Firethorn, Bell Rays at Casbah, 3/12/11

Firethorn played a rare show at the Casbah a couple weeks ago.









BellRays from Riverside:







See my blog post on the show for more.

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All Images Copyright © Michael Klayman 2011, All Rights Reserved.
It's nice to ask for permission before downloading or linking to them.

The Long and Short of It, Archons, Get Your Death On, Firethorn @ Casbah 01/05/09

Oh man, what a night! After spending a week in SF for New Years, I was having SD withdrawals, seriously. When I saw the lineup for Anti-Monday League at the Casbah, I knew this was the shot of San Diego music my skull needed to revive my tired ass. I love Firethorn, for a lot of reasons, great live show, great guys, and great tunes. So I made sure to get there early. After catching up with Drew and Paz about New Years and the upstairs tenants’ lack of electricity, I wandering into the already thumping set of Firethorn. If you haven’t seen them, definitely check'em out, they have that gritty rock that is part punk, part grunge, and all awesome. They played a bunch of new songs. Usually, when bands play new songs I think, hmmm, maybe it’ll grow on me, but these new ones I really liked from the moment I heard them. Firethorn has a great sense of melody, and tonight they sounded better than ever. Looking forward to hearing the new songs on record. I really like when Mr. Chris, kicks it up a notch into his screamy vocals. At the end of the set, they set feedback gods ablaze as Chris crashed to the floor, then tackled Sean, and serenaded the audience with the noisiest cover of Blackstreet "I Like the Way You Work"

Get Your Death On followed, and kicked up the heavy riffing. With slamming drums, and riffs meant to make your head convulse forward as though dragged by a semi-truck, GYDO played what they deemed their “best show of 2009.” The very rhythmic intense instrumental sections took you through a portal to some other dimension where everything moves in slow motion. Then the drummer and guitar player would bring you back to reality with a haunting scream or melody. It was awesome when they got the audience to cheer in the “lowest” cheer ever, gggrrrroooowwwlllll!!!!

The last two bands I was most excited to see, since I love talking to Jeff when he’s working the door and had never seen his band before. Wow! When I heard him getting his amp setup, he was already tearing the guitar up! Then the band started and the sound was hitting so loud and hard, my stomach decided to curl up and die. Every hit almost knocked by breath out, and the riffing was fast and brutal. I was seriously impressed. Jeff tore into to some awesome squeeling solos on the guitar with his wah pedal, he brought it straight sinister. Between Jeff and Chad, growling intensely into the mic, my head was thrashing away. One guy decided to start thrash dancing at one point, clearing out the front row.

Closing out the night was The Long And Short of It. I had heard so many good things about this band, and about Ben’s energy on stage, and to say I had high hopes is an understatement... And They Killed It! Ben dominates that stage, and is so animate, that he brings you along with his every word and move. This was great hardcore, just coming straight at your face. The band had such an awesome groove that got people jumping all over the place and Ben’s screams cut you up. Seriously, he is like a sorcerer controlling the crowd with his hands, flailing around and a face that looks like it is singing with more conviction and intensity than one can believe.
Check out this small overloaded video clip of The Long and Short of It, it was sooo loud, but sooo awesome.

It was a late show for a Monday night, but people stayed to the end and were spent up in the energy. Totally a great night.
Check out more pics, by clicking on Keep on Reading
Get Your Death On merch-Bird Necklace (PETA endorsed)

Anti-Monday League Mr. Pyles (almost lost your DVD)

Rosey with her faves: cigs, wine, and comp

Archons has Large AMPS and Loud!


Firethorn getting crazy!

Recap: Nautical DIsaster, Hollywood Begs, Firethorn, etc

It's Friday and I'm barely getting around to writing about Monday. Guess I've been taking a bit of a blog vacation. I did still want to post the pics from Monday night, however, because the show was a whole lot of fun.

It had been a long time since I saw Nautical Disaster. The last time I saw them was at Scolari's, before the soundsystem upgrade there. With so much more time and shows under their belt and Jake on sound at the Casbah, they really impressed. I already mentioned how Beezeley dedicated a song to me and Tim Pyles, so it was that much cooler for me.





Hollywood Begs was up third (I missed the opening band, by the way). There was a really great turnout for the night which says a lot about the lineup. While they're not all regulars on the Casbah stage, these three bands do the legwork with self promotion and playing shows at a wider range of venues, so they each brought in their own following on top of the people who are there at almost every Anti-Monday League show. It was also Hollywood Begs' last show in San Diego as they're dissolving because of a move to Seattle. They were really great and will be missed locally.





It was an all around fun night and Firethorn closed out the show with their brand of rock n roll that is always fun to watch, especially with Sean's fro bopping along with the music. They've been playing shows relentlessly in town and in LA, as well, so they're really excited about the next year and getting more of their music to the masses. Plus, it's hard to find nicer guys. They really appreciate each and every person who comes out to their shows.









The rest of the week has been relatively calm for me. Tuesday I got to do my photo shoot for work which was fun as my coworker and I traversed the county taking pics and jumping out in random places to catch San Diego landmarks like the zoo, Belmont Park, Sea World, The Del, and various lookout points. We even cruised Windansea and the Bird Rock area which I hadn't really done since high school.

I also got some shopping in this week, hoping to beat the Black Friday chaos, had dinner with my family on both Wednesday and Thursday, and just hanging around the neighborhood, getting a couple good nights of drinking with my neighborhood friends at the Ken Club. Now it's Friday and I plan on shutting down this computer while I ready my Christmas decorations, then hitting up the Tower Bar tonight.

I do have a lot of work to do this weekend as well, so I need to fit that in along with writing my next column for CB, so if you've got band news, please send it my way. I hope everyone has had a great weekend so far and I hope to see a lot of you out tonight and again on Sunday at the Casbah for the free Local 94/9 show and to celebrate Andrea's birthday. Be there...

Thursday Recap: Firethorn, Electric Jellyfish, Mostly Bears

Thursday night I headed to Scolari's to catch a couple local bands and a couple out of towners. Unfortunately I got there at the tail end of Firethorn's set (where they played a cover of "Waiting Room"), so I wasn't quick enough on the draw to take any pics. Then I found out Hollywood Begs wasn't going to play...so I ended up watching some of the out of towners and playing some pool, something I've not done in quite some time.

The first out of town band was Electric Jellyfish who came from Australia. They were good though there songs were on the longer side and it was a little hatd for me to sit still while they played (and led me to the pool table).



There was a bit of a long changeover while there was a "are Hollywood Begs playing or not?" conversation but the drummer got bit by a dog? That was the story anyway, though nobody believed it.

Here's the guys of Firethorn hanging out.


Mostly Bears closed up the night. They're from Arizona, Tucson, I think, and they were good but I wasn't wowed by anything in particular, though maybe my head was elsewhere because I had planned on also heading to the Casbah but never quite made it.


Still, it was a good night, how could it not be when T-bone is behind the bar.



I headed out as Mostly Bears were finishing up and made my way to the Ken Club to say hi...I feel like I've been neglecting home base. Dev and I had a good chat that might result in a new direction for me, so stay tuned.

Wednesday Recap: Firethorn, Sickstring Outlaws @ O'Connell's, Morena Club

So I let all you scenesters not be bothered with me hogging the dancefloor while standing still at the Beauty Bar for Chromeo and Flosstradamus. Instead, I opted for a show at O'Connell's. It actually worked out perfect. I got a long nap (despite the ex-boyfriend dream), cleaned my house, and dallied around since Sean text messaged me that they wouldn't be on until 12.

I had only been to O'Connell's once before and I heard it expanded but unfortch, the "expansion" is really a remodel, which means that this is the bathroom situation:



So if you have to go, you have to use these:



Plainly, that sucks. First, the early drinkers aren't gonna stick around for all the bands, and second because those of us late drinkers there had to carefully weigh our consumption versus cleanliness factor.

I missed the first band entirely and didn't really hear any of the second band, mostly because Fran (Chris' girlfriend) and I were kicking Sean and Chris' asses in foosball. A clean sweep. Helps that I had a foosball table at my first "real" job and Fran just kicks ass on offense.

Anyway, Sicksting Outlaws were pretty much what the name describes...outlaw country, a little twangy, a little country-billy, but good. And the earlier bands and friends stuck around to watch them. Lynn gave Sean a quick lesson in swing and within a couple minutes, he was all over it.



And here's a smeared pic of the band. I'm a sucker for standup bass.



They're playing again this Saturday night at the Tiki House on Garnet. After the set I asked the singer who they are playing with and he said "Barefoot Roller Hockey" but I wondered if he meant "Barefoot Hockey Goalie", a band I knew very indirectly back in the day. Whatever.

Anyway, Firethorn played and as I said, they started at about 12:15 so it was more like band practice for them because everyone pretty much cleared outta the bar. I mean, it was a Wednesday, after all. Still , they sounded good and Sean's bass sounds so cool. They kinda remind me of Lies Lies Lies era GnR musically, and vocally like The Buck Pets, a band I loved back in the day.







While they played, I got a text message from a very old friend. He found me after seeing me in the Reader and we've been slightly in touch, but it just so happened that he was across the street at the Morena Club. When Firethorn finished, I made my way across the street into a full on Reggae dance party.

In the past, I've mentioned that I'm not a big fan of Reggae. I guess part of that is that I'm not a part of the culture associated with such music, i.e. I don't smoke pot, and I'm also not big on dancing in general, but seriously, there was no way to walk into Morena Club and not get caught up in the general good vibe of a full crowd of people dancing away. It was $2 Red Stripe night and I couldn't help but get nostalgic for some random bar I found myself in when I visited New York in 2000. My best friend Alex and I ended up in this basement bar that was playing reggae and dancehall and everyone in the bar was speaking Spanish because they were all mostly Puertoriquenos or Dominicanos. Seriously, people at the Morena Club were getting down and I might actually find myself going back on a wild hair.





Xavie and I caught up a bit and then the dreaded 2 o'clock hour came upon us and it was time to call it a night. While I'm sure everyone at Chromeo and Flosstradamus had a great time, I cannot for one second say that I didn't have a great time on my own exploring other pieces of San Diego's underground.

Recap...the rest of the weekend

Look, I'm only human. Cullen says I'm unguarded and it's true, but I can only be me. But sometimes that means being sensitive, grumpy, angry, and generally unbearable. It's these times you should hope I'm hiding at home under my covers with Ryan Adams' new CD on repeat (which for at least part of my weekend, I did). The Band of Horses show irked me big time. It's nice to hope being called out is something you can just brush off, but the truth is I probably slept about an hour last night because that and other weekend stuff was on my brain and I tossed and turned all night long. I appreciate all the people who messaged me about my rant and understood my need to vent about it. Fortunately I can predict that my funk was just a weekend thing and by the time I'm watching Jim James tonight at the Belly Up, everything will be all good again.

I did mention that the Band of Horses pre-show was a good time, so I want to still post a couple funny pictures we took out on the patio while the two opening bands did their thing.









Other than that video on the other post, BoH gets no pictures posted. Sorry. Once the incident occurred, we booked it outta there. We headed to the Ken Club and were able to catch most of Fifty on Their Heels and all of Vinyl Radio.







It was good to see friendly faces; for me that means friends and the bartenders, I'm sorry that other people continue to have issues there.



It's not that I measure the bar with a different stick, it's just I've never personally experienced any problems there. Yes, the sound could be better. The band room could use a couple good lights, some a/c, and better sound equipment. Don't even mention the constant suggestion that the bathroom needs more stalls. I know all this. But then it wouldn't exactly be a dive bar, would it? And vodka tonics would cease to be $3 bucks. And when all of you aren't there for a show, us locals are the ones in there essentially keeping the lights on. Just the way it goes. Also, the sound isn't nearly so terrible if you buy some good earplugs. Just a suggestion you might consider.

Saturday was Sophie's birthday at the Beauty Bar and I thought I was in a better mood butI guess I really wasn't, so I did my best to fake it. It was nice to get there early (thanks for the drinks, CatDirt) so one could actually have a conversation before the DJs raised the volume to 11 and all parts of a conversation are prefaced with "what? I can't hear you!"





When the bands started, I watched passively. During the Vultures I was tucked in the back where there was a gap in space and I could breathe. I did take a couple pictures of Fifty, but since I'd just seen them the night before, I was pretty passively watching them, too. I stuck around as long as I could, but while attempting to pass the dancefloor, I got popped in the face...a definite sign I was not supposed to be there one second longer. Learn from my lesson...do NOT attempt to pass by the dancefloor while sipping your drink. A flailing conversive arm came up under my drink and slammed my plastic cup into my bottom lip while drawing a tiny speck of blood from biting my lip. The boy whose enthusiactic gesture knocked my drink was very apologetic and he raced to get me napkins (in case there was more blood) and then promptly replaced my drink, so it definitely wasn't any bad on his part, just wrong place at the wrong time, but when the cosmos speak, I listen and I bid adieu to the birthday party.

When I got to the Ken Club (I didn't say I was totally done for the night), Roxy Jones was playing in the band room. "Don't you dare bring out that camera," Peter joked, but it wasn't coming out anyway. The BoH thing definitely knocked me down a few pegs and I'm gonna be a little shier with the camera, I suspect.

Anyway, nothing particularly exciting on Sunday, unless you wanna hear how easy it is to drop serious cash at Target on kitty litter and toiletries. I watched the very hilarious and ridiculous "Sweet 16: The Movie" after catching pieces of the "Blingest Sweet 16" countdown. The winner: the son of Pebbles whose dad is a record exec...they spent over a half million dollars on his party. It's really disgusting actually, and I hate myself for watching any of it. Feeling shame, I realized that I should make something of my night and finally saw Firethorn play at the Zombie Lounge.

I was happy that when I walked up, the guys were all outside and hadn't played. I missed the opener, but did get to catch the full set of Tigers of Wrath. The singer's voice was a little high on the register for me considering his speaking voice was deeper, and he would pull his head away from the mic as a sound effect, which didn't really work for me. When he did belt it out and directly into the mic, they sounded 10 times better. They're doing a west coast tour, so I hope the experience helps them and I can catch them





Firethorn played next and I liked that they were more melodic than 97% of the bands who play the Zombie. That doesn't make them soft, it just means they actually sing instead of just yell. There were as many girls there to see them as guys, which I think definitely says something positive about the band. Plus, they're three of the nicest guys and completely supportive of other local bands with a near perfect attendance record for Tim Pyle's events, supporting all genres of local music.







I didn't stay for Someday Assassin thinking I was completely tired and then as I mentioned, I slept maybe an hour total waking up at least 30 times. It was pretty awful. Maybe I should've stayed and done a shot to knock me out... next time...