Der Trasch - Apocalyptic, Biatch!

A few years back, I was in a band called Der Trasch. We played a lot of parties and basement shows. One time I played drums so hard I puked. A particularly memorable show we played was with Japanther at the SS Marie Antoinette, where there was crowd surfing and people jumping (and toppling into my drums) off the PA, and after we played everyone too tired to dance to Japanther.

This was probably the silliest band I've ever been in, even sillier than my high school pop-punk band that had a song about pepperoni pizza. We played synthy no-wave dance punk that would go quickly from dance beats to metal breakdowns, with singer Naomi singing/rapping/screaching about everything from slutty vampires to not wanting "that baguette going near [her] derriere', to a story about us being futuristic robots who committed the mortal sin of freak-dancing, and thus forever condemned to repeat that sin:

I am a disco robot! I dance and I can't stop!
You are a disco robot! You dance and you can't stop!
We are disco robots! We dance and we can't stop!

Recommended tunes: "I Got A Peg Leg And All That Shit," "Barry White Sings The Brown Note," and the last 7 minutes (!) of "Naomi, Origin."
Or maybe I shouldn't recommend it at all. Oh boy.

Our last show was the Capitol Hill Block Party 2006. Funny enough, my band Bow + Arrow's last show was the Capitol Hill Block Party 2009. Hmm.

Der Trasch, R.I.P. 2005-2006.


download

9-27-09

9-27-09
Originally uploaded by Asian Cajun

My new band, My Parade, is playing a show.

The Intima - Peril and Panic

I used to pride myself at keeping my ear to the street with finding out about new music, reading MRR or HeartattaCk or other zines to see what was going on or trying to make it out to almost every show I could and watching every band. It was kind of surprising when incredible bands in my own back yard would slip past my notice. This is exactly what happened with The Intima, and almost too late, despite existing in Olympia for a few years before I finally heard them.
I found out about The Intima thanks to my friend Scott, who helped put on shows at the Capitol Hill Art Center's temporary location in what's now a repair shop for luxury cars. Scott and I had been in the process of trying to start a band with my roommate Bryan that sounded like Unwould or Shotmaker, and Scott told me that I *had* to go check out The Intima at SHAC, being that they were a political art/hardcore band in the vein of Unwound but with themes about industrial collapse and Derrick Jensen-esque eco-anarchist social critique.

Thank goodness for Scott's recommendation, because they were indeed right up my alley. Like Unwound they had dissonant melodies and circular rhythms, but faster and with the addition of a violin. The vibe of the band sometimes reaches moments of Godspeed! You Black Emperor but without bothering to patiently create the dramatic build-ups, instead feeling immediately urgent and explosive with their presentation and message.

This is a band that definitely needs to be discovered and/or revisited. This band could be seen as a good example of taking a singular political theme (eco-anarchism, in this instance) and exploring several parallel ideas and concepts within that and creating soundscapes that match the message perfectly. Personal favorites on this album: Angular Walking (which was a favorite mix-tape choice for both me and Bryan), Blue Coffins, and From Exile.




The Intima - Peril and Panic
Buy at Zum here or here
Download!

1848 - demo + self titled 7"

Ok, another post about old Seattle emo.

I started going to shows at places other than teen centers (Ground Zero, Old Fire House) and rock clubs (RCKNDY, Auburn's Best) around 1997. One of the first that I went to was the Velvet Elvis, which was a collectively-run performance space in Pioneer Square. There was also Framework Productions, which put on shows at various art galleries and community centers. And of course, there was also shows at houses. Around 1997 and 98 is when I started to get really into hardcore, which thrived in Seattle at these non-traditional spaces, and it was in these environments that I started to get exposed to artists that approached their music from different paradigms and pushed the boundaries and limits of what was acceptable in art.
I became less and less interested in punk and rock music, and I became enraptured by two different paths - harsh noise, grind, and powerviolence on one side, and emo on the other. The former of these felt like an expression of cynicism and cathartic destruction - negative and brutal music that wholly rejected any appeals to mainstream standards and decency. The latter often expressed an outlook that engaged the audience like an academic lecture (for better or worse), either by confronting a specific issue, or by turning a critical eye to how we engage in the world as individuals or a community. This kind of approach is more akin to the (admittedly cliche) feminist credo of "the personal is political," which challenges us to demonstrate in our personal lives a microcosm of our hopes and desires for what we want to see in the broader world.

1848 is my friend and old roommate Matt's band, and it squarely fits into the aforementioned definition of "emo", with the band consisting of principled activists and anarchists who both worked on large-scale causes like the efforts to shutdown the WTO in 99' as well as bringing radical theories into their daily lives (veganism, polyamory, communal living, etc). They handed out photocopied lyric/song explanation sheets to their shows to help ensure that their music wasn't just passive entertainment, which kids like me would take home, read, and put up on their wall. It was bands like this that politically challenged me far more than bands like the Dead Kennedys - I was encouraged to not just have opinions about the world, but to actively and intentionally live out my beliefs and ideals with how I interact with myself, others, and the world at large.
I'm crossing my fingers that I might start seeing bands approach music in a similar way again. We're due for another Revolution Summer, for sure.



download!

New Bloods - Demo

Way back when, I used to live at this house called The Punkin House (old website, photos on flickr!). It was a somewhat venerable punk house that had a long history of notable basement shows, and I really really loved living there. Anyway, while I was living there, I also worked at Wayward Cafe, making homemade soymilk and washing dishes and doing food prep, and eating a bunch of amazing vegan food. I had a nice thing going back then, hosting a few shows every week and always bringing bands who stayed over to come and hang out at the restaurant, or sometimes I'd meet people at Wayward and they'd play at the PH.
However, all good things have endings, and we got notification that Ye Olde Punkin House was to be sold and we'd be kicked out. It was during these last few sad months that I was working at Wayward and one of my coworkers told me to introduce myself to two nice women hanging out in the restaurant who were looking for a show in the near future. These women were Adee and Osa, who had just moved up from New Orleans to Portland and started a band called The New Bloods. We chilled for a bit, but I couldn't immediately help them with a show because of the PH closing. However, I just started organizing a house-show festival with some friends in the newly collectivized SeattleDIY group, and told them that they could play Carousel Festival. Months later they played, along with another band we booked called The Vonneguts, and it was an incredible show, good times had by all, and shortly after the New Bloods toured with their new friends in The Vonneguts, and my new band (at the time) Bow + Arrow played with New Bloods a few times too, then they got all sorts of hype and ended up on the cover of Maximum Rock & Roll and got signed to Kill Rock Stars.
Sadly, they're broken up now... but it was sweet while it lasted. They were one of my favorite band, and more than just a little bit of an inspiration for my new band My Parade. I haven't talked to any of them since they played in Seattle last, but hopefully they're all doing well.

Here's their demo, released just in time for that Carousel Festival show they played (Summer 06 I think).

New Bloods - Demo 06!
Buy their record and 7" at Kill Rock Stars

Christopher Robin 7"

A long time ago a friend told me about a mix-tape competition he was having with a buddy of his. It wasn't just any mix-tape competition... it was an EMO mixtape competition. They had an point-scoring system, with points going towards cool old-school emo cliches like dueling male/female vocals, silk-screened record covers, poorly recorded, bands that could barely play their instruments, being able to list if people are ex-members of ____ band (usually from a straight edge hardcore band), or lyric inserts with over-explanation of song meanings. My friend told me that his A-card was when he pulled out his Christopher Robin 7". It's truly a good one - emo in the vein of Indian Summer or In/Humanity, not poppy stuff like Sunny Day Real Estate or Cap'n Jazz - chaotic but not formless, clearly full of passion but not saccharine or overdramatic (if you like that kind of emo, check out Bob Tilton), and yep it's poorly recorded.
I gotta say, I love this record. Christopher Robin was a Seattle band that played a bunch of house shows, and released only this 7" and one song on a compilation (Universal Choking Sign comp on Excursion Records).


enjoy, buddies.
download: http://www.mediafire.com/?izw0wn2yjid

J Church - Camels, Spilled Corona, and the Sound Of Mariachi Bands

So I decided to blog about some of my favorite albums, and put them up for download (or at least, the ones that are ridiculously hard to find, or are out of print)

The first album I want to write about is one of the first records I ever bought, and one of my favorites to this day.
In 1994 or 1995, I saw a east-side pop punk band whose bass player had a couple stickers on his bass, and one of those stickers was J Church. A little while later I went to Cellophane Square in Bellevue (way back when it was in the mall) and found a J Church record - a picture-disk version of Camels, Spilled Corona, and the Sound of Mariachi Bands. I also bought a Husker Du record (Candy Apple Gray), but I hardly ever listened to it because I couldn't bear to take the J Church record of the record player that I inherited from my grandma.

This record is a compilation of their early 7"s, though it feels as cohesive as any other album I own. All the songs could definitely be considered "pop punk" but stands apart from most others in that genre - there's no whiny vocals, the songs aren't lamentation about girls, it's not something that blathers on about pogo-ing, or getting drunk, or silly shit like bananas... rather the songs are as political as you might expect from any hardcore band of that era. In fact, singer/guitarist Lance Hahn had been a long time anarchist and vegan, and wrote incredibly catchy and thought-provoking songs for the entire 15 years of J Church's existence.

This is one of the few albums that I've memorized most of the lyrics to, and they periodically pop up in my head to this day. Just a few months ago I was hanging out in San Francisco, walking in the rain with soggy feet in the Mission district, and I start singing the song November: "As the rain falls hard it fills the cracks on Mission Street, There's a hole in my shoe and it’s letting water soak my feet."

The song Kathi especially influenced me over the years - a song about having a conversation with a friend about vegetarianism, specifically about hearing meat-eating friends' opinions and trying to listen and be respectful, but at the same time not compromising deeply held values and not being passive with your most important beliefs. And as a bonus, it has Blake Schwartzenbach from Jawbreaker singing backup vocals.

Kathi tells me that she doesn't care and its not as if she's dumb or unaware,
Kathi tells me there's no reason why but she doesn't feel that eating meat applies,
Kathi says she doesn't understand why I do not want to eat at Burger King

And I try (I try), I can see that it makes no sense,
'Cause I try (I try), I can see the difference,
And it's something that I felt in side that will remain there,
Something that I can't hide

Kathi tells me everything must die but I don't get what she implies,
I think about the things she has to say all the time, I don't see how she can close her eyes,
'Cause it makes me sick to think of every cage and it makes me sick to think of life wasting away

And I try (I try), I can see that it makes no sense,
'Cause I try (I try), I can see her innocence,
And it's something that I felt inside that will remain there,
Something that I can't hide

Kathi says a lot of things but it all has that familiar ring,
Kathi says a lot of things and it all has that familiar ring

Lance Hahn passed away in late 2007 of complications with kidney disease. Even though I've been such a big fan of J Church for all these years, I only got to see them once, when they played at Second Ave Pizza with Storm the Tower in 2003. They played some of my favorite songs from this album, and it was one of my top-10 shows of all time. When I talked to Lance, he was incredibly nice and had awesome and encouraging things to say. He'll be missed.





These mp3s are all ripped straight from my record. There might be a skip or two - but hey, it's an old copy that got a lot of wear. Adds character.
J Church - Camels, Spilled Corona, and the Sound of Mariachi Bands <- download! http://www.interpunk.com/item.cfm?Item=999& <- buy!

new tattoo!

new tattoo!
Originally uploaded by heartmurmur

I got a new tattoo today. It's my first in like 2 years or something. I think this is the most impulsive tattoo I have. It's in reference to the old HXC slogan, "flex your head," which is a sentiment that I've always liked, but I think it falls a little short. We shouldn't just be smart, we should be compassionate.

So, I kinda hate alliteration - something about it bothers me. What's funny, though, is that while writing my papers for school I accidentally alliterate constantly.
Example:
"It then becomes incredibly important to look at intersecting identities, especially in the context of..."

Incredibly important to look at intersecting identities?
Sometimes I hate how I write.

I'm at a cafe working on my Poli-Sci final paper, and my friend Landon comes and says Hi. He has a Kool-Aid and a Ding-Dong. He bought then with his credit card.
Way to go, buddy.

It's snowing again. I'm totally tired of this crappy weather. I'm really looking forward to some more sun and more opportunities to go on long rides on my crappy old bike. Soon, hopefully. Soon.

Maybe this is a symptom of writing too many sociology and political science papers, but I can't write the word "society" without feeling like I'm being incredibly trite. Huh.

my route in seattle,

then on vashon.

Last night I went on an (somewhat) epic bike ride to Vashon Island. I left my house with Eli after 4pm, and rode around West Seattle via the Alki trail, which was gorgeous, especially as we got closer to the Fauntleroy ferry terminal and the sunset through the clouds made the puget sound look especially peaceful.
At the ferry we met up with another friend on bicycle, and by the time the ferry brought us to Vashon island it was night time. This made for an especially fun ride on the island, which starts with a long nearly-verticle climb, then leveling off into long stretches of dark desolate lonely highway. I stupidly forgot my front light, and during the ride I could only see via the light of a few stars and the flashing red blinking of Eli's back-light, except when blinded by the headlights of passing cars.
We rode from one side of Vashon Island to the other, barely knowing where we were going, and eventually we got to Chandler & Caitlin's. When we got there, the house was filled with shrieking little children playing with each other or chasing the cat, and their parents. After saying Hi to the birthday boy (Chandler), I had some kinda off-putting conversations with some opinionated Vashonites, then got some wine and me and Eli retreated to a back area where a couple men in their 60's were talking, well removed from the rest of the party.
I ended up talking to them and had a great time - one of them made the wine I was drinking, which was delicious, and the other has spend the past 30 years living by himself in a secluded cabin in the woods. We talked about radical politics in Seattle in the past, them remembering fondly the Black Panthers, and radical Natives who took over Ft Lawton. We talked a lot about bike touring, too, as the latter of the two has been regularly doing epic cross-country rides for the past thirty years, included four consecutive RAMROD trips in his 40's. He's 66 now, and still rides constantly.
It's funny how I've met a number people who are of "retirement age" who are more active than I am. I'm in my 20's, the prime of my life. It's encouraging, though, meeting these people, especially when they tell me that they didn't really get very active until they were in their late 30's or early 40's.
I ended up getting pretty drunk, and had a great time hanging out with friends there, eating pizza (vegan for me, of course) and talking about farm-life. In the morning they had crepes, and I made all of us spicey yam & potato vegan latkas. I took off shortly after breakfast, and the ride back was soggy, but pleasant.

It's rare that I go on long bike rides, or go to anywhere in rural areas. I think I'm going to do both of those things more often this year.