written for coolgrrrls.com
October 15
We started our mini-tour with two shows in Ontario, Canada. Friday night we arrived in Brantford around 10 p.m. The town looked deserted. We were to play this little bar called the Turnaround. I swear to god there must be no laws in Canada. The bar we played at was just opened for the one night we were to play there, no one was checking ids, and when they ran out of beer (?) they just went to the store and bought more and sold it! We played with Brantford crusty punks The Deaf Cunts and Toronto's Dirty Bird. Dirty Bird broke records that night; literally, there were broken records everywhere. Broadzilla played last surrounded by jagged vinyl pieces to a full house of drunk, sweaty teenage punks.
Oct 16
Two hours away from Brantford was good old Toronto. Rachel, Bubba our roadman, and myself went shopping up and down Queen Street in the "fashion district" all day long. It was a very nice autumn day and the sun was shining and there were all kinds of people to watch. I like Toronto because there's a lot to do and I can stop in any bar and sit down and have a beer!! Can't do that in the states for another 8 months! I know, I should savor my youth while I still have it. Anyway in Toronto Broadzilla played The Big Bop on the corner of Queens and Bathurst. Actually we played the Kathedral which is inside the Big Bop (I guess). For all you Detroiters, the Kathedral is a lot like The Shelter, except the Shelter is actually cleaner, but it doesn't have a cool basement like the Kathedral. Dirty Bird played with us again; this time there was no vinyl destruction just a lot of ass showing, courtesy of Uncle Anus of DB. Shitloads of Fuck-All also played. They're releasing their first CD soon, so watch out for it Toronto. This was a very fun show. I've said it before and I'll say it again…we rocked our asses off! I have to give props to Tuuli's bass player Claire and her boyfriend for stopping by to catch the show. We sat and chatted for a while and she's a kick ass grrrl! I also have to thank my grrrl Lori from Windsor who came to see us in Toronto. Lori is such a die-hard Broadzilla fan that the next day she went and got "Broadzilla" tattooed on her leg! Go Lori!
Oct 22
Peoria, IL. If you haven't heard of it it's because there's not much there. Not much but two kick ass bands: Snot Rocket and Pissed Midgets. Other than that all you have is family diners and pick-up trucks. We played in downtown Peoria at the Infirmary with the two aforementioned bands plus this really cool hard rock band from Tennessee called Supafuzz. They kind of looked like the male version of Broadzilla with their Gibsons, Marshalls and shiny pants, but some would question if they rocked as hard.
Oct 23
Confetti's is probably the coolest place in Racine Wisconsin. Stuck in the middle of Milwaukee and Chicago, Racine is a pretty decent city, despite cornfields and yes, pick-up trucks. We have extremely loyal fans in Racine and the neighboring city of Kenosha. This show was a big more wild than the one the night before, we had been driving all day long and we were ready to rock!! After a 40 minutes set plus several encores Broadzilla finally called it a night and then end of our mini-tour.
October 12, 1999
written for coolgrrrls.com
September 25 we got the chance to play at Frankie's in Toledo, OH opening up for metal-goddess L7! We arrived at the bar and got to meet L7 and hear their sound check. What cool girls! I gave Donita a Broadzilla guitar pick and she gave me an L7 one in return. I also got to sit and shoot the shit with L7's new bass player, Janet, who used to be in AntiChrist in L.A. She's a very cool chick also. Broadzilla hit the stage around 9:30 and the crowd was dripping with anticipation for L7. I think we satisfied their craving. We rocked harder than we knew we could. The crowd was very enthusiastic and very supportive. It was so great to see over a hundred strangers to our music singing along with our 'hit single', Cum Guzzlin' Whore. There were even a few sweethearts who drove down from Detroit to see us with L7, bless their hearts. About 2 hours, a Carona and 4 Rolling Rocks later I was pumped as hell to see L7. They kicked ass! The energy in the crowd was amazing. Everyone was happy and enjoying it. Broadzilla was right up front singing along, screaming and yelling. It was probably the best show we've ever played. Thanks L7! Last Saturday Broadzilla had our first CD release party. We had it at the Magic Bag Theatre in Ferndale, MI. It was a fun show if there ever was one! We were very excited and the whole night went well. Local bands Forge and 60 Second Crush opened for us and they really got the crowd pumped. We were fortunate to score the phone number of "Rude Jude" of the Jenny Jones show and he was the MC for the night. We had the whole bar decorated with balloons and pink lights. It looked spectacular. Broadzilla ripped through 12 songs like our guitars were on fire and we ended with a new rendition of the Motown hit Love Child. Thanks to Detroit, Toledo, Rude Jude, the Magic Bag and our friends and fans for making that night really cool. Hopefully I'll have some pictures up of the party soon.
Saturday March 27th 1999
Toronto Ontario
Rachel and I arrived separately on Friday night only to find out that the bar we were supposed to play at on Saturday lost it's liquor license and closed down. We stayed at Glenn's house, the lead singer of Toronto punk band, Dirty Bird. Two guys from the Fheds, a punk band from Lindsey, ON also stayed there because they were going to play with us. Friday night we all went out to the El Mocambo and had drinks and mingled and saw a few bands that I can't remember the names of. We talked to the owner of the "Elmo" and he said we could play there, but he wouldn't give us a guarantee. Saturday Rachel and I went shopping down Queen St. Toronto is such a wonderful city. It's 10 times bigger than Detroit and it seems so much safer. What really surprised me is everyone was either white or Asian, and everyone was punk rock. Boys everywhere covered in tattoos with big huge mohawks…I was in heaven. And the music scene is so fucking cool. All the bands help each other out and everyone seems to know everyone. We were offered to play the Planet (I think that's what it was called). It was a very small bar, but they at least guaranteed us something, so we decided to play there instead of the Elmo. The rest of Broadzilla showed up late in the afternoon on Saturday, but the rest of the Fheds never seemed to make it, so they never got to play. Dirty Bird never played either because there wasn't room on the bill or something, but we got to hear them practice. The band that did open up for us was ShitLoads of Fuck-All. They kicked ass. Their lead singer was this little Asian grrrl with a mostly shaved head and a big attitude. She was awesome. The bass player was pretty cute too (what's with me and bass players?). After them came Broadzilla. I had mono at the time, so I was hardly feeling up to it, but once it came time to play I had this intense energy that came from nowhere. The bar was so small that it was only supposed to hold about 40 people, but there were at least 100 people inside and outside the bar. I had exactly 2 feet of space to move around in. Despite the fact we had 3 of the biggest guys acting as bodyguards, people kept slamming into our mics and at one point some guy came flying at us and knocked half of Angie's drums down and knocked my guitar out of tune...but we just kept on playing an awesome set. Toronto loved us. We love Toronto! This show and this trip was definitely my favorite Broadzilla experience so far. I cannot wait until Punkfest in July so we can play for all these awesome people and all the awesome bands again.
Alvin's Saturday March 6, 1999
The Impotent Sea Snakes
This show was awesome. We were very fortunate to score a show with the Impotent Sea Snakes. Most of the crowd of 200 people were ISS fans, but we made a lot of new Broadzilla fans that night. Broadzilla played with our usual fire and fury. The people that did know us screamed for "Cum Guzzling Whore through the whole set. When we finally gave it to them the whole crowd sang along. It was such a fun performance. It was a good thing we played before the Impotent Sea Snakes because I image them to be a hard act to follow. The stage was decorated in televisions showing Alice in Wonderland, upside-down sequined American flags, and a huge lighted sign that said ISS but looked like the KISS sign exactly. The 5 guys in the band played some great rock n' roll, but you could hardly notice because of all the naked chicks getting beat, whipped, licked, smacked and just having a great old time. From what I could see from the chair I was standing on, one girl had sparks flying out of her crotch….cool.
Lili's 21 December 18, 1998
This show was very fun. Again my parents showed up, this time they brought some aunts and uncles of mine...yay. The band that opened up for us was the Unfriendlies. They were pretty good...cute bass player anyway. Then we went on and kicked everyones ass. My only problem was my distortion pedal was down through half the set and I didn't even realize it, then I was too loud, then I couldn't hear myself, then my microphone kept shocking me, but other than all of that, it was a good show. Tim from the Bombpops was there, he's cool. He had a show that night at the Wired Frog and he left right after he played to come and see us. I have yet to see his band though, but I have the CD and it's great.
Alvin's December 4, 1998
This was my first appearance in Detroit with Broadzilla. I was hoping there would be more people than there was, but I guess at Alvin's you kind of have to bring your own crowd, there are no regulars. My parents were there though, that was a trip. My friends Mike and Chris also came, props to them. There were also some Motor City Burgers there...they hung out and smoked pot in the back with us. The sound man really fucked up our mix, but I thought as a band we looked great, even if our sound was off. That's about all I can say about that show.
Saturday November 21, 1998
The Cavern Club, Kenosha WI
This was my first show and my first road trip with Broadzilla. We left Detroit early in the morning, arrived in Chicago around 5 and went shopping at the Alley and had dinner too. We arrived in Kenosha around 8pm. When we got to the bar they told us it was a 21+ show and they tried to send me and Julie (friend of the band) home. We were like "hey! we came all the way from Michigan to be here!...and I'm in the band!" There was nothing they could do about it, they couldn't send the entertainment home, so we got to stay, but we had to stay by the stage, we couldn't walk around by the bar. How fucking lame is that? Anyway, there were alot of people there and that was pretty cool considering Broadzilla was the only band advertised as playing that night. We had an opening band, but I don't remember what they were called, nice guys though. The bar was filled with drunk punk dairy farmers (Kenosha Wisconsin, remember). It was a blast. When we went on it was like everyone in the bar was trying to get as close as they could to us. It was great. I was really surprised to see that alot of people knew they words to alot of the songs. But Broadzilla had been to Wisconsin before, before I was in the band, and I guess they sold alot of tapes that night. It was a fun show, but drunk guys kept jumping on stage and Jim (Michelle's husband who drives the van) had to play bodyguard for 4 girls against 100 drunk guys. My microphone stand got knocked down 3 times. I know that's no big deal, but I was quite amused by it. It was a good first show for me.