These guys were awesome. They come from Buffalo, New York, so I’d seen them a few times on the eats coast. This show was from their 2001 US tour with NO TIME LEFT, and they played this show with SCHOLASTIC DETH, REMAINS OF THE DAY, and WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Fuck yeah they ripped this shit up! I was happy to see they’d added a second vocalist since I’d last seen them, and Bailey from DRUNKEN ORGY OF DESTRUCTION was on guitar now, too! Fuck yeah!
I’ve been on an ITS CASUAL kick all summer. I wasn’t aware of them until earlier this year, and had been hoping to catch them all summer. So I was thrilled when they had a west coast tour scheduled with a stop at The Stork Club in Oakland, and then bummed when said show at The Stork was cancelled.
A few months go by, and I wind up planning on going to see MASTODON and comedian BRIAN POSEHN in Athens, Georgia for the CHUNKLET 15th anniversary show. I’m all stoked, thinking this show would be fun and awesome and probably couldn’t get any better, until they announced that the god damned opening band would be none other than ITS CASUAL!!! So right on, I got to see them after all, and at a better show, too.
If you haven’t checked them out before, I suggest hitting up the mp3s posted on their myspace page HERE. They are a two piece guitar and drum duo, playing what I generically call skate-punk. It reminds me of Black Flag, Bl’ast, and a bit of Melvins or Unsane too. Upbeat, thundering riffs with an energetic delivery, and simple but super catchy and solid beats, this shit wins hard. Wes and Eddie were really cool guys, too. I had fun chatting them up throughout the day.
So check out this video! Check out their myspace, too! Get fucking PUMPED!!!!
A few years back there was this band that played short, fast, screamo sounding songs and they put out a bunch of records, all of which I sold to help buy the cameras we use to film bands now. Thanks Orchid and Orchid records!
Seriously, Orchid kicked ass. Not in a tough way, but in riffs stuck in my head all day way. Simple, but effective. Here’s a video I got from them a long time ago.
Discordance Axis was awesome. Here is a video shot by my buddy Ryan at a show with Isis, Burn It Down, and Cave In. Dave Witte rocking the one foot blasts in full glory!
While in Atlanta, I went and sat in on a Mastodon rehearsal, and filmed a few songs. Here’s some highlights, with bits of them having fun with a few songs and rocking through parts of others.
It’s a shame that Benumb are split up, I really miss hearing these songs! Benumb were a bay area band that started in 1994 and lasted probably up until about 2003 or 2004. They released a ton of 7″s and comps and splits and also three mighty full lengths on Relapse Records. And if you were in a band that toured through the bay area ever, chances are Pete probably helped you out! Pete is STILL the man! The nicest and most generous person in the bay area!
My old band, A Death Between Seasons (notice our shirt as sported by their bass player Tim) had just flown to San Francisco, out for a west coast tour the day before this. Pete had us picked up at the airport with a limo! We were soon at his apartment, which he had just bought and was just starting to move into that weekend, he gave us the keys, wished us a good weekend, and had to go to the airport to fly out to Milwaukee for this show. Pete let us stay at his apartment that weekend while we played the bay area, though he wasn’t going to be in town. That was mighty awesome. He was back in town a few days later in time for a Monday night show at the Cocadrie with my band A Death Between Seasons, Benumb, Falling Over Drunk, and Antagony(!!).
When an entire show on the last day of our tour got cancelled that day, Pete used his muscle to get us on a show with The Locust, so we at least had one more good show before going home.
I know other bands have very similar experiences, Pete is just the shit like that. And Benumb goddamned killed. So here’s my best Benumb video, recorded at the Milwaukee Metal Fest as my band took naked photos of ourselves on his patio for his neighbors enjoyment. As he was screaming and yelling and bro-ing down with people, all hi-fivin’ them and shit, we were probably putting our balls on his stuff, especially his pillow!!!! So yeah, THANKS PETE!!!!!!
They came up from Dallas fucking Texas just to ruin our evenings! Well, they failed. Because they kicked a ton of ass. Well, at least a dozen or so asses. There weren’t a whole lot of people at the show. Most were at Pyramid across the street drinking until Phobia played. Kill The Client wasn’t originally on this show, and were only added a few days prior, so I don’t think people realized they were playing!
So this was the last night of the tour, and of course KTC’s stuff decided to start breaking. Bryan’s bass pedal broke halfway through the set, so he had to borrow Greg’s, Greg from Thousandswilldie, Greg who earlier in the night lit his drumset on fire and threw it around. So the bass pedal didn’t work as well as Bryan would have liked.
Born on the bayou! Well, maybe, not really, I have no idea. That’s just my general feeling on all bands from Louisiana. Well, they help drive that image home with their southern fried death metal. I’ve admittedly fallen out of touch with what these guys are up to now, but goddamn I love those first 3 LPs. This video catches them touring for their 2nd LP, the first on Relapse.
They are fast as fuck! They are from Stockholm, Sweden! They played this show at the Maryland Death Fest in 2006, and they will be back to play MDF VII in 2009!!!!!
THEY LIVE - Live @ 924 Gilman 2001
