Waiting On The Samhain Of My Soul: Day One - Misfits - Live at Al's Bar 1982

Label: Bootleg
Year: 1982

As Gray and I were growing up as young punk rockers in sprawling Winston-Salem, NC, most of our record shopping was confined to either Friday nights trolling Hanes Mall or flipping through bins at the local Record Exchange. In the late 1980s, Hanes Mall housed both Camelot Music and the Record Bar, both chain establishments. I think I bought a third press copy of Die Die My Darling (which I still have) at the Record Bar, while Camelot I remember most for its tape game. I’m pretty sure I remember picking up Legacy of Brutality and Collection I (which blew my mind at the time—where did these songs come from??) cassettes at the Camelot Music on the lower level of the mall.

The Record Exchange was the first used record store I knew of, and they had lots of punk stuff—in part due to the Let’s Active/Echo and the Bunnymen-ish indie/punker who worked there. I got a ghoul hair error Earth A.D. there, along with many other Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys and 7 Seconds classics. Sadly, none of these stores exist now.

Today’s Danzig memory, however, takes me back to a day when Gray and I veered slightly off the beaten path. I don’t know why we were out in this neighborhood (perhaps visiting local scene legend Rob R-Rock, who lived nearby), but something made us stick our heads in the Mighty Quinn music shop on the northwest outskirts of Winston-Salem. Mighty Quinn was an old school, dirty and dusty record store. I don’t recall him stocking anything of interest to us punkers … except a motherlode of overpriced Misfits bootlegs.

I’ll never know where this fellow got the records, as they were hardly in line with the rest of his stock, but somehow Mr. Quinn had gotten his hands on a handful of Misfits boots. He had the Spook City USA 7”, I think maybe 4 Hits From Hell, the Hittsville, NJ 12” and today’s choice, Al’s Bar 1982.

Labeled as a Fiend Club (the Misfits fan club that I’d only vaguely heard of at the time) release, in actuality it was a decent-sounding but unofficially released recording of the Misfits’ April 17, 1982 set at Al’s Bar in Los Angeles.

Don’t get me wrong, I would have given a kidney to have been a few years older and seen the Misfits live, but the truth is their live shows were a mixed bag. The experience itself must have been unbelievable. I can only imagine beer bottles and fists flying, Doyle taking people’s heads off with his guitar and Danzig challenging the entire audience to fight him as they played. Musically, however, they were out of tune, played a little too fast and largely shed the 1950s-doo-wop-meets-Ramones catchiness that made their studio recordings so unique. 

Still, I snatched the record up and have the red vinyl/blank-labeled platter in my collection to this day. This is actually a really good setlist, ranging from Bullet-era material to songs from Earth A.D., which had yet to be released. The between-song banter is fun too, as it captures a looser, much more frenzied Glenn Danzig than the metal god he would evolve into years later.

Sound quality on this one isn’t quite as good as the officially released Evilive, but it’s plenty passable and you get twice as many songs. Enjoy!

- Jeff Simms

DL

Waiting On The Samhain Of My Soul: Intro Bust

 

 

Bonfires burning bright, pumpkin faces in the night. I remember Halloween.

With the change of the seasons from summer to fall, I am reminded of all things Glenn Danzig.

Probably the most prolific punk artist, perhaps ever, his track record is incredible. The Misfits catalog is flawless, there’s no debating that. It’s hard to argue that the same can’t be said for Samhain. And while many draw the line at 4p in their love for Danzig (the band), there’s a lot that’s been released since the departure of the Von/Christ/Biscuits lineup that easily holds its own. There have been a couple of missteps along the way, most of them fresher in our memories as they’ve come in clumps over the last 10 years or so … but even today if you go see a live Danzig show, at 60 years young, he’s absolutely still got it.

With that said, there’s not much out there in terms of unearthed music that isn’t already in circulation. And while I’ve been a Danzig devotee since sometime around 1987 (my 7^th grade year), I don’t want to position myself as an expert, as there are many out there who know more than me.

Instead, I thought I’d share 5 days of memories and the recordings that coincide with each. Officially released music, in print or not, is off limits, so we’re talking demos, live sets and outtakes. Here goes.

-Jeff Simms

Waiting On The Samhain Of My Soul

It's almost Halloween, which means it's almost Samhain, which means...it's fucking Danzig weather!
So, we would be remiss if we didn't spotlight the man, excuse me...Man, who has made a career out of channeling the dark, the black, the evil, the scary, and the profane. The Evil Elvis himself, the pride of Lodi, New Jersey....Glenn goddamn Danzig! (nee, Glenn Allen Anzalone to his mother [tell your children not to look my way...])

So it is with great excitement that I am handing the blog over to good friend (actual friend mind you...I DO have friends*) Jeff Simms for the entire week starting Monday for five blood soaked days of Danzig related ephemera. He (who cannot be named) has invested far too much of his life into researching, studying, and generally worshipping Glenn in all his incarnations (I think Jeff even willed himself to enjoying Black Aria II), and you, the good reader, will benefit from hearing first hand his trials and tribulations navigating the long way back from hell that is Danzig superfandom.

Even I don't know exactly what Mr. Simms has planned, but he assures me that he will only be posting rare items, since we should all have the released discography in triplicate by this point. It will be a fun ride sifting through whatever horror business that's up for offer.

Tune in Monday morning for the first in our five part series paying tribute to the greatest American songwriter of all time (yeah, that's right...fuck you if you don't believe me!)!

*Fun Danzig-Simms-Kiser trivia: Jeff learned to play the drums some time around 8th or 9th grade and we immediately proceeded to "start a band" (even though I had zero musical abilities to offer...just gusto...lots and lots of gusto). The aborted project (which to be honest, consisted of a single cover of Judge's "Take Me Away") was christened No Resistance, a nod to both our straight edge tendencies by sounding like something that could be emblazoned across a letterman's jacket AND our shared love of Danzig by referencing the chorus to "Children In Heat". Pretty great, huh?

Brain Banger - Yellow Belly

Label: Hawthorne Street
Year: 2008

You know that scene in that one movie where that one actress (I believe it's Angela Bassett...although it could be Angela Lansbury...I'm terrible with names) burns a bunch of her (ex?)husband's shit by walking away from the pile and casually throwing a lit cigarette over her shoulder to ignite the pyre? Remember?
Yeah, well, that's me in relation to this past work week. Fucking nonstop deadlines and headaches. So I'm all "fierce" and shit tossing my smoke into a pile of completed projects. Except I'm doing it in slow motion! (which, to be fair, might have been the way the movie was shot as well...truth be told, I never actually saw it, and I'm not 100% sure it even exists). And Brain Banger is the soundtrack to my triumphant "fuck you"!
Louisville noise rock of the highest order, with personnel from Young Widows, Black Cross, Lords, and Breather Resist. Perfect for your own triumphant "fuck you". Go out to today and give someone special the "fuck you" they deserve.

DL

Meat Wave - Delusion Moon

Label: Sideonedummy
Year: 2015

All hands on deck! All hands on deck!
Stop doing whatever you're doing (masturbating? again? Really Curtis?) and report to your stereo hi-fi system (ha ha, just kidding....crowd around your computer) to immediately blast this record at top volume (grandparents be damned!).
Meat Wave have managed to find that sweet spot between catchy indie rock and ripper punker noise that results in the oft-chased dragon of "fun and memorable yet raucous and rowdy". It's got a lot of the hallmarks you might have found of a band playing the Cat's Cradle circa 1992, but also the hallmarks of contemporaries Diarrhea Planet or The Marked Men or Bass Drum Of Death or that crop of messy noiseniks. Music like this lives or dies on it's ability to be fun, and Meat Wave are fun. But they don't make you feel like a total puss for saying so (excuse me ladies...er...lady). Muscle and urgency and a good tune are a lethal combination.
Good music for good weather. Top fucking notch!

DL

Bedhead - What Fun Life Was

Label: Trance Syndicate
Year: 1994

"Last time I saw you Clark, you remarked about how much you liked mine"
 - Cousin Eddie

Since we got some good feedback on the previous Bedhead post, well, here's another. Previously we posted their final record, and now we're posting their first release, bookending Bedhead quite nicely.
Mellow sophistication from a band who knows when to hold back, and when to employ a slow burning build. Never egregious. Never hurried. Always beautiful.

DL

Smashing Pumpkins - Waiting For The Past

Label: Bootleg
Year: 1991

Yes, I understand that Billy Corgan has a humongous bald melon head. And yes, I am completely aware that after Jimmy Chamberlain got hooked on the horse, and D'arcy bailed out and James Iha quit(?) that the band lapsed into a severe state of creative decline (and infinite sadness?). I got it. I know.
But I also am well versed in the band's previous ability to stoke some of the most ferocious and rollicking big guitar music ever. I heard them do it! I saw them do it! Despite (all my rage?) all the baggage that seemed to come along with the band in those early years, they were head and shoulders above their peers in their ability to unleash a warm, heavy, blissed out bounty. They dealt out blistering guitar solos when guitar solos were taboo relics of dinosaur rock. They embraced a hippie-damage aesthetic when flower power was a joke to be sneered at...possibly ironically...it's hard to say. They were unrepentant in their quest to rock out, when you were supposed to be flailing around to a noisy Stooges sludge concoction. They were weird in a time when being weird was getting harder to do (weirdness was co-opted, you see).
So, whatever. Slag them off if you must. But I'm telling you...these fuckers were raging in a way that nobody else was trying. Enough to excuse a few "Zero" t-shirts (but not enough to excuse Ava Adore, or whatever that record was called...holy shit.)
This bootleg is from three sources; live in Madison, WI 06-16-90, live in Madison, WI 10-16-91, and one "studio" track. There are some very seldom heard songs on here. Plus some slower versions of songs you are well aware of. And that cover art...it's a glorious mess of 90's graphic study!

DL

Todd - VVitch

Label: Riot Season
Year: 2005

Four songs at 45 rpm, in an edition of 500, and...poof....gone.
But in the roughly eight minutes you are allowed, Todd is going to take you by the scruff and lower your tender parts onto a belt sander just to watch you squirm.
They go from blasting, borderline industrial grind to a droning sludge plod without thinking twice about the ramifications to your psyche. Complete noise overload to destroy your ears.
Would you have it any other way?
Loudly please.

DL

Eighteen Wheels Burning - Tweak'd Out, Strung Up and Redlined

Label: Meteor City
Year: 2008

More unrepentant rock n roll bluster, that shall go about starting your week with nary a repentance in sight. And what would you be repenting for anyway? Or more importantly, to whom are you repenting?
Just don't do it. Ride hard straight into the sunset leaving a wake of mayhem and jealousy as your signature.
This band isn't trying to impress you or your friends. In fact, I would wager to guess that they think you guys all party like a bunch of amateur sorority girls, with your fancy beers and novelty beards and glasses and hair cuts and bullshit. You and your boys aren't coming close to achieving your full potential. For example, it's Monday morning, and Eighteen Wheels Burning are about to START their weekend. What the fuck are you doing? Working? Lame, man. Super fucking lame. Holler at me when you're ready to get serious about getting serious.
Eighteen Wheels Burning is 2/3 of the woefully underrated The Want, and if you liked their Humble Pie boogie jams, then you'll like these too. Kicked up a bit more than The Want, they get into a swinging fuzz groove, not unlike Nebula. It's a proto-punk swagger welded onto a desert rock low ride.
Quit pussy-footing around and handle your fucking business.

DL

Chang Ffos - Trust This Arcane Device

Label: Moonlee
Year: 2006

Fucking busy ass last couple of days has kept the blogging on the backburner (but not you, the readers...the readers are always first and foremost in my mind).
So today we have a quick one, and one that's slightly off the beaten path (of this place anyway), as it's more "metal" than our usual faire, but c'mon...grow a pair. You can do this.
Take mid-period Neurosis, and add in some destructo-rock akin to Black Elk, and a little sludgy stoner-ness like Black Cobra and, viola, Chang Ffos. Except, they are from Croatia. Which you would never know. All you will be concerned with is the mountainous pulverization that they wield across this 9 song brow beating. Low end hellhammer.
Mastered by Steve Austin of Today Is The Day.
Good Friday listening after sitting in a three hour meeting. Or whatever it is you do on a Friday.

DL