chicago – Page 2 – Low Profile

Show #82: Mutiny, Chicago

Low Profile live Saturday March 18th
the Mutiny in Chicago
w/ After the Fight, Sad Hannah and Miles From Midnight
great day, great show, great weekend all around. we met up at Rob’s basement at 7 and jammed the set. Satan was pumped 110% and sporting an awesome freshly cut mohawk. we only had to load up Rob’s drums, 2 guitars for Satan, 2 basses for me, my toolbox and a bag o’goodies to give out. we left around 8 or so. i didn’t get my usual parking spot but oh well. we walked in to a very warm crowd. Ed greeted me with his usual smile. i saw Cory and Josh right away who offered to help load us in but i assured we didn’t have much. always super nice guys. our buddy Keith came out for some fun so it was good to see him.
we chilled a bit and then went over to Sonny’s across the street and got a pizza. then went back over to start the festivities. Miles from Midnight played first.
we played second. Satan used Cory’s amp. i used Koz’s cabinet (here with scotty hero of shooting blanks) and Steve’s head. so thanks to them. always nice to not have to bust out our amps. we played the same exact set as the last time we played Mutiny a few weeks ago but added something at the end per request by Cory:

Pathetic Individuals
Carl Panzram
Milwaukee
Brown
Grudge
The Nature of the Way Things Work
Hotboxed
Spinal Remains (Misfits)

King of the Hill theme (check out Steve’s shirt)
Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash)

it was a good fun, sweaty set. i busted out my Nikki Blackbird bass for this show. haven’t played that in a while. it felt and sounded pretty good. ATF was up next. we go back with Josh and Cory from Burnside Bridge and we thank Josh for inviting us out to this show. always a good time at the Mutiny. too bad i didn’t get a pic of Josh in his leprechaun hat before he smashed it. we’ll be playing with them again real soon so come on out.
Sad Hannah played last. great set. it was real good to see and play with these guys again. we’ve known Koz a while now and he’s a fun guy. so it’s great seeing him play with these guys. great sound all around. i had a blast watching em.
after that we loaded out and back to Rob’s basement. then Satan and I hit up Luke’s on Harlem and Belmont for a late night snack. thats gotta be the new thing for our Mutiny shows. a pizza from Sonny’s before and a late night snack at Luke’s after.

-ERIK

so we had played the mutiny 2 weeks previous and at that time i was in bad shape, super tired and sick from partying way too hard the night before. we played well but i didnt enjoy the night, which is a shame. i was very excited to have a second change to redeem myself, and i definately did.
we threw down a rehersal and loaded out, and got to the mutiny nice and early. we ate a sonny’s pizza which was awesome, we used to always get slices from there but now for 2 gigs in a row there we just get teh whole pie. it was excellent. i used to eat that pizza just becuase it was avaiable, but now i must say its really fucking good!

keith muck showed up which was awesome. we played with his old band the cobs twice years ago, and i never saw him again, but for like the past year we talk on mysapce all teh time. me and him did a shot of jim beam right away and started ripping beers. i was feeling good and having a great time. i swore off mutiny tap beer finally, becuase i swear to god the tap beer there is undrinkable. although i am very knowledgeable about beer, i am not a beer snob, i run www.badbeer.com and ive drank endless old styles and other shitty beers. but the tappers at the mutiny make the brew taste super stagnant and old and flat, its horrid. i always drink it anyways but this time i sadi fuck it and i drank only heinikens out of the bottle, which although expensive was excellent.

miles from midnight was first, these guys were real solid. their bassist gave us made props which was super cool. we went up next and we ripped it really good i think. i borrowed cory from ATFs amp for the 110th time, he always brings crazy new pedals to use which are always wicked. i also used a different guitar then my main axe for the 1st time in a while upon pressure from hilger. its my jackson DXMG which i got as a gift for xmas a long time ago. it came with nice EMG pickups but i didnt like their sound at all, so a while ago i got an EMG 81 (which is in 4 of my guitars, best pickup ever) and also an EMG 85. then after i put it in , i had a shop rewire everything so i dont have a pointless tone knob, i just have 2 volume knobs, 1 for each pickup which is dope.i dont like the sound of the 85 that much actually, but the 81 doesnt sound that great clean and the 85 is way better for that, plus the 2 combined together will rip your head off, espically when its combined with corys tube amp and a wicked DOD ‘death metal’ pedal which he brought for me. i had his ibannez pedal also and for a minute ever turned on both at once, shit was nuts. so my rig was basically screaming all night, the feedback was out of control. the ohter thing thats weird about this guitar is that the 81 is in the bridge position, so the back volume knob is for that pickup, this is where a tone knobs is uslaly. i must say i am very good at ripipng the volume knob off super quick when i need to have a nice stall or ending the song, but im not used to reaching to the back, so i kept like missing the knob. it will take some practice, but im glad hilger pressured me to play this guitar cause it did sound good and the action on this guitar is really nice. its overall a much more quality guitar compared to my mian axe, my jackson ps-4. im definately going to start playing the DXMG much more.

we tore it up real well and after our last song cory ran up and asked us to play the king of the hill theme, steve from ATF had a dope king of the hill tshirt on. well he ran up after we had already stopped, i had put the amp on standby and unplugged my shit. well i turned it back on and plugged back in but i didnt bother to loop my cord thru my strap. half way thru playing king of the hill i decided i would go right into folsom prison blues which my band didnt even know. it was fine but in teh 4th verse of that song i stepped on my cord and since it wasnt looped it pulled out. for like 1 second i thought about reaching down to get it but then i figured fuck it, there is only like 15 seconds left in teh song. the 2nd half of the 4th verse had no guitar, which was actually kind of cool. the i sang the opening/closing riff at the end and we ended it perfectly which was great.

ATF was next, they played a long set and were ultra tight as usual. steve got a real nice new jazz bass, me and hilger decided it was definately an american made standard and probably cost a shit load, but i asked steve after the show and he said its a japanese made cheap one. he fooled us!

sad hannah was last, i totally forgot how good this band is. once they started i remembered how transfixed i was with them the 1st time i saw them, when we played with them last summer. its rare that i really want to sit down and watch a band closely their entire set and realy listen close and apprecaite it and im not bored. some bands i just dont care about, and others i like to stand up front and drink and cheer for them. sad hannah is like i just want to sit down and really pay attention. its crazy how nice these guys are too, they are so polite and fun to chill with. their drummer is off teh chart! he has a huge drum set and he plays some wicked ass beats, it reminds me of teh drummer from tool, who also plays lots of crazy like drum tricks and shit. koz of course is awesome with his humungous gibson bass. at the end of the set the guitarsist tweaked the setings on his delay pedal and unplugged his guitar, koz set his bass on the ground and ripped at all the strings, they ended with some awesome fucking feedback like that!

afterwards hilger and i fufilled our 2nd mutiny ritual (sonnys is the first), we went to lukes at belmont/harlem. there are no doubt some drunks and shit in there at 2am when we always go, but this time like 15 crazy mexicans and other ghetto people came in. i dont know where they were from or going that they stopped there. they were totally uncivalized! yelling real loud and acting super out of line, me and hilger were laughing, they truly had zero manners. i know its not a fine resturant or something but they just called attentino to themselves the entire time and acted like 7 year olds. it was nuts.

great show and great night tho all around. defiantely enjoyed myself.

p.s. — hilger, i have a message for you!

–satan165

Show #81: Mutiny, Chicago

this was our 7th time playing at the mutiny. oddly, we got no pics of us performing for the first time in a LONG time. i think we played pretty well but the show was kind of uninspired in general. i partied until like 11am the day of the show and felt like trash. the symptoms, vacation bible school and lesser events played. donny from lesser events gave us the show. it was tony from shot bakers b-day and we were going to call him up to sing a misfits song with us but his cat died and he didnt come out. that kind of sums up the vibe for me of the entire show.

set list:
Pathetic Individuals
Carl Panzram
Milwaukee
Brown
Grudge
Nature of the Way Things Work
Hotboxed
Spinal Remains

Show #80: Nite Caps, Chicago

low profile live at nite cap
november 16th 2005
w/ no class citizen and the symptoms
well ive been playing shows for a while now and of the tons ive played, we booked 99%. its not often that we get asked. well for this one we did by mikey from rose red productions. i must question teh use of the nickname ‘mikey’ however. but whatever. i figured rose red had beef with low profile since i know darius dont like me. thats fair cause i dont like him that much. for backstory, check out the show reviews from our lyons den gigs. we i get an email one day asking if we want to play a show with no class citizen and shooting blanks. well this would be our 10th gig with shooting blanks so you know i want to play it for that alone. no class citizen is part of the turkey vulture records roster out of milwaukee. we met this band called new society of anarchists a few years ago when we got a gig with DRI. the singer/bassist for NSA is teh singer of no class citizen. and the guitirst for NSA runs turkey vulture. weve been involved with turkey vulture for a while now, being part of their ‘the harder the better’ series of compiations. look for vol. 11 (our 4th!) coming soon. so i definately wanted to support this band as they stopped in chicago. unforunately like 2 weeks before the show matt from shooting blanks told me that they couldnt do the gig becuase they were locked into studio time to record some new tracks for an upcoming comp. luckily he ended up getting the symptoms which is awesome because they are our boys too. and i just heard the new shooting blanks tracks today ironically, and they are fucking awesome.

well mikey from rose red (thats him on the far left) had told us to make flyers and send them to him which we did far in advance. he said to load in at 730 and doors opened at 8. as it turned out this wenesday was like the 1st official day of winter. the high that day was like 25 fucking degrees. that combined with a mid-week show…i knew the turnout wouldnt go that great. we threw down a rehersal before we loaded out and got to teh club right on time. not a single solitary soul in tehre besides 2 super hot polish bartenders. one was literally fire hot. this pic doesnt do her justice entirely. she had that long ass sweater buttoned up at first and you could only see a little bit of the cleavge but it still ruled. and check the iced out wrist! goddamn! but actually she was super cool and nice bartender. we loaded in our gear and chilled out. me and rob walked down teh street to get some loot from an ATM. when we got back mikey was there and he said we could play first. i love playing first and being teh veteran of the game that i am i know that the #1 slot is often most wanted by bands. so if i get there early and get a crack at playing first, then you got to start setting up your gear immedinately cause that shit will be pulled out from under you real quick. mark my words, as soon as the symptoms and no class citizen showed up they were asking the order and i know they wanted to play first. the symptoms were actually billed as the headliner on rose red’s site so they did play last. but backing up, we got there on time like we were told to at 730. i think mikey got there at like 830 and the bands after that. we chilled with the symptoms and what not and had some drinks to get warmed up. we didnt start playing till like 10. thats what we get for being professional and following fucking orders. then mikey makes some crack to me about the flyers, i asked if he got them and he said ‘oh…you mean those little handbills?’. because we printed them 4 to a sheet. this is to save paper and what fucking difference does it make how big the piece of paper a potential crowd member carries around in his pocket? if he wanted posters to hang on the walls he should have asked or emailed me back and i coudl have sent him a blown up copy that could be printed full size.

no class citiezen was super cool guys and i talked with their singer zakk for a while. we talked about why emo and screamo is garbage. i told him my theory is that the screamo kids are the ones that made fun of me for listening to slayer in 7th grade and now all these screamo bands quote slayer as an influence. he said they’ve been playing with a bunch of ‘tight pants’ bands lately which sucks for him. we listened to a bunch of good music in teh juke box including some maiden and suicidal tendencies and also slayer. this dude is totally cool and down to earth, even back in like 2001 or whatever when we met him during the DRI show i was very intimidated by their band but he was totally cool and gave us props and everything. the whole band was super chilled and great guys and me and hilger were hookin em up with free merch like mad

well i started things up and killed 2 heinikens maybe before our set. my mind was highly stressed and i wanted to get ripped. i drank another beer on stage and our set went well i thought.

will to kill
the limitation
walter mander
figure it out
spinal remains (misfits)
arnold palmer and katie holmes
milwaukee
the nature of the way things work
hotboxed

we never opened with will to kill and weve played it at like the past 20 shows or something it seems like. spinal remains it the best misfits song ever i have long thought and im still on the misfits tip from our last gig on halloween. ‘the nature of the way things work’ is like 34 seconds long from our 1st album and we havent played it llve in a super long time. milwaukee is always a favorite tho we havent played it for a while, we had to for our friends no class citizen from teh great white north.

so after the gig i was feeling really shitty mentally so i really started to hit the booze hard. ive been getting increasingly belligerently drunk at our last few shows which is one of a few reasons i know we need to take some time off. i started to pound some jager and buy shots, i spent over $60 all night at the fucking bar. they gave us 2 free drinks but i didnt even get to use one of em which sucked. i had a long talk with tony kovac from shot baker about ear plugs. i wear ear plugs religiously at all shows except when im playing, but he wears them even when he fucking reherses and described really fucked up symptoms he gets when he doesnt wear em. i thought my hearing was bad but his is certifiably fucked. he also made the connection with me that the bassist in shot bakers girlfriend is a friend of one of my ex girlfriends from a long fucking time ago. tony is a cool guy and i think hes pretty respected personally and for his band. hes a good singer and it was cool to level with him for a minute right there and i enjoyed it.

no class citizen went on stage next and fuckin ripped it. they were off the chain rowdy with wild metal riffs and crushing vocals. they are even more metal then NSA and really nuts. their guitarist rocked the jackson and you know i have mad love for that. zakk gave some awesome intros to their songs and i think they were pumped up even tho the crowd was thin. the symptoms went up after then and got crazy. they played a pretty long set and the usual super complex riffs. by that point i was really drunk and i went on stage before they started and was talking shit into the mic and telling everyone to fuck off and making fun of andy’s guitar strap. i was quoting ‘the deer hunter’ big time now, which i find myself doing everytime i get drunk lately. alcohol and bad mind states and the deer hunter just go hand in hand for me. this pic is good cause i know for a fact i was subjecting zakk to some DHBS (deer hunter bullshit) at the moment.

at the end of the symptoms set i had had quite a few heinikens and some jager and plenty of bad vibes in my brain. the symptoms asked me to come up and sing a misfits song with them. i played a show with them a while back at this same club, we did the misfits ‘walk among us’ all teh way thru and i sang it and they played the music. well i was standing up there laughing and being out of it and we were discussing what to play. someone said ‘devils whorehouse’ and that was shot down. ken in his typical style started ripping the beat to ‘all hell breaks loose’. i was ok until the 2nd verse and i fell apart and lost it. i was singing the chorus in teh verse and everything else. i felt pretty stupid but i would not have wanted to play that. no doubt i should have been more prepared and all the other times we rehersed or played that song it was easy. then i demanded that we play ’20 eyes’ which would have been my fucking choice from teh getgo. of course we ripped it. [pic 1, pic 2, pic 3, pic 4] then tony got on his high horse and said that i butchered ‘all hell breaks loose’ and how he could have done it better. well tony im sure you could have. the ironic thing is that the symptoms told me they asked me to do that misfits cover show with them because they wanted to ask tony but shot baker was on tour. and now this kid is talking some shit to me. well i cant fucking please everyone. you can sing all teh misfits songs you want and when youre done crawl inside my head. then we will see who can ‘do it better’. no odubt i should be secure enough to not worry about it becuase ive played 1 million misfits songs in my life, including low profile recording this track back in like 1999 but it bothered me tho i know he was kidding around. i felt pretty depressed at that point and knew i was crashing hard off the booze and depression. we got into the van with no class citizen and listened to gorilla biscuits and i slurred the lyrics as i sang along and pounded the walls of the van in a rage. [pic 1, pic 2, pic 3, pic 4, pic 5, pic 6, pic 7] all those guys smoked up a bunch of bowls but of course i dont do that shit no more and i have not smoked the green herb in a long fucking time. not sure if that adds to my depression or makes it better. that was pretty fun being in the van with those guys and i tried to tell them that i hope that even tho the show sucked and had zero turnout we did promote and at least i hope they had a memorable night in chicago. they said they did and hopefully they were not lying.

and that was it. i went home and ate some pasta and spinach. i put on an NYPD blue in my dvr but only watched 15 minutes and i was feeling real fucked up and tired and i went to bed. 2005 was a pretty good year for shows as compared to other years. we played some new venues and some classic old ones. we played with alot of our friends and made some new ones as well. all this shit sounds cliched but whatever, its fucking true. for the last gig on halloween hilger wrote the whole review himself and this time he told me to do it. so we will not play another show until 2006 and maybe until spring. this was an interesting gig to close the year out on and at the least we played with some good bands. i think our set was pretty good as well so i cant complain. its funny cause for like the first 20-30 low profile shows ever i used to get so anxious and pumped up i would never drink alcohol before the show. sometimes i would kill some drinks afterwards. maybe in 2006 ill start not drinking at all at shows anymore and just suck down 200 glasses of 7up or various other sodas.

well thats it. no more reviews or updates for a while. stay tuned and join the mailling list cause then youll know when we/I come out of hibernation somtime next year. take care of yourself. ill see ya when i see ya.

–satan165

Show #78: Fantasy Lounge, Chicago

Low Profile live at Fantasy Lounge
Friday October 7th
with After the Fight, First Round Failure and Damnitall

once again i took the day off from work so i could sleep in and chill all day before the show. i went to breakfast at Four Seasons which is always a treat and later on got a sub from Al and Joes. i watched an episode of Oz. i’m on season 4 and theres a lot of good shit goin on. it was hard to just watch one episode but i had to start getting ready, warm up and whatnot.

we met up at Rob’s at 7:45. Satan rode with me in the van. listened to some Slayer on the way there to get us pumped up. got to Fantasy Lounge and it was the same as always. the owner and the same bartender working. she remembered us right away. what a lady!! i was serenading her with ‘she’s a lady’ by Tom Jones and she was cracking up at me.

Weber, Koz and Deech all showed up. we haven’t seen Weber in forever so it was good to see him. he took this pic of us with me and Satan holding pool balls but was trying to be professional and pose us a certain way. pretty fuckin funny. good ole Weber.

so Damnitall started their set around 10 or so. they played some good metal type punk. played a lot of good leads. and they covered Iron Maiden. can’t go wrong with that. the guitarist sported the Powerslave shirt and even had an Eddie tat. i should

have gotten a pic of it. here he is with Satan chillin at the bar. we played second. such a great slot for us. i used Steve’s amp and Satan used Cory’s. our set was:

Figure It Out
the Limitation
Walter Mander
the Will to Kill
Arnold Palmer
Carl Panzram
Where Was I? (originally by Guttermouth)
Solitaire
Ultraviolence
Hotboxed
Hybrid Moments (originally by the Misfits)

it was a good, fun, solid set. the Ernie Ball Sub looks awesome and she plays real clean. felt good to hold her. this was the first show i busted her out for.
Rub a Dub had some fun tonite too. he got to go chill over by Weber and hold his drink. slave drivin my mascot huh??
Koz came up and sang Hybrid Moments. it was a big sloppy mess but still fun. Betty walked in and missed us once again. hahahaha. all good. and it was a real treat to see Todd Winfro. i got this pic of him with Satan. and thanks to Deech for taking pics of us once again. u know we’ll have u do it at the Nitecaps show too so be ready.

After the Fight were up next. always a good set from these guys. thanks to Josh for inviting us out to play here again.

First Round Failure was up last. Shaun was definately rockin on the bass. i’ve never seen him play but he rips. they were a lot of fun and i was impressed. Nick entertained us with Mathis stories after their set.

so we hung out till they started kicking us out and then took our time loading our shit out. it was so nice not having to bring amps. i can bring my shit all in one trip then. Satan and i stood around and bullshitted with Deech for about twenty minutes and i got this pic of Satan coming across the street with all his shit. and this pic of Deech while he was walkin up on us. then Satan and i hit up Sussies and got some food. i just had a cheese dog and we shared a large cheese fries. it was such a big fuckin mess of cheese, but we luved it. check me out. i’ll let Satan tell ya about his crazy huge sandwich. that place definately rules.

satan165 tells you about ‘his crazy big sandwich’ — more then half the fun of playing at fantasy lounge is eating at susy’s afterwards. fat men like myself need what susy’s likes to call ‘one foot of good eating!’. oh, and how it is! good eating that is. of course i am refering to the ‘confused chicken’. costing around $7 and weighing in at around 3 pounds, this humungous sub roll is filled with onions, peppers, mushrooms and a shitload of shredded chicken. when you bite into it, the juices flow out like you shanked someone. if you are around montrose and pulaski, or pounding heinikens at the fantasy lounge during a gig, there is only one way to cap off the night. and thats with a confused chicken. get one today!

and oh yeah. hilger got a new camera. its pretty dope and i was showing hilger how to use the timer function so i took this pic. its so good i saved it and put it up here for your enjoyment. that is all. back to hilger.

well, it was a great day all around. i had a blast at the show. thanks to everyone who made it a good show. till the next one. same band website. same fool writin up a review.

-ERIK & satan165

Show #77: Mutiny, Chicago

Low Profile live at the Mutiny
Saturday September 24th – my birthday!!!!
with Shooting Blanks, Pistol Punch and Bruiser
what a show. what a birthday. and better yet, what a birthday weekend. we met up at Rob’s at 6:30 and jammed a bunch of songs and picked out the set. it sucked. i was more than warmed up and totally sweating when we were done. so no more jamming right before we leave for a show. i needed another shower and change of clothes afterwards.
so anyways, we left around 7:30 or so and got to the Mutiny right around 8. i parked the van right outside the Mutiny which was great. i walked in and Ed greeted me right away. i told him it was my birthday and he tried to reminisce about what he was doing when he was 27 back in 1977. i apologized for making him feel old. it wasn’t my intention but he told me some funny stories. what a guy.
so the 3 of us walked across the street to Sonny’s. Satan and Rob both had a slice. i ate before we left so i wasn’t all too hungry. Matt from Shooting Blanks came over and ordered up some slices and sat with us for a while. we all walked back over and started drinking pretty much right away. each band member gets 3 free drinks but i didn’t spend any money all night since it was my bday and everyone was buying me drinks. Satan gave me 5 bucks to play songs on the jukebox and i got to bully the jukebox for most of the night. they always have a good selection in that jukebox. i played a lot of Misfits, some Scorpions, 4 songs off of Powerslave by Iron Maiden, Van Morrison, Motley Crue, Brides of Destruction, etc. we just hung out till the first band was set up and ready to go.

Pistol Punch played first. they play 3 piece and Matt Hoffman from Shooting Blanks plays drums for them. they played some decent punk stuff. Hoffman was defintately better than i thought he’d be on drums. and i’m sure if he reads this, he’d say he sucks cuz he is very self depreciating but he kept the beat and could play fast and definately added lil fills in and everything. so good job playing multiple instruments dude!!!!

we played second. i sliced the pointer finger on my right hand open at work on Thursday and it was pretty deep and didn’t heal at all. so of course i busted my finger open on like our second song. it sucked. first off, i may be being a lil bitch about it but it fucking hurt the whole time i was playing. secondly, it bled all over my bass and made the strings feel grossly sticky so those 2 factors made playing not so fun for me. i’m trying to have fun rocking out our songs but i kept thinking shit like ‘damn my fucking finger really hurts’ or ‘yuck, my strings are all sticky from my blood’. so i wasn’t totally into the set. but here’s what we played:

Think About It
Arnold Palmer and Katie Holmes
HG
Hotboxed
Figure It Out
Mr. Pig
the Will to Kill
Solitaire
What I Failed to Mention
Where Was I? (originally by Guttermouth)

definately a good, tight set. we haven’t played Mr. Pig in a bazillion shows and never play anything off that album anyways so i threw that in. and i wanted to play Where Was I by Guttermouth just cuz i listened to Full Length the day before the show.
Hoffman, Brey and Deech all brought shots up to me while i was playing. so thanks for adding to my drunkeness. actually, the shots probably helped me not feel my finger so much or care that i was bleeding all over. so thats a good thing. thanks guys.
Satan gave a nice speech about Ed and the Mutiny. it was truly honest and heartfelt. i thought it was awesome. the lovely Betty Burbank showed up late and missed us damn u. but heres a pic of me and Dan with her and one of her friends who told me her name but i forgot. sorry.

Bruiser played 3rd. they were alright. i’m not sure his name but the black drummer who used to play in Local H plays drums for this band now. so the drums definately were fast and rocking out. but the band as a whole was just alright for me. at one point, the guitarist tried to do a jump or some maneuver and just toppled over onto his pedals and almost knocked his mic over. it definately made me laugh but u could tell he felt real stupid. especially since he unplugged his pedals and changed all the controls on them. his guitar didnt’ sound the same afterwards so that sucked for him. he was real cool tho. i talked with him briefly after their set.

Shooting Blanks were up last. they rocked the fuck out. this was our 9th time playing with them. Matt offered us the show like a month ago or something and i wanted to play a show for my bday anyways so this worked out great. Dan the dickhead drummer was back on drums for this show. we luv Scotty Hero but Dan is awesome. he is one of the happiest, friendliest guys in any band we’ve played with. i’m always excited to see and talk with Dan. he has a good aura and just makes me happy to be around him. and no i’m not gay. it’s just nice to hang out with someone who isn’t all negative and complaining all the time. and everyone makes fun of him for a ton of different things and he takes it all so well. Dan we luv ya!!!!
anyways, i’ll stop raving about Dan. Shooting Blanks rocked the house. they played a good variety of songs. they covered Wish by NIN, Every Rose Has It’s Thorn by Poison and the crowd favorite Home Sweet Home by Motley Crue. at one point, Satan cut them off and took the mic and was bitching about how every time we play with Shooting Blanks, Brey gets naked. well, i think Brey gets naked whether we play with them or not. but anyways, Satan was asking Brey why he hadn’t gotten naked yet and ordered him to show his ass to the crowd. so he did and i hurriedly snapped this pic. ok, so u can’t see his ass but u can see he pulled his drawers down. hahahaha. fuckin Brey. gotta luv him.

so yea, it was a great night. i had a blast. Ed gave us 20 bucks which was cool since they didn’t charge at the door and i definately didnt’ expect to get paid anything. but when he handed me the 20, he said ‘go buy yourselves some breakfast’ which was an awesome thing to say i thought at the time.

alrighty. well thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday and bought me a drink.
thanks to Shooting Blanks for inviting us out once again. always a good time with u guys.
thanks to Ed and the Mutiny bartenders. Rhonda and Maryann maybe???? i can’t remember their names exactly. sorry ladies. u know we luv u. thanks to Leo for coming down from WI to see us.
thanks to Jessica for riding with us and keeping me amused while driving and for being our #1 loudest fan. hope u enjoyed Mr Pig cuz Satan and Rob will probably never want to play it again. hahahaha.
thanks to Brendan from Last Man Out(RIP) who showed up totally unexpected. good to see ya man. keep in touch for sure.

hmmmmm, i think thats about it. nah. actually, i’m going to give a big ‘fuck u’ to everyone who said they were gonna come out to the show and didn’t for whatever reason. Steve you’re all good man cuz u got a real excuse.

ok. thats it. i’m out.

-ERIK
well this show seemed better then most. got pretty ripped.
i woke up around 5 pm. i had a hairy friday night, got pretty drunk on schlitz ice and jager and got home at 4 am, thought id be going to bed and was tired but things got out of hand and i was up until like 8am. so i got up saturday afternoon and i was hungry but i had no food in the house so i ate 2 pieces of toast with honey. that clearly didnt do it for a fat ass like me and i was getting pissed. i trucked over to robs (can you ‘truck’ 1 block?) and got ready to throw down a rehersal. our last show was just over a month ago and we hadnt rehersed. that might sound sloppy or unprofessional, but weve been playing nearly 8 fuckin years together and we can play almost perfectly after taking like 6 months or more off (believe me, ive tried it). well we argued over the set list and hilger was naming some weird ones, but it was his b-day so i let him have his way. tho once we played the weird songs i was getting into it and it seemed alot more fun. we practiced and it was super hot and humid out for some reason, rob was even running a dehumidifier in his basement and he said it had been filling up with fuckin gallons of water, we all sweat super bad. so we loaded up the truck and got ready. i had been playing a shit load of acoustic guitar the days before and my hands were hurting but they felt good again when we rehersed. i love reherseing before shows, its real good for priming up your voice. also it seemed like i just restrung my main axe recetnly but now i rezlie it must have been a while, the strings were foul as fuck. so i used to windex and a rag and scrubbed off like a huge layer of filth and they felt way better tho. however i know all the tricks of the trade cause im a master(bater) and you can only do the windex trick once. i always leave my #1 axe (maroon jackson ps-4) at robs to reherse with and when we go to shows i grab a 2nd guitar from my house. so after the show i was drunk and put the #1 back in robs basement tho i shouldnt have, i need to bring it home and restring that bitch for our next gig in 2 weeks. tomorrow ill have to go over there and cop it, it needs some TLC.

well we loaded out and trucked over to the mutiny. we got there real early and hilger got prime parking. i already knew were i was going, to sonny’s across teh street to cop some pizza. rob and hilger came with, hilger wasnt hungry but rob got a slice. then hoffman came in and got 2 slices, even tho hes the smallest of us. it must have looked funny to see the fat guy eating one slice and the little guy eating 2. and he was so special they put his 2 slices on a big actual plate while mine was in the basket like alwyays. i think thats the 3rd time ive eaten there before a mutiny gig and its become a ritual . i like that place alot. the pizza isnt bad but its not that special. hoffman commented that it reminded him of the pizza you get at outdoor fests and shit and thats not too far off. i could have ate 2 slices but i alwasy try to eat light before i play, plus i wanted to get super drunk. i did.

so we went back and started drinkin. i knew we were playing 2nd which is good, that means im only going to be waiting 1 hour max, and even if i drink heavy since im an alcoholic with a pickled liver i cant get so buzzed in an hour that it will effect my playing. so the mutiny is famous for giving 2 mini pitchers to each band member. the mini pitchers hold 32 oz i guess….well now they only give 2. which is still generous since many places give you zero drink specials at all. the bottom lounge gave you half price all night, tho it was so awesome to play there i would pay full price no problem. anwyasy so they only give you 2 now but they also have these huge glass mugs as well, which i guess are also 32 oz. i think i drank both of my free ones and a few shots of jager and then we went up. hilger tossed a fin into the juke box, they have alot of good jams in there. he didnt have a $5 so i gave him one and he promised to pay it back, he forgot…i remembered but didnt care since it was his b-day. we also got paid $20 and i let him have it, tho rob might want to beat him up for his $6.33 share, but if hes nice he will let him have it for his b-day as well.

we played ‘mr pig’ which we have not played in ages. at practice i couldnt rememebr teh words tho i knew if i listend to the cd once it would suddently come back to me. i didnt get to listen to the cd at robs but when we played it it was super easy and i remembered all the lyrics anyways. the other weird one we played was ‘think about it’. i remembered both verses which i coudlnt at robs, but i couldnt remember the pre-chorus (which is sung twice, same lyrics both times). however since im a master front man i just sang gibberish and the crowd was none the wiser. i dont even think my band knew. hilger was drinking so much jager before and during the set it was sick by my standards, and im fatter and drink more then him usually anwyays. i think he drank at least 3 more shots during the set. i cried and complained on the mic that i wanted it to be my b-day so i could get some free shots and brey bought me one which was dope. it didnt exactly go down smooth but it was still enjoyable. at our last show we also played with shooting blanks and at that gig i bought brey a shot and i poured it into his mouth while he was in mid song. in return for this he promised to depants himself and drop trou which he did both times, tho hes been doing that for years and would do it sober. but we both deny our gayness but trading the ass shots for liquor. tho i guess if you do homosexual things for booze that makes you even more latently gay. and it makes me a gay-enabler. anways.

the set was awesome. by the last song i was running out of steam a lil but i was ok. then we added a cover, ‘where was i’ by guttermouth. we probably know 30 misfits songs and 15 guttermouth songs, tho we havent played any g-mouth in a while even at rehersal. they are probably low profiles #1 influence. i know mark is my #1 vocal influence at least originally. hilger suggested we bust it out at rehersal before the show and im thinking ‘theres no way i remmeber this’ tho granted the song is like a minute and a half and simple anyways. i did jam it perfectly and knew the words at practice. i teased steve from ATF before our set to try and get him guess the band and/or song. i told him it was a mid90s punk rock band , and the song is about atomic bombs althought this band is not political. he guessed face to face which was very good guess i thought tho of course he was wrong. steve knows his punk rock pretty well, this is the 2nd show when i saw him and i was drunk and he was sober. i get to play with him at our next gig and he better get smashed and have his wife drive him home cause hes making me feel guilty.

oh yeah this is out of order. before us was pistol punch. i didnt know what to think of this band before hand. i thought they were some goofy sideproject of hoffmans, which they are neither a sideproject nor goofy. hoffman plays the drums which seemed crazy, but hes defniately very proficient at the drums, not just some asshole who plays guitar trying to bang out beats (like is about all i can do). he is no longer in the band so he was filling in on drums in a reunion of sorts. coincidentally, dan from shooting blanks was also on teh drums for their set. but pistol punch was solid and fun, and played ‘american band’ by grand funk railroad. they have that definete rock influence. during one song hoffman broke robs pedal (he was using his drums) and the guitarist broke a string. then a few songs later the bassist strap came off. i went on there and put it back on. then somehow the other end of the strap came off! i put it back on again but it was weird cause i could feel teh strap and it was quality, the leather wasnt destoryed or anything or super loose. they were good humoured and good natured guys and alot of fun.

also hilger ordered up a case of earplugs from his work. now hilger never wears ear plugs but i always do because my hearing is ruined from not wearing them for so long. i wear them religiously when i go to shows or when i watch other bands playing the same bill as me…i cant wear them when i play. well a while back i found the best brand ever of earplugs, they are called ‘max light’. i think they are made by a company called howard leight. i get them from my dad who also ganks them from his work. rob agrees they are the best, becuase they are so soft and mushy you can roll them up tight and get them in your ear deep, and they expand perfectly and really fill up your whole ear, and they also stay in because of this. the only bad thing is that they come on a string, so like if you work in some industrial place you can take them off and hang em around your neck on breaks or whatever. well hilger never uses earplugs so he didnt even know about these, and he ordered some random ones and he got the max lights!!! i was ecstatic, tho i have like 30 pairs now from my dad (and i can always get more). but its even better….hilger got ones without the string, which i didnt even know existed! i always bite off the plastic string. but people shold protect their hearing. i didnt wear them probably to our 1st 50 gigs and ive probably seen at least 50 shows and not worn them. 100 shows has fucked up my hearing pretty bad, espically since i always go up front and ive got stuck in front of amps or PAs more then once. my hearing is bad and i always wear them now and i enjoy it, ear ringing sucks real bad anwyays.

well the 3rd band was bruiser. i must admit i did not watch this band, i was intent on getting very ripped because i have personal demons that need to be drowned in alcohol and liquor and booze daily to maintain my sanity. my boy ‘bones’ came down from wisconsin with his buddy derrick. bones grew up in the grove but he moved up to adams county wisconsin like 6 months ago and hes staying. i was really glad he came out. derrick is a cool dude that has always lived up there who bones met. bones also brought his sheisty ex girlfriend nichole who i do not really like. like me bones has personal demons and being in the city only gets him into trouble with drugs and sheisty hoes so i prefer for him to stay in wisconsin and i get up there to visit when i can and we always stay in touch. but i didnt watch bruiser cause i was preoccupied, mostly with getting plowed which i did. but bruiser is real good, i listened to their mp3s before the show, they also have a former drummer from local H which is cool. i think one of the members is also a recording engineer and has engineered a shooting blanks album, and thats how they know them and got this gig. 2 of the members gave us mad props and we exchanged stickers and cds with them after our set.

well last up was shooting blanks. i feel like i should just copy and paste what i said from the last time we played with them. this was our 9th time playing together, plus i was in the band for a while and so was hilger at another time. they are definately highly crew with low profile. they are one of a handful of bands who i can watch play before i go on, when im anxious to play, and ill forget about having to play cause i enjoy watching them play so much. i will say i need to listen more the ‘the sticky album’ because they keep playing new songs and i dont know them well enough yet. but they played a ton of old songs and they sounded so great. another thing i know ive said before is that it still seemes strange to see deech play the bass, even tho i havent played bass for them in a long ass time. kind of like seeing your girl or ex wife with another dude, even if you get along with them youre jealous. getting to play bass with this band and reherse with them and get drunk and hang out was a life changing experienece. im so glad i got to do that. but they are so racous now its crazy. brey gets so drunk during his set its unreal. he was pouring vodka from a bottle be snuck in into 7up he was getting from the bar, he downed many jager shots during his set and 32 oz mugs of beer. i dumped jager straight into his mouth and of course he showed his ass. so i had already brought him a shot and others were bringing him drinks and hes drinking other shit he borught up there. then hes like ‘get me 2 shots and a beer and ill pay you back after the set’. im like no way dude! i didnt feel like bustling thru the crowd again which was hard enough already plus i was drunk and tired plus i wanted to watch the band. plus i thoguht he might keel over! he drank like 10 drinks during his set! then he asks steve to get them and he said no and he busts out a credit card and he like waving it at us! hahahahahaha hilarious. it was awesome to see dan back with the band and hang out with him. this band rules big time, it was really fun to be smashed and watch them play.

so thats about it. i get sick of writing these damn reviewws cause i have to type so much and it pours out so fast my fingers can hardly keep up. thats why i dont give a shit anymore if stuff is misspelled or whatever, fuck off. great show, our 6th time at the mutiny and it was huge fun. big up to nikki sixx of the love dictators, thanx for the shirt dog (tho hilger still has mine, i got to get it off him). big up to brendan from last man out (RIP), they were aweosme. big up to betty burbank of the burbanks (RIP), even tho she missed our set.

–satan165

Show #75: Cal’s, Chicago

i took off work all day on Friday which was awesome. i got to chill all day long pretty much and it was muchly needed. i watched Empire Strikes Back which i haven’t watched in over a yr or so. then i put on my Rage Against the Machine live DVD before i left to go meet up at Rob’s house. that shit got me so pumped. usually i put on some Slayer live but the RATM does the trick.

so we met up at Rob’s at 7:30. we brought our buddy Dave Metko with to help load and to take pics and for comic relief. what a guy. so we loaded up my work van and headed for Cal’s. we got there right around 8:30 and we were the first band to get there. i just chilled in the van for like 20 minutes listening to music since i knew no one else was there. we loaded in and right when we were finishing up, Miles of Wire started loading in. Rules of Attraction all showed up shortly after that. i snapped a good pic of Mike and Satan and we were laughing at how good their shirts (bright red and blue)contrast in the pic. fucking awesome. and doesn’t Mike look like the happiest guy ever in all his pics?

so we sat around bullshitting and whatnot till a lil after 10 when Miles of Wire started their set. these guys are from St Louis. they played a good rocking set. the bassist played a real nice old school Rickenbacker bass. they were all just real cool guys and were fun to hang out with.

we played second and started around 11 or so. our set was something like this:

Milwaukee
High Gravity
Hotboxed
Excited to Die
Spreading Yourself Thin
What I Failed to Mention
the Will to Kill
King of the Hill theme
Folsom Prison Blues (originally by Johnny Cash)
Rules of Attraction (originally by the Rules of Attraction)

so all 3 of us really like RofA a lot. and i’d have to say that the Rules of Attraction is probably my favorite song by them. so Satan mentioned that we should learn one of their songs. that one seemed the best for us to cover. so we played it in tribute to them since we think they rule so much. and hopefully our surprise was better than the pit of Sarnack.

the set went by pretty quick. there was this crazy drunk dude watching us and he kept yelling shit out. he was like trying to have a conversation with me while i was trying to play or in between songs. i had to tell him to hush up till we were done with our set. at one point, i just started yelling lyrics right up to his face. my face must have been about an inch from his and i was yelling out the lyrics to Milwaukee as loud as i could. it didn’t even seem to phase him. after a show, we all sit and talk about the highlights of the show and all that and both Rob and i said separately that we thought Excited to Die was the best song and is always good to play live. everyone always loves when we play Folsom and we hadn’t busted that out at a show in a while. i get bored playing it but if people are going to sing along and all that, then it makes it more fun for me.

Rules of Attraction played last and started around midnight or so. they ended up finding their old set list hanging on the wall from the last time they played there and they played the same exact songs from it. i thought that was cool. Mike was even telling me that one song in the set list they haven’t played since September of 2004. pretty crazy. their set rocked as i knew it would. these guys are just a great band. super nice and cool guys, great songwriters/musicians. i’m just in awe of all 3 of them. Andy is one of the most fun bass players to watch. his style is just so natural. he makes playing bass so easy. he plays with a pick and his pickhand just moves so naturally. and he plays an Ernie Ball bass so u know i’m luvin that. all in all, this band rules and i hope we can play with them again one day. i’ll have to go see them again at least. we’re even talking about covering a Monsignors song. i’m all for Aniston Amuck!!!!

so we gave out a bunch of CDs, stickers and tshirts. there was this homeless guy walking around outside with no shirt on so i gave him a shirt just cuz it seemed like he could really use a nice new clean shirt. the bartender made a comment about how nice that was of me. there was this cool punker chick from California hanging out that night with her dog and she let me sticker her skateboard. Cal’s actually set up some tables outside the place kinda like a lil beer garden so it was cool to just go sit out there and watch the people goin into the club next door. good stuff. we smoked a nice peach flavored blunt on the drive home and jammed along to the Mad Caddies live album. i think i’ve played that on the way home from the past 3 shows or so. it’s just fun cuz we were all singing along to it while we’re all pretty ripped. hahahaha. good times……

so thanks to the Rules of Attraction for inviting us out to play this show. thanks to Cal’s for having us out. and thanks to Metko for helping us lug our shit in and out of the van and for taking pics of us while we played. i had a blast. great show. great bands. fun crowd. can’t beat that. till the next show…..

-ERIK

i just want to add a few things:
1. thanx to pat from the phenoms for stopping by
2.this dude was roaming around trying to take poloriods of people and then sell them the pics. we thought it would be pretty deep to take a picture of the guy that takes pictures. well not really i guess.
3. mike broke his A string during ‘smoke’, which requires teh a-string big time. he tied it around his neck as he attempted to finish the song.
4.
a. he played my gutiar after that which was a total trip, i did this once before (w/ matt from shooting blanks) and its awesome to watch someone else play my guitar, like dudes that want to voyeur their wife getting fucked by other men. tho im not into all that.
b. i wanted to eat that chicks nice white thighs and ass like a pig in slop.
5. RofA came up to sing backups on their own song as we covered it, they did the ‘Cha!’s very well.

Very well.

–satan165

Show #73: Bottom Lounge, Chicago

i went to my first punk rock show in around 1994. i saw a band called the monsignors and they were awesome. i saw then 4 more times over the years and somewhere in the midst of that in 96 bought a bass and started playing music of my own.

fast forward to 2004. i was thinking about the monsignors and enlisted an old friend to help me complete their discography as he had a single 7″ i did not. i converted everythign to mp3 and listened intently for the 1st time in years; and it was good. but it wasnt enough, i was curious and wanted more info and possibly/hopefully more music.

i found that the label (chicago based) that put out some/most of their stuff was still around, harmless records. i found their site and contacted teh kind fella that runs it. his name is scott. he was super cool and we reminiced and talked about old bands and stuff and i told him of my love for the monsignors. he told me that he is good friends with mike, the guitarist and still talks to him often. he said he could put me in touch with mike. well he did. me and mike talked a few times and he soon told me about his new band, the rules of attraction. this was in the fall and halloween was approaching and he told me about an upcoming show they had. i attended with my then-girlfriend and we both enjoyed the show and music

immensley. by the time spring came i woudl still occassionally hear from mike, as he continued to promise me exclusive and unreleased/live shit from the monsignors, tho he was quite busy finished graduate school.

now allow me to ‘change lanes’…we have been trying to book a show at the bottom lounge for a long long time. brian peterson is by no means the biggest asshole of promoters in chicago but hes not easy to get a hold of. well hilger emailed him and he immediately responded! this was a first! he offered us our choice of 2 dates, both in may. after a few days we were able to accept the 2nd date. i only became more ecstatic when i found that of all the fucking bands in the world, we would be playing with the goddamn rules of attraction. i couldnt believe it! by now i had become a full fledged fan, with their tracks in heavy rotation in my home and car. also on the bill was highball. this is a band i had never seen, yet i knew of them well because at least 10 bands we know and have played with know and have played with them. last on the bill, the headliner, is/was a california band called pitch black. signed to none other then revelation records. if nothing else their label is a thrill, since i own half the discography probably and have BOLD (a former REV band) tatooed on my fucking arm. so basiclaly we were set for an awesome fuckin show.

well the day came around and first of all i got my man 64 from the south side and his woman to come out to the show. also in attendance were eorl and also frizank of rocky denis. its great that those people came out, and im glad they did nor can i thank them enough. pitch black ended up canceling. we enjoyed a ride over to the venue in hilgers shiny new van and loaded in, then hilger found a prime fucking parking spot in back of the club. the night was set up for total success.

the sound man was also awesome and was real cool and open and talking to us before the gig. chris from highball was very social and also a super cool dude. we hung out in and outside the club wasting time until the show started, which had been pushed back due to the canceled band. i always assumed pitch black had some kind of draw but either they dont or somehow word got around REALLY fast because it did not seem that any stray fans came to teh club anyways expecting a show.

it was awesome to meet mike andy and matt from RofA. they look exactly the same as they did when i saw them on stage with teh mongignors back in teh day. talk about nice guys….its amazing. they could have been dicks and i wouldnt have minded since i hold them in such a high regard anyways. i shoudl also mention that a week before the gig i had the balls to ask them to play another show with us in june and they accepted. we talked about that as well as other crap. mike and i discussed pinball at length, as well as many hybrid pinball machines which could be combined with other crap. he said hes into bird feeding so that might be nice if you could work that into the machine somehow. we spoke of a wild monster telescope which could be combined with a deli so you could have a nice sandwich if you got hungry while looking at stars, however i mentioned that greasy fingers from salami and italian dressing and/or mayonaise do not mix well with sensitive optics of a telescope. should those optics become greased from your filthy paws the telescope would not function. he seemed down after this but i was able to bring him back up once discussion ensued regarding a combination urinal/pinball machine. he also showed me the proper way to ‘jerk off’ the machine. he was a real pro at this.

well we took the stage first. the show felt great. the sound was awesome and the stage and lights were on point. hilger and i both rocked the wireless for hte 1st time in a while and both worked great, we ran all around teh venue and floor area without a hitch.

next up was teh rules of attraction. i was very excited to see them play since i hadnt known them as well when i first caught their live act back on halloween. this time around i knew probably half the songs in their set and it was fucking awesome. but ive listened to them so much more (plus got new material) since this show, that i cant wait to see them again, casue now ill REALLY know whats up! this band is great, really great. the last local band i was this excited about was the powerknobs. i feel the same when i see em, like its something truly fresh and not trying to be trendy or follow something else. its just unadulterated. and its fucking great. they were awesome live! cant wait for june 25th!

last up was highball. they are a great bunch of guys. chris swung his whole bass around his body which was a smooth move i have never attmpted, tho now im beating myself up for not trying cause i had the wireless going plus that is a club with a big enough stage to try it. if i try that at a rehersal i will definatley have a busted headstock.

when we were chillin backstage someone came up to me and asked ‘are you eric?’. it was scott harmless. it was a privledge and pleasure to make his acquaintance. again, what a fuckin nice guy. i love that pic. and what the hell is rob doing in the background? i put that pic on my desktop, it fuckin rules.

before we left we took an awesome pic in teh alley. the lighting is awesome. unforunately im making some open mouted look cause i was trying to see my camera or something…i dont know. still rules. 64s woman vicki copped a low profile shirt off of us, all the ladies love our fashion stylezz. hilger grabbed some random person and made her take this pic with us too.

after the show i think all 3 of us were just drunk enough and also so happy and in good spirits that we had one of the most fun rides home from a show in a long time. we were blasting the fearless flush (old school comp, if you dont know ya betta ask somebody) and singing along to every song. this was such a fun show and i know damn well we played really fucking good. i hope to play here again one day and i definatley hope to play many more shows with RofA.

–satan165

Low Profile live at the Bottom Lounge
Wednesday May 18th
with Rules of Attraction and Highball

so we finally got our first show at Bottom Lounge. and it was totally awesome. i had a blast. Pitch Black was supposed to play this show but they cancelled for whatever reason. they were the touring band from California. it would have been cool to see them, hang out with them, etc. but oh well.
we all met up at Rob’s around 5. loaded up the van and we all rode together. we listened to some Slayer and then put on the Fearless Flush comp. it was a pretty fun drive.
i parked right down the streen from the club and we loaded in and then i pulled around back and got prime parking right behind the club. i should have just parked there to begin with. we had some time to kill so we just hung out and chatted with whoever was around.
we got to do a soundcheck which was cool and everything was sounding real nice. then back to hanging out. some people started to show up so that was cool. me and Rob both got ourselves a RedBull/GreyGoose and they were going down so smooth.
at around 9 or so, we got the go ahead to start our set. it was something like this:

Figure It Out
Arnold Palmer and Katie Holmes
The Limitation
Walter Mander
Hotboxed
All the Wrong Reasons
Solitaire
En Guarde
The Will to Kill
Milwaukee

it was a good fun set. Satan and i rocked the wireless systems and ran around the club. the stage is definately nice and big but off the stage is even bigger. it’s fun running thru the crowd and jamming. and they seem to get a kick out of it.
during Milwaukee, Satan pointed out towards the crowd ordering me to go run out again. i took it as he wanted me to jump over the barricade and off the stage. well, i thought for a split second that the stage was kind of high, the barricade was even higher and i could easily not jump right, fall, break my body or worse yet, break my bass. but like i said, it was a split second thought and i just pushed it out of my brain and pulled the jump anyways. the landing was a shock to my feet and my head. i’m sure my bass made a nice loud noise as i touched the floor too. it was fun tho. i haven’t done one of those in awhile. i guess cuz most places we play don’t have a stage or the stage is only like 3″ high. hahahaha. the Birdman bought us a round of shots before he took off. chilled Absolut goes down fucking smooth when your mouth is dry and you’re still all hot and sweaty from the show. and i was smokin bowls in the back rooms. no one seemed to notice so hopefully no one will be mad about it. Eorl showed up and he was at our last show which was at the Mutiny and he requested All the Wrong Reasons but we didn’t play it. so i added it to the set last minute on stage and dedicated it to him. good ole Eorl!
the Rules of Attraction were up next. this band just fucking rules. super nice guys. very cool to talk and hang with. but their style is awesome. they just fucking rock!! we like them so much, we asked them to play Buddy’s with us June 25th and i’m glad they accepted. and their bassist plays the same Trans Teal Ernie Ball bass i have. so props on that.
Highball was up last. they played a good solid set. once again, a bunch of good guys in this band. i bullshitted with the bassist the most. he played a nice natural wood tone Ernie Ball bass. it looked pretty sweet. it was good to play with and hang out with these guys cuz they have been around as long as we have and have played with a bunch of bands we know. long live the mighty Highball!!!
so we left sometime around midnight i think. we got some good pics posted. we had some key people show up that made the night. shout out to Scott Herschler, the Birdman, Frizank and Eorl. i was so happy to see all of them there. them being there just made the night all the more better. props the soundman for being fun and making us sound so good. i could hear everything and that was one of our best sets yet. we always say that after almost every show but i think this may have been the funnest show i’ve played. i luv the Bottom Lounge and u know what? i’m gonna email Brian right now thanking him for the show and asking for another. hahahahaha….i’m persistent.

–HILGER

Show #72: Mutiny, Chicago

i took off of work on Friday for no particular reason. had a great day off. Saturday was a pretty great day too. we met up at Rob’s at 7:30 and loaded up for the show. got to the Mutiny at about 8:30. we loaded in and were greeted by Rhonda and soon after, our friend Nikki(Kurt) who works Mutiny showed up. then we went across the street to get some pretty yummy pizza with very crunchy crust. i was looking forward to getting it all day. after eating, i was ready to start drinking. went back over to Mutiny and got a mini pitcher of beer and started doin shots of jager. band members get 3 free drinks a piece but i think i got at least 6. can’t beat that.

so Steve Gattermayer offered us this show a while ago and we’d been looking forward to it since. all 3 members are just great guys. it was fun hanging out with them and shooting the shit about bands and whatnot. we got the whole history on King Diamond and Mercyful Fate, Deicide, Cheap Trick, Kiss, etc. i can talk about music and bands for hours and so can these guys. and they know a ton of shit i don’t cuz they’re all older and have been around it all longer. Steve was tellin us about shows he’s been to and i was in awe. anyways…they r all great guys and were super fun to hang out with and play with again.

they played first. the bassist used my amp and rocked a nice 5 string. they played a real good, solid set of originals and very fun covers. i recognized 4 or 5 of the originals that they played the last time we played with them or that Satan has played for me off their CDs. they covered a few Kiss songs. Deuce, Detroit Rock City and Black Diamond. they also covered Blue Oyster Cult and we were all yelling ‘More Cowbell’ thruout the whole thing. it was great!! Steve ripped the solos and was definately entertaining on the mic. just a blast to play with again all around.

we ripped thru our set next and it seemed a total blur.

Figure It Out
Arnold Palmer and Katie Holmes
Hotboxed
Solitaire
The Limitation
Walter Mander
The Will to Kill
Studio Nightmare
Coming Down (originally by PITS)
Boat Dreams From the Hill (originally by Jawbreaker)

it seemed we played pretty tight and i definately had a lot of fun. Eorl showed up and took pics for us. thanks a ton for that. we reimbursed him with free merch. we were definately surprised to see him. he requested we play ‘What I Failed To Mention’ but we’re a lil rusty on that so maybe next time. There was also an awesome black dude who laughed at himself for being black and liking heavy metal but was aweosme and he stayed for the whole night and closely watched all the bands. my mic cut out for whatever reason at some point during ‘the Limitation’ so me and Satan had to share his mic Beatles style. i was pretty much done singing my songs anyways and we can do without my shitty backups.haha.

so it was definately a fun night. playing the Mutiny always is. u never know what to expect.

-ERIK

From : “satan165” [info@lowpro708.com]
To : “hilger” [sales@lowpro708.com]
Subject : Re: show review
Date : Mon, 9 May 2005 03:21:37 GMT

i just got done updating the site
eorl took so many fuckin pics it took me forever to go thru em all and it was hard to pick which to use
i still ended up using like 25-30 which is alot hahaha
he got a good shot of me jumping! check it!
i also reorgznied the venues page a lil
and also
when eorl asked us to play ‘for all the wrong reasons’ for some reason i had it my head ‘a moment to myself’
i dont know why!!!!!!!!!
i would have definately played for all teh wrong reasons, that song is easy
we shoudl also re learn a moment to myself, that song is crayz
i have to put the cd on i almost dont remmeber it at all

cya
eric

Show #71: Big Horse, Chicago

DAN THE DICKHEAD DRUMMERS FINAL SHOW

this was our first show in 8 month, one of the longest breaks weve ever taken in 7 years. a few months ago we started rehersing regularly again and we were definately prepared to rock out again. i got a lift to the gig from my dad (how punk rock is that?) becuase wicker park sucks dick for parking and i didnt want to have to deal with it. i was able to borrow an amp from cory of after the fight so all i had were my 2 guitars and all my other junk was stuffed inside those cases. i didnt realize it at the time but it was like 1 1/2 years since we played at teh big horse, tho i was sure it was much sooner. i came in and sat down with will and arun from rocky denis at the bar. i pounded a water and didnt feel like drinking right away. i found out rocky denis was playign 1st and us 2nd which sounded good to me. we chilled around a while and i sat at the bar sipping some water and a screwdriver. professor deech began to hold court even after only a couple beers. Not only does brey get drunk at every show he plays, he often/usually SHOWS up already half in teh bag. and ill say it for ya–‘nice face asshole'(refering to me, satan165, not brey)

rocky denis went on first, they were awesome as ever. they are slowly starting to sell me on that whole style of music, im tempted to expand my horizons and check out some similar bands. they are so tight and really heavy and im starting to become pretty familliar with their songs, when i got home i actually checked thru my mp3s and cds to get all their shit on mp3 so i can put it in my ipod. they put on a really good set, their songs are varied enough and they wasted no time between songs and it seemed to be over in a flash. really good stuff.

so cory set me up with a rig. he has a fender deville which is a combo tube amp, and a nice (And expensive — and loud as fuck!!) amp, as well as a kick ass ibanez pedal that is just out of control…it was hardly turned up and the shit was loud and distorted as fuck. after teh show we decided as a band to seriosuly consider retiring ‘arnold palmer’ for live sets forever more. we wrote this song like 3 years ago and id say we have played it correctly at shows 25% of the time. it has like a 1:30 instrumental break that i wrote based on some mathematical jazz shit. you really have to count and shit when you play it, we always play it properly at rehersal of course but you can get a lil unhinged when youre on that stage (even when said stage is only like 2″ off the ground.) i think the part is confusing enough to the audience and all they heard was hilgers bass drop out for like 5 seconds at most when we were all totally confused and he got his bearings, then we played the outro no problem. its ridicolous that we still do this but all i can say to the audience is that us fucking that up had nothing to do with our hiatus before the gig, we have fucked it up long before that as well.

let me break it down for ya and you tell me what you think.

its based on 2 figures which we will call A and B. then each figure has a corresponding ‘ending riff’.

so heres the section
—————————————-
3 figure A — 4 ending riff A
3 figure B — 4 ending riff B

2 figure A
1 figure B
1 figure A
2 figure B

2 figure A
1 figure B
1 figure A — 4 ending riff A
2 figure B — 2 ending riff B

4 ending riff A
4 ending riff B
—————————————
so there ya go. make of it what you will. actually i think there might have been another show where this happend and in the review i break it down then as well. pathetic i know, believe me it wont happen again. this song has been a buzzkiller for a while.

besides that, the set went well. everyone seems to like ‘hotboxed’, i know we do. also ‘milwaukee’ which we all agreed is boring and seems played out, the crowd seems to like that as well, just a straight forward punk rock song. i didnt get too exhausted but i did feel a lil tightly strung and not totally relaxed which i attribute to not having played for song long before hand. it was alot of fun up there, glad to get that out of my system. thanx to deech for taking pics for us.

next up was after the fight. we played with them over a year ago and i really forgot what they are like live, or sounded like at all. scott from ratbag hero (and now shooting blanks) has taken over for them on the drums for the next 6 months or so, and it was awesome to watch him up there, it bugged me out. he did a great job tho he claimed he was still a little unfamilliar with their songs, i couldnt tell at all.

shooting blanks was last. first they played an awesome rendition of ‘war pigs’ by black sabbath with just matt and dan from shooting blanks and steve from ATF on bass and singing. (pic 1 , pic 2) at first i thuoght maybe they were just going to fuck around with the intro but they played teh whole song and it was pretty fucking awesome. at that point i was starting to really put the heinikens away and i was having a great time. matt finally got a new guitar, and oh did he ever. he got a ridicolous huge BC rich with glow in the dark outlines around it, this thing is fucking awesome. at one point in their set i had to jump on stage and yell that into the mic, that it is the awesomest guitar ive ever seen, and thats no lie. it was absolutely perfect for matt too, he can really get away with that to say the least.

shooting blanks was awesome. all their songs were coming back to me and the lyrics were flooding into my head. this of course was dan (their drummers) last show. dan is a really cool guy and i alwyas look forward to seeing him at shows, we just get along really good. for that matter i guess most everyone does, one of the nicest people i know. whenever we see each other hell be all smiles and i always enjoy his company. no doubt this all sounds very gay, which combined with already rumours of dan’s gayness might have you wonder about satan165. no i am not gay for dan (or any one) but im secure enough in my sexuallity to hug dan and all that. no i do not kiss him however, im not into that plus he has a woman and she might get pissed at me. anyways it was his last show, he is leaving the band and scott from ratbag and after the fight is taking over permemnantly which i think is awesome. i had the great pleasure of playing the bass for shooting blanks for 3 shows a year and change ago and it was a total fucking blast to hang out with those guys and share the stage with them. it seems like a dream now, its so long ago. but i am positive scott is in for a great fucking time and hes a great drummer as well, he knows the songs perfectly from seeing them and playing shows with them so many fucking times with his other bands.

this was our 7th time playing with shooting blanks and they played all their best songs and a couple new ones as well. then they had this guy from the gotards (RIP) come up and play keyboards on a song theyve covered live before, ‘wish’ by nine inch nails. it was fucking awesome, i was blown away. the crowd loved it, so did i and the band seemed to as well.

and oh yeah, at some point brey showed his ass on stage. it doesnt even offend me at all anymore. so here is his ass. what a great guy that brey is, hes truly a delight.

the lovely betty burbank voulenteered to let me take a ‘promotional’ shot of her with our dvds, as this show was a ‘dvd release party’ of sorts for us. this pic came out so good and im so certain that the beautiful betty will be able to get low profile some props (as our music has been unsuccessful in prop-getting for many years now) that i had to plaster her on the front page of www.lowpro708.com (as well as our merch page). thank you betty. hilger busted out a stash of t-shirts i didnt know he had anymore, including the popular ‘girlshirts’, which this lovely lady put on immediately.

Weber was drunk in full force, we watched him hitting on random hoes in a stumbling haze, and me arun and will from rocky denis were convinced he hit on someones mom. i made the comment to them that if weber hit on my mom, i wouldnt kill him — i would kill myself.

after we played i raced down multiple heinikens and achieved a strong buzz quickly. i rode home in the ‘dungeon’, the back of hilgers work van where i am locked in a cage (as i should be). all in all it was a good show and a nice way for us to play our first gig in a long time, with a bunch of bands we like and know and good friends. major props to cory for letting me use his shit which saved space. it was so loud it blew my fucking eardrums and i could hear basically nothing else but my blaring guitar the whole show. good times

–satan165

Low Profile live at Big Horse Lounge in Chicago
Saturday April 23rd
with Shooting Blanks, Rocky Denis and After the Fight

this was our first show back since July of 04. we played that show at Buddy’s with Rocky Denis and it was cool to play with them for this show.

i took my work van and drove with Rob to the show. Satan got a ride. me and Rob pulled up in the back, unloaded and then i got some decent parking about a block away.

we all sat around waiting for the show to get started and they were playing some latin music in there. at first it was really annoying but after 15 minutes or so, i was getting into it a lil. and if the girls r dancing to it, then i really don’t mind it. hahahaha.
‘Puerto Rico!!!’

so Rocky Denis played first. it seemed they played a pretty short set but now that i think about it, i guess it was normal for them. thats good tho cuz they left everyone wanting more. they rocked hard and sounded real good and tight.

we played second. i used Deech’s bass rig for the show. it was so damn loud i couldn’t hear the guitar too well. i lost my timing a few times cuz it was blaring right behind me. but that thing is pretty awesome.
so our set was something like:

Radical New Idea
Arnold Palmer and Katie Holmes
Solitaire
Zamboni
Hotboxed
King of the Hill theme
Figure It Out
Studio Nightmare/Boat Dream From the Hill (originally by Jawbreaker)
The Will to Kill
Milwaukee

during Arnold Palmer, the house music turned on for some reason. it totally threw all 3 of us off. we were all looking at each other confused trying to figure out what wasn’t right about the song. i think that may be the last time we play that song. we can rip thru it at practice, but whenever we play it live, it gets fucked up along the way.

the set was good tho. Radical was awesome to open with. Hotboxed seemed to be the best song in the set. everyone started cheering real loud when Satan was ripping his solo.
i broke a string during Hoffman’s favorite song Figure It Out. so Deech ran over and grabbed my backup bass and i used that for the last few songs in the set.
it felt good to play out again. i kept saying that it was like riding a bike. people kept asking me if we were rusty or nervous and for me, it just seemed like we played a week ago. definately no big deal. but like i said, it felt good to play a show again. i missed it. plus we’ve been playing all the songs in the set for a few practices.
we gave out a bunch of CD’s, DVD’s and stickers. i only gave out 1 shirt. a girly one at that. and i made the chick i gave it to put it on and pose with me. she was pretty fun.

After the Fight played 3rd. a good, tight set on their part. Scotty took Blake’s position on drums and was great to see jamming with these guys. and now he’ll be taking over drumming duties for Dan in Shooting Blanks.

and speaking of Shooting Blanks, they played last. they rocked the house as usual. this was Dan’s last show. i’m glad we got to play it with them. i would have come out to the show whether we played or not but it was way cooler playing it. the majority of their set was older stuff. i think they only played 2 songs off their new disc which Matt hooked us up with. and Matt has this new BC Rich guitar that is the shit. check the pics. looks like u can stab someone with that thing. Deech and Brey be careful on stage next to him!!! hahahaha

it was a real fun night.

since Rob doesn’t write show reviews, something happened to him that night that i want to share with u all. him and Satan were out back of Big Horse, ummmm, just standing around…..and something fell and hit Rob in the leg. now if u have been in back of Big Horse, you’d know that it is a very dark and dirty alleyway. the L train viadock is above it and it’s pretty creepy looking back there. so the something that fell and hit his leg was a rat!!! he said it dropped down, hit his leg and scurried away. thats pretty fucking sick. i would have screamed like a lil bitch. hahahaha!!! i just thought u people would like to hear that one.

all 3 of us drove home in the van but we made Satan ride in the back caged in section of the van. i’ll have to take a picture of him back there while we drive to the next show. it was pretty funny. i should just buy a bean bag chair for him to chill on back there.

so thats it. thanks to Matt for booking us. Deech for letting me use his amp. and a big thanks to everyone there. it was a blast.

-ERIK

Show #69: Fantasy Lounge, Chicago

got this show from josh of after the fight. which is interesting cause when we played there the 1st time a year before almost, we got it from josh who was then in burnside bridge. the owner les sometimes is a dick and will bitch that you didnt bring enough people, yet hell call you back then asking if you want to play again. this time around i guess he called josh, asked if he wanted to play and even offered him money right off the bat! well we got on the bill and i was excited from the get-go.

i chilled out before hand and had some red bull vodka (way to ‘chill out’!) and sat with johnny as he ate a pizza and offered some to anyone that walked by. of course johnny and cory had to wear their burnside bridge shirts, which i also wore. we looked like a bunch of dorks probably.

the burbanks were supposed to play but i guess johnny never told mark about the show, and mark had to be out of town. so at the last minute the burbanks were faced with the possibility of canceling the show. but johnny just switched to guitar and played what songs they could. i even came up and sang ‘where did you go’ for em. im glad they were able to find a way to be able to still do the gig.

the 1st act was this dude named drew neely. he used to be in a band called thrift store heros. i guess this guy has also done production work for other bands, including split habit who i like alot. he played just by himself with acoustic guitar. he also left i believe before we went on at the end of the night. i wasnt feelin his set but he knew what he was doing well enough.

well after the fight went on right before us, the third of 4 acts. they are always a pleasure personally and i was eager to check out their new sound. they definatley have a bit more ‘edge’ then burnside bridge and i like em better, tho i was a fan of burnsides sound as well. they played as a well oiled machine thats been gigging for years although they have only recently assembled the band. im sure they will try to depreciate themselves but they sounded great. they played one awesome song i can find no info about on their site called ‘i dont know’ (i guess thats what its called), it was pretty heavy and i dug it alot. well i started getting pretty anxious, more anxious then usual i think. i really wanted to just get up there and get our set underway so i could release the tension inside of me that was building to a point of being way out of fucking hand. lately ive gotten my anxiety under control but it was bad this night. it seemed like they were playing an epic set of 100 10 minute songs tho they were probably only up there for like 20 minutes. they eventually played a ramones song and some dude they knew came up and sang it which was cool.

allow me to sidetrack….at some point early on in their set i saw rob sitting alone at the bar. they have a nice set up like they used to have at smiler coogans (RIP) where they have a camera on the stage and you can watch it on the tv in the other room.i sat down next to him and we talked for a second and another dude came up and sat down. although there were other seats, he chose to squeeze in on the last stool on the bar, which i felt invaded our space a lil bit. but hey, its a free country. there was a lull in me and robs conversation and this guy just blurts out ‘yeah…i played here 17 years ago’ or some such nonsense. i looked at rob to see if maybe i missed something and he knew this guy. the guy went on then about this and that and his illustrious musical career. he was just dropping club names and rambling on…during a lull i quietly whispered to rob ‘do you know this guy?’ and rob said no, which surprised me. ive met a few people like this before but this time i was certain there was some justification for this outburst of ego stroking. i grabbed a cd and gave it to him which brought no questions or comments about our own music, only more bullshit about his own. after i gave him the cd i had to take a pic of this asswipe.. he was like ‘did you just take a pic of me?’. i answered a very serious ‘no’. hahahahah you dummy. after a few minutes of his bullshit i just walked away.

well after the fight was winding down their set and someone kept yelling the VERY old and cliched joke ‘play free bird!’. cory or someone started fucking with the chords and starting to play it and this guy that was at the bar with me and rob must have nearly split his drawers with a massive throbbing boner. being that he is a washed up dirtbag, he jumped at the chance to be able to pull this impromptu jam. josh gave him his guitar and started playing free bird. they all started playing it and he was singing it. now i dont fault ATF for not knowing the song as they dont play recycled classic rock. but this asshole who jumped up didnt even know.

heres a little lesson of freebird. i learned to play this a VERY long time ago. this asshole was confused with the verse

verse:
G / F# / Em
F / C / D

when he got to the C i watched him fumble around even tho he had no clue what the chord was.

then the chorus he also was confused about, which makes sense since the chorus is the 2nd half of the verse (F / C / D). and to complete the lesson (tho its of little relevance to the story) the final ending change that plays for 8 minutes during the mindless soloing is G / A# / C. he played a few of the riffs decently from teh solo ad infinitum and my anxiety was turning to anger. ill listen to after the fight play as long as they want because they are a good band, they play punk rock, i like them and they booked the show. but listening to this guy was turning my mind into mush. finally they ended the song but this jerk off wasnt done! he made some lame announcement that ‘im just a chicago firefighter’ which, like his announcement to me and rob that he had played the venue 2 decades ago was IRRELEVANT. they went into a led zepplin song (i believe) and more mindless soloing. then he left the stage with little grace, waving to the crowd like he was a superstar. in his own weak defense, many of the people were actually entertained with his feeble attempts which butchered these classic songs. he even went and was shaking hands with people! i guess it was a ‘meet and greet’. that guy sucks big time, go start your own goddamned band. because when and if you do, ILL NEVER PLAY A SHOW WITH YOU. and its that freedom which i love that keeps me from having to deal with you.

well anyways we finally got on stage. the PA and monitors sounded great and my voice held up better then it had for many of our recent shows. we played a couple face to face songs which would normally strain me but i felt real strong. our engineer scott came out which was awesome, i was very excited to play the new songs he recorded for him live. i sweat at a consistent pace and never really felt exhausted up there. we had one near trainwreck during ‘use your mind’ by guttermouth but somehow pulled out of it. you can blame rob for that one! good gig altogether. at the end of the set rob recommended that we play ‘studio nightmare’, our new instrumental. i was nervous we might fuck it up, and i was nervous it might be boring. but it really moved me once we started playing it and it was alot of fun. rob said he gets alot of comments on that song — all the people i know only give me comments on the damn voice mails! he must have some more attentive fans.

also thanx to the voice mail master dave mazur for coming out to the show. also to metko and bones. metko was super excited to get the new cd, i hope he enjoyed it.

after the show i went next door to the 24 hour place whos name always eludes me. sallys? i dont know.heres a pic, night mode and long exposure time dont work too well when youre exhausted after a show and a bit drunk well i walked up and was about to order and a dude, his girlfriend and another dude came up beind me to get in line. after we both ordered and were waiting for our food, i heard the three of them start discussing the movie ‘true romance’ which is definitely a great movie. the one dude was explaining the difference between the rated R and NC-17 versions. i jumped into the conversation and we started discussing cinema. we were giving props to true romance and to quentin tarintino also, i started giving props to tony scott who directed it. it was awesome and this one dude (not the boyfriend, the ‘3rd wheel’) was knowledgeable and we were agreeing on most shit. i dropped a coin and it fell into some water and he reached for it. i was like ‘no its cool dude’ but he grabbed it from the puddle. i said ‘thanx man, youre a good soul’.

just then 2 crazy redneck white trashers walked up. one was a dude super skinny, wearing like a shirt for a bowling league in tennessee (no kidding) and he had a mullet and looked like a scumbag. he had a huge fat bitch with him. well he walked up and immediately says ‘a soul is a dead person…so youre basically saying hes dead’. i was so blown away by that ignorant comment i couldnt even respond. i thought about just saying ‘fuck you motherfucker’ but decided not to. it got quiet then which sucked. then the 3 somes food was ready and one dude grabbed it. he grabbed a cup of pop made of foam and somehow busted thru it with his finger and coke sprayed everywhere. we all kind of laughed. the chick tried to return the cup of pop for another but the lady in the window is a notorious bitch and she refused. so this chick threw the cup of coke into the garbage cause she was pissed and it sprayed a lil bit on this red neck. the chick said something like ‘that bitch wont give me another one [throws pop] sorry, im just really pissed [apologizing to redneck]’.

the redneck looked pissed but said nothing adn the 3 some left. then another dude walked up. this dude was real drunk, tho certainly so was i and the redneck. but this guy was a little more wasted. he started saying how he had been coming here drunk to eat for like 15 years. i said it was awesome and now me and this dude had struck up a conversation. the redneck butted in at some point and actually had the balls to scold me for swearing in front of this fat bitch who i guess was underage. i told the redneck ‘deal with it’. he kept saying how it was wrong and i kept saying louder and louder ‘deal with it!’. he kept talking and then i started to test him cause i felt like maybe this drunk dude would have my back a lil bit and i said ‘youll do nothing about it and youll like it’. and other arrogant shit. well basically then all our food was ready and i jetted out. i drove home and ate it and felt real tired. i took a shower and somehow got some strength back to stay up a few more hours and update teh site.

oh yeah. and dont ask whats up with this dude, i dont know.

–satan165

Low Profile live at Fantasy Lounge
Friday July 9th
with After the Fight, 2/3 of the Burbanks and Drew Neely

I’d been looking forward to this show for a long time. It has finally come and gone. And I had a blast!!!!
I had a crazy week with work and all so it was nice to let loose and release some of that angst. No better way to do that than by playing a good live set. So I took off work around noon and did some errands, ate, chilled, jammed a lil to loosen up, showered, paced around my apartment aimlessly till it was time for me to start loading my car. As I was loading, the phone rang and my buddy Dave Mazur called so I invited him along to the show and he followed me there but I sort of lost him on the way. He caught up with me later tho. I got there right around 8:30. Everything was set up and pretty much ready to go. We all chilled, mingled and drank for awhile and then Drew Neely started up his set. He played a bunch of acoustic songs solo. Pretty good stuff. The Burbanks were up next. They played with Johnny on guitar and vocals and the always so lovely Betty on drums.
Marky was out of town so they played Local H style. They are always fun and I truly love these guys. They played ‘Where Did You Go’ and Satan walked up and took the vocals for it. He sang the last verse all demonic and death metal style. It was hysterical. This was our 5th time playing with them. Luv u Burbanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After the Fight played next. If u don’t know about these guys, get to know em. They rock and are making a great start. This was our first time playing with them but my second time seeing them. And so many people sporting the Burnside Bridge tshirt. I’ve got one and I was tempted to wear it but knew there would be at least 1 person with it on and there ended up being like 4 people with em on. hahahaha. thats great. Twinsy’s!!!!
We played last. Didn’t go on till around or past midnight I think. I’m not too sure. I hate playing last cuz u have to pace yourself drinking. Well, i guess u don’t have to. But we do. I drank just enough before and after we played so that I was feeling pretty fucking good all night. So when we play last, I get real anxious and can’t wait to go jam. It makes me a lil crazy. I’m not the most patient of people. But oh well. The good thing about playing last is that u can just keep playing on and on till people start leaving or they pull the plug on u.
So we used other peoples amps for the show. I used ATF Steve’s amp so thanks Steve!!!! It just made things much easier. Less equipment wasting space, allows me to be lazy and walk in with just 2 basses and my box o’ stuff and bag o’ shirts, no heavy amp to lug around, etc.

So our set was something like this:

Milwaukee
Zamboni
The Will to Kill
Ultraviolence
I’m Trying (originally by Face to Face)
Use Your Mind (originally by Guttermouth)
Hotboxed
What I Failed to Mention
All the Wrong Reasons
1000x (originally by Face to Face)
Radical New Idea
King of the Hill theme
American Nightmare (originally by the Misfits)
Folsom Prison Blues (originally by Johnny Cash)
Vampira (originally by the Misfits)
Studio Nightmare

I think thats about all of what we played. It felt real good. Blake brought us some shots of Jagr while we were playing. I practically stopped playing during the song to grab my shot. hahaha.
thanks Blake!!!!!
I drank for free after we played. All my drinks from then on were on the house. Pretty nice of em.
We gave out a bunch of CDs, stickers and tshirts. Rob printed up some real nice promo posters for the new album and gave em to us last night. We hung one up inside the place.
We got paid $50. We played rock paper scissors as usual for the cash. First I played Rob and he beat me so he got $20. Then I played Satan and he also beat me and got the other $20. And I got the 10 spot. hahahaha. I suck at that game. But its fun to play and we’ve been doing it since our early shows. I wonder what the record is of whose lost the most, won the most, etc. hahaha. Anyways. I had a blast. We’ll have to set up some more shows at this place. Both times were fun.
So thanks to Josh for booking us. The owner of the Fantasy Lounge and the lady who brought me all my drinks. After the Fight, Johnny and Betty, Drew Neely all for rocking with us. Scott Herschler. Deech. Dave Mazur, Tracy and Rachael. And everyone else there who watched our set. Also Dave Metko for taking pics and Bones. Thanks a ton!!!! I had a fun night.

-ERIK