Dead On The Web!

October 28th, 2000 @ Irvine Meadows, CA
Review By: Frank Rizzo Pictures By: Scott Wulfesteig

When I woke up Saturday morning, and saw the dark gray clouds covering the skyline I thought for sure I was in store for a wet day in deed. But luckily the clouds cleared away to a nice blustery fall day. Me and a couple of deadontheweb operatives, along with the nice people from LoudEnergy.com were there to cover the show, and get as many interviews as we could. I hung out mostly at the LoudEnergy booth that was shared by another great band Motorsoule (check us out at their booth) Everything was set up in advance, we had time with almost all the bands everything was peachy! Until we discovered that sometimes bands need to be reminded that they have to go to the booth for the interview. So it was time to divide and conquer! Find some bands sneak some shots and see what this festival for blood was all about. So anyway while on a hunt fro the bands, I got a chance to cruise around the area and check out some of the kick ass cars they had on display. Here are just a few of the many beefed up cars:

click on the cars for a closer look

So the first band up was Speedbuggy. I haven't seen this band before so they were all new to me. I guess you could call these guys cow punk with attitude! Steam'n hot guitars and bass pounding runs heated up the cold morning. The deep throughty vocals of both the lead guitarist and the bassman gave the sound even more depth! The only thing that sucked was the crowd. Why? Because no one was there yet! I always hate it when they start the show at the exact time they open the doors to the public. Come on guys! Give the crowed a chance to get in so they don't miss some great bands. Well anyway I think a lot of people missed this band and I feel bad for them because they were really great!

Ahhhh nothing better than a huge mug of Guinness for breakfast! I had just enough time to grab two, yes two... , before The Amazing Crowns took the stage! Once known as The Amazing Royal Crowns, these guys took the stage by storm! See, at first I couldn't understand what would make Royal Crown Review make The Amazing Crowns change their name, but after seeing The Amazing Crowns kick out a few tunes I could see why. Perhaps it was because these guys make Royal Crown Review look like a cheesy swing band that you might see on a TV commercial advertising some stupid car, and Royal Crown Review didn't want people to confuse the two and be very disappointed when they bought the new Royal Crown Review CD thinking it was The Amazing Crowns! Well now that I confused the hell out of you I'll continue on with the review. The Amazing Crowns are an amazingly tight band! It's one thing when you listen to a band's cd and notice how tight they are, but when you see them live and they are 1000 times better live than their already great cd it's a whole new ball game! Tearing out a few new dittys off their recent CD "Royal" and many earlier cuts, The Amazing Crowns captivated the crowd. Although there was still a line of eager folks waiting to get it, The Amazing Crowns still had a great bunch of spectators to check them out and all seemed to get the same kicks outta this band as I did.

Next up was the blazing Haley’s a tight 3-piece Psychobilly band, with real slant towards fifty’s rock and roll. With a big green fuzzy stand up bass, and whole lotta fun the Haley’s got the arriving crowd to take notice of what was going on. But the only thing I had on my mind right now was getting some beer and see what’s happening in the fringe of booths surrounding the stage area.

While checking out the shops that line the outsides of the venue I heard the 70’s fueled r&b punk of Zen Guerilla. This was the first time, that I had heard this band from the state of Delaware. Zen Guerrilla is perhaps one of the most original bands I've heard in a very long time. With a combo of blues, noise, and post-punk garage, this band delivers a ruthless punch in the mouths of all that listen. With a sonic wild man of a singer and honky tonk harmonica vibe going that I really found hard to pin down. They weren’t your typical band, they borrowing a little from lots of music genres and rolling into their own bluesy style. Definitely worth a look see if their in your town or local pub.

Up next was the doublewide dealings of Captain Tae-bo and Throwrag. If you have never had the pleasure of seeing Capt. Tae-bo and the rest of the rubes in Throwrag. You have to envision a lanky old time Snake Oil Salesman, now envision him driving in a 1971Cadillac with the top down and a bottle of bourbon in hand. Throwrag have a down home punk”o”billy sound with a guy on electric Washboard to boot. Or on the case of Throwrag White Vinyl loafer, which is the bands trademark footware. But the main draw is the effervescent shakings of Captain Tae-bo, and his rail like frame flailing and gyrating on stage in a mesmerizing display. Throwrag is just a fun get down and and drink some moonshine band that got the first swing dancing going during this fun little hoedown. And it was still early.

After Throwrag’s set I decided take a little walk around and find a beer. Because of the design of the show you could walk around take in some vintage tin from the local Car Clubs, grab a beer, and still not miss what’s happening on the two main stages. And what was happening immediately after Throwrag was the Bleeders and their High Octane brand of Rock and Roll with an edge. Front man Ruben Rivera was in his element with tons of fifties Classics parked in rows, and no shortage of Betty Page Beauties rocking along with the bands. And the bleeders made full use of their limited set time. They ended their set with my personal favorite “ViVa Kenevil”, a personal tribute to the 70’s king of the daredevils Evil Kenevil.

Since the blood drive stages were set up side by side, it really cut down on a lot of the walking. Which was a definite plus! Because it meant you really didn’t miss much of the bands, so I was able to catch a good section of Hellbound Hayrides energetic set of Psych”o” billy rock that kept with the flow of most of today’s acts. I have caught Hellbound Hayrides act a few times now, but I really don’t know much about these guys except they really like to have a good time while they’re playing. The only song I knew that they played was the rockin tune “Hootenanny on Mars.” Beyond that the rest was just a runaway wagon of rocking guitar and good old fashion rock and roll.

Back to the right stage again to catch Epitaph recording artist and winner of the hardest fucking band at the show award Zeke. I have heard of the legend that is Zeke, and now I have experienced it in person I can understand where they get their reputation. Zeke is a sonic assault of high-octane guitars, and the incredible force of their singers vocals. Though they don’t have much range in their music, the definitely don’t lack in balls. Since Zeke was playing at decibel level… lets say 10, I figure this was a good time to stock up on some beers and see what was cooking at H.Q.

Back at H.Q. we finally tracked down some of the bands, Throwrag, the Amazing Crowns, and a few others were nice enough to give us some of their time. So I stocked up on a couple free cooler beers and started off to the now starting superuckers set.

The Supersuckers, along with most every band on today’s bill are of the “Rock and Roll” vain of music. Singer Eddie Spaghetti was sporting a newly grown Grizzly Adams beard, along with Metal monster Ron Heathman the rippin-est lead guitar player at the festival today were taking advantage of their sweet spot. Playing after the Sonic attack of Zeke and right before the masters of monsters The Misfits is no easy task. But the incredible live energy of the supersuckers show was up to the task. This was my second time seeing The Supersuckers and I recommend that if they come to your town you do the same. They just plain fucking rock!

I was really bummed when I found out that Misfits had added some new members to the band. Taking the place of the departed Misfits singer Michael Graves was the Zoli the singer for the band Ignite. Along with the fact that seeing the Misfits during the day is semi sacrilegious, gave the set a little bit of a let down. But that didn’t last for long though. When Jerry Only and Doyle started playing classics like “20 Eyes” and “Skulls” the crowd went ape shit! For the first time that day people were literally pouring over the barricades trying to get to the band that has inspired more tan their share of kids to grow devil locks. Doyle paced around the stage like an angry demon wanting to wreck havoc on both the crowd and his beaten and battered guitar. While Zoli did a reasonable job filling in for the departed Michael, there were some rough spots in their set due to the new recruits. But no one really noticed in the insanity when Jerry and the guys played newer songs like “Witch hunt” and older casket classics like “I turned into a Martian” got the crowd singing along into the twilight. Crowd wise the Misfits took the show and left a the crowd depleted and weary from the long day of beer and great music.

After some delay, The Damned were getting ready to go on. The stage suddenly filled with an eerie fog with an intense red glow, and like the devil and his henchmen breaking the grounds of earth, David and the gang appeared. The deep dark tone of David's vocals seduced the onlookers to tightly pack around the stage both in front and in the back stage area. With the current line up being David, Captain, Patricia, Monty and Pinch, it sent chills down my back to hear The Damned jam again. Although not the original line up, I was still very excited to see them play, I haven't seen them in years! Being just a few days away from Halloween they decided to lay on a few costumes for tonight's show. Dave was all decked out with devil horns coming out of his forehead, Patricia was in a very sexy devil / nun out fit and Captain was Frankenstein, perhaps his alter ego. Although they did play extremely well, I was a bit disappointed to find that they really didn't play a lot of the classics. Maybe it's because I'm more of a fan the "Machine Gun Etiquette" era of he Damned. But they did bring life to many of their "Goth" style songs that I have never heard them play live before and to be honest made me respect them more than I have in the past. As I looked out in the crowd I could see that there most of the people who were there were there to see The Damned. Just about every mouth moved simultaneously along with the lyrics that roared out of David's voice. After almost a good hour and a huge beckoning to play more, The Damned retired the stage for X.

I was surprised to see that the crowd had thinned out after The Damned stopped playing. Maybe because it was getting a bit late or maybe it was because most of them had climbed up on stage to join X as they cranked out the classics! Just before X took the stage, I noticed a slew of people had reserved their spot next to all the amps and drums so that they could feel the full effect of this legendary band. In full spirit of Halloween Exene came out dressed as a black widow. Billy and the rest were dressed as themselves. I was very happy to see them perform as I was one of the many that were unable to ever catch them before. It was like a blast from the 80's as they powered through classics like "Los Angeles" and "White Girl". The melodic voices of Exene and Billy pulled me in a trance, as well as everyone around me, that would not let go till the final chords of the night. And as they left the stage after playing a full set, the crowd wasn't pleased enough and chanted for an encore! After about five minutes, X came back on and gave us a few more to make sure we all went home happy.

Halloween is the best holiday of the year. It seems like every other day of the year people are putting on events like the Blood Drive all the time. I was very pleased to find out that finally someone has created a festival for Halloween featuring only the best of bands. This show was such a success they already have plans to throw another fest on October 20th of 2001!! Be sure to make a visit to www.blood-drive.com to catch their web cast that will be available for viewing Feb. 8th 2001 and to read more about The Blood Drive 2000.