Blog: 10 Things Zine

I used to say Seattle punk band The Spits never can surprise me because I expect the unexpected with them. Crazy costumes and crazy live shows are the norm. But this month look what they've done, The Spits have totally surprised me! First, Fat Wreck Chords announced they would be releasing a split single with The Spits and NOFX on November 23rd . A split with NOFX, really? And then this bizarre comic book story called "Haunted Fang Castle" and accompanying soundtrack, which was released by Scion featuring The Spits. It sounds like the synthesized voices of the Wood [...]

I love this video of the MC5 from 1970 doing "American Ruse". It's political, jammin' proto punk and they're rockin' the 'fro: They told you in school about freedom But when you try to be free they never let ya They said "it's easy , nothing to it" And now the army's out to get ya Sixty nine America in terminal stasis The air's so thick it's like drowning in molasses I'm sick and tired of paying these dues And i'm finally getting hip to the American ruse I learned to say [...]

Athiarchist is a two-piece hardcore thrash metal band from Eugene, Oregon. The band had a brilliant idea to build a mobile stage and sound set up in a truck and tour the country playing impromptu, free, and mobile shows. Brilliant! This video is of them crashing the Mayhem Festival down in Auburn (Washington) a few weeks ago: Follow the band's adventures via their blog and videos as the take the DIY route crashing the Mayhem Fest tour across America: http://mobilestage.wordpress.c om

Seattle's legendary strip/peak-a-boo booth club the Lusty Lady recently closed it's doors. I know quite a few people that have worked there over the years and quite a few more that patronized it... and all of Seattle laughed at their funny sign captions. The Swedish Legal System fantastically filmed a cover of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" inside the Lusty Lady during its final week, featuring some of the Lusty's dancers. Awesome and totally goofy!

I was a total New Bomb Turks fan back in the day. When "Destroy Oh-Boy!" came out I fucking LOVED that album. I played it probably every day for two years. So much energy, so much fun. You know how certain bands just do it for you? They hit on all levels? The was the New Bomb Turks for me. The perfect mix of punk rock energy, garage rock rawness, and catchy songwriting. When NBT came to Seattle on their first tour to support "Destroy Oh-Boy!" they played the Off Ramp. I lined up an interview with the [...]

Recently I entered the world of Extreme Pencil Fighting after winning as an audience member at their show at the Rendezvous. My character, The Librarian, came together pretty well for the first Extreme Pencil Fighting show at The Funhouse (although the mini pencils started falling off my pencil bullet belt). I even got an awesome naughty librarian posse to back me up! The announcers: Bill from Bat Country vs. the Ultimate Warrior

The GRN STRP House has hosted some great shows in Seattle and it sounds like soon will be coming to an end. This weekend will be a doozy of show with a bunch of bands playing as cover bands:

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For the Sunset Tavern's 10 Anniversary party last Friday, The Catheters did a one off reunion show. It was sold out and totally awesome!

This is some great old live footage of The Gits. I loved this band so much and saw them a ton live. To this day Mia's lyrics and voice put a tingle down my spine. But her murder was so tragic I also almost tear up when watching footage like this and listening to old Gits records...

San Francisco punk band The Barfeeders played Seattle a few weeks ago. I saw these guys a couple times quite a while ago, I think both shows were at Gibson's downtown. They have a great blend of snotty and pop punk, are fairly goofy and a lot of fun live.

Stiff Little Fingers weren't just one of the best punk bands of the '70s, they were one of the best bands to ever play punk rock. Their first two albums still rank among my top 25 records of all time.

This is a must go to event if you live in Washington or Oregon. 300 pinball and arcade games on free play with admission, along with speakers, prizes (a Ms. Pacman and two pinball machines), seminars and more: Go to nwpinballshow.com for more info and to buy discounted tickets!

In 1987 I started dating this girl I met at the UW who had gone to highschool in the Tri-Cities. Through her I ended up meeting dudes that went to her school that were in punk bands, namely Christ on a Crutch and later Aspirin Feast, fronted by Mike Pitz. Mike and most of the guys from COAC had gone to Hanford Highschool. Aspirin Feast had about a 2-3 year lifespan and I'll give them a proper right up later when I rip some of their vinyl into MP3s. They played blistering hardcore punk and often had fairly crazy live [...]

I can't believe I'd never seen Captured by Robots before live until a few weeks ago. Needless to say, it's one hell of a live show!

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Klingon death metal warriors Stovokor oddly hail from the very human sounding town of Portland, Oregon. But for the glory of Qo'nos, their sound is mighty!

The Glad Girls are a Seattle band that travel down the gravel road between the land of country and the land of indie rock. One might call them Alt-Country, but that term leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, so I won't. It's the kinda mellow catchy music I love to listen to on a Sunday afternoon. The band features folks who done time in bands like The Young Sportsmen, The Riffbrokers, and Muzzle. Band members: Heather on guitars and vocals, Wesley on bass and vocals and Ryan on drums. You can catch [...]

I know some of my friends think I'm crazy, but I had the password and info on buying tickets to Soundgarden's "secret show" at the Showbox on Friday and didn't buy tickets. Don't get me wrong, there was a time when I liked Soundgarden. Their first 7", Screaming Life ep, and about half of their Ultramega OK album on SST are pretty good. But the transition from original sounding underground rock band to updated '70s arena rock was already well underway by the time they signed to a major label. And those 5+ minutes songs with Chris Cornell howling, especially [...]

I've written about Android Hero before here , I just saw them again on Thursday. Excellent band worthy of checking out of you like heavy rock crossed with punk. They definitely have some of the heavy crunchiness of old Am Rep bands (I've been listening a lot of Helmet recently):