Show #89: Lot 4, Chicago Ridge

Low Profile live at Lot 4 in Chicago Ridge
with She Likes Todd
Saturday Oct 7th

we tried to meet up at Rob’s at 7. but the River Grove Fall parade was goin on and i got stuck in major traffic and Rob lives houses away from the festivities so i couldn’t get there till like 7:45. there was nothing i could do about it but wait it out so i tried to make the best of it. smoked a bowl, put on good music, tried to relax. i even thought about parking the van and go walk up to actually watch some of the parade.

so we left later then expected but it didn’t matter anyways cuz we got the Lot 4 pretty quick and were still there super early. so to fill the time, we drank. of course Metko the #1 roadie came thru once again.

the Miller Lite referee chicks showed up and we had fun with them. Satan mostly annoyed them for free beer which they kept saying they didn’t have access to. but they hooked him up before they left. check out this chick. she was like 4’9 and looked like a hot lil porn star. she was running some crazy computer clipboard thing that had a survey in it and then had a built in camera. they took our pics and made stupid lil ‘man rule’ IDs with them. they raffled off Bears tickets for Sundays game but no one we knew won which sucked. i wanted em. i asked Natalie the cute bartender if she wanted to go with me to the Bears game if i won and she snapped some comment about her lame boyfriend. total turnoff. and no tip for you !!!!!!

so we played some pool and drank more. She Likes Todd started around 10 or so. they were really good. 3 piece, tight punk rock. a very good mix to play with us. we’ll have to set up more shows with these guys.

we played second. our set was:

Arnold Palmer and Katie Holmes
Character Profile
the Will to Kill
Overlength
Tolerance
Past Tense
Carl Panzram
Nature of the Way Things Work
Radical New Idea
Empty Rantings of an Old Silly Man
Hotboxed
Ultraviolence

Horror Hotel (Misfits)
Summertime (Crimpshrine)
We Bite (Misfits)

it was a good, tight, sweaty set. i played the cordless to full effect and ran around all over. i even ran outside and kept jamming out in the parking lot. i could hear the song fine so just kept jamming along. some Mexican dudes were coming in to the club and were banging their heads and giving me the horns on their way in. it was awesome. i ran up to a pool table where some nerdy dude was racking the balls up and i got in his face. he tried to ignore me but i wouldn’t allow that. i got closer into his face and stared him down. so he finally looked up at me and gave me the thumbs up. i wasn’t satisfied with his reaction but decided to leave him alone. i wanted to jump up on his pool table and kick the balls all over the place but my conscience kicked in a lil i guess. anyways, it was fun.

later on we went out back to smoke up with Mark 4 who booked us. Metko and I climbed up on the roof. it was pretty awesome. when Satan asked how we would climb onto the roof, i just looked over at the fence and said that i’d climb up the fence and onto the roof off of the fence. Metko said he’d take the ‘hard’ way. he shimmied across some wooden arch thing and onto the roof. it was crazy watching him. most people would get real nervous cuz we were drunk and all but it’s special agent Metko. he’s had crazy military training with shit like this. and this was nothing. u just gotta let him have his fun. and trust me, it’s fun watching him.

so they were kicking people out and we went to some other bar that Jim knew of. we drank there for about another hour. Metko and i went and watched the girls dance on the dancefloor. we left after that and dropped Jim off. after we unloaded the gear, Metko and i went and hit up White Castles. and of course we had to get the dusseldorf mustard. hahahaha. inside joke i guess. Metko joked that we’d be woken up with the urge to take a shit and i was. i went to bed at like 6:30 am and woke up at 9:30 to take a shit. then i went back to bed and woke up at like 10:30 cuz the old guy next door was mowing his lawn. i just got up and did some laundry, made some breakfast, watched the Bears game. then i was real tired so figured i’d take a nap. i passed the fuck out from like 3:30 till past midnight. a fucking long nap. then i was pretty wide awake. so i watched some Arrested Develpment and then read my Romo book till i was ready to go back to sleep.

that’s about it. it was a good, fun show.

-ERIK

Show #88: Mutiny, Chicago

Low Profile live at the Mutiny in Chicago
Saturday Sept 16th
with Unearthed Elf and Boomjack

i set this show up months in advance and brought both Unearthed Elf and Boomjack. Satan and i had just seen Unearthed Elf at Fireside a few weeks before and were both pumped about playing out with them. this was a great opportunity. Boomjack had contacted us out of the blue just to say what’s up. we played with them at Big Horse a long ass time ago so figured it was time to bring them out to play. another great opportunity. i also have them booked with us at the Oct 29th show in Aurora.

so we got to Mutiny and everything was typical. i drank, bullied the jukebox, got a slice from Sonny’s, pissed in the huge urinal, etc. always a good time at the Mutiny.

Boomjack played first. a great bunch of guys. i’m glad i got em out for this one.

we played second. our set was the same as we played at Memories the night before except we thru in Spinal Remains to close out our set.

Unearthed Elf played last. they were just as awesome as they were at Fireside. they set up creepy cobwebs and Keith put neon pink Christmas lights around his drum set and i got a lot of crazy looking pics off them.

it was a good, fun night all around. like i said, always a good time at Mutiny.

nothing too crazy happened at this show. i remember some drunk chicks came up and played pool with me and Metko. one was totally smashed. she came up and hugged me and i told her to go hang on Metko and she did right away. within 5 mins, they were making out. way to go Metko. the other one came up to me while i was setting my shit up and was babbling on about how she could play a song on bass but didn’t remember the name of the song or how it actually went. i let her antics go on for about 30 seconds and then told her to get the fuck away from me.

and i remember driving there sucked. it was Mexican Independence Day and there was crazy traffic and people running around all down Fullerton with Mexican flags, etc. then the cops set up a road block and we had to take a detour around to get back onto Fullerton. it sucked and took about an extra 20 minutes to get there but oh well. i tried taking a pic of the cops roadblock but it kinda sucks. u get the point. i ran over to Sonny’s by myself and chowed a slice real quick in the van. a Mutiny ritual.

that’s about it. i’m sure i would have remembered and written more but i waited too long to write this review. sorry.

-here’s Satan with Donny.
-Satan with Nikki (Kurt)
-Satan with Unearthed Elf
-Satan with Metko
-Satan with Ken from Boomjack
-Satan and Jessica
-Ed running the sound
-free pool (pic 1, pic 2, pic 3, pic 4)
-Maryann the bartender
-me with some chick who said she plays bass in a punk rock band(i forgot her name)
-Boomjack representin Low Pro
-hahahaha!!! drunk chicks
-me acting like a goof and making Satan laugh

that’s it.

-ERIK

Show #87: Memories, Chicago

Low Profile live at Memories
Friday September 15th
with Johnny Vomit, All or Nothing HC, Seven Year Existence, Redneck Exorcist, Moral Decay and Clad in Darkness
what a show. 7 fucking bands made for a fun, long and interesting night.

Satan and i met up at Rob’s right around 6. we loaded up the van and waited for Rob and Metko, our roadie for the weekend. we left soon after. i parked in my usual spot. loading equipment 2 blocks sucks major dick but oh well. that’s what we brought Metko for and he was truly great. we immediately set our shit up since we were playing first. then we started drinking!!!!! bands started showing up. the Rose Red people were there. we helped move shit out of the way and set up the PA, etc. they were real cool. except for the list of rules posted up near the PA.

so we played first. our set was:

Overlength
Tolerance
Arnold Palmer and Katie Holmes
Will to Kill
Past Tense
En Guarde
Nature
Grudge
Figure It Out
Hotboxed

it was a good tight set all around. it all went by in a blur. sorry i don’t have any fun stories about anything that happened. the night was still early. we loaded our shit out right away and just made a bunch of rounds all night to check on our gear or smoke up.

Seven Year Existence were next. they were fucking awesome. they’re from Champaign, IL. they played fast, furious heavy metal. they played real nice ESP guitars and basses. the singer was awesome. i just liked these guys a lot. here’s Satan with Luke. these guys broke a rule and were fined. hahahahaha. that’s pretty fucked up.

next up was Clad in Darkness. these guys were alright.

next up was All or Nothing HC from California. they were definately awesome and very energetic. crazy female vocals and a hot chick guitarist. the bassist wore a Judge shirt so u know me and Satan were luvin that. we kept yelling Judge at him all night whenever we saw him. he probably thought we were nuts. anyways, this band was awesome. i traded CDs with Renae. i listened to it pretty much all day Saturday in the van. good stuff for sure. check em out.

Moral Decay were up next. once again, they were just alright.

Redneck Exorcist were up next. they were pretty awesome. i was definately entertained. they play 3 piece like us so we brought that up to em when we met em. here’s Satan and Jimbo. the drummer sang and was a lot of fun. said a bunch of crazy shit in between songs and cracked us all up. the guitarist played real wild. reminded me of some Greg Ginn shit. i liked em a lot. and they broke the Rose Red rules. the guitarist must have knocked the mic stand over about 10 times. they must have gotten fined too. hahahahaha.

we had to wait a while for Johnny Vomit to start cuz Scott worked a long ass day and was at home passed out. they called him and he rushed over, literally ran in the joint with his bass in hand, plugged in, tuned and started their set. it sucked waiting for him but everyone cheered when he ran in. it was pretty awesome. they only got to play a short set but it rocked anyway. they ended with Emergency by GirlSchool and Jimbo from Redneck Exorcist ran up to sing along. awesome fucking song. Roman rules!. so does bill and his huge beard!

at some point in the night, i was sittin on the pool table in between bands and Johnny Vomit motions to me. i get closer and i’m like what’s up?? he hands me a handful of bud. i didn’t know why or what to do but it was pretty hysterical. i just pocketed it all. then later dumped it all into Satan’s hand. we were laughing about it and he couldn’t believe it. then of course we packed it up. thanks man. he’s actually done that once before to me at the DRI show in Aurora where we actually smoked a joint right in front of the stage while DRI was playing. it was awesome. ahhhh, memories. the ‘good buddy bar’.

–Erik

Show #86: Mutiny, Chicago

Low Profile live at the Mutiny
Saturday July 29th
with Shooting Blanks, One Light Out and Full
awesome fucking show. we met up at Rob’s at 7. played a few songs to warm up. get the juices flowin. Metko came with and roadied for us. we got there a lil after 8. we just set our shit up since we were playin first then hit the bar and started drinkin.

Satan and I went to see Unearthed Elf the night before. Keith and Mike came out and started partying with us.

we started our set a lil before 10. i busted out the Washburn which i just got fixed. check my equipment page for details. we tore it up. played a real good and tight set.

Rest Awhile (They Might Be Giants)
Overlength
Tolerance
Past Tense
More You Then You’ve Ever Been
Walter Mander
the Will to Kill
Bored
Character Profile
King of the Hill theme
Folsom Prison Blues
Hotboxed

after our set, we talked with Andy. he was a total trip. he was breaking down our sound and giving us so much props and was so intense about it. at first he was just talkin to me and was goin on about how he’s in his 50’s and has lived through so many genre changes of music. ‘i was around in the 70’s when punk was first comin out. i wasn’t down with it, but you know, it was cool’. but i couldn’t handle it. so i called Satan over for some relief and he took over with this guy. i seriously needed a drink after that conversation. he was awesome though. we offered him some merch and he refused it. at first we thought he was gonna say he didn’t have money so we told him it was all free. then he snapped in a weird way. ‘i rode my bike here. i can’t be carrying all that.’ so we insisted he take a sticker. and he did. then he left. hahahahahaha.

Andrew and Bill Knobs came out. thanks a ton guys. very good seeing u. it’s been awhile.

Josh, Steve and Bam came out. thanks guys.

Full played next, then One Light Out. our first time with both.

Shooting Blanks played last. we were celebrating both Scotty and Hoff’s birthdays for this show drunk punk style. here’s Scotty regulating. Dickhead Dan even came out and played a few songs at the end of their set.

it was a super fun night. always a good time at the Mutiny.

here’s the infamous picture of us with Ed. fuckin A.

some dashboard cam pics. (pic 1, pic 2)

we got back to Rob’s and unloaded. then i dropped Metko off and headed home.

hahahahaha…………………good times……

-ERIK

satan’s notes:

–keith and satan both have dope shoes

–hoffman used my amp, it ruled

–andrew is the greek god of greek gods

Show #85: Underground Lounge, Chicago

Low Profile live at Underground Lounge in Chicago
Saturday July 22nd
with Rocky Denis, Theia and the Sidewalk Crax
well this show started out great. we were pretty pumped about it. but a lot of shit happened and it all went downhill from there. we ended up being the only band that played. Albert and Adam stayed for our set and smoked us up but the other 2 guys in Theia are under 21 so they couldn’t play. Aaron from Rocky Denis was sick so they cancelled. who knows what happened to the Sidewalk Crax.

anyways, we made the best of a bad situation and played an extra long set. the place is cool, the sound was good, we played tight, gave out a bunch of free merch, drank, etc.

Radical New Idea (soundcheck)
Rest Awhile (They Might Be Giants)
Overlength
Tolerance
Past Tense
Empty Rantings of an Old Silly Man
the Will to Kill
Bored
Character Profile
Hotboxed

Vampira (Misfits)
Summertime (Crimpshrine)
I’m Trying (Face to Face)
Boat Dreams From the Hill (Jawbreaker)
King of the Hill theme
Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash)
Dont Turn out the Lights (Screeching Weasel)

Satan and i stood out on Clark and mingled with the crowds. here’s Satan with some bum who told us that he was having a ‘mac attack’ and wanted money to go buy a big mac. then this dude asked me for directions and i just made em up. i told him to take a pic with me for collateral for giving him directions. not a very good swap. i had no clue where he was trying to go but pretended i did. also saw this chick in hot pink fishnets!

i also remember that Miller’s Crossing was on at the bar and the bartender left it on for us. none of us had seen it in a while and we were very amused by it. great movie all around. a total classic!!!!! then we watched some old school episodes of Miami Vice and they played the pilot which i have never seen before till that night. kinda lame but i was excited.

what a show!!!!! 1 out of 4 bands played. thanks to everyone who came out and stuck around to see us play. like i said, we made the best of a bad situation. the show must go on.

-ERIK

Show #84: Lot 4, Chicago Ridge

Low Profile live at Lot 4 in Chicago Ridge
Friday May 5th
with the Steve Gattermayer Band

we met up at Rob’s at 6 and played a few songs to warm up. then we loaded up the van to head out to Lot 4. we’ve never played this place but were all looking forward to it. the place was plenty big and had a pretty huge stage area for us to play on. Lou the bartender was awesome and we had a very nice free band tab going. Rob and I got some appetizers that were pretty damn good too. I started drinkin after I ate and threw down a few beers then started on some kettle one and red bull. then people were buyin me jagerbombs after we played so i stuck with those a while too. got pretty hammered and it was awesome.
so the guys in Steve Gattermayer drove up from Cincinatti, Ohio. this is our 3rd time playing with them and they are a lot of fun. they played first and opened with Detroit Rock City which got me and Satan pumped up. Satan went up to sing one of their original songs that i’m sure he’s listened to a thousand times. they also covered She and Black Diamond by Kiss. steve also put crazy norway flags and shit all over the stage. i was loving it.

we played next. it was a real good, sweaty set. we played:

Pathetic Individuals
Radical New Idea
the Limitation
Walter Mander
Carl Panzram
Grudge
the Will to Kill
Spreading Yourself Thin (PITS)
Nature of the Way Things Work
Studio Nightmare
Ultraviolence
Hotboxed

Misfits Medley:

Horror Hotel
Ghouls Night Out
We Bite

it was a lot of fun. we rocked the house for sure. but of course it all went by in a blur. the guys in Monkey Tactics were right in front of me so i was drinkin their beer and slappin em 5 in between all the songs.

then Satan did 3 songs off of his solo album. i took a bunch of pics of him and got a lil bit of his song ‘MT’ for Short in dedication to the Monkey Tactics crew on video off my camera. it came out pretty good.
we hung out a while after that. i gave out just about everything i brought. all the shirts were given out and i gave out a bunch of cds and stickers. the bartenders called last call but i wasn’t done drinkin yet so we asked Greg where another bar was that was open later and we followed a crew of people over to some bar. i can’t remember what it was called but it was pretty packed. we started blowin all our nights earned money on more drinks. the place had a dance floor and was bumpin some lame ass dance music but everytime i looked over at the dance floor, there were 2 guys dancin and that was it. how fuckin stupid. they looked liked fools. either they were tryin to show off their moves or waitin, hopin for some chicks to come dance with em. either way, they cracked us up. eventually the cops came in and the place seemed to be closin so we headed out and said goodbye to everyone. we got to Rob’s safe and unloaded.

so thanks to big Jim who set this thing up for us and doing promotions. we gotta set up another one real soon. thanks to Mike from RofA who even though is in Seattle still took time to make the flyer for us which makes me smile whenever i look at it. thanks to the MT crew. i think they go by Midwest Mayhem now. that was on Paul’s hat (paul in blue low profile shirt). so we’ll have to write up a new song for em. thanks to Rob’s cousin Josh who came out to see us. thanx to lou the bartender.thanks to the guys in the Gattermayer band. always a pleasure sharing the stage with u guys. thanks to all our new friends we met that night. we had a blast with all of u. till the next one….

-ERIK
so weve played the SW side twice over the years. both times were at champs, and the shows were mediocre at best. i dont really like that club and they have always had shitty promoters and booking people etc. well since the last time we played there which was years ago at this point, i have made alot of friends in that area and hung out around burbank, oak lawn, etc… quite a bit. so i talked to my friend jim and told him to get me a date at champs. he got me a date but it was no good cause i was going to be out of town. so i told him to get me another date and then he told me he knew a guy from high school who booked for another club nearby called lot 4. i said what the hell, sounds good. he got the date and it was on.
recently jim formed malt liquor productions, a DJ and party promoting crew. jim spins vinyl and so does his boy denny aka dj christ. so this was the 1st ever MLP gig. he did quite a bit of promotion and i knew the show would go well. a while back i wrote a rap song for some of my friends down there. the song is called ‘MT for Short’ and its a reference to a bike stunting crew they have called monkey tactics. i made the song so they could use it for the stunt videos they put together. well i figured i had to perform it, i dropped my solo hiphop LP last fall but i have never really performed my raps live ever. well i knew i had to, so i prepared myself. low profile was going to do a longer then usual set becuase there were only 2 bands, so i decided to just do 2 songs. i decided to also do ‘with meat’, because its a song i know the words to really well. then like a week before the show i also decided to do ‘piss’, another song i wrote a while back which is pretty short and also ingrained deeply in my memory. hilger had recently upgraded his amp from his 100 watt crate to a 220 watt crate. i had been wanting to upgrade my shit as well for a while, to the ultra small 150 watt crate powerblock head, and its matching celestion cabinet with a 12″. so i bought my shit off ebay like 2 weeks before and tested it out in my place.

rob had been out of town the week before so we decided we shoudl reherse right before we loaded out to head to the gig. i hooked up my amp and it wouldnt power up properly! i couldnt believe it! i ran back to my house (1 block away) and grabbed my old amp but when i got back to robs i tried my new one one more time…and ironically it worked! i decided i better bring my old amp to the gig as well, just in case.

the club has no real PA sitution so we packed all our own shit. also since my new head has a balanced line out, (as does the PA and hilgers bass amp) i decided to bring my 4-track as well and record the gig. our friends from ohio, the steve gattermayer band, called me with some awesome timing like a month before the show, so we decided to bring them along as well.

well we rehersed and it felt good, tho i had a headache. on the tuesday of that week i woke up with a headache, which was odd, i hadnt drank the night before either. it kind of lasted all day which sucked. then friday (day of the show) i woke up with one again. i was even like 10 minutes late to rehersal becuase i was taking a long shower trying to relax the headache away. it actually worked. so we got to the club and i set up all the amps and shit (we told steve gattermeyer and his crew not to bother lugging amps from ohio, to just bring drums and use our shit). i set up the recording gear and tried to relax, i was feeling a little anxious but good. jim was taking the money at the door and shit was going well. the club was much bigger and nicer then i thought it would be as well which was dope. they even gave the band a $50 bar tab which is basically unheard of as well.

so steve gattermeyer went on first. they played a grip of kiss songs. i should add that i went to set up my amp for him before they went on and it started power cycling again, like it had in robs basement! i was furious but i busted out my old one, good thing i brought it. this sucked tho, becuase my old amp doesnt have a line out, i took teh line out from the effects loop but it sounds fucked on the recording. i had tried it in the past and knew it sucked, but i had no choice. anywyas, steve gattermeyer rocked. i had told him in advance that i wanted to come up and sing ‘nothing to say’, an awesome song of theirs ive liked for years. i went up their and ripped it, it was great. (pic 1, pic 2, pic 3, pic 4, pic 5, pic 6,).

i was getting real anxious to play and everyone kept asking me when we were going on. so we went up there and started rippin it. about 3 songs in i got what i call my ‘lightning bolt headache’. now this is not to be confused with the ‘laser beam headache’ which is purely from a hangover. the lightning bolt headache is something ive gotten from performing like 10 times in my life, i can even remember the 1st time it happend, which was in like 1996 with my first band chinese fire drill, before low profile existed. i get it from screaming and it feels like my head is going to crack open. i have to like scrunch up my face and close my eyes to hold my skull together. i know that sounds silly, and it is, i know my head wont really explode. but if i like scrunch up my face like that it feels better. i dont think ive ever had this happen at a show, only at rehersals. when i rehersed with the symptoms for the show i played with them it happend a bunch of times, but not at the actual show. anyways, the lightning bolt headache came on strong. i was able to keep playing and hold it together but it hurt real bad.

then something really fucked happend, which leads me to believe my entire body is falling apart. all day all i had eaten was a ham sandwich for lunch and another at like 5pm. (it was now like 11pm). the one at 5pm had 2 pieces of ham and 1 piece of american cheese and zero condiments. like a prison sandwich. i shoudl also add that unlike some of my friends and my brother, i do not often if at all suffer from acid reflux and heartburn and all that except in certain situations if i eat some kind of strange food. well as i was in the middle of a song like a gallon of stomach acid puked up into my mouth. it hurt so fuckin bad. i had a bottle of water within arms reach and i wanted a swig real bad but i cant fucking drink water and play guitar at the same time. i toughed it out until the end of the song. then i told hilger to take ‘milwaukee’ out of the set list, becuase i was hurting so bad. he made some comment that im a pussy or something, which i guess he has the right to say, since he probably thought i was just tired or something. i was hurting bad up there tho, i dont know why. today is sunday as i write this and i still have a headache, and i had it all day yesterday too. so thats 3 days basically non stop. i dont know whats wrong with me and ive never had this happen before and i dont have insurance which is great. well enough of that shit.

we got to the end of our set and played 3 misfits songs. i was pretty tired then and my throat was hurting and we ripped thru em. as soon as we finished our last song i threw my guitar down and busted out my ipod. i hooked it up to my guitar amp to bump the beats and grabbed the mic and started ripping my rap songs. i was probably a little drunk but mostly real fired up on adreanaline. all week i had been rehersing my rap shit to make sure i knew the lyrics good, which was a silly fear, but like i siad i never really performed this shit before. i stumbled for 1 line in ‘with meat’ but i know no one noticed. i was on pure adrenaline and just flowed everything in a total blur, i wasnt thining about the words at all. it was alot of fun and awesome, i was so glad to be done tho, i was tired as fuck.

after our set i blasted down some more beers and just when i started to feel good the place kicked us out, they closed at 2 which is wack. we went to another bar and had a bunch of drinks real quick before that bar closed at 3. then i was pretty smashed and we drove home. its a long drive and 1/2 way thru i had to piss super bad. i held it the whole way, and it was one of the worst i ever had to piss i think. i let it rip in robs driveway like a pig as soon as we got back to the grove.

the show was good but it was strange. usually i can really say after a performance if it was good or bad. i really cant say with this one, the beginning was real good. i had my wireless on and ran all over the place. i think i played pretty well even as i had intense pains in my dome but i dont know. i need to go back and redo this show and be in better health. this shit never really happend to me before. we made a shit load of money at the door and i paid steve gattermeyer half of it and paid jim a nice cut as well. the show was a success but we will be back soon to rip it up once again. thanx to vernal from the chicago reader for coming out to interview me and 64, look for that article coming soon to newstands!!! also thanx to old school 40oz crew member 662 aka ‘the russian’ for coming thru.. also the entire SW side crew including but not limited to: sturney, simon, biggie, greg and luke.

and i fuckin love this pic of me and steve gattermayer

. –satan165

Show #83: Halftime, Romeoville

Low Profile live Saturday April 1st
Half Time sports in Romeoville
with Shooting Blanks, Highball and ATF
i was all wasted but hyper yelling about how i couldn’t wait to write up this review when i was still at the show. so i hope i don’t forget anything.

so we met up at Rob’s around 6. we ran thru the set real quick and then loaded up and headed for Romeoville!!!!
it didn’t seem to take all too long to get there and we had no problems finding the place. this was not the case for the drive home which i’ll talk about later on.
we walked in and the place seemed pretty big. they had a huge room with pool tables and a jukebox and a dance floor which is where we played. then over to the right was the bar. we pretty much started drinking as soon as we got there. Marcus, the door man was an awesome guy and i hope he had fun with all us Bone Records bands.
Satan and I bullied the jukebox and played some good songs. played some Dire Straits, Weezer, Johnny Cash, Hall and Oates. Satan even payed a lil extra to download an awesome song by Return to Forever.
Deech and Hoff got there soon after. we were looking around and noticed that there was no PA. so Hoffman said we should wait for Pat who booked the show and that maybe he would bring one. so all the bands r there and we’re all hanging out. Pat shows up and says he has no PA. he made some calls and found one but said that he had no way of getting it there cuz he just had a lil 2 door car. so i volunteered to go with him to get it with my big ass van. he said it was only 2 mins away. so i follow him over. about 12 mins away to this storage facility. he pulls up to the gate and i’m right behind him. he walks up to the van and says we have to wait for his contact to let us in. he kept apologizing over and over for not being ready and i assured him this has happened before and that it was no big deal. once we get the PA to the club, we’ll get the show started. so this guy comes and swipes a card to open the gate and let us in. he has me back the van up into a garage. right away, i can hear a band jamming pretty loudly. of course that sort of thing gets me excited and i wanted to go check em out but they made me wait by the van. so they roll out 2 big PA speakers and bring out the board and some other stuff. the guy jumps in the van and says ‘i’m riding with you.’ so on the way over, i packed up a bowl to smoke on the drive back to the club. i had it in the middle console and i clumsily threw a napkin over it to hide it. well the guy saw it and says ‘don’t worry bout that. i just got done smoking bongs.’ so i said ‘i’m Erik from Low Profile and we’re smokin that on the way back.’ so he introduced himself as AJ and said he sang for a band called Once Suffered. we talked about booking shows and bands and that kind of stuff on the way back and he was a real cool guy. so we load the PA in and AJ is setting it up for us. then he walks up to me with a mic and says that he only has one mic, one mic cord and no mic stand. so i go get Satan and we start looking around for stuff we can make a mic stand out of. a pool cue. no. a broom stick. no. Highballs drummer brought over a cymbal stand and that worked perfect. it had a pivoting top so we just taped the mic to it. shit like that reminds me of being 15. we never had money to buy a bunch of mics and mic stands or a PA. so we’d improvise and use whatever we could. and u should see when Low Profile records on Satan’s 4 track. we’ve taped mics to laundry baskets, crates, the pole in Rob’s basement, this ab cruncher machine, garbage cans, etc. whatever is around, we’ll find a way to make use of it. and Low Profile has a strong mentality that the show must go on.
so we played first. it was a good, fun set. the mic worked out fine for us. our set was:

Step Inside
the Limitation
Walter Mander
Carl Panzram
King of the Hill theme
Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash)
Swingline
Ultraviolence
Hotboxed

of all people to ask for CDs, i guess the cooks in the kitchen heard us but didn’t get to watch us and they asked for CDs which was pretty fucking awesome. so we hooked them up right away. then gave out some more CDs and some stickers.

Highball was up next. it’s been awhile since we’ve played with them. but it’s always a good time with these guys. they were singing Beatles style into our makeshift mic when they had double vocals or backups which was hysterical. Satan had to go tape up the mic a lil better while they were playing. heres a pic of me and Chris right before he left.
Shooting Blanks played third. they always rock hard and tear it up when they play. always a good, energetic set from these guys. this was our 10th time playing with them. Satan taped the masking tape from the ‘mic stand’ around Brey’s head.
After the Fight played last. and once again, always a good, tight set from these guys. Brey tried to fuck some kind of stuffed animal, dont know whats up with that.
overall this was a super fun show. never a dull moment.
so we hung out after ATF finished and kept drinking, mingling, etc. we took our time loading out and headed for home. Jessica followed us. the entrance ramp to 294 was totally backed up. we were like 25 cars past the toll booth. so more and more cars are getting backed up and we have no clue whats goin on. Jessica runs up to the van and says she called Idot to see what was up. turned out there was some huge accident there not long before we got there and they were cleaning it up. so we sat there for like half an hour listening to music and just waiting. it sucked cuz i probably could have hit up Luke’s before they closed if we didn’t have to wait for this mess.
we unloaded at Rob’s and i headed back to my place. i set my clocks ahead before i even left for the show so that was kind of depressing seeing that it was an hour later than it really seemed to be when i walked in. i was kinda hungry and wanted to eat but decided to keep drinkin instead. then i turned on Tree’s Lounge figuring i’d pass out after like half an hour of watching it. but i got into it and ended up watching the whole thing. awesome fucking movie. so that’s it. another super duper fun show.
thanks to ‘Ms. Bone’, Hoff for inviting us out and Pat for giving Hoff the show. thanks to AJ. and thanks to everyone who came out to see some punk rock Bone Records style!!!

-ERIK

[satan’s note: just wanted to send another shot out to marcus the bouncer. first of all, i would not want to tangle with this guy, it would be like trying to tackle a large building. he was beyond cool, this guy was super nice and awesome.]

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