows come home but I’ll never throw up. But as luck would have it, just as I was trying to give it the ol’ heave ho against someone’s fence, a cruiser pulled around and guess who they caught in their headlights. I straightened up and kept walking and right about then the paranoia kicked in. What if I get picked up by the police? What if all the police are crooked down here? What if they rape me? Where the fuck am I? Is this a bad neighbourhood? What if I die right here in the streets of Austin? Why did I get so fucked up? What am I doing with my life? You get the idea.

At some point between running into Nate/trying to barf/cops/paranoia I obviously missed Navasota St. which was my only frame of reference to get back to Baby Blue Studio. Somehow I got it into my delusional mind that turning north up any other side street would result in total catastrophe so I continued to walk east until I recognized something. It was a gas station all the way back downtown, where I purchased water and thought everyone was either reading my mind or about to kill me. Fun times! Eventually I got up the nerve to head north. Not willing to make any more detours I had to walk through the creepiest ravine imaginable thinking that death was imminent which wasn’t helped by crossing paths with several dodgy looking dudes and a creepy derelict man giving me an up and down and an “oooh yeah”. Finally made my way back to Baby Blue after walking through a neighbourhood full of funeral homes and mortuaries and writing a Nirvana ripoff song about it. Have I mentioned how high I was?

RATAS and the Monterrey crew were cool about me missing their set and were just happy to be hanging out again. Mostly ‘cause we knew they would be playing a house party the next night and I would get to see them then. All in all I was feeling pretty fucked up, paranoid, and bitter by the end of Day 2 and was up ‘ti 7 am being delusional about my life and trying to sort my shit out.

On Friday I made it back to Trailerspace for the first day of the Volar Records showcase. Just missed WHITE MYSTERY. AGAIN! But caught KING TUFF, a personal favourite, for the first time. Absolutely lovely set of poppy perfection with the sun streaming in behind them and temperatures in the 100’s. They closed with a hyper-speed version of “Sun Medallion” which makes me think they are getting damn sick of playing that song. The bands were all playing short sets (15 minutes) to keep things moving and maintain the attention spans of all of us beer soaked and heat stroked viewers. My camera lens was fogged up beyond belief from the moisture in the air of the record store but I got a few good shots and a solid video (comprised mostly of the bass player’s naked torso). Made presents of Mongrel Zine’s to KING TUFF, WHITE MYSTERY (at this point I had missed these guys twice already because of lineup changes), and STRANGE BOYS who were up next. THE VOMETTES also played at Trailerspace that day. These guys are fucking cutie bears extraordinaires. Two members of COWABUNGA BABES + a sweet little drummer = spunky punky beach party goodliness. Plus they closed their set with their sugary cover of G.G. ALLEN’S “Don’t Talk to Me” which put huge grins on all our faces. Although I did hear a good, friendly but anti-VOMETTES directed quote outside afterwards. One of the members of WEIRD TV informed me she was “sick of all this party-punk bullshit. I just wanna see a t-shirt without a fucking pizza on it.”

Left downtown and headed to a house party in the North End on 54th Street. It was fun to be out of the city with all its craziness and drinking beer in someone’s yard. I finally got to see RATAS DEL VATICANO play. Lead guitar player Dave Rata sat in on drums and kept things tight and fast, still taking lead vocal duties when necessary. It was awesome to get to see them live even if they weren’t in full swing. Bass player Violeta’s vocals bring such a strong dynamic and variety to the band’s sound. The kids in the living room of this small house went completely wild, thrashing into the band and each other with the only illumination coming from the flashing of cameras. INSERVIBLES couldn’t play their set, as they had no drummer, so they were off watching Ben Weasel punch girls in the face. Next up was SEX HAIR, which I thought were some of the best of the new wave of feminist punk I have seen to date. Then CREAMERS-thrashing hardcore that resulted in heavy mayhem. The cops showed up and briefly talked about breaking things up, told anyone under 21 to put down their beer… and then left us alone! This incident kind of mirrors one that Violeta, Joaquin (RATAS), Luis, El Borrego, Yecatl, Manuel (INSERVIBLES) Danny, and Adrianna told me about. It seems that the day before their friend Mika had taken them to the river during the day so they could relax in the sun and have a drink before getting back into the party swing of things. They were drinking Scotch out of the bottle and some of them were eating Wendy’s. The cops pulled up and told them that they had two problems here. One, there’s no drinking along the river. Two, there’s no glass allowed. So the cop suggested they pour their booze into their Wendy’s cups and they would call it a draw!

The next morning I did a brief circuit of Flatstock. This is the SXSW poster exhibit but it’s more like a trade fair than an exhibit of artwork. Met up with Hailey Poyser (SMMR BMMR) again as she was working there, had a quick sit down, sipped some water and pondered about what the folks were doing back home. Gave her a goody-bag and told her I would see her later that night. Booked it back to Trailerspace for Day 2 of the Volar Records showcase, got lost AGAIN! And missed RATAS DEL VATICANO AGAIN! The best part about getting lost was that when I would find Danny again and tell her what happened she would sincerely say, “You got lost? Where were you?”

Ran into lots of good Canadian buds on this third visit to Trailerspace Records, including personal favourites THE SHRAPNELLES and TOPLESS MONGOS, both of Calgary. These two bands had been on tour together for about two weeks at this point. Nic Greasy (guitar/drums in THE SHRAPNELLES, drums in TOPLESS MONGOS) hooked me up with a sweet/disgusting comic called “FACIALS: PART ONE” in exchange for some Mongrels. This 18 page comic hand-cut comic with colour-cover features some of the most bizarre and lovingly rendered gnarly little cum characters you’ve ever seen. AND I scored a TOPLESS MONGOS 7”. Only wish I could have seen these guys play but they weren’t doing any shows in Austin.

I was thrilled to see DAVILA 666 set who opened with a sloppy rendition of their cover of “Hanging on the Telephone” but then jumped into a more tight, consistent and I think longer set than a lot of bands I saw that week. Johnny the lead guitar player looked suspiciously close to heat exhaustion but nothing stopped them. The lovely harmonic female three-piece GRASS WIDOW from San Francisco were up next. These guys also have a cover on the NERVES compilation put out by Volar Records. They did “Walking out on Love”, at Craig Oliver’s insistence. And you can check out a video of them performing it at this same show on the interweb. I loved the drummer from this band. Her style was unique and consistent and sharp and I hope I get to see her drum again very soon.

PERSONAL AND THE PIZZAS capped off this afternoon show at about 7:00 pm with sweaty, greasy, cheesy rock and roll the way we all like it. A personalized pizza with a pepperoni peace sign was delivered at the start and slices were passed around for all.

Personal and the Pizzas at Trailer Space

I took off shortly after this as I had heard rumours all day that THE DEAD MILKMEN were going to be playing at a big venue back towards downtown. I piled into a car with Dave, Violeta, Borrego, Manuel, Luis, and Yecatl (the majority of INSERVIBLES and RATAS DEL VATICANO). This was not a large car, we literally piled in and they couldn’t stop teasing me about joining in with their love of reinforcing Mexican stereotypes. We drove around for a while looking for the show and getting Violeta to yell at random people in order to determine if we were heading in the right direction. We found the show but it was a huge outdoor stadium-esque event with an enormous lineup. You could see the stage from outside the gates and the absolutely enormous crowd that would be blocking your view of the band. I’m short, 5’4”, if I’m watching a band I want to be at the front or all I see is people’s sweaty backs and the occasional elbow before it collides with the top of my head. Although this would have been my first opportunity to use my press pass (wouldn’t have made any difference in where I was standing but it may have helped me jump the line). But at this point in the festival friends had already started dropping off and going their separate way and it was becoming obvious that we weren’t all going to be seeing each other again any time soon. I wasn’t ready to be on my own! There were already a bunch of punks piled up on someone’s yard across the street with a perfect view of the stage (the yard was up on the level of the second story of a house) so we lucked out and joined in. More beer and cigarettes and camaraderie ensued while we waited for my adolescent heroes to take the stage.
YECATL: Where do all this kids get their punk patches? How do they get patches for bands they like?
ME: Whaddya mean? They’re rich and they’re white they can just buy them at the mall.
YECATL: We don’t have anywhere to buy that kind of thing.
MANUEL: The Internet…
ME: It’s better if you make them!
YECATL: Yah!
ME: Come to Canada! We’ll make Rattle Can patches! We have stronger beer!

Just about then THE DEAD MILKMEN took the stage and ripped through a short set that sounded every bit as good as the cassettes I listened to when I was fourteen. Several girls snaked the line by getting thrown over the fence and bodies were flying in front of the stage too. “Bitchin’ Camaro”, “Nutrition” and the over-long rant about the state of the government were all my little DEAD MILKMEN-loving heart desired!

After this most of the Mexicans were taking off to see a hardcore band who I cared so little about I can’t even remember their name now. They repeatedly informed me that seeing this band would vastly enrich my life but I insisted I had to go see a bunch of screamy girls from Calgary. Mostly I just wanted to say my goodbyes and get out of there. It’s hard to make new friends and have a great time and then have to say goodbye, maybe forever. Plus I had just tried to have a sneaky piss in an alley and sliced my butt-cheek open on a metal pipe so I was a bit miserable. Lots of bad jokes, drunken tearful hugs and kisses. I said some sad goodbyes and got into a cab for the trek up to the Spiderhouse Ballroom for the PSYCHIC LUNCH/PLAY PINBALL showcase. Got their in time to see TRMRS smash around all over in various states of undress. Jumping off each other and the stage. The crowd was pretty sparse by this time. Lots of people were getting partied out but that didn’t stop us from enjoying SHANNON AND THE CLAMS, SHRAPNELLES, and MICKEY. Well actually I missed MICKEY’s set. And apparently it was fantastic. Too drunk, too tired, and I knew I still had one more day to go. I was definitely moving into “partied out” territory.

It is fair to say that my last full day in Texas, Sunday the 20th was by far the most debaucherous of all. I got up early (i.e. before noon) and scrambled into town to say goodbye to Marissa and Alejandro of DIZZY EYES. We had a leisurely breakfast of cigarettes, Bloody Mary’s, and a few tears, great way to start the day. Steve Ferreira then informed me that Beerland would be the place to be that day. He told me about an incredible lineup including REIGNING SOUND, VIVIAN GIRLS, STRANGE BOYS, THE OH SEES, and BLANK DOGS. Upon arriving at Beerland we were informed by the door guy that Steve must have been reading from last year’s schedule and/or fucked as not a one of those bands would be playing. However BARE WIRES, WHITE MYSTERY, and FERGUS AND GERONIMO would be. I WAS FINALLY GOING TO GET TO SEE SEE WHITE MYSTERY!!! As it was too dark to see a goddamn thing inside the bar I stumbled across the street to buy cigarettes… OUT OF A MACHINE (my favourite way!), stumbled back (I said I had Bloody Mary’s for breakfast), and proceeded to drown my mild sorrows in cheap beer and free Sailor Jerry rum with Brent from MICKEY, who was kind enough to give me a copy of his tape. Forgoing the proffered free frito pies (in this case just open bags of fritos with chili and nacho cheese poured in and a plastic fork) I kept on drinking and not eating. I talked to Miss Alex White and her brother and vowed that I would catch their upcoming set no matter what. Come hell or free drinks! Fraser With showed up about this time looking the absolute worse I’ve ever seen him… and I once found him passed out naked and bleeding from a skinned face in his bathtub at six in the morning. So we decided to go get a case of beer and drink it under a bridge! Made friends with some homeless dudes, compared SXSW notes, engaged in illegal activities directly under the police station, and headed back to the bar. Fraser had managed to keep his wits about him enough to keep us on schedule to watch WHITE MYSTERY. Or maybe it’s just the psychic connection he has with his redheaded brethren but we made it back to Beerland just as their set was starting.

WHITE MYSTERY were my favourite set at SXSW. I was drunk, I was happy, and they sounded great. This sister/brother guitar/drums duo are so infectious and energetic. Alex’s riffs are that perfect mix between compelling and catchy with a dose of psychedelic surreal big fuzzy red magical fro-tasticness. I love watching this woman play the guitar and their connection is palpable. They had been playing shows all week, in fact this was their 8th set in five days, and I thought they were unstoppable. Alex’s vocals could have been louder but muffled vocals is kinda of a given with the garage isn’t it? And that’s the only criticism I had of this awesome set played on the “second stage” (the floor) at Beerland. Let’s just say the rest of my night was awesome and better kept personal but did include a gentle warning from a file clerk that drinking at the police station might not be the best course of action.

I flew out Monday with a hangover from hell, a third-degree sunburn on my knee matching the hole in my pants, and a big dumb grin on my face. I ran into the Ottawa folks in the security lineup and got to have one last visit with them which included snickering at Matthew McConaughey who was seated at the bar and taking surreptitious photos of the toothpick hanging off his ear. I got in to Seattle around 1:00 am and Zack (PRISON, BATTLE STATIONS, THUNDER BUFFALO) put me up and listened patiently to my rattling on, he had already been home for a day or so. Took the bus home with a glowing feeling of satisfaction and went to bed for 20 hours… then got up and went to see TIMECOPZ play Rock and Roll Pizza Party at the Biltmore!

In conclusion, this is what I learned at the Hipster Olympics: Bring sunglasses, shorts, and presents for your friends, old and new. Pick a showcase for the day and stick to it. Or don’t. It doesn’t matter if you chase down bands or systematically plan things, because of lineup changes and mishaps, a lot of the time catching the bands you wanna see is just luck. Do this bitch on the cheap. Skip the wristband, drink the free beer and eat the free food and make friends with a local so you can crash on their floor. Drink water and hug and kiss your friends while you can because you might not see them until the next party. Wherever that may be!

PURLING HISS

Psychadelphia, PA’s Mike Polizze, the dude from BIRDS OF MAYA and the one and only dude behind PURLING HISS, really lowered the bar for DIY lo-fi on Woodsist’s ‘Public Service Announcement’ released around Halloween time of last year. This LP is great. Tons of shredding, experimental / instrumental bullshit in all the right places. The only problem is that it sounds like it was recorded on a Yak-Bak or a Talkboy. I don’t understand cassette recorder intimacy in an age of HD cellular telephones. Don’t get me wrong I’m all for analog technology but if I’m driving down the road and my tapedeck starts to eat a tape I’m gonna throw it out the fucking window, you know? It sounds ok now that I’m wearing headphones and I’m drunk, but after hearing “Run From The City” on the Daytrotter Session recorded last month (Mar. 2) I wonder why they didn’t record the whole fucking record this well. (Reverend Jay Poondog)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #10. BUY IT HERE