OK let’s face it. If you missed Shonen Knife on Sunday night at Mangos, you failed miserably. Now, sure, we’ll make an exception if you shelled out the big bucks for AC/DC but anything beyond that and you may as well just pack your bags and move into the Lazy Acres retirement home. But, you know what? I’ll go you one more – I will go out on a limb and say (even though we are talking apples and oranges to some degree) that a Shonen Knife rock show is on par with a big AC/DC show.

Sacrilege you say? Consider this. Outside the studio, Shonen Knife take the poppy songs you hear on their records, turn up the amps, channel the spirit of Joey Ramone, and put on a great performance like no other! It’s the kind that made even local garage bad asses the Born Liars, who kicked it mighty on Sunday night, seem tame by comparison. Seriously, until you’ve seen Shonen Knife live, you haven’t really experienced Shonen Knife. And in a small intimate venue like Mangos for a measly $10? Good gravy, what did Houston do to get so damn fortunate?! Hell, check out the set list:

That’s a pretty nice mix of old stuff and the new stuff from the latest album. And what’s impressive is that even weaker songs off the new album like Pyramid Power came off live in a way that made the studio version seem like a crime. This meant that the rock solid material off of Super Group like the show stopping metal of “Muddy Bubbles Hell” caused the ghost of Ronnie James Dio to travel back from the future to lend his mighty rock blessings while old favorites like “Johnny Johnny Johnny” caused many people to simply go into seizures. The thing is Shonen Knife plays with a ferocity that their albums could never convey so if you missed out, you really missed out. So weep at your poseurdom and behold the pics from the show:

Don Walsh “I can’t fucking give these things away!
Err, who’s playing again?”

Domokos wanted you to know that he was not DJing
between Born Liars and Shonen Knife.
The Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple,
and the rest was Shonen Knife’s mix.

Born Liars ripping up Mangos.

Born Liars’ Bill Fool – in the zone!

Carol Sandin gets in the Born Liars spirit.

Omar holds court as Eli Brumbaugh and
Mike Sims patiently await their turn.

Three women, three instruments,
and a hell of a lot of Rock and Roll

Shonen Knife inspiring future generations.

Just so you know for next time they are in town
Naoko likes to shop at the Rice Village.

Shonen Knife is rocking so hard here that the dude
in the MC5 shirt is trying his best not to hurl!

Drummer Etsuko Nakanishi.

Bassist Ritsuko Taneda.

And of course the one, the only,
Naoko Yamano.

Naoko midflight through
Muddy Bubbles Hell’s awesome solo!

Yes, I concur with Dio Metal Sign -
Shonen Knife rocked epically!

Bonus for Shonen Knife fans was
original drummer Atsuko Yamano’s
surprise appearance!

Never underestimate the rock of Shonen Knife!

Coolest Shonen Knife fan Ever!!!!!

Links:

Full image set on my Flickr (link)

Listen to the new album on LaLa (link)

Shonen Knife online (link)

Born Liars on mysapce (link)

You know one thing that is great about Houston right now is the explosion of local labels; AG82, Artstorm, Cutthroat, Ditchwater, Esotype, Mia Kat, Phonographic Arts, Psycho Wolf, Team Science and so on. It’s part of the local indie boom that’s been happening for the last few year. Well, while waiting for Shane Lauder to arrive and do sound at Rudz, I spoke with Jaime of Giant Princess and he mentioned in passing that he and some others were starting a label. I, of course, had to prod him about it – the more, the merrier I say. So here is the scoop. The label is called Paper Stamp Record Co. and much like CIA records it will run as a collective of sorts with these bands all contributing to the fund – pretty smart. The schedule for releases is pretty ambitious so here is a rundown of their ‘09 release schedule:

Feb ‘09 – Giant Princess/BLACKIE Split 7″
Mar ‘09 – Giant Princess LP
Mar/Apr ‘09 – BLACKIE LP
Apr ‘09 – Giant Princess/Sings Split 7″
Jul ‘09 – Sings LP
Aug ‘09 – La Femme Politico LP

You’ll note that this is all on Vinyl? Awesome!!!! I love it! That seems to be a big trend among local labels. Thank goodness the CD, with the advent of decent Internet music services, has been recognized as the glorified coaster it truly is. (Well, except for boxed sets which, when well annotated, are the one true point where CDs shine.) So good luck Jaime we’ll be looking forward to all the releases in ‘09.

Oh and another thing I should mention about 2024 is that according to JD, even though JD and Stacey are moving, the Secret Saturday Shows at The Shady Tavern will still continue. If you have a free afternoon on a Saturday you should stop by.

By the way, while I’m rambling, I need to point out that Shane did show up and that, beyond from the excellent sound, he did something I’ve never seen at Rudyard’s – he actually kicked up the lights. Geez, I always thought Rudyard’s just had bad lighting but it turns out that when you use the lights it looks great. My reliance on flash was minimal as was my need to Photoshop the images. So, thanks Shane.

Lazy Horse started off the night. Unfortunately my notes are pretty illegible. “Sound like H????? meets a 60’s teen party band.” Hayden? Nope, Halford? Nope. Really, I don’t know what the hell I wrote. But I will tell you one thing that I do remember and that was Charles’ guitar work. Anytime he’d solo it was this wonderful loopy and loose J. Mascius tone that was fluid and expressive. One person in the audience even shouted “More solos!!” I had to concur.

Guitars followed with the lads dressed as Pilgrims, the ladies dressed as Indians, and JD dressed as the most frightening Turkey ever. (Stacey was quite proud of her seamstress skills on the Indian outfits). The music is a nice mish-mash of influences and the nice thing is that while the costumes were funny and cute they never overwhelmed the performance or the music – they added but they were never a distraction. It was energetic and fun stuff all around.

Born Liars closed the show and as usual brought the house down. No girl fights or broken bottles this year but still all the straight up rock and roll you’d expect from these guys and the typical audience reaction which was a lot of fists and drinks held in the air, shouting, dancing, and Christian of Hell City Kings unable to resist the urge to jump on stage and sing backing vocals. Kudos to new drummer (Josh is it?) of Homopolice who clearly is much more comfortable with the material than the last time I saw them.

Links:
More Pics on my Flickr (Link)

Lazy Horse on Myspace (Link)
Guitars on Myspace (Link)
Born Liars on Myspace (Link)

Well a few things to report this weekend.

First off, it was announced today the classic post-punk band The Mydolls will be playing Noise and Smoke II on November 15th. Awesomeness!

In other news Born Liars have a fan in Little Steven who has played the band quite a bit on his Underground Garage radio show. Bill Fool’s a bit matter of fact about it all saying ” We have been played a bunch on the Underground Garage station and last week Little Steven’s assistant e-mailed me saying Little Steven loves us and wants everything we have to play it on the national show.” Neat that this band is getting some well deserved national recognition.

Speaking of Born Liars. Ditchwater zine is expanding into the realm of 7″s in the form of Ditchwater Records and the inaugural release (which has been sent off to the pressing plant) will be by Born Liars. If that isn’t cool enough the second release will be a reissue of the classic lost Gay Marriage EP (previously unreleased except via a few CDRs) with additional tracks. If you aren’t familiar with Gay Marriage here is a review I did of their EP a few years back (Link). Look for the band possibly reuniting for the record release towards the end of the year. That logo was created by none other than the great Daniel Shaw.

Artstorm is also getting into the music release game and it seems that Hearts of Animals is finally looking to release some new material on Artstorm Records. In addition to HOA, the label has plans for other releases including music from Ironic Bong.

Artstorm is located within Caroline Collective which will be the location of a music conference of sorts called BandCamp (Link) later this year. Ian Wells of the KTRU Local Show/ Revelry Report contacted me about it:

“Matt Wettergreen, Phillip Beck (also from KTRU, great guy), and myself are organizing an event at Caroline Collective in late October, called Band Camp. Essentially, we’d like to get everyone in Houston who makes music together at Caroline and have a day-long “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Making Music but were too Afraid to Ask” collaborative session/hang-out/bbq/whatever.”

Well here it is, Monday, and not only did I survive the Hootenanny (link) but I also survived the Houston Press Music Awards. Having these two things back to back, admittedly, is pretty rough. So Sunday, being a bit worse for wear, I stayed away from the free booze and stuck to the vitamin water. One thing I have to say about the HPMAs this year is that the venues seemed farther apart than in previous years. Whereas last year you could step out of the Rice Hotel and immediately walk across to see say Insect Warfare, this year you had to walk a few blocks to get between venues. That may not seem like a lot but, if you try to navigate at 8PM between say The Poor Dumb Bastards at Rocbar then run over to see Hearts of Animals at NOTSUOH then run down to see Buxton at Butterfly High, that’s quite a little run and you can forget catching any more than two songs per band. So, I wonder what’s at play here. Did a lot of the venues on Main close or did many of them just not want any of the riff-raff that attended last year? I don’t know. The second thing that I didn’t see as much of was the hustle and bustle of music fans on Main that I saw in previous HPMAs. Was it the heat, the distances between venues, or something else that made the streets seem relatively barren this year? Again, I’m not sure. Nevertheless, these issues aside, it was still a good time for all performers and attendees so why worry.

Me? I arrived in time to see The Wild Moccasins who somehow still had a ton of energy even after their Hootenanny set. What I love about the Wild Moccasins is that they just put it all out there – they go for it with every beat and note – and it makes for electrifying and fun shows. This show was no different- tops! 7 O’clock hour was a nutters triple shot dash. Over at Venue, The Tontons sounded simply massive. Kudos to the venue with it’s weird over the top stage and sound and the Tontons wore it well by completely commanding the stage. The Born Liars over at Butterfly High are somewhat analogous to The Wild Moccasins’ in terms of energy except that while the Moccasins have a fresh youthful energy, the Born Liars have the energy of drunken sailors who are on shore leave and don’t give a fuck who gets in the way. Then you’ve got The Wiggins (at Deans) whose personae is akin to that black sheep weirdo cool uncle in the family whom the older family members wince at in disdain publicly but secretly envy. One woman at the bar, who clearly didn’t know what to make of it, had the best fish out of water look of confuddlement I’d ever seen. Awesome!

The 8 O’clock hour was the afore mentioned race. Now, the reason I went out of my way to Rocbar was because of the Brian’s Johnston story. To paraphrase, Brian’s Johnson played Rocbar just after Whorehound. Toward the end of the set, the band played “Have a Drink on Me” and made a joke about free drinks at the bar. Then Jeff said “This is the first gay bar we’ve ever played – the Cockbar.” Well that didn’t endear them to the venue and the band was told “That’s it, you’re done!” Some person saying that they were the GM, expressing his displeasure at being called the Cockbar and a gay bar, told them that they were probably disqualified while big gorilla bouncers got in the bands’ face. No amount of “Hey, it’s a joke!” would suffice and the band was forced to leave via the back exit. Naturally, when some place called the Rocbar – whose idea of rock and roll is (well to borrow from a review in the Houston Press) as rebellious as Applebee’s – gets their panties in a wad it’s asking to get fucked with. And perhaps smelling blood in the water Byron of the Poor Dumb Bastards said “Ohhhh! Game On!” upon hearing the story! So, of course, we were hoping that Byron would pull this year’s Insect Warfare show and give this bourge venue a show they wouldn’t forget. As Steven Garcia put it, “If they don’t get shut down in five minutes, I’m gonna be so disappointed.” Of course, this raised the bar and while the Bastards did put on the punk rock side show we’ve all come to expect – which is always great – it never reached the level of challenging the Rocbar’s management and staff. Total psych out!

From there it was a quick run to Notsuoh to see Hearts of Animals (Thanks Dan Castillo for the suggested short cut through the car park). I only caught two songs but it was exactly what you’d expect from Mlee – the distorted guitar, the loud beats, and the nuanced vocals. In other words, worth the run that left me dripping in sweat. But from there it was off to see Buxton over at Butterfly High whose musicianship and emotive vocals are always a joy. One of the high points for me was when Sergio Trevino suddenly said, “Hey, here’s a little song about Transformers.” and then proceeded to sing this hilarious and sweet song about how much cooler the world would be if were were all Transformers. It had this off-the-cuff Daniel Johnson kind of innocence and, while obviously done with a sense of humor, it never stopped to the level of being smug or smarmy. Later Trevino told me (seeming somewhat embarrassed) “I wasn’t sure if that was going to work or not.” to which I replied, “It’s a song about Transformers! How could it not!” It’s always fun to see a band (especially one as impressive as Buxton) not worry about being the cool kid on the block and let their goofy side out. Probably my favorite small moment of the night.

Finally, the 9 O’clock hour came on and I was going to go for 4 bands in one hour. This started with Sharks and Sailors at Notsuoh which was, for me, hilarious. See, I kept wanting to leave but they would play another song that would leave me shouting “Gawdamnmit! Now I have to stay!” So one song turned to two, which turned to three and, by the third one, I knew to leave before the first note rang of the fourth one. Phil, Mike and Melissa are just unrivaled as a powerhouse and…well, you can read my description of a show at Rudyards in this August’s issue and you’ll get the idea. From there, it was off to see Bring Back the Guns next door at Dean’s but the door was a too crowded to make out much. Still, the band seemed to be doing what they do best – spazzing out. Well, Matt Brownlie was spazzing out. That’s not a put-down, that’s a compliment as, when Matt Brownlie spazzes, it’s high art. From there, it was off to see the Young Mammals which probably had the biggest crowd I’d seen all night. It was pretty hard to get up front but I eventually snaked my way up to see Iram playing like the brilliant drummer he is. I’m not sure if this or the upcoming Saturday Secret Show Fest is going to be his last show but I cannot stress enough how great a drummer he is and how the Mammals are a world class act. Again, most of Houston ignores bands like this while some writers complain about the state of the scene. To all you who will have missed the Young Mammals with Iram, all I can say “You missed out!” and you will get no sympathy from me. Go pay for your $8 beer for some big label crap at the Woodlands – you deserve it.

In that light, the night for me closed with the oddest pairing of the showcase – Indian Jewelry at the Hard Rock Cafe. You could just smell the incongruity of the band and the venue. Sitting eating their hamburgers were couples and families who seemed oblivious to the fact that Indian Jewelry was there playing a strobed-out set of brilliance. It was as if on stage stood a portal between two parallel universes – one strobed and noisy and the other milquetoast and orderly. I couldn’t imagine a more perfect analogy to Houston’s indifference to the amazing music that grows in its own backyard. Perfect!

(Thank you Chris Gray and the Houston press for the passes. Very Much Appreciated.)

And now, photos (more on my Flickr)

The Wild Moccasins still alive after Hootenanny!
“…And so the bouncer gets in our face like this!”
Trevi Biles of Whorehound gives his
account of Brian’s Johnson vs. The Rocbar.

The massive stage couldn’t
dwarf the Tontons’ talent.

The Born Liars – making sure that
Rock and Roll never gets respectable.

Death to poser humorless bars.
Jeff of Brian’s Johnston may have lost
the battle at the Rocbar but he left
with the best story of the evening.

Hearts of Animals
Can I have a more jarring juxtaposition of images?

Fuck yeah, Buxton!
You fly that Transformers flag with pride!

Sharks and Sailors -
Try to leave during one of their sets. I dare you!

Bring Back the Guns -
Ben Murphy (left) ponders
the awesomeness of Matt Brownlie’s ass shakin’!
Indian Jewelry playing in a parallel world
while the Hard Rock Cafe goes
about it’s business unawares.

Photography by Rosa Guerrero
(L to R: Shane, Bill, Jimmy, Scott)

A Friday night at Rudyard’s and the audience is being sucked into the vortex of chaos on stage that is Born Liars. Bodies are crushed at the front of the stage in an orgy of sweat and dancing. One woman is dancing and so engrossed in the music that she doesn’t realize she’s knocked my beer out of my hand and sent it crashing onto the floor where it is helplessly kicked around by the crowd until it’s finally trampled into tragic shards of glass and beer. Behind the microphone, guitarist Jimmy Sanchez taunts the audience as a barrage of feedback, notes, and noise surround him. Bassist Bill Fool, ass-crack exposed with his low cut jeans, eggs Jimmy on while some overzealous drunk pulls Guitarist Scott “Snot” McNeil’s microphone into the audience. All the while, drummer Shane Lauder just sits back and laughs at it all. “When we walked out after that set,” recalls Bill, “If I hadn’t had boots, I’d been cut up; there was broken glass everywhere! I’d never seen so many broken bottles! Hell, we had girls fighting! Lemme say that again – GIRLS FIGHTING!“

Houston audiences may have a reputation for being stoic but not at a Born Liars show. “I don’t want to hear [complaints] about Houston. That’s all those bands that don’t move [on stage]! ” vents Bill who clearly thinks a band has to incite its audience out of passivity, ”We’re not waiting for an audience to react; a band has to give the audience permission to move otherwise they’ll sit there.” Yet, the band doesn’t merely move on stage, as Bill explains it, they scoff in the face of failure with every performance. “Our songs aren’t played the same way twice. We’ll play three songs that’ll crumble but then the next three will work. This isn’t paint by number’s stuff. We’re the kid with the crayon [manically scribbling outside the lines]. It’s all feel. If a band feels it, the audience will recognize it.”

“There’s chemistry.” says Scott, “We’re all friends. We hang out together. We drink together – it’s an alchy band.”

“It sounds cliché but we don’t get on stage without drinks.” says Bill ”A few drinks and that’s when the vulgar put down jokes start flying.”

“And if we don’t have anything to talk about [on stage], we make fun of Shane.” laughs Scott. “Shane once said we need to be more PC and not make people uncomfortable.”

“So, of course,” Bill interjects “ at our next show, we get up and immediately it’s ‘Great to be back at this fag bar!’ We taunt the audience for being white and then take it out on Shane.” Then he says, almost acknowledging Shane’s concerns that this could all be misconstrued, “But it’s all a joke – there’s no hate.”

“Now word’s getting out and people hear rumors we’re a party band and people get expectations.” says Scott.

This sets Bill off on a tangent, “Shit, the hipsters get word of a good time! Fucks with beards! They’re 22 and think they are alcoholics with their clothes from American Apparel talking about their stupid record collections! They’re the 2K version of Preppies! Years ago they’d have been listening to Bananarama and drinking coronas!”

When I ask why Garage doesn’t seem to get much respect around certain circles, Jimmy objects “Garage is a chicken-shit way of not saying Rock and Roll! Garage? That’s all Rock and Roll – The Sonics, the Standells…. We’re really more so punk rock – Dictators, Johnny Thunders, Ramones…real American Punk Rock.”

“I’m not into music to be into art.” says Bill “This is all about late nights and shitty mornings. I’m in it to rock! We’re not trendy. This isn’t intellectual – it’s the opposite of intellectual. We don’t expect to make a dent in history…but then did Richard Hell or the Ramones? It all comes down to the songs. I’ve seen horseshit half-assed punk bands and they have no songs to save their lives. I love what Jimmy writes and if I didn’t, you’d know it. I’d be leaning by my by amp and after…I’d let Jimmy know!”

“Jimmy brings in bare bones songs and we’re given free reign.” says Scott, “Not once has he said ‘don’t do that.’”

“We add a lot.” says Bill, “We’re not Jimmy Fucking Sanchez’s backing band! We’re all individuals and what you hear on that new 7” is us.”

That new Born Liars 7” on Cutthroat Records was recorded in the practice space by Jimmy and Shane then mixed my Joe Omelchuck at RBI. “Cassidy put that out.” says Jimmy, ”No record release, no promotion and we’ve already sold really well – all word of mouth. Everything we’ve done has been word of mouth.”

Talk of the 7” leads to discussion of Low-Fi which the band abhors as an aesthetic. “It’s cool and hip to be Low-Fi,“ says Bill “but [the bands they are trying to emulate] weren’t trying to be low-fi. The New Bomb Turk’s first album is one of my favorites but then Billy Childish gets his hands on them and all the energy is lost.”

Before we finish our beers at Lola’s, I ask if Rock is irrelevant and Bill retorts, “Rock isn’t relevant because it’s not relevant to the major labels and so it’s dead to the public and I could give a shit. Relevant? Rock and Roll will always be relevant as long as there is booze and dive bars!”

Born Liars are recording their next album at Chris Ryan’s Dead City Sound. The CD will be released on Pat Todd’s Rank Outsider Records and the LP will be released on Cuthroat Records.