Show Journal 2002-09-14
Long show tonight but the diverse lineup made it manageable. High points included pretty much all of the 18 Fatal Strikes set. I’m always a sucker for old school hardcore, especially if that old school hardcore is complete with “bitchin’ solos”. (Their words – not mine!) In addition to rocking they have to be some of the nicest guys in the world. Well, unless of course you are standing up front and they almost start a fight with you. Blue Sky Mile rocked. Nuff said. Ambitious Career Woman was damn impressive too. It’s sad to say but I actually recognized their “name this video game theme” within six notes. Sad. Very sad. Our set was cool. Definitely nice to play somewhere new and actually have people there. Everyone seemed a little worn out after watching 5 bands (including us) so we appreciate everyone who stuck around. Big thanks to Nate for setting up the show and of course even bigger thanks go to Dan for filling in for show #4!
Album Review
Return of the freaking dead! Here comes 800 Octane with their latest release “The Return”! And like the label clearly states, this is New School Punk www.newschoolpunk.com. Turn it up! Twist it hard and fast! And then Blur the mosh pit in a spin of phucked up faces. The Return: 13 tracks (if you can find them ALL) deliver fast-paced punk rock. 800 Octane calls themselves “Super Rock”, and I can buy into that with a smile. I can also buy into the idea that this may even be Ghoul Rock with a grin. I believe it’s half-serious, half-tongue-in-cheek FUN Rock. We are definitely agreed that this is ROCK! “Zombie makeup & photos by Lee Williamson”. This is the guy you want to do your make up for the Queen of Halloween Ball! The Return cd insert includes solo-photos of every ghoul who helped make and finance the music on this album. That’s right! This is 800 Octane on DIY! And, although the latest news from www.800octane.com reports that Jim (the drummer) is no longer with the band, he still helps a warmed-over-death-punk groove fast and hard where The Return is concerned. 800 Octane will keep your feet jumping, your hands moving, and all good things a groovin’! It carries enough of the “I wanna be a star” attitude to make it pop level punk. I can just hear “Day of the Dead” on KNRK (and other cheesy pop rawks radio stations) just as much as any of those other surf punk/gutter pop bands that make the airwaves. What’s great about 800 Octane is that for Portlanders, this band is local, and we can look in the Willy Week, or at www.800octane.com, for an upcoming neighborhood performance. And we can expect 800 Octane to share the billing with other freaks such as SK and the Punk Ass Bitches, Nekromantix, Groove Ghoulies, GWAR, Dead Stars on Hollywood, Antiworld, and so many other musical CREEPS out there! Skater punks will find The Return to be all-the-rage on the half-pipe, and into swimming pools everywhere. Skinheads poking along and driving down the boulevard will turn a few heads by simply turning up the volume. And all you wanna-be khaki-clad aggressive types just might get lucky one night by taking a date to a freak show with 800 Octane on the bill. Songs that particularly grab my attention include: “Ghosts of Monochrome”, “Hollywood”, “Day of the Dead”, “Holiday”, and “Feeding Time”. Oh, yeah, and that “hidden track” really creeps me out a bit, too. When you hear it, you’ll understand exactly what I mean. (Jett Black / In Music We Trust)
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There’s been a new addition to the Oct. 26th show
Show Journal 2002-09-06
Back up in that ass with the resurrection! Hands down the best show in Richland ever … possibly the best 800 Octane show ever! Everyone else in the world missed out. The following items rocked my world tonight … Midnight Thunder Express, Dan’s drumming, Dustin and crew, the loose shoe that Dave threw out the window, and most importantly the crowd who made this so much fun to play for us. Seriously, it was a perfect ending to what has been the best string of shows we’ve had in ages! Thanks to everyone in attendance!
Show Journal 2002-09-05
I was a little skeptical of playing a matinee show but I would dare say this was the most fun I’ve ever had playing at the Meow Meow. Lots of new faces, plus lots of old faces (i.e. – Rob The Stalker). We had a great time playing, Tsunami Bomb kicked ass and we want to thank King Banana. Word.
Show Journal 2002-09-04
Everything was a little crazy tonight but we’ve come to expect it from Longview. Highlights include the police barging in during CTL’s set and threatening to arrest everyone under 21. Long story but thankfully it didn’t happen. Also while the cops were there someone on a very big and very loud Harley drove it inside the club. Yes, inside. Very strange. CTL sounded great tonight. I missed Days Away because Dan and I went over to Jack In The Box. We got our food to go so we could eat it at the club but when we got back there it was already time for us to load in. That means I missed Days Away and my dinner. In fact I think my chicken pieces and fries are still out there on the street. Perhaps a homeless person will salvage a free meal from them? More realistically perhaps Dave happened upon it and threw it at someone smaller than him. Setting up took forever because we had to go straight from the van onto the stage. Thankfully the set went great. Fill in drummer #2 (you can call him ‘Dan’) played great. All in all it’s safe to say I had a lot of fun playing tonight. Up last was Tsunami Bomb and my god they sounded great. They were good before but they can totally work a crowd now. Very impressive. Looking forward to seeing them tomorrow night. Thanks to all who stayed late, all our guest vocalists, all our equipment loaders and of course TJ and Chris.
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CONTEST!!! We want you to come up with the best way to demolish 100 copies of our Swank CD! Send us an e-mail with how you want to destroy the CD’s and why you want to destroy them! Winners get the satisfaction of actually carrying out the task and we will document it for the web site! Rule #1 – You must be able to get to Portland to carry out the task. Rule #2 – Since it’s going to be filmed we can’t do anything too terribly illegal. To submit your entry send an e-mail to contest@800octane.com!!!
Album Review
This baby is a scorcher. Taking a cue from two of my favorite bands – The Misfits and Hagfish – 800 Octane don’t skimp on the rock or the whoa-whoas. Just by checking out the cover you know you’re in store for some gritty rock and roll. They look like an army of friggin’ Frankensteins! Don’t know if 800 Octane play in that garb but the music hits you like a mad scientist’s creation, that’s for sure. Lots of thrashing, pounding, and stomping, just how it should be, baby. And, it never gets cheesy. That’s key. Very impressive debut, well, at least I think it’s a debut. I could be wrong. Definitely worth your time and energy. (Mr. F. Alexander / Fat City Magazine)
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We got our “thanks but no thanks” letter from MusicFest NW today. That makes a total of 5 denials in a row for NXNW and/or MusicFest NW. Sadly we still aren’t considered worthy of representing the NW music scene.
Show Journal 2002-08-09
If a band plays a song at the Paris but no one is there to hear it did they really play a song? The attendance was pretty sparse but we did have a few people who road tripped from Eugene and Bend which kind of made up for it. If our calculations are correct the flyer to person ratio was about 180 to 1. Big thanks to The Civies for playing on 6 hours notice. I would comment on their set but I missed it because on the way to Burger King I drove through a yellow light and was given a $175 ticket. What a lousy way to start off the evening. I can’t think of any other moving violation that is less glamorous than driving through a yellow. I once got a ticket for doing 71 in a 30 with no proof of insurance. Now that’s the kind of ticket you can be proud of – a real man’s ticket. The kind you can carry with you and take pride in the fact that you gave modern traffic law the middle finger. On the other hand this driving through a yellow stuff is almost embarrassing. I’m whining aren’t I? Girls don’t like whiners. In fact nobody likes a whiner. I will stop now. Back to the show. The .44 Caliber Heroes sounded great … definitely worth checking out. Compact 56 was amazing. Seriously … best I’ve ever seen them play. They sounded tough as nails. The full speed rodeo flip by Chris onto Attom’s back was quite a sight to behold. Our set was fun, Justin got drilled in the head with a beach ball, I spit a mouthful of water on Rick, Dave broke a bass string and briefly sang without an instrument, Justin did the Mick Jagger dance for me, and most importantly David played great. Thanks to Larry and apologies to Mocephus.
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