EXHUMED/THEORIES/TRANSIENT/THE SWIZARD SLAY A METAL MATINEE AT THE UPTOWN!

If you haven't figured it out by now, I DJ using the name, The Swizard. I DJed a metal matinee featuring Exhumed, Theories, and Transient at The Uptown in Oakland. I snapped some ill pictures. Check em out below:

Transient













Theories





























Exhumed

Friday Evening Mass Punk Communion Playlist 7/22/11 Ruby Room, Oakland

Black Sabbath - Sabra Caddabra
Graveyard - Evil Ways
Motorhead - Killed By Death
Red Fang - Wires
Big Business - Off Off Broadway
High On Fire - Fury Whip
Kylesa - Scapegoat
Every Time I Die - Wanderlust
Goblin Cock - We Got A Bleeder
Mastodon - Iron Tusk
The Sword - Freya
Kvelertak - Blodtorst
Turbonegro - Sell Your Body to the Night
The Germs - Lexicon Devil
Zero Boys - Civilization's Dying
TSOL - Wash Away
X - Nausea
The Alley Cats - Escape From Planet Earth
The Nerves - Hanging by the Telephone
Crime - San Francisco's Doomed
Eddie and the Subtitles - American Society
The Screamers - The Beat Goes On
Cortex - Mayhem Troopers
Bauhaus - She's In Parties
The Damned - Wait For The Blackout
Misfits - Horror Business
Circle Jerks - Live Fast, Die Young
Bad Religion - Fuck Armageddon...This Is Hell
Descendents - Bikeage
Adolescents - Amoeba
Dead Kennedys - I Kill Children
Black Flag - Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie
Agent Orange - Bloodstains
The Church - Reptile
The Violent Femmes - Gone Daddy Gone
Mission of Burma - Academy Fight Song
Sonic Youth - White Cross
Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Grey Cell Green
Social Distortion - Ball and Chain
Pixies - Velouria
Jane's Addiction - Mountain Song
Ozzy Osbourne - Flying High Again
Megadeth - Holy Wars...The Punishment Due
Guns N Roses - My Michelle
Queens of the Stone Age - Go With the Flow
Alice In Chains - Them Bones
Kansas - Carry On My Wayward Son
Judas Priest - Breaking The Law
Heart - Crazy On You

We Saw Bands This Week! Evergreen Terrace! Chelsea Wolfe! Liturgy!

Yeah...we go to shows sometimes. This is who we've see this week thus far:

Evergreen Terrace, The Metro, Oakland 7/19/11










Chelsea Wolfe, Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco 7/20/11






Liturgy, Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco 7/20/11









See you in the pit!

Friday Evening Mass Playlist 7/8/11 Ruby Room, Oakland, CA

Led Zeppelin - Dazed and Confused
Red Fang - Wires
High On Fire - Hung, Drawn, and Quartered
Serpent Throne - Wheels of Satan
Wolfmother - Joker and the Thief
In Solitude - The World, The Flesh, The Devil
Big Business - Focus Pocus
Doomriders - Come Alive
Graveyard - Evil Ways
Parchman Farm - Too Many People
Scorpions - In Trance
Judas Priest - One for the Road
Goblin Cock - We Got A Bleeder
Eyehategod - Sisterfucker Pt 1
Black Flag - Slip It In
The Sword - Winter's Wolves
Clutch - 50,000 Unstoppable Watts
Fu Manchu - Godzilla
Kylesa - Spiral Shadow
Saviours - Dixie Dieway
Motorhead - Snaggletooth
Quest For Fire - Bison Eyes
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
The Dead Weather - I Cut Like A Buffalo
Mountain - Mississippi Queen
Black Sabbath - St Vitus Dance
Pentagram - Forever My Queen
Leaf Hound - Hip Shaker
Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl
ZZ Top - Tush
Queens of the Stone Age - Regular John
The Damned Things - We've Got A Situation Here
The White Stripes - Icky Thump
The Stooges - TV Eye
The Bronx - White Tar
Ghost - Con Clavi Con Dio
Ozzy Osbourne - Over the Mountain
Soundgarden - Rusty Cage
Torche - Healer
Helmet - Give It
Quicksand - How Soon Is Now?
Karma To Burn - Nineteen
Sleep - Dragonaut
Witchcraft - Chylde of Fire
Mastodon - Colony of Birchmen
Heart - Barracuda
Danzig - Mother
Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
Minor Threat - Think Again

Friday Evening Mass Playlist 7/1/11 The Ruby Room, Oakland, CA

Om - At Giza
Black Sabbath - Fairies Wear Boots
Danava - Quiet Babies Astray in a Manger
Parchman Farm - Mirror Spirit
Witch - Changing
US Christmas - Scalphunters
The Sword - Lawless Lands
Pentagram - When The Screams Come
the Melvins - A History of Bad Men
Kylesa - Only One
Electric Wizard - Satanic Rites of Count Drugula
Mastodon - March of the Fire Ants
Ghost - Con Clavi Con Dio
Saviours - We Roam
In Solitude - The World, The Flesh, The Devil
Christian Mistress - Desert Rose
High On Fire - Speedwolf
Legend - The Destroyer
Orange Goblin - Hand of Doom
Red Fang - Prehistoric Dog
Weedeater - God Luck and Good Speed
Across Tundras - Hijo de Desierto
Dead Meadow - Babbling Flower
Floor - Return To Zero
Blood Ceremony - I'm Coming With You
Witch Mountain - Wing of the Lord
Norrsken - Armageddon
Sleep - Dragonaut
Witchcraft - Wooden Cross
Danzig - Tired of Being Alive
The Cult - Firewoman
Heart - Crazy On You
Judas Priest - Living After Midnight
The Damned Things - We Have A Situation Here
Annihilation Time - Bad Reputation
Turbonegro - Sell Your Body to the Night
Def Leppard - Photograph
Queens of the Stone Age - Little Sister
Blue Oyster Cult - Burnin For You
High On Fire - Snakes for the Divine
Graveyard - Hisingen Blues

Playlist from Happy Hour at the Ruby Room with B-Moss 6/26/11

Set 1:
Bison BC - Slow Hand of Death
Red Fang - Prehistoric Dog
Witch Mountain - Wing of Our Lord
Ted Nugent - Stranglehold
Pentagram - When The Screams Come
Norma Jean - Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste
Saviours - We Roam
Mercyful Fate - Evil

Set 2:
Hostage Calm - A Mistrust Earned/Rebel Fatigues
Shook Ones - So Grown Up
Living With Lions - A Bottle of Charades
Descendents - Cameage
Joyce Manor - Constant Headache
Piebald - American Hearts
Anne - Stripping
Screeching Weasel - El Mozote

Set 3:
Lil B The Based God - Like A Martian
Notorious BIG/Method Man - The What
Tyler, The Creator/Frank Ocean - She
Pete Rock and CL Smooth - T.R.O.Y.
Lil Wayne - 6 Foot 7
Young L - Loud Pockets
Kool Keith - Make Up Your Mind
Earl Sweatshirt - Drop
Trash Talk - Explode
Rotting Out - Laugh Now, Die Later
Modern Life Is War - D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
S.O.S. - Keep Me Outside

Set 4:
White Zombie - Thunderkiss 65
Alice In Chains - Would?
Pantera - I'm Broken
God Forbid - Anti Hero

Tankcrimes Continues Legacy of Killer Releases With Tapes by Obsessor and Night Fever

Oakland is a legendary city for punk and hardcore. I could come up with a list of obvious and not so obvious bands, icons, and labels, but where would I even begin. Punk and hardcore in Oakland is much like living in Oakland: if you aren't sharp, hard, aware of your surroundings, and a step ahead of the rest of your neighborhood: you're going to end up a casualty. Voetsek drummer Scotty Heath has been an Oakland resident for a long time, and his record label, Tankcrimes, is a testimony to his keen ear and his ability to find bands and release records that hold their own in a region so rich in great punk and hardcore music.

My former bandmate used to live next door to Heath, and I have peeked into the garage that Tankcrimes is run out of numerous times as we went to and from our own rehearsals. I knew Scotty's label was more than a hobby, but over 2010, Tankcrimes has outgrown Oakland and has began to make quite an impact on punk and hardcore worldwide. Over the past few months, Tankcrimes has put out releases by Annihlation Time, Kicker, Victims, and Cannabis Corpse. Last October, Heath put on the Tankcrimes Brainsqueeze, a two day fest featuring Municipal Waste, Ghoul, Vitamin X, Toxic Holocaust, Ramming Speed, and few other heavy hitters associated with the Tankcrimes label (the DJ at the all day after party at Eli's was the SHIT if I do say so myself...). The garage with a work table and shelves full of records I peered into a handful of times, sometimes staggering between two different friends houses after libations, has definitely taken itself to the next level.

Tankcrimes recently offered up two very different releases on 2011's most popular dead format, cassettes. While both of these releases can easily be played in any car made before the mid 2000s, the bands themselves are definitely in catagories of their own. The first is Obsessor, a one man metal project from Richmond, VA and the second is Night Fever, a dirty hardcore band from Copenhagen, Denmark. Let's dig a little deeper, shall we?



Obsessor offer up two songs of d-beat influenced metal in the same ballpark as Venom or even early Celtic Frost. All of the instruments and vocals were done by Richmond, VA legend Brandon Ferrell, who has done time in Municipal Waste, Government Warning, and Vinyl Conflict Records. What I like most about this two song single is how Ferrell manages to write great metal songs that still have a dirty, raw punk rock feel to them. If the bio didn't mention that Obsessor were a one man band, I never would have known. The songs lack that overly rigid feel that often comes with one man bands (I imagine that rigidness is associated with keeping tempo while recording the different instruments). These two songs are outstanding and with the right hired guns, would make for some ruling circle pits when played live. I look forward to hearing more from this one man metal assault.




I have to be honest. In general, I am wary of European hardcore. I'm not trying to knock an entire continent's contribution to an entire subgenre, but for my taste, many of their so called all-stars fall flat in comparison to their American or Canadian counterparts. Night Fever, however, rule so much than I wish this tape made its way into the stereos of several popular American "hardcore" bands and perhaps breathe some life into a scene saturated in nothing more than bands doing their best rewrites of whatever was hot in the scene ten years ago. Night Fever are what would happen if Slapshot and Motorhead had a kid with an AMAZING sense of humor. The music is fast, angry, and aggressive, yet has a filthy rock n roll feel too it. You could just as easily run off of the stage and headwalk to these guys as you could headbanging furiously while pounding beers in the back of the club, leaving the moshing to the youngins without permanent injuries. Night Fever have all the fun that I feel hardcore (at least in the US) has lost over the last decade. Fun that was replaced with posturing, haircuts, sneaker obsessions, and years gone by that won't ever come back. Night Fever's greatest strength is in the vocal range of frontman Soloman, who can just as easily bark over lightning fast galloping drum beats as well as he can sing like a hybrid of Lemmy and King Diamond. This tape kills. Metalheads, punks, and core kids alike will LOVE Night Fever.

Both tapes are available for order off of the Tankcrimes Website. Close up Facebook and go buy some tapes. 2011 has been a big year for Tankcrimes and its barely half over. Let's see if we can't help Scotty wrap it up with a bang.

How Was Your Father's Day? You BBQ'D? Oh that's cool. Me? I SAW SLEEP FUCK UP A DIVE BAR IN WEST OAKLAND!

Everyone has those "once in a lifetime" show stories. The sort of shows that define an entire city's year in live music. The sort of random chances that come together that are on paper a horrible logistic idea, yet because "we look at danger and we laugh our heads off" (thanks Morrissey), they happen anyway. One of those events was tonight. Since it was so epic, I am going to try and tell it as a story. Here goes nothing.

Last night at 2am, after a having a time consuming, yet necessary conversation, I was feeling down and depressed. I was having all sorts of bad thoughts about where my life was going and what my next move was, when I picked up my phone to check my twitter accounts. I got a rather puzzling direct message from an old friend.

"Secret Sleep show at Eli's tomorrow. Confirm or deny?"

Eli's Mile High Club is a notorious West Oakland bar frequented by only the most ragged of humans. I love it because its a bar where friends go to get fucked up. I also have grown to hate because its a bar where friends go to get fucked up. You don't go there to meet random girls or guys to go home with, or to "make the scene". You go there to get wasted. I'm not saying that the clientele are rude, mean, or exclusive, or that if you are a newcomer, you aren't welcome. It's just not for lightweights. Recently, Eli's got their cabaret license and began putting on shows there. Good shows. Over the last few months, Saviours, Jello Biafra, One in the Chamber, Everything Must Go, Fracas, and many other up and coming bands as well as punk legends have graced the Eli's stage. Rikk Agnew, Lecherous Gaze, Alaric, Turbonegra, and Plan 9 all have shows at Eli's in the near future, making for may be the most rocking summer West Mac has seen in quite some time. As far as I've heard, the shows have gone well and the neighborhood (which can be a little rough) has been all right with the amount of foot traffic and noise created by the addition of shows to the usual rowdiness from West Oakland's most infamous watering hole.

Matt Pike, guitarist of Sleep and High On Fire, has been both an Eli's regular and employee over since the latest owners took it over, so the notion of a Matt Pike band playing Eli's wasn't completely unfathomable, and I knew Sleep was preparing for a run of shows in New York, Los Angeles, and Calgary begin this Wednesday and run through the weekend, but I still couldn't believe Sleep, one of the most influential stoner bands of all time, was going to bust out a secret show on a Sunday night at Eli's. So by my dumb perceived reality, and because it was 2AM and I wasn't about to start texting the world about whether or not this show was reality, I went with the easy answer:

"No fucking way. That wouldn't happen."

I woke up a few hours later to do Father's Day breakfast with my family, after which I was pleasantly surprised by a cell phone issue the required a new account. Most of the morning was spent in "radio silence", so I kept thinking that my hypothesis of a secret Sleep show being nothing more than gossip, hearsay, and/or rumor. Upon reupping my iPhone, I received a flurry of texts from my friends that all basically said "DUDE! SLEEP IS PLAYING ELI'S TONIGHT!"

Holy shit, it was really happening.

I texted my friend who hit me up on Twitter last night, letting him know I was incorrect regarding the legitimacy of the surprise show, then wondered whether or not I should go. I have a rather important medical appointment tomorrow. An appointment so critical that my mom was in town to accompany me for moral support and to ask questions I'm too stupid or scared to ask. Perhaps she wanted to see a movie and catch up when she got here? Or did I want to spend a bunch of time at a bar I could have rented a room in at certain points throughout the last four years? Was Eli's going to be a complete and utter nightmare/fire hazard as far as number of attendees was concerned? Legendary secret shows are chock full of awesome potential, however they can turn into logistical disasters at the slightest agitation, and the last thing I needed was to be stuck in a crowded, sweaty bar as some horrible, unexpected incident occurred. I was leaning more towards the "no" side when I got a text from a vegan straight edge friend of mine who was already there and telling me I was an idiot for passing this up. I came to my fucking senses. If my friend who had even less reason to be in a crowded bar could hang, I had no excuse to not go. I jumped in a car and bolted over to Eli's hoping I would still be able to get in.

As I parked the car down the street I noticed a small crowd outside the front door of the bar, but it was five people deep tops. I walked up, saw a few old friends, doled out some high fives and hugs, and was waved in and given a wristband by a friend of mine who happened to be working the door. One of the first people I saw as I made my entrance was the almighty Matt Pike, who gave me a giant bear hug as I walked by him. We shot the shit for a minute, I told him to break a leg, then walked over to my vegan straight edge friend and proceeded to catch up/discuss the awesomeness that was due to take place in mere moments. The lines for the bars were out of hand and I didn't feel much like drinking in the first place, so we headed to the front of the stage and camped out for what was going to undoubtedly be the Bay Area metal show of the summer.

The excitement in the air grew as 8PM approached, and finally the dudes took the stage,. With their backs to the crowd, guitars were tuned, then Pike began to make that familiar, hypnotic, heavy as fuck drone emanate out of two Soldano heads, a Blackstar head, and four Emperor cabs...

"Holy fucking shit, they're starting with "DOPESMOKER!"

I snapped pictures of the band while Pike played the riffs unaccompanied by the rest of the band, raising the tension so much that the only thing hanging in the air thicker than Matt Pike's thunderous guitar tone was an atmosphere of "sweatfog" and weed smoke permeating off the bodies crammed in front of the stage. Eventually, Pike reached that guitar climax, and in dropped the ground shaking bass of Al Cisneros and the crash/bang of Neurosis drummer Jason Roeder and the energy exploded into the room. Heads started banging, fists reached towards the sky, and the entire crowd collectively went "FUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKK" in their heads as they began to rock their bodies in rhythm with the band.

Sleep opened their set with an abridged version of their 52 minute opus, "Dopesmoker", then blasted the crowd for an hour drawing heavily from songs off of Holy Mountain and Volume I. At one point, the heavy was too much for Eli's ancient electrical wiring, causing the circuit breaker to trip mid-song, which lead to a short break in the action as someone scrambled to reset the club's power. In what was by far the music nerd highlight of the night, the band picked back up in the exact spot they left off before the power grid became a victim of their ridiculous riffing.

Seeing Sleep was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I had never seen a crowd based on aesthetics and reputation, appeared to be one of the rowdiest ever assembled in Eli's (much less the world), focus so intently on the epic sounds pulsating from the stage. The sight of two hundred punks, stoners, metalheads, and hipsters enraptured by the wild, yet shamanistic hair whips and headbangs of Pike, Cisneros, and Roeder probably looked far more like an ancient tribal ritual than a heavy metal show in a dive bar. If it didn't look ritualistic, their was undoubtedly feel to the room one could describe as "nearly supernatural". No mosh pits. No spitting. No flying beverages. No heckles. No tough guy attitudes. The entire crowd gazed upon Sleep and reveled in what stood before them. It was more than just a metal show at a dive bar, it was fucking as profound as hearing a prophet delivering a message. These particular prophets were telling the world to smoke weed. Lots of it.

Here are some photos I took:




























Sleep are gearing up for shows this weekend in New York, Los Angeles, and Calgary. If you are lucky enough to have a ticket, get there early and be prepared for so much more than a metal show. If you live in the Bay Area, and you weren't at Eli's tonight, you missed the best show of the summer, and most likely of 2011. Long live Sleep. Proceed the Weedian Nazareth.