concert memoirs pt. 45 - cold side bands

I have mentioned a few times through this series that I used to work at Cold Side Silkscreening ( www.coldside.com ). Cold Side has been printing t-shirts in the warehouse district of Minneapolis since 1976. It's been seriously struggling over the last few years and is in danger of going under.

It's a pity because the two men who own it are decent fellows who try to do well by their employees. They've never been the best businessmen, but they've tried. I'll do a separate blog on Cold Side soon.

Over the years, Cold Side employed many people who were in bands. I'm not sure why, but Cold Side just seemed to attract the musically inclined. A partial list of the local bands with members who have worked at Cold Side: The Yoleus, TV Sound, All the Pretty Horses, Guzzard, Charlie Don't Surf, Dander, Grand 80, Sic Bay, and The Murderers. There are more, but you get the idea.

It's possible that you might have heard of one or two of them, but probably not most of them. I will elaborate on those bands which I have actually seen play...

Three-Way Grady

This band featured former Cold Sider Dave Erb (pictured above with his current band The Yoleus). Dave worked in the office when I first started in the art department. Dave was such a mild-mannered person that it took me by surprise to learn he was in a band. He just didn't seem the type. However, he is an excellent guitarist. He's even on my list of my all-time favorites.

Dave's band mates were Bill and Moira Beeman. Bill had previously been in the band Vertigo, which was on the Amphetamine Reptile label. Bill may have worked at Cold Side, but I'm not sure. Bill's brother Tom did work at Cold Side and he was in the band Guzzard, also on the Am. Rep. label.

The name Three-Way Grady came from another former Cold Sider. The band members asked him if he could come up with a name for the band. He presented them with a list of possibles and they picked Three-Way Grady.

So, I ventured out to First Avenue to see the band play the Entry. I was quite surprised when quiet, unassuming, mild-mannered Dave began shouting out the lyrics to the first rocker of their set. Bill did most of the vocals, but Dave kicked off the night singing the first song.

Three-Way Grady produced a few DIY singles and tapes, played a few gigs and then broke up. Dave went on to another band called Sic Bay. They were a more experimental rock band that got voted Best New Band in the City Pages' annual Best of the Twin Cities edition in 2004 or 2005 or 2006, I forget. Shortly after receiving that accolade, Sic Bay broke up.

Dave is now performing with an instrumental band called The Yoleus and in another sort of band called Crawdad Creek. Crawdad Creek is the "band" that I play lousy rhythm guitar for and I will talk more about them in a later blog.

Check out The Yoleus at http://www.myspace.com/theyoleus

Grand 80

This was former Cold Sider Mark Howard's band. It was a two piece band when Amy and I saw them. Mark was guitar, keyboards and vocals with his friend playing bass. They played with a tape filling the rest of their sound.

They played a kind of space age Gothic electronica thing with a little 80's new wave pop thrown in. They wore spacesuits (sort of) and makeup to give an otherworldly effect. Mark also used the special effect of putting a firework in a gap behind the strings on his guitar. It was similar to a firecracker, but, instead of exploding, it would flash and smoke. So, at the proper moment, Mark would light the fuse and wow the crowd with the cheap effect. Cheesy but cool.

Mark had previously been in a couple other local bands of note: Charlie Don't Surf and Manplanet. He is now performing and recording as Mach FoX. (The photo is of Mach FoX and the fellows are wearing shirts I designed for them.)

Check out Mach FoX at http://www.myspace.com/machfox

Dander

Dander might just be my favorite of the Cold Side bands. They have a strong Pixies influence and are very entertaining in concert. Amy and I have seen them three or four times. Most at the Terminal Bar in Minneapolis or at the Uptown Bar, also in Minneapolis.

Shane the Pain (his stage name) used to work at Cold Side as a lowly shirt folder/counter. He was liked by everyone in the shop and the guys just took to calling him Dander, but he was such a tweaker in those days that had great difficulty doing the easiest task in the shop. He didn't last long.

Check out Dander at http://www.myspace.com/dander

All The Pretty Horses

This is another band that Amy and I saw at more then one location. We've seen them at the Terminal Bar, at some art warehouse party event and other places. We were even both in attendance at Ryan's Corner in St. Paul to watch the band in the days before Amy and I ever met.

All The Pretty Horses could best be described as a loud, theatrical, gender-bending, Glam/Goth rock band. Venus, the leader of the band, is especially intriguing in his/her bending of gender norms. He was born male and still has the plumbing, but he also has a nice pair of A cup breasts. Lee Ann MacDougall, who was the Cold Side connection to the band, would never disclose how he/she got them.

Lee Ann played bass and did some backing vocals. She is the woman with the dreadlocks on the right in the above photo. She left the band in less than pleasant circumstances that I won't discuss here.

Lee Ann was also involved in bands such as Firebrand, Metro Division, and Jehovah's Shitlist (I love that name.). I don't think she's involved in any bands at the moment, but she is still slaving away at Cold Side.

You can check out All The Pretty Horses at http://www.myspace.com/atph

The Murderers

The Murderers were originally from Indiana and, from what I recall, they were pretty big in the Gary, Indiana punk scene. They migrated to Minneapolis and, at one point, three of its members worked at Cold Side. They are pictured above. From the left they are Blake Conway, Dennis Degenerate (That was his band name. I tried to convince him to drop Degenerate and go with his real name, Burns. I thought that was punk enough and didn't seem silly. He didn't listen to me.), and, the incomparable, Bob Murderer. The other two fellows did not work at Cold Side, so screw 'em.

Dennis and Blake were printers and Bob was Cold Side's resident drunken shirt folder/counter. Bob was pretty hopeless as a shirt folder/counter, but Dennis and Blake were good printers, especially Blake. None are working for Cold Side at present. Blake was just recently laid off.

The band was a blast from 1977 with their British-style punk rock. Fast and furious. They were pretty fun and the young punks slammed their hearts out to them.

Bob handled most of the lead vocals. I have a picture of him playing bass that should pretty much give you the idea of his punk cred. He's from New Hampshire, but he sounds like he's from no place on Earth. His accent is so thick at times it is virtually impossible to understand him. Think of Brad Pitt's character in 'Snatch', that's pretty close. Bob is also deaf as a post and drunk nearly all the time.

Bob Murderer

The Murderers are no more. Punk is dead.

concert memoirs pt. 40 - trip shakespeare, big black & the three johns

Trip Shakespeare (Minneapolis band)

I mentioned this in my blog about Breaking Circus, but I want to go into a little more detail on First Avenue's New Band nights. Back when John and I were going to Club Degenerate, First Avenue's weekly dance night featuring punk, post-punk, industrial, indie, etc. music, on each Tuesday night, we could cross-over to the 7th St. Entry to catch New Band Night. It was free and a good opportunity to possibly see the next big thing from Minnesota.

It was during these New Band Nights that we first saw Breaking Circus and numerous other bands that I've forgotten since. But, I haven't forgotten Trip Shakespeare. Since it was New Band Night, it must have been Trip Shakespeare's first time playing at First Avenue, albeit in the Entry.

They were a three piece band then. Matt Wilson's brother, Dan, had not yet joined the band. As I recall, they were all dressed in matching grey business suits. I don't remember if they wore ties. Maybe. I do remember liking their catchy tunes right away. I also recall that the gal playing the drums, Elaine Harris, was standing at them. I don't think I'd ever seen drums played that way until then.

Matt Wilson had an usual stance and moves while playing. He would sort of lean back and squat slightly, then sway side to side while stomping his feet in time to the music. At least, that's how I picture it.

I bought their first LP, 'Applehead Man', when it came out. For some reason, I got rid of it. I wish I hadn't.

Big Black at First Avenue 1986 or 87 with John.

This was a very loud show. They started off the show with what I think was customary for them, lighting off a brick of firecrackers. I don't know if they amplified the fireworks at all, but it was damn loud! And it must have taken a minute or two before the last firecracker exploded. The smoke and smell of gun powder hung thickly in the club for the rest of the show. I'm not sure the fire marshal would have been pleased.

So, Big Black was a three piece band using a drum machine. They were loud and very, very angry. The sounds they made were incredible. I still think the opening guitar riff of their song 'Kerosene' is one of the all-time greatest moments in guitar rock history. And Steve Albini pulled it off brilliantly live.

I especially liked Albini's use of his guitar strap as a belt. Cool visual. As if the guitar was attached directly to his pelvis.

The Three Johns w/Lesley Woods in the 7th St. Entry with John.

This was an interesting (and fun) night in the Entry. It started with Lesley Woods, fomerly of the great UK band Au Pairs. It was just her, a microphone, and a boom box. John and I stayed at the back wall and watched her tell a story or two, perform some Au Pairs tunes and some of her solo work from there.

I thought it was pretty gutsy to get up there like that, solo with just a backing tape playing on a boombox. But, then it's pretty gutsy to do anything in front of a group of strangers.

Then came The Three Johns. Boy, were they fun. They were another three piece band using a drum machine. Playing some really good guitar driven post-punk dance music was their thing. They released some really good singles. Such as, '(He's a) Brain Box' and the brilliant' Death of a European'. Their albums were ok, but it was their singles that made them special.

During their set, it was their between song banter that stole the show. They were very funny and they took special enjoyment out of razzing some of the gals in the audience.

"Oh, look! It's Madonna!"

"And there's Madonna, too!"

"And another one!"

concert memoirs pt. 39 - the mighty mofos & breaking circus

Now that I have run out of ticket stubs, I'll turn my memory machine to the shows for which I have no ticket stub and, therefore, I do not know the dates. It's most likely that I never received a ticket stub for these shows, because I was pretty good about hanging onto them. Several of these shows were at the Cabooze, a Minneapolis club that didn't hand back ticket stubs for their shows.

I'll relate stories about acts such as The Mighty Mofos, Big Black, The Three Johns and others. One band, the Urban Guerrillas will have several shows to talk about because I had see them the most of any band I've seen play. I will even tell you about the show at which I most embarrassed myself. It was The Guess Who at the Cabooze. I know, The Guess Who, pretty sad, huh?

This section won't be nearly as long as the ticket memories. So, let's get started...


The Mighty Mofos (Minneapolis band)

John and I had seen this band a few times. It seems as though they opened for every band we saw at the Cabooze. Of course, they didn't. It just seems that way.

Formerly know as The Hypstrz, The Mighty Mofos were a pretty straight forward rock 'n' roll bar band. Very high energy with some excellent guitar work by Ernie Batson. Ernie's brother, Bill, handled the lead vocals and had that commanding stage presence that most bands would want in their lead singers.

Bill also worked at First Avenue setting up the stage in the 7th St. Entry and running sound. Because of Bill's working there and John and I frequently hanging out at the disco, we got to the point where we would be recognized by Bill. He'd see us and give us the up nod. Pretty cool.

So, there was one show at the Cabooze with The Mofos playing and John and I were right up front. Kind of leaning against the stage, trying to look hip. Bill was rockin' and he was trying to get a little audience participation going. He was trying to get the crowd to clap along with the beat. (The Mofos must have been opening, because most people don't do much for the opening act. They tend to stand back and wait for the headliner.) Bill wasn't having much luck and it didn't improve when he approached us.

He saw us and gave us the up nod, but then he came over doing some rhythmic hand clapping. He was giving us a little "come on, fellas!" look, but we just stood there. Sorry, Bill. We don't do audience participation.

We were just too cool.

Breaking Circus (Minneapolis band via Chicago)

Breaking Circus started out in Chicago, but Steve Bjorklund, the guitarist and singer, moved to Minneapolis in 1986. As best I can remember, the first time John and I saw them they were using a drum machine, but later the bassist and drummer from another local band, Rifle Sport, were added to the line-up. I believe those two pulled double duty and continued playing in Rifle Sport.

Breaking Circus was a very cool, very angry band. Their sound was very aggressive and Bjorklund was a great front man. Not only that, the band produced one of the all-time coolest songs, 'Driving The Dynamite Truck'. I love that song!

My favorite Breaking Circus moment occurred in the 7th St. Entry on New Year's Eve 1986. (I'm fairly certain it was 1986.) It was the custom at First Avenue that every New Year's Eve they would feature the best of the bands from the new band nights of that year. They would have the bands play in the Entry while the revelers whooped it up in the main room.

John and I were pretty impressed with the band when we saw them earlier in the year on a new band night in the Entry, so we ditched the main room scene to watch Breaking Circus rock in the New Year. And they were great.

The high point came just after midnight. The New Year had arrived while the band was still playing, but, once the song was finished, Bjorklund had a treat for us. He threw out to the crowd several small vials of some white, powdery substance. He said, "Here's your New Year's cocaine! Come and get your cocaine!"

John actually nabbed one. It was powdered sugar.

concert memoirs pt. 7 - x, the church, red hot chili peppers, general public & let's active

X w/Soul Asylum

10/15/84 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: Unknown

Another show at the famed First Avenue. We were still getting a hang of the place. We were looking forward to seeing Soul Asylum, a local band that had some good buzz. John had heard they did a cover of Sex Pistols’ ‘Bodies’, but they didn’t play it that night.

John remembers some fellow in the crowd shouting, “Loud Fast Rules!” Which, of course, was Soul Asylum's original name.

What I remember is Dave Pirner having difficulty with his guitar strings. He kept breaking them. Normally, musicians play through a string break, but, for some reason, Dave couldn’t do that. He would stop and hand the guitar to the tech and wait for it to be restrung or for another guitar. And the rest of the band stopped playing. It made things appear very amateurish.

That’s how I remember it, anyway.

John and I planted ourselves at the side of the stage and stood on the first level up from the main floor. We were very close to the front, close enough to see behind the screen to watch the folks setting up the stage.

We were at Billy Zoom’s side of the stage. He took his spot behind the still lowered screen, while a couple of gals were peeking under it to catch a glimpse of the stylish guitarist. He would playfully slip the toe his boot out toward them and give the girls a thrill.

We were still a little leery of the slam dancing, so we didn’t venture onto the main floor. This turned out to be a smart decision. As John reminded me, it was a very violent crowd. We had a couple of punks jump past us just to join the scrum. They nearly sent us flying in order to get to the pit.

X was tight and rockin’. I didn’t know much of their stuff, but it was cool to see them.

The Church w/Summer of Love
11/14/84 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: Unknown

This was my 20th birthday and I didn’t even try to get in free.

You will probably notice that many of the early shows that we attended found me awfully ignorant of a lot of the bands’ music. This was mainly because John and I were just finding these bands, buying some of their stuff and then going to see them right away. After some time we’d learned a lot more about the bands we were seeing. Especially those bands that we would see several times.

The Church is a good example of one of those bands. What I knew of The Church was the song ‘Electric Lash’ and some of their album ‘Remote Luxury’. John bought that album after asking the record store manager about them. She told us that they were “one of your best new wave bands.”

Impressive.

Well, they were very good live. I seem to recall that there was an extra guitarist with the group. Every time that we’d seen them since it was just the four members of the band.

I didn’t know much of what I was hearing, but it didn’t matter. Their material was so good that I liked it immediately. Some bands can do that, but they are rare.

The one thing I remember about Summer of Love, the opening act, is that I was intrigued by the very pretty woman who played the cello.

Red Hot Chili Peppers
11/21/84 First Avenue w/John & Kelly Ticket Price: $2.00

This was waaaay before that annoying, incredibly overplayed Bridge song.

John picked up their first album because it was produced by one of our guitar heroes, Andy Gill. It’s an odd little album and I really dig ‘True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes’. Very funky.

John and I brought our friend, Kelly, along to this one. I’m not sure why. It was a good thing we did though, because the club was pretty empty that night. The Peppers needed all the audience they could get.

I recall Anthony Kiedis saying that the critics thought the band was a joke. “That’s because we are a joke!” was he proud response. Aim for those stars, Anthony!

We hung in there for a few songs and left. I’m not sure if they wore shirts. Probably not.

General Public
11/22/84 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $5.50

John knew this band better than I, but I still enjoyed the show. They played a mix of their current stuff and some of their old English Beat material. General Public was formed by at least two of the members of English Beat, Ranking Roger and Dave Wakeling.

Ranking Roger was sporting that striped hairdo and hopping all over the stage. The audience was doing a bit of hopping, too. They really got hopping when General Public played ‘Save It For Later’, the big hit for English Beat.

Let’s Active
11/26/84 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: Unknown

Here’s one of those shows that brings nothing to mind other than I think it was in the 7th Street Entry. It’s not that they weren’t a good band, I just don’t remember anything.