Ludicra

Ludicra - Urban Guerrilla Zine b-day show in Berkeley, 2002

Photo by Sam Bortnick

Discordia

DISCORDIA - live in Mexico 

I used a song from their demo on the first Urban Guerrilla Zine compilation back in 2001 (it came free with a zine). This video looks like it was probably shot in the late 90s. Members of Discordia went on to play in bands like Bumbklaatt and Coaccion, both of which I booked shows for here (Bay Area) up until the late 2000s.

CORRUPTED

Corrupted from their 2008 show in Berkeley, which was one of the highlights from the 4 years that I booked at that club.  The night before Corrupted, Asunder, Amber Asylum, and Stormcrow, we had a show headlined by an Industrial Dance band from Sacramento, complete with laser lights and fog machines.  It had the smallest draw of any show I ever booked anywhere, but I took a chance knowing there was a Corrupted show the following night.  Not that Corrupted was the biggest show of the year, even though it was big enough to feel packed in the club, and the draw was large enough to justify the money we spent on things like posters (2 designs), homemade food for bands and volunteers (vegan and non-vegan options…no Lanesplitter pizzas), not to mention the guarantee for Corrupted, which I was personally responsible for if for some reason the show had bombed.  This was back when they were still doing 50/50 splits at that particular venue, and before bookers could pocket money on the sly by circumventing the traditional payout process.  That stated, we were able to cover the guarantee, posters, food, equipment to heat and serve the food, etc. because we’d raised door prices earlier in the year.  The basic door cost went from $5 to $7, but if it was a local band night you could still charge $5, and if it was Subhumans (UK), then you could charge $12.  It was all about being reasonable and open to discussing the reasons for wanting to charge more for a particular show, keeping in mind the history of the venue and the the principles on which it was founded, but not being bound by them.  

All of the food and the equipment used to prepare it was a byproduct of Thursday Night Booking, which started as a booking night for planning art shows, spoken word nights, and acoustic music events that would take place on Thursday nights (a dead night at the club prior to 2007), but it was also our way of kickstarting the food idea for shows, and we ended buying a lot of equipment that we later used to feed bands, volunteers, and patrons between 2007-2011.  I think the first time we went all out after asking the club for money was when Karen and Ale made homemade tamales for a Thursday night show.  They didn’t just make vegan tamales, but there were cheese and meat options as well.  I don’t remember the show, just the tamales, if that tells you anything. Thursday Night Booking was myself, Alejandra Nunca Mas, Karen O'Brien, Russell, Ariel Awesome, and Pat Libby.  From that crew, Pat helped me paint and prepare the club for Corrupted the Thursday before the show, and by prepare I mean we removed almost all of the lights and covered the remaining ones with red and blue gels.  Karen made food for the show, and I’ll always remember running into her on San Pablo Ave in Berkeley the day of the show.  I was out flyering and she was on her way back to the club with groceries from Mi Tierra.  Ariel and I worked the door together, and I remember at some point that night she leaned over and told me, “Nights like this make it all worth it.”

Alejandra is currently one of the organizers of Punks With Lunch in Oakland, providing lunches along with hygienic packs, female hygienic packs, laundry detergent and dog food to those in need.  For more info click here.

DARK CASTLE

Dark Castle from a show we booked for them in 2011 at 924 Gilman.

Photo Taylor Keahey

Flashback Friday

Poster for day one of Gilman's 20th anniversary, which took place on the last weekend in December of 2006. I was voted in as head booker about two weeks prior to this, and with two weeks left to go we had no show for that night (the two bookers who originally had the night kinda, sorta dropped the ball). Long story short, Ariel Awesome, Nicole Beyries, and myself booked this in about a week, which gave me a week to make a poster and flyer the Bay Area. Of course some of our haters (same 3-4 people that still talk shit today) talked shit on the entire weekend in the weeks following, like we had some kind of agenda with these bills, when in reality we all just felt a lot of pressure to not blow it, which could've easily happened.

1984

1984 - CRUCIFIX 30TH Anniversary, which took place last Saturday in Oakland, California. 1984 performed the “Dehumanization” album in it’s entirety.

SBITCH

Sbitch from Austin, Texas, by way of El Paso, at Burnt Ramen in 2001. Rampaging Insane Depravity Fest. Photo by Sam Bortnick

ELDOPA (1332)

ElDopa (1332) - full set from the 2006 December Bastards B-day Bash, which took place in January of 2007 at the Chop Shop (West Oakland). We did two B-day Bash shows that year because of a scheduling conflict with Gilman’s 20th Anniversary weekend the month before. Happy birthday to all the December Bastards out there!

SEE YOU IN HELL

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

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

OJOROJO

Ojorojo instrumental track from their split with Inflicted.  Ojorojo was an offshoot of a short lived band called Cancer Alley, that featured ex-members of Grimple, Econochrist, Animal Farm, and Multi Facet.  They released a full length on East Bay Menace in the late nineties, toured, contributed some tracks to the "Shit Gets Smashed" comp, and lastly there was the split with Inflicted.  The members of Ojorojo wasted little time before moving on to other projects.  Mark and Ira went on tour with a reformed Grimple, and then shortly after that we introduced Ira to our buddy Greg and those two went on to do a band called Brainoil with Nate Destroy.  Grant's new band was Talk Is Poison with Brian from Dead & Gone, Jim from Black Fork, and Will from Copout.  Jon went on to play in a band called Pig Iron with ex-members of Grinch and Fuckface.  Jenean was, for a very shot period of time, the lead screamer for Murder Takes No Holiday, which featured ex-members of Eldopa.  Ah, the East Bay in the late nineties.

GRIMPLE

Grimple...and Ojorojo rhythm section.  This was taken back in 1999 at "Bike For Beers" in San Jose, California by Murray Bowles.

ANTISCHISM

Antischism - All Their Money Stinks Of Death

"Senseless killing for corporate profit that’s their foreign policy"

ATRIARCH

We quickly cranked out this flier for the ATRIARCH show on May 25th at Gilman, and we'll be there to support the best show happening that night in the Bay Area.  If you haven't been to Gilman for a while, then this is a good bill to come back to since it's a departure from what the club's been doing the last couple of years.

NEUROSIS

On December 31, 2012 we attended an invite only NEUROSIS show / New Year's Eve party at the Oakland Metro.  Here's the announcement that appeared on the NEUROSIS Facebook page:

Neurosis shall perform live at the Metro Opera House in Oakland California on New Year's Eve, December 31st 2012 with special guests Kicker and Young Lions.

This will be a free show and almost all tickets have been issued as invite only. This is a gift from Neurosis to our friends, family and loyal supporters from the bay area to celebrate the spirit of sound that brought us together 27 years ago.

A small portion of the tickets have been made publicly available for pickup only, one per person, at two SF bay area locations. 

So, without getting into a full blown show review or critique of the night as a whole, let's just say that I was blown away by NEUROSIS' two hour set, which kicked off just after midnight and featured a great mix of music, old and new, even going as far back as 1992's "Souls At Zero" LP. Here's the set list from last Monday night's show.

I found a couple of videos online that were uploaded the day after, and I thought I'd post them here just to give you a sense of how things looked and sounded at the Oakland Metro. I'm certain that more videos will go up in the coming days and weeks, and I'll do my best to add a few more here as well. 

 The first video (from top to bottom) is "We All Rage In Gold", followed by "Through Silver In Blood".

Update 5.3.13:

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.

WORD SALAD

One of my favorite bands - WORD SALAD - played a reunion show at 924 Gilman in 2007, and luckily there was a video camera or two present to capture the moment.  This video in particular was shot by Dan Hashthrash / killthatcat.com

The WORD SALAD reunion shows that took place in the Bay Area back in 2007 came about because, going all the way back to 2001-2002, I was like a broken record when it came to asking these guys (mainly Jase and Sonny) to reunite the band for some huge shows I had in the works.  Both guys were in WATCH THEM DIE, a band I worked closely with, so at some point it was like open season when it came to pestering everyone about reuniting their former band.  Finally in 2007, Jase called me from Los Angeles and to my surprise he informed me that WORD SALAD was finally ready to play some reunion shows in California.  Stoked, I immediately booked them on a show I had on the calendar at 924 Gilman in Berkeley, then I called Scott Alcoholocaust who helped to nail down a second show in The City, and...the rest is history.  Don't forget that today's Throwback Thursday post was brought to you by the letter B, which stands for many things, but most of all it stands for beer!

GRIMPLE

For today's Flashback Friday post we have some shots from 1999 of GRIMPLE playing Bike For Beers in San Jose, CA.  All photos by Murray Bowles

YOB at 924 Gilman (Full Set)

In the summer of 2011, UGZ Presents breezed back into 924 Gilman and booked three shows: RORSCHACH, YOB, and POISON IDEA.  It felt good to be out there again, flyering telephone poles, record stores, tattoo shops, bars, houses, etc. - not just online, although we did that shit too.  All three shows were great, averaging around 350 paid, with PI topping out closer to 400. Guarantees were met, bills were paid, and itches scratched. 


Thanks to killthatcat.com for filming and uploading YOB's set in it's entirety.