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Concerts, October - November 2000
The Grinders' cd release show with the Priests, Quitters, Veins, and Paulie Rocco
Bug Jar, November 11, 2000
I must say that I owe this one to all of the nice people that I know... for taking me there and making it
possible for me to be able to see the show. So what if it was cold outside? I'm strong! (And know where
to send my doctors bills if I get sick. Hee, hee. I had to get that in one last time). Anyways,
on with the review.
The Priests had the task of playing first on Saturday, and managed to fufill the task well, inflicting their
dark rock and roll upon the Bug Jar audience. Aside from the little bass cord mishap that was caused by
a certain bass player's avid desire to show off (R. F. ha, ha), their set was enjoyable. I thought that the
vocals were very strong for this particular set; more so than at the Temple a few weeks before. Once again,
the set featured the wonderful little "Streetwalker" song, plus "Now She's Gone", "The Living Dead", and
more that I'm not recalling at the moment. I would like to suggest that they play "Ghoul Girl" sometime,
because I think it's a great song. The Priests have not disappointed me over the past few times I've seen
them. They sound great, know how to perform well, and it shows.
Three of the four Quitters followed the Priests... Keith wasn't there, so Dave sang and played bass. I must
take time out to acknowledge the dapper little top hats that the band decided to wear; they looked better
than the guys in the Grinders, and it was the Grinders cd release show! Hee, hee. I'm joking. Sorta. The
Quitters got the energy flowing into people, or maybe people were rowdier after the Priests, because they
had been drinking more. At any rate, the Quitters set consisted of 7 songs... all of them covers. And to top
it off, they have got to be the most eclectic and hilarious set of covers I've ever heard: "Sheena is a Punk
Rocker" (Ramones), "Bodies" (Sex Pistols), which was sung by Dan, "Rock and Roll All Nite"
(need I name the band for this song?!), "Smoke on Water" (Deep Purple), and "Freebird" to name a few.
The Quitters are good, it shows whether they're doing their own stuff or someone elses. If they can make
"Freebird" sound okay, you've gotta give them credit. Or tell me I'm on crack. The Quitters are great and
that's my final word. It was also around Quitters time that I had the pleasure of meeting Pat from the
Thundergods... he was very nice. I hope I didn't come off as being bitchy or anything, I'm just quiet when
I don't know people too well.
The Veins took their wonderfully dark glam rock and displayed it for all of the patrons of the Bug Jar
to hear and get their groove on with after the Quitters. With the exception a couple of covers (which
Dave labeled as "Quitters songs"), the Veins lived it up with their own material, which is pretty damn good
in itself. I haven't seen them live since Diddley Day, so I enjoyed the set. I always like seeing the Veins; I
can't name a set where I haven't gotten into them. They even did "Wake Up the Undertaker", which I think
most people know is one of my favourites... a great precursor to the Grinders, most definitely. The set was
solid and the crowd was into it; how can you go wrong?
If the show hadn't been tagged as the Grinders' cd release show, one could've easily called it the Rob
Filardo Marathon: three bands in a row, and still able to be one of those rowdy audience members during
the Grinders' set. The Grinders set though, was something in itself. Now I've heard stories about a couple
of their shows thanks to the interview that I did, and this is probably nothing compared to some of those
shows, but craziness-wise, this ranks right up there in my concert-going expierences. The Grinders took
the stage around 12:45 or so, who's counting, and played straight through for around an hour, entertaining
with oldies like "My Girl" (my fave) and "Rachael", a cover of Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash", and newer stuff like
"Crack Your Head Open", "Psycho", and "Annabelle", which is a pretty song until you hear the very
amusing lyrics. Over the course of this hour or so, Paulie Rocco came up and played with them twice;
I'd never seen him before, and was impressed, and Jet (from the Veins) appeared as a guest star as well.
The set, to start with was fairly solid, but as it got crazier and people started lifting Todd up and whatnot,
it got interesting. Then there was Todd falling on a cymbal when he was running around at one point; he
managed to slice his jeans up nicely. And no sicko, the only reason I know is because Dave Snyder
started lifting up the sliced part... I don't even want to know. The Grinders' bassist, Mike happened to be
wearing a shirt that read "Todd is Gay", which was fairly funny... I mentioned it to my music teacher
("Sarah" for those band members that know her), and aside from laughing, she commented that,
"Todd needs to stop sounding like a woman". Sorry, they're her words not mine, and I had to work them
in somehow :) I just think he sounds nasal. Which is fine by me. However crazy the show got, the Grinders
managed to hold it together, even if it seemed as if it was by a piece of dental floss. That's what made the
whole damn show so good; no one could predict what would happen, and it was great.
The UK Subs with the Priests and The End at the Temple, Canandaigua NY ,
October 21, 2000
I decided to wear a dateless sticker to this show.... I had one okay guy and one loser come up to me,
and one really hot guy was winking at me. I wish he'd go to more shows that I go to... anyways, on with
the review.
A local-ish band who like to call themselves The End played first... and it was their fault that the show
didn't start till like 10pm. Oh well. I'm not too upset about that. Aside from the Culture Club that some
crack head decided to play on the jukebox, the music was okay. By the time the End finally came on,
I was ready to go, but not with them. They like to call themselves a punk band, and if the word
"punk" has become somewhat synonomous with the word "hardcore", then I guess they were. But, I don't
think that is has, and therefore, I don't think of The End as being "punk." I know what hardcore is, and I've
even seen some(not too good) hardcore bands. The End fit right into this category. They were
Loud, unintelligible, and sloppy. Not my idea of god listening fun all the time. Maybe my opinion is
affected by the fact that Istepped in some girls' puke, but I don't think it is.
The first time I ever saw the Priests was at the RIT Spring Fest 1998. It was the day before Mothers day,
and was chilly. The brilliant genius that I was, I decided to wear shorts and a t-shirt advertising for
the now defunct local ska band the Professionals, which Dave Vertigo-go used to be in. (bet you
didn't know that one suckers!) Anyways, the Priests didn't impress me much at the time, and were so
odd/loud, my cousin had to take my very freaked-out brother (who was 10 at the time) home. However,
the Priests have greatly improved over the past couple of years, thank goodness, and it showed in their
performance with the UK Subs and The End. Taking their place right smack dab in the middle of two
punk rock bands whose fans get off on moshing and (sadly at this show) beating each other to a pulp, and
playing the likes of "The Living Dead", "She'll Never Know", a song that I think is groovie and will call
"Streetwalker", plus some more, the Priests managed to not only get their audience's attention, but they
stopped moshing as well. Seeing the Priests even made up for stepping in some girls puke, and getting
elbowed in the chin when their singer (the man who likes to call himself "Madeline") pushed the guy in
front of me backwards into... me :)
I'd like to say that I was right up in front for the UK Subs like I was for the Priests, but crowds and the fact
that I was technically under my cousins' guardianship for the nite sort of canned that. So, needless to say,
I was back standing against the wall between the ciagarette machine and the men's bathroom. This is when
the guys decided to hit on me. Even though I seemed to be the center of attention of the loser guys' eye
for about half an hour (until he found out how old I was), I managed to listen to the UK Subs and enjoy
their music. It was definitely what I know as being "punk" in the sense. Nice fast, upbeat guitar that
is loud, but not too fuzzy, and strong vocals that hinder on the verge of yelling, but don't. Good stuff, I dug
it.
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