Monster Update
I know, I haven’t sent in an update for AGES! And I am really SORRY, but here it is: My Monster Update with tons of show reviews and pictures! Hope you enjoy the read!
Dwarves + Electric Eel Shock, Backstage, Munich (GER)
What can I say? Two of the craziest bands EVER invaded Munich on a Wednesday night. Electric Eel Shock played all their good songs and a lot more from their recent record, ‘Beat Me,’ like “Scream for me – I am the answer” (which is all crazy in a very Japanese way). If you don’t know Electric Eel Shock yet, you might have seen them in the latest Bloodhound Gang video. Just watch out for three crazy Japanese guys in the men’s room. Their drummer wore nothing but one baseball sock on his wiener, as usual. I wonder if he ever washes that sock at all… or maybe I don’t even want to know…. but anyway, EES are a great power/ rock n roll/ metal band, and it’s always a real pleasure to see one of their energetic performances.
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The next band up was the Dwarves. Yeah, you might have guessed it: more naked flesh. “HeWhoCannotBeNamed” wore nothing but his mask. Also, as usual, The Dwarves are one of those bands that I don’t want to see in the first row… The show started when “HeWho” threw a chair from the backstage balcony into the crowd below and yeah, they already had all the love and hate of the audience on their side with that action. The Dwarves had a special guest with them, Nick Olivieri (Ex-Queens Of The Stone Age). He was the second man on the mic. And what a cool show! They played all their classics, and they played for almost a whole hour! I mean, that’s EPIC length for a Dwarves show.
The real party started actually AFTER the show. All the bands took off to the Kings’n’Queens bar in Munich right after the show. The Backyard Babies were already there and even some of the Social Distortion guys showed up. They had the day off before their show in Munich the next day, so they decided to do a little pre-show party there. So, there was actually a Dwarves-after-show and a Social-Distortion-pre-show-party at the same club. Dregen of the ByBs was Djing, and as you can imagine, the whole thing ran out of control. Take 4 bands from 3 different continents and add lots of alcohol, and you can imagine the trouble. But that was probably the best party of 2005, and everyone who was there will have to agree with me. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. (The pics are courtesy of kingsandqueens-online.de)
Social Distortion + Backyard Babies, Elserhalle, Munich (GER)
The next day, I went to the Social Distortion + Backyard Babies show. That was kind of weird, since we were just hanging out with those guys at a really small bar in Munich. There were about 30-40 people there, and it felt like hanging out with some of my buddies, and then the next day you see them at a show with lots of security guys around them, and fans who have been waiting in front of the entrance for hours and hours. Katrin, the Backyard Babies tour manager, got me backstage, and we walked by Mike Ness and the other guys who were just having lunch. I met with the Babies in their backstage room, and we were talking about last night before we did the interview. The interview went really smoothly, and after that, I went into the venue. It was all packed with punks, rockabillys, and all types of underground scum. A very mixed audience, also age-wise, but way cool. I met lots of people I knew who were all excited that they were just about to see one of their all time favourite bands perform in Germany for the first time in 9 years. I wasn’t that excited, as I had already seen them the year before in California, and that was such a fantastic show that I was sure it couldn’t get any better than this tonight.
The first band up were Cooper but I have to admit that I didn’t watch their set, as I was having a couple of drinks with some of my friends at the bar instead.
The next band up was the Backyard Babies. Sweden’s finest played a fabulous show again with lots of energy, sweat, and rock’n’roll! Hell yeah! They played a lot of old songs from Total 13 and Making Enemies Is Good but also a lot of new songs from Stockholm Syndrome. It was a wild mix from ‘Look At You’ to ‘Making Enemies is Good’ to ‘A Song For The Outcast.’ It was a really good show, and everyone enjoyed it.
Finally, the band everyone had been waiting for went up on stage– Social Distortion. The audience had great expectations, and the SD guys totally fulfilled them. They have a new bass player now by the way. His name is Brett Harding. He is the guy who also plays in Mike Ness’ solo project. Mike was all bad ass as usual, chewing bubble gum all the time and posing in his usual rock star manner. Hehe. But hey, we all loved it. That’s why we went to see them, and that’s why we like SD… it’s just big and bad, and rock n roll. The set list included all types of songs. From new stuff like ‘Highway 101,’ ‘Reach For The Sky,’ ‘Don’t Take Me For Granted,’ ‘Footprints On My Ceiling,’ to good old stuff like ‘PRISON BOUND,’ (which is my favourite song), ‘Story Of My Life,’ ‘Sick Boy,’ ‘Under My Thumb,’ and even, ‘Send Her Back’ from Mike’s solo record “Cheating At Solitaire.” It was a wild show, and the crowd went even wilder. They totally loved it, and everyone really hopes that SD will make it back to Europe for another fantastic night like that in 2006. We all went home with big smiles on our faces. Especially those people who were hanging out the night before with those guys just to see them play the next day. Two crazy and great days! Yeah!
Lonely Kings, Backstage, Munich (GER)
The Lonely Kings are one of my all time favourite bands. I love all their records. I can listen to them without having to skip one single track. They are just such a fantastic band and I really don’t understand why they are not popular. They are awesome! Their sound is somewhere between AFI and Hot Water Music. And their singer Jake has a really charismatic voice, so it’s always a real pleasure to see them live. I could watch them every day. Seriously.
Unfortunately the line up that night was really bitter. They were the first band up, and the next two bands on stage were German MTV-casting- bands: Die Killerpilze and Revolverheld. So the audience consisted of 14-year-old girls who had no idea about good music. But my friend Ursi and I really enjoyed it. Actually, we enjoyed it so much that Ursi invited the guys to stay at her place, along with another great band from Germany by the name of Ira. The party basically went on until 7am, and we had lots of fun.
Gluecifer, Backstage, Munich (GER)
I just can’t believe it, or maybe I just DON’T WANT TO believe it: The amazing, the incredible, the one and only, Gluecifer from Norway have decided to call it quits. They split up last year, but they also decided to do one last tour before that. So, of course, I had to be there! They played an amazing set in Munich. First, some sort of white screen was set up in front of the stage and lost of pics of all their shows and records were shown on it while some Rod Steward tune was playing, which was a little too much for my taste, because Gluecifer are a punk n roll band, and not Queen or something. Whatever. Then the screen/curtain came down and they started playing all (and I mean ALL) their good songs. Everything from ‘Rockthrone,’ to ‘Black Book Lodge,’ to ‘Automatic Thrill,’ well, everything basically. I think they must have played for almost 2 hours, and after the show, they walked around so all their fans could talk to them for one last time, which was really nice. And then they got hammered! Haha, those Norwegians… But that was such a great show, and I’m really sad that it’s all over now. Captain Poon told me that he was already rehearsing with a new band, so I hope through him Gluecifer’s heritage will somehow live on. I will really miss them. I still think “Automatic Thrill” is one of the best rock albums ever recorded. I wish you guys all the best! Hope to see you again one day!
Other Great Shows I saw last year:
Mad Sin + Turbo Acs, The Hellacopters + The Doits, Adam West, The Boonaraaas!,
The Bones, The Horrorpops, …
I don’t want to bore you with more show reviews, so I decided to let the pictures speak for themselves because, you know; a picture says more than a thousand words, and I guess those pics would fill a whole book. Hehe.
It’s already 2006, and I’m sure that this is going to be another great year packed with good shows and skateboard action!! Hope you’ll all have a rawkin’ 2006!
-Sabine Schenk
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