WORD SALAD

Word Salad - Full set from a 2007 show I booked for them in Berkeley, CA

GODSTOMPER

Godstomper in Berkeley, 2008

IRON LUNG

Iron Lung from the first UGZ Speed Trials at Burnt Ramen in Richmond, 2003.

The following year we held them at the Slaughterhaus in Oakland, and then a couple of years later we held a few at Gilman, but even then I had to come out the pocket at first for posters, decorations, and trophies.  Thankfully Will Rutherford (who also painted the walls behind the Gilman stage for us) stepped in as treasurer at some point and I was able to get reimbursed for some of that stuff.  The trophies were from a spot in Fremont, and I used to drive out there from Berkeley to pick them up, usually a day or two before the shows.  Gilman was never that supportive of the UGZ Speed Trials, but there were always enough of us to win the vote.

IRON LUNG

Iron Lung - full set from the 2005 UGZ Speed Trials at 924 Gilman.  

Filmed by Paul Godstomper

UGZ Speed Trials

Here’s a Larry Wolfley photo taken at Burnt Ramen, and in the background you can see the top of a UGZ Speed Trials poster from 2002, the first year we did one.

DYSTROPHY

Dystrophy - Rampaging Insane Depravity Fest 2001, Day Three at Burnt Ramen Studios in Richmond, CA.

NOISEAR

Noisear - full set from the 2007 UGZ Speed Trials at 924 Gilman

SEE YOU IN HELL

SEE YOU IN HELL (Brno, Czech RepUBLIC) + LOTUS FUCKER (DC/Baltimore) - West Coast tour 2013

Santa Muerte

Santa Muerte t-shirt design for 924 Gilman, based on Brian Stern's limited edition shirts he made for the EXTORTION/IRON LUNG show that we booked, along with Alejandra "Nunca Mas" back in 2009. The Gilman design is basically the same, except for the band names that were removed, and the bottom half which was decided upon after 15-20 minutes of emails between myself and Brian. We raised over ten thousand dollars (for Gilman) selling t-shirts and tote bags of this design. I also like that this Santa Muerte image is synonymous with UGZ, and our involvement with the club.

P.L.F.

P.L.F.'s  crushing set from the 2010 UGZ Speed Trials.  2010 was the last time we held a Speed Trials show at Gilman, which had become home to the event after a couple of short stints at Burnt Ramen and the Slaughterhaus in Oakland.  The economics of pulling off an event like the UGZ Speed Trials finally caught up to us, so we've put it on hiatus until the particulars can be sorted out.  The cool thing about the Speed Trials shows were how completely independent and D.I.Y. they were, with zero sponsorship or even promotional support from the bands' record labels, just two or three people on their phones, computers, and in the club the night before painting, hanging banners, cooking food, and making it happen.  The turnouts were always around 300 paid, which isn't that big for a UGZ Presents show, but it was the perfect size for a UGZ Speed Trials show.  Thanks to Dan and Kill That Cat for filming this.

Rampaging Insane Depravity

This dude was feeling it!  Day three of the 2002 R.I.D. Fest, which took place at Mission Records in San Francisco. The lineup for this show was Brainoil, Phalanx (Seattle), Exitwound (reunion), Dystrophy, Voetsek, Black Market Fetus (Iowa), Thretning Verse (Los Angeles), and I'm pretty sure that Skarp (Seattle) jumped on as well.  Photo by Rick P.U.N.K.

CALIFORNIA LOVE

California Love at the Oakland Metro in 2005. We really hustled to find a venue for this last minute show (two weeks notice or something like that), which we finally did at the original Oakland Metro location on Broadway, next to the porn shop. The bill also featured Iron Lung, Unpersons, and Laudanum. Photo by Lars

DYING IN YOUR BEAUTY SLEEP

Dying In Your Beauty Sleep playing one of our “Back To Oakland" shows at the Hazmat in 2004.  Photo by Lars Knudson

FREEDOM DENIED

This past Saturday night I stopped by 924 Gilman to check out "Grandpa Fest 2013", which gave me my first look at some bands I was literally clueless about before then.  One of the new bands I was most impressed by was FREEDOM DENIED, who are ex-members of Plutocracy, Agents Of Satan, and the list goes on, with Dorian from Noisear on guitar.  Like I said, I was totally clueless that this band even existed before last Saturday night, but later I was told it was their first show (holy shit!), so maybe I'm only a little out of the loop?  Either way, that's enough typing, watch the video.  

50/50

50/50 clocking in at just under ten minutes at the 2008 UGZ Speed Trials.  Just a post to help you get over the hump this Wednesday.  Grind!

Back To The Present

Part One

I decided to check in with a few of the folks that I volunteered with at Gilman during my run as the club's head booker, and more specifically my fellow bookers who were there between 2007 and 2011, but I also threw in a security person or two, and a couple of Stoar workers. This is not meant to represent the entire staff of volunteers during those years, but rather the handful of folks that I personally approached about volunteering at the club, with one exception, but we'll get to that later.  

Max Montez

Up first is Max Montez, who was voted in as an official Gilman booker in 2009.  Max was already a known guy in the hardcore scene, and a very active booker prior to joining the crew at Gilman.  He is one of the most well liked, respected bookers in the Bay Area.  Max has also been a godsend to Gilman in the years since I stepped down as head booker.  From 2011-2013, Gilman experienced some of its lowest attendance numbers in a decade, but thanks in large part to Max (and the ability to charge more at the door), Gilman was able to avoid massive losses in 2011 under his watch.  Even in 2012, when Gilman did lose a substantial amount of money, it's important to note that the loss would've been significantly more minus the shows that Max Montez brought to the club.  How significant?  It's to the point that Max has probably bought the club an extra year or two before the shit really hits the fan.  

I've talked to two or three different people in the years since Max started booking at Gilman, who take credit for introducing me to him, but the truth is that I first became aware of Max back when Naoma was still the main hardcore booker at Gilman.  After Naoma informed me that she wouldn't be booking at Gilman any longer (which sucked to hear), I began to lurk hardcore message boards, and it didn't take long to figure out that Max Montez was the man.  Naoma backed me on the idea, but another booker who was already active at the club wanted to give it a shot first, so I waited to see how that panned out before hitting Max up officially.  By 2009 there was no question that we needed Max, and he's come through big time.

Max Montez: "Since Gilman's 25th anniversary at the end of 2011, I've finished school, gone through about a half dozen new jobs, and unsuccessfully tried to stop booking shows. I'm definitely less involved with the club than I was two years ago, but still book/coordinate about one or two shows a month at Gilman and usually a few others at various Bay Area venues. Other than that, I'm working on a novel (who isn't?) and my new years resolutions are to get in shape and stop player-hating."

Listen to this short interview I did with Max Montez in 2011.

Title Fight

Ceremony

As I type this (June 2013), Gilman looks set to experience one of its biggest months in years, and once again it's Max's name next to some of the biggest shows on the calendar.

Ale

Alejandra, or Ale as she's known to most of us, first got involved at Gilman through the Thursday Night Booking crew that I put together in 2007 for the purpose of organizing non-traditional events on Thursdays at the club, i.e. acoustic performances, spoken word, movie nights, cafe nights, and bake sales.  I knew Ale from seeing her at a bunch of UGZ shows over the years, usually alongside her sister and mother.  Ale was still in high school when I asked her to book at Gilman, making her the youngest member of the original Thursday Night Booking crew that also included Russell, Ariel Awesome, Karen O'Brien, Pat Libby, and myself.

Eventually, Ale joined Carlos Antagony and me on Tuesday nights, where she booked some of my favorite bills under her "Nunca Mas' banner.  In addition to her own shows, she was always down to co-book with other Gilman bookers, yielding some great results like the Iron Lung / Extortion show in the flyer above, or the Limp Wrist show in the video below.  After becoming a full time booker at Gilman, Ale began to bring a group of her friends around to shows and booking nights, and from that group we got another booker (Cassondra) and a stoar worker (Alina).

Limp Wrist

Alejandra del Pinal: "Since booking at Gilman, I've done vocals in two sick bands, MRSA (powerviolence) and No Fucks Given (Grindcore). I haven't booked many shows, other than with the bands that I have been in. I work at B-Side BBQ as their pastry cook and line cook. I currently live in one of the most music oriented neighborhoods in the East Bay, West Oakland, and I love it!"

No Fucks Given

MRSA

This Is Not A Step

IN DISGUST

San Jose's IN DISGUST, killing it at the UGZ Speed Trials at Gilman in 2008.  We booked In Disgust numerous times between 2006 and 2010, and before that both Uzi Suicide and Hostile Takeover.  Uzi Suicide was Jose's previous band, who played a bunch of shows we booked at various east bay venues between 2004 and 2006, including the infamous Slaughterhaus in Oakland, site of the 2004 UGZ Speed Trials.  Hostile Takeover was Rich's former band, and they played the 2005 UGZ Speed Trials, which was our first at Gilman.

UGZ Speed Trials were always D.I.Y., always independent (no record labels, no sponsors), and always all ages.  For the record, no one cared less about who the trophies went to than we did, and we're the ones who paid to have them made.

NO STATIK

How about a Flashback Friday post to help kick start a newer, more active phase of this blog, and the zine itself?  Here's an entire set of NO STATIK opening for RORSCHACH a couple of years ago (2011) at 924 Gilman in Berkeley, CA.



The RORSCHACH show was one of three shows that UGZ booked and promoted at Gilman in 2011 (along with YOB and POISON IDEA shows).  The profits from those shows equaled the amount of money the club made that year, which is a coincidence of course since there were other big shows booked that year by Max Montez and others, but without those three shows the club would've lost money in 2011, so we felt like we contributed a little something that year in spite of being mostly inactive in terms of booking and promoting.  Just as important as the money was the fact that we booked three awesome shows, all of them four band bills, and each one of them representing different musical styles and scenes within the greater scene.  Thanks to Dan Hashthrash for shooting and uploading this video to his Kill That Cat channel.

EXTREME NOISE TERROR

EXTREME NOISE TERROR live at 924 Gilman in 2008! That show (and tour) was definitely an adventure for Yapple and myself.  First I got A.D.T. a tour with Extreme Noise Terror, which is crazy, then Yapple's van (the van and gear for both bands) breaks down after a couple of shows.  Yapple rents a Winnebago or whatever, then calls me from the road with an update.  Tours going great, but Dean bailed in L.A., so Phil Vane (R.I.P.) is doing all the vocals, which is the norm it turns out.  I remind Yapple that I have giant posters hanging all over Gilman and the East Bay with Dean's big blonde mug on them.  So, right before the Bay Area gigs, someone tracks Dean down in L.A. and puts him on a Greyhound headed to Oakland, where he is met by a dominatrix, who takes Dean back to a dungeon located in the East Bay and expertly restrains him until the Winnebago arrives en route to Gilman. Long story short.