WORD SALAD

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

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.

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

NOISEAR

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

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

GODSTOMPER

How about some GODSTOMPER to get you back on track post what has to be one of the most callous, bullshit holidays ever (not here because Berkeley changed it to Indigenous Peoples Day, but the rest the country). This video is from a Limpwrist, Lebenden Toten, Bruise Violet show in 2008, booked by Ariel Awesome and Ale "Nunca Mas". Back in 2008, on most Tuesday booking nights (there used to be booking nights every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night between 7-10pm at Gilman...long story), Carlos Antagony, Ale, Cassondra, Pete Benumb, and myself would bring all the shit we'd been working on for the past week to the table, then try to figure out which shows Godstomper would fit on...joking, kind of...but for real, we did that a lot.

SKARP

SKARP back in 2005 at the Arcadia Skate Ramp Hotel in Oakland, CA.  The Arcadia Skate Ramp Hotel was a short lived venue in West Oakland that we booked shows at between 2004-2006.  We booked SKARP for the first time in 2001 at Burnt Ramen Studios in Richmond, CA, and I'm pretty sure that this was the last time we booked them.  It was a fun night and SKARP were as good as I'd seen them up to that point.  Photos by Murray Bowles

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 Two

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.  

Carlos Antagony

Carlos Antagony was the first booker that I asked to join me at Gilman after I was voted in as head booker back in November of 2006.  Carlos, like Max Montez, was already well known in the scene prior to joining the Gilman booking crew, both as a booker and a member of Antagony.  I used to attend Carlos' shows at the Danville Grange long before I really got to know him, but eventually we did become friends, and I always knew what he was capable of as a booker.  When you see flyers for some of those shows that he booked at the Grange, while he was still in high school, it's slightly mind blowing, but the fact that they happened in Danville!?  Inspiring.  Of course in the years after the Grange, Carlos booked at almost every all ages, underground venue in the Bay Area, so the gamble wasn't in asking him to book shows.  The gamble was asking a guy with Carlos' personality to be in the mix full time at 924 Gilman circa 2006, which was still very different than it would be even six months after the fact.  Let's just say that the club wasn't fully prepared for the Carlos Antagony experience.  There are too many stories and examples that I could write about concerning the non-booking stuff during Carlos' time at Gilman, but the bottom line is that Carlos walked into a club that had been drawing about a hundred paid per show (considered a decent night at the time), and booked four to five hundred person shows right out the gate. 

Carlos stayed for a few years, and in his own way he mentored some of the younger bookers, helping them with flyers and advice, sometimes questionable advice, but it was all a part of that Carlos Antagony experience I mentioned earlier.  I can't remember when Carlos stopped booking at Gilman, officially, but if you hang out at Gilman these days you can definitely tell that the energy that guys like Carlos brought to the club a few years ago is missing, and missed.

Post-Gilman show sushi with Carlos Antagony

Carlos Antagony: Since I stopped booking at Gilman, I realized I could put my 15 passenger Van to good use (since Antagony is no longer active), and started renting it out to bands like EyeHateGod, Fallujah, ++++, Badr Vogu, Intact, Feast, etc.  I have put all my attention into my screen printing shop WeNeedMerch.com, creating a network of awesome touring bands who rely on us to get them good affordable merch.  In the summer of 2011, my friend Jay da Joint (Pancake Lizard) and I found a sick ass house, right in the heart of Concord, CA.  Once or twice a month it turns into the Greenhouse Concord, which only does shows for touring bands, and I've had the pleasure of hosting some fat fucking party/shows for Blowfly, D.O.C., Total FUcking Destruction, Dreaming Dead, Cock ESP, Suicide Note, StoneBurner, Burials, and the list goes on.  Soon we will try to pull off the impossible, booking a secret Green Day show at the Greenhouse...in Concord!!!!"

Carlos Antagony X Eyehategod

Carlos Antagony X Jeffree Star at 924 Gilman

Carlos Antagony X Anal Cunt at the Stork Club (Fast Forward to 32:27)

Carlos Antagony X Terror at the Phoenix Theater

Carlos Antagony X Greenhouse Concord




Bobby Adopted

I can't remember where I met Bobby, but I think it was after I reviewed Psycho 78's demo in Urban Guerrilla Zine back in 2001.  Psycho 78 was Bobby's band and because I booked shows in addition to doing a zine, it was only a matter of time before our paths crossed.  Several years later, Bobby and his wife Anissa, along with their two kids, would be hanging out in the club's office, both during and after shows.  Just having Bobby and his family in the mix at Gilman made it a better environment, so I ended up asking him if he was down to do some booking.  Bobby has a very big personality in his own right, but by then Carlos had paved the way, so all we had to do was show him the basics, then turn him loose.  Bobby began to show up on booking nights, and each time he turned up with his buddy Jeff Armstrong.  I basically trained both guys to be Gilman bookers at the same time, but it was only after a couple of Bobby's first shows that I noticed what a flyering machine Jeff was, and so I asked him to book as well.  Bobby and Jeff booked together under the "Road To Ruin" banner, and although Road To Ruin shows were some of the best flyered at the club, most of the early ones didn't do well.  I was beginning to question my own judgement when Bobby called me one night and told me that he'd just confirmed the Zero Boys.  The Zero Boys!  I asked Bobby if he thought they'd be into playing back to back nights at Gilman, to which he replied, "I'll call you back".  Later he called back to tell me they were in, and that the Gilman shows would be their only on the west coast.

If booking a Zero Boys weekend at Gilman wasn't amazing enough, Bobby followed that up by booking a weekend with the legendary San Diego punk band The Zeros! 

"Some kid who books at Gilman Street just kept bugging Javier for the last two years or so to play, and finally we all just said, ‘Let’s do it.’" -Hector Penalosa (The Zeros) from an article that appeared in the L.A. Weekly

That 'kid' was Bobby Adopted, who called their guitar player Javier Escovedo every night for weeks, singing his favorite Zeros songs to Javier over the phone, in between asking him to reunite The Zeros for one weekend at Gilman.  That actually happened, and so did the reunion.

Self Inflicted Wounds at 924 Gilman

Bobby Adopted: Feels like forever ago since I was a 924 Gilman Street booker with Jeff Armstrong (during what Jeff and I have often called the “Jay Days”).  I still feel that booking at Gilman was a privilege even though sometimes people would tell me that I shouldn’t because “Gilman is a collective” or “if you volunteer, it’s your club”.  Gilman booking was the coolest, non paying, thankless job I've ever had.  I met some very cool people and booked - from what people have told me - some pretty legendary shit.  With Jeff right there having my back and Jay’s advice and direction every show we did was a success.

Since doing my time at Gilman, I have moved back to the East Bay from Santa Rosa and started playing music again with my new band Self Inflicted Wounds.  I don’t aggressively book anymore, maybe three or four shows a year.  I write music for me and look forward to just ripping at band practice. It’s a trip because the flip to that is when Self Inflicted Wounds get invited to play we kill it every time!  What a concept; dedicate more time to practice and less time on the phone and internet, and your band will sound better! Bye.

Bobby Adopted X The Zeros at 924 Gilman

Bobby Adopted X Zero Boys at 924 Gilman


Bobby Adopted X Tres Flores with Anissa

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

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.

The Slaughterhaus

Here's a Throwback Thursday photo that first appeared in UGZ #16.  Carlos Antagony and Loren Motor at the Slaughterhaus in Oakland, CA circa 2004.  Photo by Larry Wolfley

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.

IRON LUNG

Filmed at the first UGZ Speed Trials, which took place at Burnt Ramen in Richmond, California back in 2002.

This trailer has a very short clip from the 2007 UGZ Speed Trials in it. More specifically it has a don't blink or you might miss it cameo of Moses Saarni from CALIFORNIA LOVE unloading a barrage of blast beats. The graffiti pieces, which are partially visible behind him, were done by Will Rutherford the night before the big show at 924 Gilman.