Yeah. It was. I wrote this way back then thinking that it would be on the site at some point but things changed and it didn’t. I figure since I spent so much time writing it it might as well get posted somewhere.  I don’t remember if I proof read it or not back then so I take no responsibilities for any potential grammar errors.

Riot Fest 2007: Diary of a Press Pass

Being considered a VIP is strange to me. The vast majority of the shows I go to have no such thing, and when I find myself at larger events where such things are available, I’m never one of them. Since we helped to sponsor Riot Fest this year, I was given a press pass, which gave me access to every part of the venue (or so I thought, but we’ll get to that later). I felt weird to be honest. “Why the hell am I in here?” kept running through my head all weekend. It took a few baby steps but I eventually got used to it and attempted to use my newfound “important” status to the best of my ability, both for Air Raid’s sake and for my own selfish reasons.

Day 1

The weekend began with a long shift on the radio on Friday afternoon. After going to my one class that afternoon and eating a quick lunch I made it into the office by 3 PM, just in time to begin a Riot Fest themed internet radio show (Shameless plug – listen to my radio show). The sailing was smooth and I’d consider the show a success; it featured lots of the bands playing this year as well as bands that played in years past mixed in with anecdotes and bad jokes. Around 6:30 Kevin and I packed up, locked the station, and went our respective ways before heading over to the Cobra Lounge. I managed to eat a quick can of generic Dominic’s brand potato soup before turning right around and hopping on the bus to the venue.

The Cobra Lounge pre-show had been advertised as being “Five Mystery Guests” but by the time the show date came up most people had figured them out. The lineup for the night was Shot Baker, Zero to Sixty, The Methadones, The Effigies, and The Queers. My first duty at this show was to hand out a pile of stickers with the Air Raid logo on the front, and a personalized message on the back, a long with our website address. My entire shift at work on Thursday involved doing this process approximately three hundred fifty times. It felt good to see the confused looks on people’s faces as they saw various Arrested Development or Army of Darkness quotes. Eventually all the stickers were passed out and I didn’t see too many on the floor so I’d consider that a victory.

The first band of the night was Shot Baker, who is well above average in the melodic punk rock realm. I watched and dutifully nodded my head a long to the tunes, recognizing quite a few from the other times I’d seen them. Next up was Zero To Sixty, which is the new band of Dan Precision and Dennis Buckley of 88 Fingers Louie. The first thing I noticed was that they had three guitar players and my mind immediately thought of Iron Maiden. Being that I was never really a fan of 88 Fingers I can’t really comment on Zero To Sixty too much; the people I know who were huge fans of the old band seemed to enjoy their set but it didn’t do too much for me.

The Methadones came up next and for the first portion of the set it was honestly pretty mediocre. This show was my 17^th time seeing them so I feel safe in saying it was in the bottom three; Schafer’s vocals were off and the band couldn’t seem to really get in line. However, the last two songs managed to redeem the set beyond any shadow of a doubt. Out of nowhere the new guitarist Ken played four chords. Slowly we all began to realize that these were the opening chords of Screeching Weasel’s “What We Hate.” There were six other guys around me who all had the same wild eyed look on their face which screamed “HOLY SHIT!?!” I will never forget the looks of pure, unbridled joy that were on everybody’s faces. Instantly every fist was in the air and every voice was straining to sing louder than was physically possible. After that, the twelve second blast of “Panic” ended the set. After it was over I was left completely speechless. I had to ask people if they had seen what I had seen. As a Weasel fanatic, it’s safe to say my mind was blown.

So The Effigies were up next. I really do like these guys but don’t really put in the effort to see them as often as when they first got back together. They’re usually pretty on spot with their playing but it gets a little boring seeing the exact same set list every time. Open with “Below The Drop,” move into “We’re Da Machine” and then yet “Baby Sleeps Alone.” Yup. Not to say I didn’t enjoy it but it was a bit of a let down after the mini-Weasel encore. The Queers closed the night with a typically frantic “30 songs in an hour” set. Despite the seeming inability to keep a lineup together for more than one tour, I’ve never seen a less than awesome Queers show. Highlights included the set opener “Fuck The World” and “I Didn’t Get Invited To The Prom.”

Day 2

Here’s where the big show begins. I walked into the Congress Theatre as The Magnafux were playing. I was able to listen to a few songs but don’t really remember too much about what they sounded like; I was trying to get situated with everything going on with the passes and my work responsibilities. However, I made time to watch The Methadones play by far to the biggest crowd I’ve seen them in front of. Dan’s voice still hadn’t fully recovered from the night before and once again it wasn’t that great of a set; still entertaining but nothing worth writing home about. I’m not worried though, soon enough they’ll be back headlining their own shows at the Beat Kitchen and everything will be right in the world again.

As the Lower Class Brats began to do set up I made my way into the dressing room areas. After getting lost initially I found the room that was being used by The Methadones, The Copyrights, and Shot Baker. My first, and only, interview of the weekend was with Tony Kovacs, the vocalist of Shot Baker. It went swimmingly and can be found in the “Interviews” section of the website. This took up most of the Lower Class Brats set time but I did manage to hear them cover “Fun Fun Fun” from the Big Boys, one of my favorite songs around.

The Queers were up so I had to move down to the main floor to fully appreciate it. They changed up about 30% of the songs from the night before and definitely delivered the goods in the huge setting. Some of the songs they played on Saturday that weren’t there Friday were my some of my personal favorites like “See You Later Fuckface” and “We’d Have a Riot Doing Heroin.” They closed their set with a cover song from the greatest punk rock band of all time, The Ramones, doing “Sheena is a Punk Rocker.” I’ll repeat once again that I’ve never seen a bad Queers show.

I retreated to the balcony as the Nekromantix played and sat in the nice cushioned seats as they tore through their forty minutes of psychobilly madness. I own one or two Nekromantix albums and they were entertaining enough but I had to pick and choose my battles over the long weekend. Their set didn’t seem to drag until the last song or two.

The next band would not allow sitting down; the next band was 7 Seconds, who I place in my top two favorite bands of all time. I used the ‘clout’ afforded to me by the fancy sticker on my sweatshirt to watch from the side of the stage. I was finger pointing and shouting a long like there was no tomorrow; several other hangers on gave me funny looks, but fuck them, it’s 7 Seconds and I was excited. They opened up with “Not Just Boys Fun” and stuck mostly to the pre-1985 material, with “Here We Go Again Kids,” “One Big Guessing Game,” and “Sooner or Later” being the exceptions. I was a bit bummed about them not playing “Still Believe” but many worse things have happened in the world. Kevin was apparently performing with a bum knee so the audience sing-a-longs weren’t present that afternoon but it ended up not taking away from the power of the performance. USE YOUR. HEAD. BE. AWARE. GIVE. A. FUCK! Awesome. Awesome awesome awesome.

Stiff Little Fingers began next and to my surprise did not play the entirety of the Inflammable Material album like they did on the rest of the tour. Jake Burns explained that they didn’t have a long enough time slot to accommodate the full album as well as the selections from other records. This turned out to be a blessing because it allowed the band, once again featuring founding bass player Ali McMordie, to play all the hits like “Nobody’s Hero” and “Fly the Flag” that aren’t on that classic debut, even if it would’ve been cool to hear “Here We Are Nowhere.” Inflammable Material was represented by “Alternative Ulster,” “Suspect Device,” “Johnny Was,” and my personal favorite SLF song “Wasted Life” among others that I can’t remember now. They also debuted a decent new track entitled “Liar’s Club” that should see release soon. Thirty years hasn’t dimmed the zeal of Jake Burn’s performance and the crowd went nuts the entire slot.

The last performer of the big show was Naked Raygun. I have to admit that by the time they came on I was pretty pooped so I watched the set from the balcony instead of being down in the crush of the crowd where I knew I belonged. Raygun delivered a much more energetic set than last year’s fest, playing songs from all of their albums. The “woahs” alone shook the foundation of the Congress Theatre. Jeff Pezzati’s voice was in top form and Bill Stephen’s guitar tone finally had all of the muscle that the songs deserve. By the time Raygun’s set ended at 11:30 a decent portion of the crowd had left for some reason. Their loss, because it was a pretty great set.

Even though the big show was over the night was nowhere near done, because there was another show at the Cobra Lounge featuring Four Star Alarm, Love & Squalor, and special mystery guest Youth Brigade. Thankfully the second show didn’t start until after the first one finished so I walked in right as Four Star Alarm were beginning their second song. I don’t remember too many specific details but I do know that they were about the same as the other times I’ve seen them play. I’m not all that familiar with their reference points but their melodic take on post hardcore is very entertaining in a live setting, but I can’t imagine myself listening to their records at home all the time.

The middle band of the post-show was Love & Squalor. Friendships aside, I like the music that these guys make. If you are big into the Epi-Fat skatepunk sound and like long (I’m talking over four minutes here people) songs then this is the absolutely perfect band for you. They’ve got it all: double time drums, gravely vocals, every member singing harmonies, beards.

Have I mentioned anywhere in this write up how much I love my job yet? Here, let me explain why. The special guest of the night was Youth Brigade, a band that I believe is criminally underrated in the annals of Southern California punk rock history. I didn’t even notice that they were playing because I was too busy having fun talking to all my co-workers in the other room of Cobra Lounge. The 16 year old version of myself would have kicked my ass for not paying attention to the Stern brothers, but I digress. At one point, an anonymous co-worker INSISTED that bartenders never check the signatures on receipts (strong emphasis placed on insisted). She asks “what should I sign my name?” Without any hint hesitation the next phrase out of my mouth is I. P. Freely. BAM! I. P. Freely gets signed on the receipt and handed to the barkeep. Everyone giggles like schoolgirls for a moment until he walks back over to us and says “I don’t think this is your real name, ma’am.” I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life at something so stupid. It was glorious.

Finally I notice the unmistakable drum intro to “Fight To Unite” coming from the other room. “Fuck, Youth Brigade is on!” rolls through my head and I run into the other room to watch the last five or six songs. My memory is a little clouded but I do recall seeing them play “I Hate My Life,” “Did You Want To Die?” and the closing “Sink with California.” Shawn Stern’s eyes still hold the same paranoid look that was there in 1982 and the portion of the performance I saw delivered the goods. After the show it was time to breakdown all of the branding pieces and bring them back to the office, meaning that I got back to my apartment some time around 4:45 AM.

Day 3

Thanks to the ungodly hours the construction crew that’s working on a condo down the street holds, I was awake by 10 AM on Sunday morning. Thanks for that, you evil bastards. Needless to say I was going to take it easy for the first portion of the day. I got to the Congress around 4 PM or so right before Youth Brigade started. This time I managed to see their complete, though shortened because of their early slot, set. By this point not too many kids were inside but the ones that made it that early all seemed to be having a good time, myself included. Youth Brigade definitely deserves more respect than they currently get.

The Bollweevils came on after Youth Brigade and I migrated back up the balcony to relax as they played. I own two of their records but never really listen to them all that often; after every time I see these guys I vow to change that but I doubt it’ll actually happen. It’s been over two weeks and have yet to dust off “Stick Your Neck Out.” As with Four Star Alarm, The Bollweevils are a great live band but on record don’t stick out too much for me.

The inimitable Dillinger Four took the stage after The Bollweevils. I actually, I should say that Patty took the stage to rattle off some trademark stage banter while the rest of the band set up their equipment. Sporting a brand new Mexican Squier bass guitar purchased in Arlington Heights that morning (with the $20 insurance), he asked, no, demanded more smoke from the machines on the side of the stage. Soon the smog was so thick you’d think you were in the Bad Brains’ dressing room. No new songs were debuted today and there was no talk of the new record, but who cares, Dillinger Four sets are always extremely entertaining. Most surprising of all was the lack of shit talking on the Bad Brains! Crazy! That was one of the things I was looking forward to the most to be honest.

The Casualties were up next. I don’t hate this band as much as most people seem too. They’re so over the top that I can’t help but laugh. In fact, I think they’re kind of entertaining for a little while specifically for this reason; they are a fairly pedestrian street punk band with a ridiculous image and fan base. However after more than ten minutes I lose all interest. Before they played I met up with my roommate and some friends who traveled from St. Louis for the show and moseyed up to the balcony. I think I fell asleep first for a few songs, then slowly but surely three of the four other people I sat with fell asleep at some point while the Casualties played. There’s not much more I can say other than that.

Finally the main reason I had been looking forward to the fest for weeks was coming up: Sludgeworth. I will follow Dan Schafer’s musical endeavors to the ends of the earth and I wasn’t aware of them during the last reunion show in 2001, so this helped to make my year. I planned on watching from the side of the stage again but was not sure how it would work on this day. Throughout the entire show the access to the backstage area had been restricted and perilous to navigate. It was so much more constrained that I ended up not getting any additional interviews done, which was my one assignment for the weekend and the reason why I had the press pass. But anyway, I figured out an alternate route and managed to watch the first four Sludgeworth songs from the side of the stage. I’d conservatively estimate there were twenty of us on the sides singing along and fist pumping until out of nowhere a member of the Bad Brains crew escorted all but a few of us off. I wasn’t one of the extra special people allowed to stay and I’m actually kind of grateful for it. I pushed my way through the crowd to be right up front and sang with a thousand other people crushing forward instead of merely twenty standing peacefully. I liked it better than way to say the least. They played the majority of the songs picked for the Losers of the Year compilation and one song from their more funk influenced period, “Plunger,” that didn’t make it. Schafer’s voice held out magnificently for the entire set and the band was tighter than hell. My personal favorite moments were “Someday,” “Two Feet On The Ground,” and “Waste It Away.”

I could have left completely satisfied at this point but my morbid curiosity (and the fact that if I stayed I would get a ride home instead of taking the bus) demanded I stay for the Bad Brains. Now, I want to know what type of person goes to see the Bad Brains in 2007 and honestly expects a transcendent performance. Who among the masses of Bad Brains fans doesn’t know about HR’s mental state? Is there really anyone out there? As a comedy act they were fucking amazing. As a legitimate musical force, not so much.

After waiting for what seemed like an obnoxiously long time, HR walked out on stage carrying his luggage and wearing two full winter jackets waving two peace signs and said “Would you like to hear some music?” The crowd roared back in approval, and HR responds with “Well we’ll be starting up momentarily so don’t go anywhere. Jah love.” A large portion of me was hoping that HR would then disappear into the shadows and never come back, leaving that to be the entire performance. It would have been absolutely perfect in my mind, but it wasn’t meant to be. Dr Know, Darryl Jennifer, and Earl Hudson were spot on through the whole show and I’m glad I was able to hear them play the old songs, but HR was completely off his rocker. He invented new vocal lines for every song and sang in a modified falsetto tone. His hands were one of two places, either in his pockets or pulling a Richard Nixon with the dual peace signs. He constantly reminded us that Jah loved us and that we should be very thankful. I nearly fell asleep standing up during the back to back “I and I Survive” and “I Luv I Jah” section. The Bad Brains set was a huge debacle and it was exactly what I expected, but after the amazing Sludgeworth performance nothing could bring me down.

To say I was exhausted at the end of the weekend would be an understatement. I got a ride back to my apartment and was asleep before midnight. The weekend was finally over, and I don’t mean that in a bad way, it’s just that I wanted nothing more than to drink a glass of free water and go to sleep. As a journalist my weekend was a bit of a bust considering I only got one interview done through the entire weekend, but as a music fan I had fun.