I seriously can't believe it... I was born on March 17, 1991. Back then, I was serving as an assistant duty officer at the Fort Bragg barracks... and just five miles away at the local art gallery, The Jesus Lizard was playing. I spent that entire night crying from the sheer frustration of it all. 😠
Yeah, true enough... I didn't want to pester him while they were busy packing up, and then he just vanished—so naturally, I didn't get a chance to catch him before things wrapped up. But it doesn't matter; as soon as he's back in the States, I'll drop him an email and we'll see what can be worked out regarding his trip to NYC.😉
Yeah, Kurt was absolutely losing his mind that night... At one point he actually ripped off his shirt and started whipping it around the stage—just going at it for a minute or two until those buttons (metal, I assume) smacked him right in his bald head a few times. He tried to dodge, but once he realized Korki had completely lost control, he lunged forward, nearly taking Kurt out with a guitar strike to the skull... Once Kurt finally snapped out of it and realized KK Nulla had totally flipped, the show just wasn't worth watching anymore. 😁
Back again—unloaded, eardrums intact, and completely sober. Man, that Heineken trash they were pouring at Paradise was absolutely undrinkable—couldn't even touch it. Thankfully, Ante saved the night with an incredible dinner on Saturday before the show, paired with about three liters of various young French wines.
First off—a massive thank you to the biggest jerk in the world—the legendary Pajdi Ici from Gone Bald. His hospitality was just like his heart: huge and sincere. You're the man. 🙏
Aside from dinner at Chick-fil-A this past Saturday, something equally spectacular happened the day before—though significantly less musical. We had lunch at his favorite Thai spot, an outing that ended with me wearing a third of a phenomenal "Laos-style" beef in thick brown gravy right on my pants. Thank god there was a Gap nearby; I’m set on clothing for at least the next two years. 😎
Let's go. The ex. Festival... this was my first one, and honestly, I hope it’s my last visit to the legendary Paradiso club—it used to be the gold standard for indie venues here. Right from the moment I pulled up, people were already telling me the place had gone downhill, but even they couldn't have prepared me for how much of a complete disaster it actually turned out to be. Total trash. Imagine this: you’re running a club packed with over half a million dollars worth of Martin Audio gear—a 52-channel Midas mixer, plus an endless pile of other overpriced hardware—yet the concerts in the main hall sound absolutely pathetic. 😕
I walked in and was immediately confused by the sound setup—they shoved the speakers under the balconies instead of hanging them right next to them. If they had just hung them, they would have taken up maybe four feet of space from a twenty-foot wide stage, and the audio quality would have been incredible. They actually did exactly that at the back of the venue where those four Martin Audio units are suspended—it sounds phenomenal—but naturally, they only use that setup for the house, techno, and disco nights. It wasn't until the very end of the second day, once The Replacements finished their set and handed the floor over to the clubbers, that I finally realized what was going on. They didn't want to block the view of the stage. They crammed the speakers under the balconies so that during those house and techno sets, the kids could dance right on the stage around the DJ, allowing them to pack as many people onto the stage as possible. 🙂
There was no other option—you had to crowd right up against the stage in the main hall to hear the music straight from the amps, the drums, and the saxophones. Thanks to that decision, I experienced one of the absolute highlights of the festival in the main arena when... andy i The ex. The guitars, along with... Paulom Lovensom I am ready. Send the text. Tony Buckom. For the drummers and the saxophonists joined with them. John Zorn i Kenom Vandermark (He was playing bass clarinet, by the way.) They unleashed a thirty-minute improvisational explosion—it actually reminded me of Peter Brötzmann’s legendary "Machine Gun" for a moment. But thanks to those two lunatics on guitar, they sounded just punk enough—pure Noisemakers energy—to satisfy the free jazz crowd, the noise-rock heads, and especially anyone who digs both. Honestly, for Tyler Grant86, Jason Rogers, and myself, this was the absolute highlight of Coachella. Most of the other bands hitting the main stage were completely crippled by catastrophic sound quality—so my second favorite show was actually the one where they didn't even bother using the PA system in that venue at all... they were The evens. Ian MacKaye and Amy Farina sent the vocals into a Fender amp—five drum mics fed into a small mixer, then routed through an effect pedal into a second Fender—while MacKaye’s guitar ran through a third amp entirely. To me, it sounded like a miniature, DIY Fugazi set. I spent half an hour just standing right in front of MacKaye, staring—completely mesmerized by every single move, grimace, or smirk he made. 😳
Everything else that actually sounded decent happened in the small hall—where they messed up the sound setup again by setting it way too high—but luckily the room was small enough that the volume didn't completely ruin the experience... we got absolutely demolished there by zu + John Zorn and neptune. We also had sets from kat the Replacements and jona langford (the mekons), plus wilfa pluma (dog faced hermans) and andya kerra (nomeansno). To top it off, free fall (ken vandermark, ingerbriht haker-flaten and havard wiik) put on an excellent show...
All in all, a beautiful festival held in a completely wrong location... damn hell
Laura Long5 said:Nirvana is the greatest metal band ever. Samurai metal. 🙂
Look, you could call it that if you wanted to 😎 but at their show at Apple, I acted so incredibly stupid that I felt genuine embarrassment afterward. 😳 Basically, lacking any self-awareness, I found myself mimicking movements from samurai films—just flailing everything around me. It wasn't premeditated; it was simply my visceral reaction to what was happening on stage—this chaotic blend of guitar noise and Japanese tradition. Those riffs that sound "metal" on the record take on an entirely different dimension live; they truly sound like some kind of samurai noise. Luckily, someone else in the crowd was even more foolish than I was, which managed to overshadow my behavior. Man, Kurt, oh Kurt. 🙏 😁
Even the guys over at Fork agree with our take on this record... I'll check back in with my thoughts once I'm back on Sunday... this is basically a business trip centered around the "6th Thirsty Ear Festival" 😉
The other guitarist from The Rock is hands down the biggest hillbilly I've ever run into in America... honestly, I still can't wrap my head around how someone like that even exists 🙄
It’s worth noting that this isn't some massive tour for dälek—they actually just accepted an invitation to play in Vienna and decided to squeeze in a few exclusive shows across Europe at locations they actually like. Honestly, my ego took a bit of a hit when they mentioned we were among their chosen stops 😳
Tonight marks the final show of the jazz festival—before I get around to posting the upcoming lineup for the club...
Nov 16 The Stooges Seattle
Nov 17 Acid Mothers Temple Osaka Seven That Spells New York City
Nov 29 Haymarket Riot Chicago
Dec 02 Terry Lee Hale Seattle
Dec 03 J Church Austin Ari-Pekka Nikolas New York City
Dec 07 Mambo Kurt 😈
Dec 09 Dälek New Jersey Bless you !!!! Toronto
Dec 13 Friends of Dean Martinez Tucson Casual Elvis New York City
I want to highlight one specific pairing: some of the loudest hip-hop acts on the planet meeting a completely burnt-out metal side project—which basically consists of almost the entire DMST crew at this point. Dec 09 is easily the strongest candidate for the craziest show we've ever hosted. 😈
I’m with you on this—I used to think Crnarić was just some reckless con artist, but after reading this piece in The Washington Post, it’s clear he’s a complete idiot, too. 🙂
Sure, they exist—but they play purely for the hell of it, mostly just for themselves and their inner circle. They’ve actually put together quite a bit of material over the last four years, though it doesn't look like they have any intention of ever releasing it... I was actually pretty stoked when Frank caught up with me downtown about a month ago and mentioned they'd be down to play a set.🙂
In my opinion, Why Stakla was the best American band of the nineties... they’re playing one of their rare shows this Saturday at the NYSE (maybe twice a year, max) and I can't wait to hear what new material they've put together...