Silver tabm
NOTES FROM THE
UNDERGROUND
Like mercury, an army of D&D players and metal-
heads poured from the surrounding faults of San
Francisco to have their eardrums damaged for life by
Queens of the Stone Age, Acid King, and Fatso
Jetson, all of whom are traveling to the experimental
moon that orbits Weed World. All I can say about Fatso
Jetson is that they played so fucking loud that the house
PA was fizzling like silicone from a ruptured breast
implant. The one thing in regards to the Queens of the
Stone Age is that they are serious about their sound,
which is a virtuous change from so many loiterers. With
a definite Sabbath influence, the majority being former
Kyuss members, they can play some significant rhythms
that conjure up visions of wolves. I only wish that they
put the guy on
key-
board behind a curtain
like the Wizard of Oz. If
you get a chance to see
them, ask your uncle who
works at the local airport
for those orange sound
muffs and stand back a
few thousand yards. Even
from that distance your
gutz will still get so rum-
bled you can just taste
that tripe...Also lurking in
the shadows of SF were
the absolutely hard charg-
ing Quadrajets. Even
though they had to plead
the cardboard stand-ups
to kick up some dust, the
Quadrajets blazed through
a powerful performance,
which is as rare as
Everclear in these hills. Like
Junior Johnson in the
pre-Nascar days while run-
nin' delivery of his dad's
moonshine past the Feds in
his Buick, these old boys
from Georgia will keep her
THE FIREBALLS OF FREEDOM
goin' all night at speeds that exceed what you're holdin'.
Their current record out on ESTRUS, Pay the Deuce, is a
must-have if you also enjoy the smell of fuel. -James
Jackson...San Francisco barnstormers The Loudmouths
have a new 7" entitled Spit It Out, their debut release for
702 Records. Needless to say, the thing smokes in the
screaming punk way that those kids like to rock. They've
also got a split 7" with Aerobitch that is equally
fine...Seattle is home to some fine bands and labels that
got overlooked during the big hype a few years back.
Now that the fuss has blown over like one of Godzilla's
wet farts, much of the talent remains. eMpTy records
has been one of my favorite labels for years, putting out
consistently cranking punk rock, including three dandy
new singles. The Drags" "I Killed Rock and Roll" is a
solid stomper of garage punk. Room 41 is eMpTy's
Japan card, and a speedy onslaught of trash punk to
boot. The shiniest gem of the lot is the 4-song 7" EP by
The Fireballs of Freedom. Landing somewhere
between the MC5 and Nation of Ulysses, these guys
fucking stomp. Their live show is not to be missed, and
I'm looking forward to their upcoming LP (with knob-
turning by legendary Big Boy Tim Kerr)...Also from
Seattle comes a split single with a bone to pick. Mark
Bruback, in Jello Biafran fashion, rants about the CIA,
hypocrisy and sweatshops, while on the other side,
Whorehouse of Representatives wail furious hard-
core. The single comes in an awesome booklet and
includes a pack of matches to burn down Niketown.
Punk and politics: a great combination! Another excel-
lent Seattle punk band is the Murder City Devils.
108 THRASHER
They've got a new LP out entitled Empty Bottles, Broken
Hearts, and it's a hard-to-peg screwball. Definitely punk
rock as all get out, but also writhing in a sort of Scratch
Acid misery, with keyboards thrown in in places. It's
their debut for Sub Pop, and also on Sub Pop is the new
Les Thugs LP, their umpteenth, entitled Nineteen
Something. Ethereal, melodic punk from France...
Sweden's Hellacopters continue to amaze. Two new
singles this month, and unfortunately the a-sides are
culled from their second LP. Still, they are essential, and
the b-sides are cool: "Her Strut" and "Rockhammer," the
former on the more rockin' side, the latter showing their
capacity for dirge. Another stompin' Swedish band is
The Stomachmouths, although they do it in a much
nerdier '60s garage band style with a Kinks-y feel. Look
for their new single "I'm Going Away" on Got To Hurry
Records...Nashville Pussy's got a new 7" that maintains
their Southern hesh rock-punk stylings. It's called Sock It
To Me, and it does... The Ladonnas have put out a new
LP, Rock You All Night Long. They're back as a four-piece
after a lineup change, and have taken a more "rock"
approach to their speedy Colorado punk, as the title of
the elpee would imply...I know they've been out for a
while, but I just got hepped to Jim Thiebaud's record
label, Adeline, and their releases from AFI and One
Man Army. AFI plays classic hard-hitting heavy hard-
core, gut-wrenching! One
Black, Sun Ra and The Fire Engines, this could be the
soundtrack for your LSD flashback-inspired nightmares!
-Wez Lundry...The hip hop tour known as Smokin'
Grooves '98 did not start well for me. I discovered upon
arrival that I had missed Gang Starr's performance
while driving back and forth on Highway 24 just outside
San Francisco trying to find the exit for the Concord
Pavilion. Since the thought of seeing GURU and
Premier live and uncut was the only reason I hadn't just
gone home after missing the exit the first time, I was not
a happy kid by the time I paid seven dollars to park.
Busta Rhymes and his Flipmode Squad were finishing
up with their standard hyper antics when we sat down
and seemed to have done the crowd right. All I could
really get out of it was that Busta was wearing nothing
but black boxer brief type things as he was leaving the
stage. After a superb 10-minute turntable assault from
Flipmode's DJ, Wyclef and the Refugee All-Stars took
the stage. Now, I think Wyclef is very talented and gen-
erally makes pretty good music, but what could have
been an excellent performance was obscured by too.
much "throw your hands in the air" and "how ya'll doin',
San Francisco" type stuff. I don't think he did one com-
plete track. Highlights were a surprise appearance by
John Forté and Clef playing "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't
Nuthing Ta Fuck Wit" and
the infamous "Shook Ones
Pt. II" by Mobb Deep on
his guitar. Canibus
showed up, added his
verse to "Ghetto
Superstar" along with Mya.
and Pras (sadly, Big Baby
Jesus was nowhere to be
seen), did his patented.
tuff-guy crouch and, of
course, talked shit about
LL. Whatever I wish he'd
at least pick a new topic.
The best part of the whole
evening came as Cypress
Hill's roadies were getting
the stage ready for the
herb-fest that was about to
overtake it. I had been
telling my roommate, who
was kind enough to
accompany me, that I was
considerably less than
enthused about seeing
Cypress Hill, and she said,
"I know. Seriously, if they
play 'Jump Around', I'm
leaving." After I stopped
laughing I told her that it was actually House of Pain
who did that song, to which she responded, "Well, what-
ever. They're all the same." All I remember from B-Real
and company's set was them taking hits off an 8-foot
bong and that annoying hook from "Insane in the
Membrane." Public Enemy closed out the show and
did a damn fine job, despite Flavor Flav saying,
"San Diego let me hear you make some noise!"
halfway through. There was another weird moment
when I realized that the 17-year-old blonde girl next
to me wearing a strappy tank top and flared pants.
was doing some pot-induced hippie dance to
Man Army's Dead End Streets THE HOUSE PA. WAS FIZZLING LIKE SILICONE
is a killer LP of '70s-inspired
P-U-N-K (I hear SLF and
Clash...) that is most pleas-
ing to the ear. Seek these out
FROM A RUPTURED BREAST IMPLANT
and buy, stoogel... Of late-'70s sounding punk bands from
the Bay Area, Rancid is seriously following the Clash
route, twenty years after the fact. Life Won't Wait has lots
of Rancid's bass-busy punk, but also includes some reg-
gae and ska influenced numbers, and they've brought in
a bunch of guest musicians to play on nearly every
track; too many to name here. But is the Wil Wheaton
of track 21 the former Wesley Crusher from Star Trek?
Will Rancid next turn to dub mixes?...Last but not least, I
received a demo tape from a band called Giant Sucking
Sound. This s some severely demented shit put out by,
Major Dust and Dirk Blade, recorded in the brain-bak-
ing heat of Arizona on a four track. Elements of Big
"Welcome to the Terrordome," but I got over it.
Chuck D talked about his vision of "the solidification
of the hip-hop mind," and Flavor was his usual freaky
self, making his stage entrance wearing some sort of
bright yellow suit and an oversized mouse mask, com-
plete with the requisite clock around his neck.
Terminator X generally ruled the wheels of steel,
reminding everyone that PE has been doing this since
'87. They did all the old shit that everybody knows and
put on a great show. The wagon train out of the park-
ing lot was fairly painless, and I listened to Gang Starr
on the way home, pretending I hadn't missed what I'm
sure was the best part of the evening. -Jen Houghton
metrising
D
SilverTab