Just Some More Shit I Gotta Do

It's been so long since I took these photos that nobody gives a shit, right? I can't think of the last time that I went to two shows in one day (seeing Fatal Film in New London and then accidentally catching Candlebox at the casino afterwards doesn't count) (actually it was a couple of years ago when I saw Easy Action twice in the same night, but whatever). The main show that night was California X and Potty Mouth at the Westco Cafe, with at least one other band that I completely forget. No, wait, it was some band that played a Rage Against The Machine cover. Fuck, I remembered. But first Iron Hand and Weald played a show at Music House, on the other side of the Wesleyan campus, and that was pretty great. There was an Eddie Money record jacket tacked up on the wall in the living room, so somebody's got good taste (unless it was ironic) (yeah, no shit) (of course it was). Iron Hand played a bunch of new songs that were a slight departure from their older stuff -- more riffy, more hook-y than usual. Almost metal like the Accused or something, if you can believe that. I dug the new stuff a lot; I think there's a new Iron Hand record coming out, not sure on the details, but some of the tracks might be recorded already. Then everybody hustled over to Westco to catch the second show, and for some reason the kid at the door was nervous and asked me to make up some story to explain why I was there (since I'm obviously not a student), so I showed him my camera and said "I'm taking pictures for my blog, One Base on an Overthrow", and he said "right, okay, One Base on an Overthrow", as if he'd heard of it before. Then whether it was dumb luck or by accident, the dude who picked the songs to play in-between bands played "Waiting For The Man" (Velvet Underground) and "Roadrunner" (Modern Lovers) back to back, how the fuck can you beat that? Anyway, here ya go, here's some old photos I took.


Weald -

"Vengeance is Mine"


Potty Mouth, "Rusted Shut" (listen-only)

It Hasn't Been Easy Staying In My Rut

I haven't been around the old burg as much as I used to be, so going to a show at The Whitney House felt like an old shoe, that is if the old shoe was a show that always started an hour late and sometimes the first band would kinda suck, but then some cool people would show up anyway. Iron Hand are back to being active again after what seemed to be about a 6-month hiatus -- now that they've added a new bass player (Dennis from Loach, Zone, etc) -- and they seem to be playing their songs a lot faster now, too, although maybe it's just me. You can now go to the Iron Hand bandcamp page and download their two 7"-ers from a year or two ago (ironhand.bandcamp.com), if you find yourself needing some catching up to do. I haven't seen Consumption in about 6 months also, and now with the second guitar they sound even more like Oiltanker than they used to, although I guess that's to be expected. Both bands played killer sets and everyone seemed to be getting into it, no-one brought any merch with them, and I had time to go to the 7-11 and get a coffee before the really good stuff started, which means the night went kinda alright. Just figured I'd mention it.


Consumption -

"The Collapse"

Iron Hand -

"Usurper Divine"

If We Light Ourselves On Fire, We Can Go Anywhere

This show was originally supposed to be at Redscroll but then got moved to The Whitney House, which turned out great for me because it saved me about 50 miles worth of driving... I watched Gowl for about three songs, and then went upstairs to pound a forty put my camera away (it gets annoying to carry around all the time), and by the time I got back downstairs they were done already. So I guess Gowl does 5-minute sets now, and I just didn't notice... Iron Hand pulled off a pretty good set, wiping away the remains of their Wesleyan set from a month earlier, when they went played with only one guitarist and the riffs didn't sound as strong. I think I might've even noticed a new song or two this time, but I'm not really good at that sort of thing. The main vocal mic at The Whitney House has been sounding even shittier lately, but Brian's vocals just pushed right through, which was pretty impressive... This was the 'record release show' for the new Stone Titan 7", which features a penis on the cover (sorta like a Pansy Division record). I saw Stone Titan a couple of years before and wasn't all that into it, but then I started listening to their tapes all the time in the car since then, and started liking them a lot. I wish I had the mp3's to their Supergiant EP, because it's really the best thing they've ever done; someone should seriously press that thing to vinyl. If I had a couple thousand dollars just hanging around, I'd even offer to do it myself. Stone Titan are also the loudest band I've ever seen at The Whitney House, even louder than Oiltanker that one time.


Stone Titan, "Planet Melter"



Iron Hand, "Liquid Assets"



Gowl side of split 7" with Agitate (6 songs)

We Got Ripped Off

Here's a scan of the Iron Hand interview that ran in the last issue (#347) of MRR -- the photos are mine, which is the extent of my involvement. You can click on the images to get a bigger version. Kinda wish the layout of the first page wasn't so lazy, but whatever, it's not my place to complain about it. Win some, lose some.



Iron Hand played at Wesleyan last night, actually; the bill was supposed to be Iron Hand - Hoax - Crazy Spirit, only Crazy Spirit never showed because they broke up two years ago. Iron Hand were down one guitar player because Ryan had to fill in bass, which diluted their sound somewhat, but they were still good. A possible split with Stone Titan is in the works (read the interview). By the way, Hoax friggin' killed again; their slow parts are just way too good, like street punk and metal mixed together. When they gear it down and lock it in, it's as if Cockney Rejects or Cock Sparrer had Megadeth riffs. I'm also starting to figure out that Hoax's drummer is one of the most effortlessly loud drummers I've ever heard. Jesse popped off on a couple of annoying dickweeds who'd been acting like douchebags the whole night, which was pretty great.

Iron Hand, "Usurper Divine"



This was meant to be an Iron Hand post, but I'm also gonna throw in
this track that I ripped from the new Hoax EP on Youth Attack,
just because I think it's cool.

Hoax -

"Skills or Death"