TUCSON OH HOW WE LOVE YOUR SMALL TOWN GUMPTION

If you ask Tucson residents and people worldwide they will tell you: Tucson is a great self absorbed delusional town. A national survey released Thursday shows we're better than great: We are really, really great. No...REALLY REALLY REALLY GREAT! In fact, Tucson comes in first overall in the list of top cities in the United States for everything that is great. And that list includes NY, LA, Tokyo, London and even Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas — both of which Tucson is often compared and aspires — in the regional rankings. Here's what Value Wombat, a company that crunches numbers, does surveys and comes up with demographically based consumer lists, arrived at: • 1st overall nationally; LA, naturally, is No. 2, followed by Des Moines, Iowa; San Francisco; Phoenix-Mesa; Austin, Texas; and Passaic, New Jersey. • We're No. 1 regionally, with Austin and Tulsa, Oklahoma at 2 and 3. • We tanked to the bottom of the pile for actually having valid reasons to believe this, coming in at 200 on the list of 200 cities. • We're 39th for number of Mattress Firm stores. • Tucson came in 31st for the percentage of the population with useless degrees. The Value Wombat study evaluated 200 metropolitan areas using statistical data from sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, Thrillist, the Burau of Labor Statistics and several media surveys including USA Today and Travel & Leisure.

Last Days of the Grumpus Room

FEB 5TH 2008- SEPT 6TH 2008 42 fun as hell shows completed

from a long time ago at a venue in the endless stream of defunct places that were more about music and bands than anything else. check out the disparate lineups sometime. when touring bands converge in the same town thats what happens when youre just trying to support an underground scene instead of whatever happens to be the "in thing"

Tucson Arizona's one and only tiny D.I.Y. all-ages shithole venue. It holds a whopping 60 bodies..its lit by poorly strung Xmas lights and no longer has a pinata.

1250 s 4th ave #138 Tucson AZ

Dont park out front unless you are a band...everyone else hit the sidestreets. There is cheap booze all over the neighborhood and excellent birria across the street. Most shows are 7 bucks and all of the $ goes to the out of town bands gas tanks

. Jun 10 2008 7:00P BOATS/STANDARD DEVIANCE/THE TICS/SLOW THOUGHT Jun 13 2008 9:00P SWING DING AMIGOS, THEE MAKEOUT PARTY, AUDACITY , POLKA MADRE Jun 24 2008 7:00P The RED DONS, The ESTRANGED, LOS RUDOS Jun 28 2008 9:00P BLACK CAMARO,ULTRAMAROON , DIGITAL LEATHER Jul 1 2008 7:00P THE POTENTIAL JOHNS, STANDARD DEVIANCE, JAPANESE MONSTERS Jul 17 2008 7:00P THE CHEAT, BASEMENT APARTMENTS Jul 25 2008 9:00P SHARK PANTS, CANADIAN RIFLE(chicago), SOLID DECLINE(germany) Friday Aug 1st Weekend Nachos (Chicago) Parasites Go! (Bay area) Slow Thought The Fisters

"Not sure if this show happened. My olde mang brane iz broak:

Sunday Aug 3rd Sourvein Alarm Serows

"I dont think this show happened"

Thursday Aug 7th This Runs On Blood (Flagstaff) Vanish Twin TRANSIENT (portland, or) Limbless Torso ???

"Kickoff night to the first Beefstock. A band that had a dog as the vocalist started it off."

Friday Aug 8th THE FANSS NOBUNNY JJCNV ???

"Second night of the first Beefstock. Justin had just left Tucson a couple months previous and this was his glorious return. Also this was JJCNV's first show in Tucson."

AUGUST 12TH- TUESDAY- 7 PM Two other touring bands I cant remember who were sort of a big deal amongst the whole post rock/noise/tech metal crowd GUILTY FACES(ex-RATBYTE) from CT STANDARD DEVIANCE GOD OF THE SEA

"GOTS were the only band that ended up playing cause they were all pretty young and ended up getting drunk and running around the neighborhood acting like nitwits pulling their pants down and pissing on everything along with other stuff bored kids do when they think theyre being shocking. I think all the touring bands ended up sleeping there and somebody brought them food the next day and had a cookout as one of the bands did repairs to their van."

Wed Aug 20th Chow Yun Fat Murder Practice(Sacramento) Full Blown AIDS Bloodied Up Knuckles Wed Aug 27th WITCH HATS(AUS) MC TRACHIOTOMY(New Orleans) two other touring bands ULTRAMAROON

"MC Trachiotomy never went on the tour and two bands from Chicago or the midwest or something played as well. I ended up being able to send Witch Hats over to Club Congress to open one of the first show's that the dudes involved in SWTF threw with their newly formed production company. They rocked my little brain to pieces"

Friday Aug 29th DEVON DISASTER THE SHUDDERS (Bay area) WINELORD

"Devon Disaster, a PHX local moved down to Tucson cause she was Shawn from Digital Leather's girlfriend, didnt play for some lame reason after begging me to book her for months. She was someone who wanted to really be a celebrity ala Madonna and thought that "punk" or whatever you want to call this garbage we are involved in was her ticket to stardom. She also used to bitch about how much she hated "local" bands, like she was some world wide entity. She proceeded to start bugging me about booking her again a week after this The Shudders had the orig bassist from the Clorox Girls, and Winelord was a great local band that at this point was a power trio and a damned good one at that. It turned into a dance party afterwards with a bunch of 80s+90s pop dance/r&b tracks." I think there were only a couple more shows after this, one being The Blind Shake and Static Static (JHK and Heather with a member of the Red Aunts)* and another being The Intelligence with another local I cant remember that was sort of popular but ran in different circles, but was friends with the Intelligence, and Isaac and Levi's brother Adam's band Sexual Ambulance or whatever they were called at the time. Which was the very last show at this place, The World's Worst Pet Store, and had me getting a ticket for disturbing the peace after the meth head that lived on the corner called the police cause somebody pooped on her steps. The location was across the street from Tucson's biggest homeless park. I never did pay that ticket.

*Ah just found evidence of this sat july 21st static static (ex detonations) the blind shake (minneapolis...michael yonkers backing band) the complainiacs +more?

20 Metal Albums Awaiting Your Discovery

This started out as a piece on thrash metal albums that never really got their due in comparison to the Big 4: Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth. Out of which both Metallica and Slayer should hang it up and Anthrax and Megadeth never really seemed all that deserving of being on top. Anthrax and Megadeth both probably having enough decent material for a greatest hits comp if that. Sorry Mustaine heads nothing after "So Far, So Good, So What" is worthwhile and both that album and their first is only half decent.

If you like any of those bands you should have a working knowledge of all the following bands or at least their first couple albums, so I wont be writing about: Exodus - Bonded By Blood, Metal Church - The Dark, Testament - The Legacy, Flotsam and Jetsam - No Place For Disgrace, Voivod (all), Sodom, Carnivore, Destruction, Sacrifice, Kreator, Sepultura, Celtic Frost, Nuclear Assault, or Possessed. So writing about those bands albums is kind of unneeded as their audience already knows them and anyone you'd be introducing them too probably isn't going to like it.

Instead we will discuss some albums by bands that you might not know at all. Secret hidden works that have slipped through the cracks of time to await discovery by the lucky few.

So here are 20 bands that if you like metal (all different types) you'll probably dig

avenger blood sports germany coven blessed is the black usa cyclone temple I hate therefore I am usa deadhorse horsecore or peaceful feelings and pretty flowers usa dream death journey into mystery usa exhorder slaughter in the vatican usa grave digger heavy metal breakdown germany holy terror mind wars usa liege lord master control usa morbid saint spectrum of death usa nightstick ultimatum usa sabbat history of a time to come or dreamweaver uk sacrilege bc - party with god usa satan court in the act uk savage grace the masters disguise or after the fall from grace usa tko in your face usa tokyo blade night of the blade uk tyrant too late to pray usa violence eternal nightmare usa wehrmacht shark attack or biermacht usa

Cosmic Jackhammer

so after the last OZ post I decided (well actually a friend decided for me) that we should continue in that vein and put up a demo of the band Mike gray would join after Opinion Zero.....COSMIC JACKHAMMER

this was recorded in 1990 or 1991 and they started as a band in 1988 I believe. Besides Mike you also had
Ethan Houser, also on guitar, who previously had been in FUCT
Bob Martin on bass, who previously had been in HC (from west PHX - litchfield park)
Sonny Lamotte on drums, who's sister Roni also played drums in local yokels Haus
and Jerry Disaster aka Abel Ferraira the man responsible for Driller Killer and Bad Lieutenant....just kidding he had been in a band with Sam Preston of OZ called Butchers for Peace, and was a beautiful mess.

Later on after this tape had been recorded Jason Musfelt of Civil Order/Ice Nine would replace Bob Martin when Bob joined up with Greg Sage to tour Europe as the Greg Sage Experience, and John Scharf of math wizardry, bong rips, and pizza eating (later to be in the Lovers and CRUD as well) would replace Sonny on the drums.
Also there was a long line of guitarists that took over Ethan's place such as Detroit Johnny (or John John) and others my feeble old brain can't recall.

One particular show he was eating Cheetos (the puffy kind) while singing and near the end of the set decided to cut his head open with a Swiss Army knife. He made a pass once and nothing. Tried it again and again NOTHING! Someone from the audience notices he has been attempting this with the dull edge so they smartly tell him to turn the blade around. He does so and tries it again only with the same force that hes been attemnpting with the dull edge. ALA GRAND CANYON FULL OF RASPBERRY SYRUP TO GO WITH YOUR PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES! He got a little white in the face but finished out the set. The singer in the next band, however, had a mic that looked like a bloodstained basketball to contend with.

the name Cosmic Jackhammer alluded to GOD's male appendage. BFP had a song called Buttfucked By God and so Abels next band;s name was kind of a nod towards that

this demo is an amalgamation of one recording that just was finally released on cd this year and some songs that were on another tape i found in the junkpiles in my house


COSMIC JACKHAMMER demo

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Back with a Bang now...so I'm going to start this bitch back up and use it to get all the lost Tucson recordings out there into the vast reaches of space. Most punk/hc bands from Tucson never really put stuff out. UPS, one of the bigger bands, didnt put there 7" out till 6 years after they started. Hell, most bands never even got beyond a crappy boom box practice tape and if they did put out a demo it was in an edition of maybe 50 tops. Whether this was due to something in the water, being from TOO STONED, or just realizing the audience was slim and let's concentrate on getting thru this life and having fun (which means more live shows and less sitting around your house folding j-cards and labeling tapes) might never be answered. This is the reason though that more people know about bands from Phoenix, and less people know about the superior Tucson bands.

You scoff now, but I'm a show you

so first band on deck
OPINION ZERO

OZ was born from the ashes of WSB, which will definitely be talked about later, as John Henkel played guitar in WSB and would take over the bass duties in OZ. Mike Gray would be slinging the axe, freshly moved from El Paso where he had played in Friday the 13th, and another band I am brainfarting on. Sam Preston would be the singer, and he did guest vocals on two other bands recordings as well...Blood Spasm and Civil Order, as well as having some of the only 3-D tattoos I can recall. A guy named Rambo started on the drums and would later be replaced by Dean who would later move to Portland and join Alcoholics Unanimous. When Dean split Dugga Doug (from Civil Order) took over on the throne, and then much later Dirty Birt would man the drums when they had a reunion of sorts and local record store/label Toxic Shock would release a song, "Words" from this recording, on their Noise from Nowhere series.

OZ was of the crossover scene I guess, but they really sounded like their own beast. They were more a hardcore band that wasn't afraid to show people they liked Thin Lizzy, and less a metal band that was just discovering GBH and Black Flag. Some of the members were also in Five Prong Stud Assault, the premiere Tucson house party band at the time. Oh those Robo nights!

This tape was recorded at a place called the Sound Factory, I believe, in 1987. It was the studio for all the metal bands and tv and radio jingles at the time ie PRO studio.

They went on a tour up the west coast around the same time that they recorded this and played in the Bay area at the Farm. UPS might have been touring with them as well, Coming back after playing San Diego the van threw a rod that narrowly missed the occupants of the vehicle.

Sadly, Sam Preston would die in the latter part of 1996, at his mother's house.



John Henkel would later play in the Blink Dogs and Prosthetic Head.
Mike Gray would later be in Cosmic Jackhammer and Cancer Brides.

The cover of this tape (which I no longer have) was a drawing of an alien (much like kali) playing the guitar, the bass, the drums, and singing. A pattern that would be repeated by the band the Weird Lovemakers sort of with their t shirt that showed the amalgamation of the band members as superheroes. I wish I had that shirt as well.

One last thing...in the movie Frankenhooker there's a scene in a bathroom with a couple prostitutes and one of them looks like she has the OZ logo (a sort of chaos symbol with a 0 in the middle) on her arm...just another case for Robert Anton Wilson I guess.

Opinion Zero - Storm and Stress

BACK FROM THE DEAD AND HUNGRY FOR BRAINS

Francis Harold and the Holograms

"It's a mixture of Flipper and Brainbombs, but with a stronger hatred for your eardrums."





ULTRAMAROON





PIJIN RILIJIN

here's some mp3s for download
Francis Harold and the Holograms

ROLL OUT THE BARRELS

so we got redtagged Saturday night....long story short, a tenant moved in at the beginning of august who was not told about the fact that bands use the space to practice in and she's sandwiched in between Blues and Chango Malo. She wasn't happy and that is understandable BUT a reasoned response would be for her to say to the property manager "i was not informed of this, am not happy, and am now breaking my lease because or this"

she is not reasonable however. So her plan is to make it horrible for everyone else and make them leave, first bailers: us. This is what went down

had a show last night with the Intelligence, RCougar, and the Subway Vandals...it was a small fun show. No debauchery, No hijinx. Parents were there to see their son's band play (multiples as in more than one set...plus cousins and siblings).
Well right before the last band played, the unhappy neighbor came up to me and basically asked to speak to the lease holder...who was not there but she has his number, of which I informed her of...to which she said "I know I called him"...well what do you want me to do then...since conversation is hard for this woman (she mostly is that type of person who is good at talking but not very good at listening... wait that's wrong she's not good at understanding...she's good at overhearing conversations though) her husband(I guess) basically informed me that he would appreciate it if we kept people away from their storefront(that they live in). I said I would and no one from our deal had been hanging out there anyways...to wit he proclaimed "Well our light (one that comes on when motion is detected) has come on a bunch of times" to which I replied "well this is a busy street and I really don't have control over who walks down it or passes by your place" to which he started getting vexed and screamy and I maintained composure and let him know I would be making sure no one would bother them. End of story right?

nope...so they're hanging out in front of their place making sure that no undesirables are loitering around their end of the building. Someone comes up to me and asks what their deal is and I explain and say basically I don't have control over who wanders around this neighborhood (which is right across from the biggest homeless park in our fair city). Well ol big ears and small brain hears this and wanders up to me (with hubby in tow) to say "I overheard your conversation and just wanted to object to what you said" I really didn't understand what I had said that she might object to (i made sure not to call anyone names, or be disrespectful at all in my speech on this night...I think it was the hangover) anyways I asked her what she objected to and she began to tell me "You have to have control over these people! You have to have control over what you're doing here!" I attempted to explain she misunderstood and that I had control over the situation I was creating, but not over just random people walking by. This only made her and her husband scream even louder about Control like they were some Tribute duo to Janet Jackson. I informed them that I wasn't about to engage them in conversation if they couldn't act civilly and basically quit talking to them and went about my business. Well what would you expect them to do...they called the cops and complained about noise.Why noise all of a sudden.... because if they would have complained about what they complained to me about, the cops would have laughed at them.

Remember those parents who came...well one of them as she was leaving (with her two daughters or one daughter and her friend) was basically shaken down by the neighbor lady. This woman (who was there for the show) was older than the neighbor lady and doing nothing but walking to her car which was parked within 20 feet of the battleaxe's door. That's the mentality we're dealing with here people...oh yeah this was around 10:30pm as well.

So the cops came and told me we had to stop cause they got noise complaints and they weren't going to leave till we did. I told them I would go inside after the song that was playing was over and inform the band of this. Song ended, I opened the door, and the band said "Thanks, that's all... we were the Intelligence" I look at the cops and they shrug...you could tell they weren't interested in being there. The cop that seemed in charge went to talk to the neighbors while the other one stayed by our space. Everybody filed out and began leaving or getting ready to leave. The main cop comes back and basically tells me that the neighbor lady is demanding we get a ticket and since this is the second time in a month (she's who called the cops on us for a show in mid August) their hands are tied. But they also tell us that we should fight it and it'll pretty much get tossed out. Which we plan on doing but here's the problem....until our court date if we make noise of any kind, and she decides to call the cops, we get fined. This is a spot we moved into for band practice and that is what it even says on our lease. The redtag officially kills that until we have the court date (which I won't even know when it is until after I enter my plea on Monday). You see how this notion doesn't, as Manowar said, make us "wet like a young girl in her prime"

so we're bailing.... all touring bands that we had scheduled to play here we will try our damnedest to get you shows other places and will be in touch with news...any all local shows we had booked (basically sept 12th and the 19th) we ain't doing those now, SORRY!

we might get another spot in the future but really I don't see a need for it...the all ages thing is cute but since most of the kids would rather go to where their peers do (living room or dry river) it's not really needed...and there's plenty of bars where all these bands can play too...what tucson really needs is a scaling back of venues and bands cause the crowd there is for this is slim

sorry to be such a downer

adios
mark beef

THE MAN CAN'T BUST OUR MUSIC

This Wednesday


and a late show friday

LAST DANCE>>>LAST CHANCE?

come on out tonight and see if the cops and the new tenant (who doesn't even live by us) are gonna shut er down!!!!!!!!!!!

ah remember when the man really couldn't bust our music?

8pm
$5
FULL BLOWN AIDS and MURDER PRACTICE
chow yun fat chumped out

TYPICAL!!!!!

TONIGHT TOONEYETAH TWOKNIGHT

WHO CALLS SO LOUD(ex funeral diner)
http://www.myspace.com/whocallssoloud



STANDARD DEVIANCE
http://www.myspace.com/lookforpunx

GUILTY FACE(connecticut)
from Bleeding Edges.net
Guilty Faces (tape)
Some good old sounding punk with ex- Ratbyte members. This has a more mid-paced sound kinda like the Adolescents or the Faction. The singer, Tommy's voice is really raspy, which gives it an added edge. There are a lot of cool guitar leads, which is pretty cool. Kinda similar to the Bad Advice demo, someone do a split 7".

video of their old band ratbyte


ADOBE HOMES(new mexico)
http://www.myspace.com/adobehomes666

GOD OF THE SEA

7PM SHARP!!!! (seriously...show's gonna be over by 10:30pm)
$7
1250 s 4th ave
#138

all ages at all times

TONIGHT TONIGHT TONIGHT WHOA OH

FRIDAY AUGUST 1ST

WEEKEND NACHOS from Chicago


PARASITES GO! from N. California


SLOW THOUGHT

THE FISTERS


THEN ON THURSDAY AUG 7th and FRIDAY AUG 8th
IT'S THE FIRST EVER GO NOWHERE FEST

DAY ONE (aug 7th)
THIS RUNS ON BLOOD from Flagstaff, AZ


VANISH TWIN


TRANSIENT from Portland, Oregon

LIMBLESS TORSO


and then DAY TWO (aug 8th)
NOBUNNY RETURNS


JANIS JOPLIN CRAP N VOMIT from PHX


YUMA TERRITORIAL PRISON GUARDS


BECKY LEE AND DRUNKFOOT


LOS RUDOS from Nogales

FRIDAY JULY 25th

STARTS AT 9PM not 8(but we'll be there by 8 and you can come round and shoot the breeze as you will)

THE VENERABLE MONTH OF REAPING AND THE SICKLE

August 1st
Parasites Go!
http://www.myspace.com/parasitesgo
Weekend Nachos
http://www.myspace.com/weekendnachos
The Fisters
http://www.myspace.com/pityfister
Slow Thought
http://www.myspace.com/slowthought

Aug 7th
GOING NOWHERE FEST 1 DAY ONE
THIS RUNS ON BLOOD
http://www.myspace.com/thisrunsonblood
VANISH TWIN
TRANSIENT
http://www.myspace.com/transientbrutality
LIMBLESS TORSO
http://tammies.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1973216%3ABlogPost%3A6321

Aug 8th
GOING NOWHERE FEST 1 DAY TWO
NOBUNNY
http://www.myspace.com/nobunnylovesyou
LOS RUDOS
more tba

Aug 12th
STANDARD DEVIANCE
http://www.myspace.com/lookforpunx
GUILTY FACE
GOD OF THE SEA

Aug 20th
CHOW YUN FAT
MURDER PRACTICE
http://www.myspace.com/murderpractice
FULL BLOWN AIDS

Aug 27th
WITCH HATS
http://www.myspace.com/witchhats
ULTRAMAROON
http://www.myspace.com/mikeanddick
MC TRACHIOTOMY
http://www.myspace.com/mctrachiotomy

Aug 29th
DEVON DISASTER
http://www.myspace.com/devonandthedisaster
THE SHUDDERS
http://www.myspace.com/theshudders
WINELORD
http://www.myspace.com/winelord

here's a video of our friends in Flagstaff

NEXT COUPLE OF SHOWS

THURSDAY JULY 17TH
ULTRAMAROON

THE CHEATfrom Knoxville, Tennessee


from metropulse.com
You Can Quote me on That...
The Cheat is better than ever, again
By Kevin Crowe
Wednesday, November 22, 2006

“Memphis was kick-ass,” says Julia Hungerford, the drummer for local sultans of misplaced surf rock, The Cheat.

It was October, Friday the 13th. “Everyone was drunk and rowdy,” says muscleman/guitarist Fletcher Stewart, a guy who’s not shy about going shirtless for a photo op in the brisk November air. “A guy lost his grill,” Stewart goes on. “His grill got George Formaned.”

In the corner, some toasted kid was snorting his own loogie, a weird attempt to impress the ladies. It failed, but the kid was nothing if not persistent. And he kept on snorting. The Cheat, impressed by the fetid offering, gave him a free T-shirt.

“He was trying to get more free stuff out of it,” says Harold Heffner (guitar, keys and vox). That same night, in a whiskey-soaked agreement, Ian Lawrence (bass and keys), bought a bass guitar for $20 bucks off of some snot-nose band.

“Rocktober,” Lawrence says. “Don’t quote me on that. It’s like something you’d see on one of those cheesy mail-order guitar companies. ‘Rocktober savings!’”

You’ll hear similar stories about most cities The Cheat visited that week. Lexington ruled. Louisville was cool. Same for Anytown, U.S.A. When this quartet is on stage, crowds are usually rowdy. You already know this if you were at Host Clothing in the Old City on Nov. 3, when a beery crowd turned Bedlam. Beer foam flew threw the air. Stewart’s guitar got drenched. Overhead, a platter of carrots, cauliflower and other freshly cut vegetables spiraled off a giant plastic saucer, thrown like a Frisbee.

“Everything is more better,” Stewart says. “The lyrics aren’t just love-song shit anymore.”

“We all get along better,” Hungerford says, “and that makes it easier. We get along more better.”

“More better again!” Stewart goes on. “I can see the headline now, 'The Cheat are more better—dot, dot, dot—again.'” He pauses, in intense contemplation, then asks: “How come the Metro Pulse never runs transcripted interviews? You’d win the Pulitzer. Think of how much of a better read it would be if it was just a straight-up transcript, instead of The Cheat are a band from Knoxville, Tennessee, who used to be called The Cuts.”

We’re sharing some beers, not really talking music anymore. Just killing time, basically. I’ve learned that their sound has, in fact, matured since the band's early days back in 2003. There’s a new album coming out, sometime before their next tour in March. They’ll be playing with the Black Lips and Cheap Time this Friday, both crazy bands that’ll potentially tear the Grotto apart. So, let’s talk. What’s it like being on tour?

“It’s basically living homeless,” Hungerford says.

“You realize how much the same everywhere is,” Lawrence adds.

“You can go places,” comes Heffner, “and see weird parallels of your friends.”

And, if you’re really lucky, Lawrence will try to piss in a water bottle. “I don’t understand why this is such an unnatural thing,” Lawrence says. Hungerford rejoins: “There’s gonna be dribble!”

“I’m not peeing on you for sexual fulfillment,” Lawrence continues. “I mean, what’s the trouble?”

Best interview yet, going straight into the gutter where we’re all more comfortable. There’s still some lingering talk about the tour in March, which is going to be huge, if things go according to plan. On the other side of the room Stewart and Heffner are playing with a plastic orca and a couple of Mexican wrestling masks.

“I already got four shows booked,” Hungerford says, “and this is for March. It’s only November…. Up the West coast, play a few shows, ’cause I think we can get all the way to San Fran.”

“I think we can get to Seattle, too,” Lawrence adds. “Fuck it.”

Then Stewart jumps in, going off on a tangent: “We recorded on the machine that ‘Back in Black’ was recorded on.” Oh yeah? Really? “Then the idiot at the fucking soundboard erased it,” Lawrence says.

But that doesn’t matter, because there’s still a bright light, a reason The Cheat is so eager to get back on the road and head west. In L.A. there’s another group called The Cheat. “We’re going to L.A. specifically to beat them up,” Lawrence confesses. “You can quote me on that—” It’s all theater:

Stewart: “To take what’s rightfully ours.”

Heffner: “Have you been threatening them online yet?”

Hungerford: “No, we need to get on that.”

Heffner: “If they didn’t suck so bad, there wouldn’t be a problem.”

Hungerford: “If it was our bad, and we were like, ‘Hey, we didn’t know you guys were that cool,’ then we might be dignified and back down.”

Lawrence: “Actually, fuck dignity. You can quote me on that.”

THE BASEMENT APARTMENTS

new band made up of some people from Invisible City, the Pajamas nad others...good stuff...they open so get there in time
7:30pm all ages $5
1250 s 4th ave #138

then Friday July 25th

SHARK PANTS


CANADIAN RIFLE from Chicago


from Razorcake

CANADIAN RIFLE:
Self-titled: 7” EP
A bit of a surprise here, as nothing about the simple packaging or the lyrics hints at how fuggin’ good this is. At turns deceptively intimate in sound and anthemic without going out of the way to sound as such, all four tracks on here are top notch—mid-tempo, gruff-yet-sung vocals and just sick with hooks, landing them somewhere in the gray area between the Effigies and Naked Raygun. I can easily see these kids blowing up huge in short order. –Jimmy Alvarado (Criminal IQ)

SOLID DECLINE from Germany

Solid Decline (EX Y members) blend a modern hardcore sound with a harsh style and feel like that of Die Kreuzen or CCM. Each track punishes with little time to think or react with amazingly violent vocals that makes Solid Decline one of the best bands to come from Germany in recent memory.

Maximum RocknRoll zine review:
"Obliterating speedfest. Ten tracks of hyper-pitched hardcore from Germany, fueled with inventive guitar leads and marked with DEFORMED CONSCIENCE-styled ram-charging harshness and similar growl-grunt blunt vocals. More precise than their debut, catching you off guard with stop-on-a-dime delivery and curious breaks -- akin to members' previous band Y, but never reaching Y's extreme blast-beat pitch. 750 copies in a silk screened sleeve. Ace." (MRR No. 280)

Suburban Voice Review:
10 songs spread over two 7”s and packaged in a triple panel foldout for this German band’s latest release. Three of the guys from Solid Decline used to be in Y and I like this band a lot more. The band’s speed is better controlled and there are some killer melodic guitar lines to go along with the burn. The 80s-era German band Inferno used to do something similar—aggression but also managing to add, for want of a better term, a tuneful sting. In any case, it’s impressive.

from goodbadmusic.com
I was fairly surprised when I put on SOLID DECLINE! The band was formerly known as Y and was quite a steamroller in its early days and the band’s first 7″ is definitely worth a listen. «Besides diverse other sources they´re paying homage to 80ies American HC, but not necessarily to the early Boston, DC or LA scenes that have become revivaled to death these days. It´s rather bands like early Hüsker Dü, Christ On Parade, Die Kreuzen etc. whose legacy you can sense when you listen with an open mind», is what the label has to say about SOLID DECLINE. Apart from the obvious influences such as INFEST or RORSCHACH, SOLID DECLINE make me think of the way Italian HC of the mid 80s had filtered the original american HC, rather than american HC itself. Songs like “Wahrheit” or “Elephant Walk” are perfect examples for this. Fucking great, metalfree post-Hardcore with enough power and aggression and a feeling of urgency you don’t hear too often anymore.

FULL BLOWN AIDS

and MARLA SINGER open
8pm all ages $6
1250 s 4th ave #138

and if you missed the show saturday night at Vaudeville you'se a big dummy

here's a sample

Scenesters

So this is a new thing I'm working on, so we'll see how it works out.
At the beggining of every month I will be posting the grumpus scenester of the month. Just to show that we appreciate everyone's support towards "the scene".
Will I keep up with it every month? Probably not, so I'll probably end up calling it something else like. . .the when i get to it post about some dude/chick that I've seen hanging out a lot at the grumpus at almost every show and always pays at the door and supports the bands and we dont have to chase down or yell at because they want to get all their friends and family in the show for free, or some shit like that.
You think you got what it takes? You better be there at every show then. I already got a couple of people in mind.
I'll start next month.
Here's a pretty picture for your enjoyment.

A REALLY BIG SHOE

plus Japanese Monsters (from Phoenix) and Standard Deviance
first band starts no later than 8:30pm
$7
all ages
and it's all gonna be done by 10:30pm

here's an extra special video just for you for reading this crap

THE FUTURE AND THE PAST

DIGITAL LEATHER


"Digital Leather’s dreary ostinatos echo a time that has come to pass where synth-driven music has grown out of it’s Gary Numan cheesiness and into the futuristic context it was meant to conjure. As the 80s rolled in and Post-Punk, Goth and synth-styled bands like Devo and LA’s legendary The Screamers laid the groundwork by presenting songs that had a pedestrian take on a futuristic theme and painted a world that presently exists. Now that we are truly living in a “Wiggly World” where it is increasingly harder to wiggle to the top and the “Last 4 Digits” of our social security numbers are as important as The Screamers predicted, we have entered an interesting time. In the 90s we had bands like The Piranhas who took the modern/futurist angle and slapped it down to a crumbling future-primitive knuckle-dragging robotic slur with screaming vocals and keyboards pounded to rubble, leaving us back before square one, when the wheel was some brainiac caveman’s dream.
Then enter Arizona’s Digital Leather. Sean Foree’s one-man crepuscular nightmare of introspection and self-deprecation has more of a new–romantic slant. His deeply dark vocals lay over a stratum of grainy drum machines and a terrain of ill-produced synthesizer to create a mood that is joyously depressing."
from www.victimoftime.com

BLACK CAMARO

plus
ULTRAMAROON
and
THE HANG LOOSE BOYS
two ten year olds and a dog sing for this new band
you heard that right
TWO Ten Year olds AND A DOG!!!!
this Saturday 8:30pm $6 all ages
1250 s 4th ave #138

and here's some photos of the show from Tuesday Jun 24th
if you weren't there you completely missed out

TUESDAY JUNE 24th

RED DONS

http://www.myspace.com/reddons

"I've always been a sucker for a particular sound-- frantic and melodic surf-influenced rock and roll in the tradition of late '70s West coast punk rock-- and it's in the Red Dons favour that they play pretty much that. But what's important about the Red Dons is that despite playing a style that's arguably of one time and one place, they make the music immediate. You don't stand in the crowd and watch them play-- you feel what they're playing, and Burns goads spectators into response with intense eye contact, constant motion, and a long microphone cord that allows him to wander far from the stage and engage people in the back (or, in some cases, wrap around and tie them up in groups). 30 years past punk rock's year zero, none of this behaviour is novel, and I've seen bands turn the same thing into uninspired schtick, yet coming from Doug Burns, against the able backing of his band-- particularly the fierce rhythm section-- it's electrifying. The Red Dons, like the Observers before them, actually encourage a feeling of breakdown between the audience and "the show," leaving everyone in the crowd feeling like a participant. That feeling is the aspiration of many second-rate punk bands, but the rarity of its achievement in spite of so many lame attempts makes the Red Dons genuinely special."
http://querenciazine.blogspot.com/2007/04/red-dons-clorox-girls-aversions-bar.html

THE ESTRANGED
like Wire meets the Wipers or Mission Of Burma meets early TSOL(not the GNR rock shite)

and LOS RUDOS
starts at 7pm

here's some artwork on our walls

Hello kiddies....

I'm gonna blather quickly about the last Grumpus show...then move on to something more fun to write about...namely...ME! and FOOD! aaaaaaaaaaaaand how its 1000 degrees outside..like the surface of the planey mercury...without the groovy veiw.

anyway yeah...june 15th. Sunday.This was the bill and this is my in depth anal-isis:

first band up....

Fucked Up Krew-
looked very punk but actually live it and mean it..... it worked! It worked well! They had a Brit-punk thing goin...like a mix of vintage U.K. SUBS and DISCHARGE.....and a dash of CHAOS U.K.
I'm certain no one sounds remotely like them in Tucson...so they have their own territory and That is always bueno. REALLY nice people too...much more fun then anybody in CALEXICO(the band...not the scary little bordertown to Mexicali...I'll shut up now.

Then...as if by some satanic magic the Grumpus staff(hahahahaha...oooooohhhK) was conned and cajoled into letting a brand new band make their 10 minnit debut right after FUK. Forgive me if I get it wrong but were they called JESUS CHRIST and the MORNING AFTER PILLS?(ed note...actually it was Sweet Jesus and the Morning After Pills)

second band up...

SWEET JESUS and the MORNING AFTER PILLS-

Four songs...bassist was working so no bass. Very classic HC. I liked them. I'll write more when I see them at full strength...which I hope is soon.

Then...

BAD BLOOD (from BROOKLYN)
Wow...like a swirling churning snarling mix of classic BORN AGAINST and something midwest on the TOUCH n GO label...say...1989? Seriously a killer sheet of noise and tension and bubbling subsonic melody. I recommend them..they were excellent! Kudos to the crowd for paying at the door and being a nice wall of warm bodies to represent Tucson. I'm thinking they left with a good impression.

Then last...STANDARD DEVIANCE.

Holly the bassist drank something day-glo green and was...um...drunk and still played fine.
Bere the guitarist wailed like Zakk Wilde and the drummer looked and played like the geriatric poop-log he is. A good 17 minute set.

There you have it...a sunday nite at the bellydancing capital of southern arizona...TUCSON.

More importantly...FOOD! My recommendation today to the bands coming is to hit

EL TORERO...two blocks from Grumpus on 231 E 26th St and 4th ave

that is their Topopo salad....mmmmmmmmm

And if you are wondering what the grumpus looks like inside...thats coming soon...


buhbye