Marshall
NOMAD
Marshall
Marshall
SMP
つう
From the dark frozen country of Sweden,
Entombed is back with their third gut-punching
new album, Wolverine Blues, a powerful, angry
and brutal collection with ten songs of furious,
grinding, vicious guitar riffing, thunderous
drums, and the angry coarse vocals of LG Petrov.
atbeda
On a recent tour through Canada and the
West Coast, Entombed found their way to San
Francisco, where I joined them for a Hellride
down to Southern California so I could see how
it goes on the road with such a band.
FRIDAY, SAN FRANCISCO
It was a cold dark night, and I was relentlessly
pushing through the streets of an industrial
neighborhood. As I spotted the shadowy theatre
ahead, I asked myself, "What kind of guys am 1
meeting? Are they scary individuals?" Then, as I
got near the door, that age old fear rose up,
"Am I on the list?" The rent-a-cop failure securi-
ty guards gave me the usual runaround, but I got
in. I had already missed the opening bands and
didn't have to wait long. The lights dropped
down and the feedback quietly began. It slowly
62
On tour with
got louder until it was screaming madly, and
then Entombed exploded into musical mayhem.
It was very heavy, and I could tell by the looks
in people's faces, they were as amazed as I was.
After the show I found my way backstage
and watched the band argue over the too few
beers that were there. I noticed everyone was
occupied except the singer, LG, who was just
drinking a beer quietly. I introduced myself, and
he said with a definite accent, "You're the guy!
Hey, this is the guy from Thrasher, yeah?"
"Yup, that's me."
So he pointed everyone out to me. Alex is a
big guy with braid-like dreads, Uffe had a girl
clinging to him, Lars, the bassist, has long black
hair and is pale and skinny, and Nicke, the drum
mer, is skinny, dirty blonde and wears glasses.
Nicke is the oldest one, being twenty-two. They
are all original members, but Lars wasn't on their
first album, Left Hand Path.
Nicke stated right away that he wanted to ride
my skateboard, and the manager and other
band members looked at me like, "You better
not let him ride it!" I wouldn't either. If he got
hurt, they would probably have killed me.
On the way to their van I spoke with them
about Sweden. Alex says he doesn't get to skate
much in Sweden, but he likes it. He snowboards
though, and probably in killer snow. The singer,
LG, drives everywhere. He says back home he
drives a Mercedes Benz, and they are so cheap,
his friend is a dishwasher and makes enough to
own one too. Free medical care, low cost of liv-
ing, Sweden sounds alright.
Wake up call was at 7:00 am the next day.
We were to drive from SF, past LA, to Westmin-
ster, in one shot. Chug some coffee and go. I got
to see them in total grog-state, half-zombified,
going through the motions, town after town.
Sometime in the night Nicke wrote with a big
black marker on the front of his shirt "Satan is
Super." He was expecting an MTV interview that
day and wanted to punk out.
SATURDAY, WESTMINSTER
WELCEBOO
It was flat, hot and grey in Westminster. Riding
with Entombed for three days I witnessed a few
sound checks. They know the ropes well, and go
through them like the pros they are. I never saw
anyone get mad at each other. At most the
manager would start to get a little frantic. This
was the first time I ever saw someone set con-
trols from the sound board. It looks basic but
overwhelming. A thousand knobs. Their man-
ager was a pro at setting the sound board up.
He had a multi-faceted job.
Six bands played first and I couldn't name one
of them. They all sounded the same, shitty. I
don't think these people knew what they were
getting. When Entombed came on, the night
woke up for me. Until then nothing caught my
interest, except watching suburban death metal
kids slam dance. The last band to play before
Entombed was Jesus freak metal, and they paid
bucks to play before Entombed. Once En-
tombed kicked into action there was no stop-
ping. The suburban nightmare pit started right
up, and the dual Gibson guitar attack cut the
crowd like a machine gun. LG's deep-throated
growling shook the girders, and Nicke's drums
were deep, thundering and loud as hell.
After the show I met my wonderful friend from
Columbia Records, who arranged this ripping
trip for me. Thanks Jocelyn! The band was
tired, and indeed I was too. They dropped me
off in the nicest hotel room I have ever been in,
and I got ready for Sunday and the Rip party.
SUNDAY, LOS ANGELES
Sunday was hot in LA. Typical. As we rolled
down Sunset Boulevard, we all saw the typical
LA sights. This one part has guitar shops left and
right. We noticed lots of nutso people, maybe
it's the heat, or maybe they're just drawn to LA,
but there is an abundance of freaks there.
We arrived at the Rip party at The Palladium
and I saw a familiar face moving (continued page 58)
THE
FRUMKES
"We want to deconstruct
the whole professionalism
stance, Kathy Wilcox announ-
ced after she pulled the suck-
er from her mouth and pushed
her skateboard back and forth
with her Converse. She is one
of four guitarists in the five-
piece skate punk band, The
Frumpies. Kathy, Billie Kaaren,
Tobi Vale (of Bikini Kill), and
Michelle Mae play guitar and
sing while Molly Nueman (of
Bratmobile) plays skins.
The Frumpies live in a city
where they have to decon-
struct the law to skate. There
is a No Skateboarding ordi-
nance in the soggy city of
Olympia, Washington's state
capitol, but The Frumpies
skated to the interview any
way. They skate for fun and
transportation and say they
aren't going to stop for some
retarted law.
Their latest release is an
import only single called
Safety First, a glorious din of
discordant strings and a defi
nite skate punk must. The
Frumpies describe their live
shows as chaotic and say try-
ing to tune four guitars is a
nightmare. But somehow in
the sea of noise and anger,
there is a melody.
Gender barriers exist in
everything, including skating
and punk. In Nu Skate Move-
ment 'zine, the female Frum-
pies say. "We are sick of being
insulted by the usual boy criti
cisms/suspicions/disses."
The Frumpies are strong-
willed, articulate, punk rock
chicks and a boy helping to
change the norm for girls in
society with loud music and
skateboarding into your face
and heart. -Tammy Watson
Dre Dog
Dre Dog, aka Andre Adams, is a
former Fillmore High basketball
star from SF who came out with
a dark and devious CD called
The New Jim Jones. I went
over to his mom's house
and we kicked it and faded
some skunk. Here is what
"The Coke-Snorting.
Chewy-Smoking Reverend
In Black" had to say
-Danny Sargent
How did you like school?
I went just for the basket-
ball. The coach was a cool
neighborhood OG from the
Fillmore. He was the one who
gave me the Dre Dog name.
When did you start rapping?
Basically in the eleventh grade.
I was always writing shit down in
class. My partners would check it
and let me know how it sounded.
What's up with everyone rapping
about the blunt?
I think it got out of hand. It will
probably fade out, everything does. I
think it is fine if you can smoke weed
and still go about your business. You
shouldn't be out there just smoking
weed and doing nothing, or think you
need a new high like snorting 'caine,
even though I talk about snorting
'caine. You got to be the judge of
yourself. You can't be out there snort-
ing 'caine just because I said I do,
same with weed. Choose for yourself,
not because other muthafuckas do. I
always tell muthafuckas that weed
slows you down, especially if you fuck-
ing wit that dank
How do you like to rap?
I don't freestyle, I like to write it all
down and make each verse sound
dope and make sense, just make peo-
ple say, "Oohh shit, sounds crazy!"
THE
MIGHTY
Bos
MIGHTY
TONES
SKA-CORE
THE DEVIL
AND MORE
featuring
"Simmer Down"
and
don't know how
to party
featuring
"Someday
I Suppose™
and
"Don't Know How
To Party"
available at all indie
record shops
in L.A.:
Middle Earth
Aron's
Bionic Records
in San Diego:
Assorted Vinyl
Lou's Records
Spin-Off Records
63