Horriblefest is upon us once again, and as I pack the company car, empty the Termbo petty cash box and put the “Gone Fishin’” sign up in the office for the rest of the week, I’m reminded of all the past fun I’ve had down there in good ol’ Clev-O. Paul, Russ and the rest of the staff/help run as tight a ship as possible during a weekend-long bender and I’ve never been less than entertained by the entertainment, musical and otherwise. Eels, clowns, cars being dismantled by barbarians, nudity of all sorts, hot tubbin’, you name it. Yet every year my favorite part of the fest is having one more chance to see America’s Greatest Rock’n’Roll Band, HOMOSTUPIDS, play one of their always inspired sets. I originally wrote this up for inclusion in an issue on Negative Guest List and I’ll especially miss Brendon this weekend.

(RK)’s TOP HOMOSTUPIDS HORRIBLEFEST PERFORMANCES

#7) Horriblefest 2 – this one gets ranked last because I missed their set. I’m told they played up in the front corner of the bar where the video game console is now. One of my biggest regrets…

#6) Horriblefest 7 – this one ranks low on the list, but it’s my own fault. I was not on top of my game and forgot to get posted up in the basement early to get a good spot. I ended up heading downstairs right when they started and got stuck in the back of the room and couldn’t see shit. I suck.

#5)Horriblefest 6 – now this was a great Club Atlantis set, I got down there early and got a cozy spot right next to the band. They played the songs great and I think the lights were turned off part of the time. The crowd was really fun and no one was injured. Well done.

#4) Horriblefest 5 – this year they played the actual bar stage (which wasn’t a real stage yet), which is a setting that has produced some of the most visceral sets I’ve had the pleasure of seeing at Now That’s Class. It’s a real intimate setting, but also a real problem space-wise. Somehow I was fortunate and ended up getting pushed into sitting on the bar with a row of barstools protecting me, allowing me to watch kids destroy themselves in the “pit” without actually getting any drool on me. The fellas really hit a home run this year and the crowd was an entertaining mess.

#3) Horriblefest 4 – I think that the guys in Homostupids are truly humble fellows who are probably uncomfortable with some of the accolades people (like myself) lump on them. They usually try and play the tiniest spaces of the bar, but at HF4 they played the big stage (or at least the floor in front of it) and they were fucking spectacular. The crowd was totally into it and very responsive and I think the boys in the band seemed every bit as capable of filling that large room with their beautiful music as they are cramming it into the dampest corner of the bar. They owned it this year, perhaps the most triumphant Homostupids set I have ever seen.

#2) Horriblefest 1 – I will always remember this one fondly, as it was my first Homostupids experience. They played at the Blacklist Gallery (which was a great venue) and I knew nothing about them except that someone from 9 Shocks Terror was in the band. They played early if I remember right and they completely killed me. I thought they sounded like some kind of AmRep band at the time, but it might just have been the magic in the air that night. I think the power trio set up, Steven’s confident bass lines and Josh’s aggressive guitar assault had me thinking that. After the set I approached one of them and asked if they had any music available and was told to maybe check their Myspace page, they weren’t really sure about it though. A few weeks later ‘The Glow’ demo showed up in my mailbox.

#1) Horriblefest 3 – Living through this set was like coming back from WWII with all your limbs still intact. They played the bar area, but sort of where that big table is now, basically blocking the front door. I think this might be the angriest set I’ve ever seen the band play, and the crowd responded to it. Total brutality, people were getting destroyed left and right, it was like participating in a Battle Royal while trying to watch your favorite band play. The boys seemed pissed about something, they abused the crowd as much as I’ve ever seen them, and we were probably asking for it. I think Steven launched his bass into the audience at one point. It was total fucking destruction, but also immensely fun as I thankfully lived through it. I can’t say I wasn’t concerned for my well being at points, but sometimes that’s part of the thrill, right?

So that’s my rundown. Thanks to the ‘stupids for such great songs and sets and I look forward to seeing where they play this year. Outside? In the upstairs apartment? On the bar? In the ladies room? Wherever they decide, I’ll be there, and I’m positive it will be great.

Horriblefest starts this Thursday, if there’s any event in the world I could endorse, this would be it. Check out the full line-up here, buy advance tickets here , and check out Now That’s Class here . And be sure to visit My Mind’s Eye and Hausfrau Records while you have some downtime. I’ll see you guys there.

With the help of Mr. Fuji we finally waded through a half ton of tapes and even reviewed a bunch of them. Thanks to all who submitted, drop us a line if we forgot anything – there are few we kept aside for an upcoming blog update – and we’ll get it sorted out. Upcoming: long-promised interviews, record reviews, a Horriblefest preview and Issue #30.

Firstly, I’d like to sincerely thank everyone who was kind enough to donate to 2013′s Termbo Telethon, which was a great success and allowed us to pay the bills for yet another year. Your generosity is greatly appreciated and allows us to keep Termbo ad-free. Secondly, RK made a huge oversight when compiling his Best of 2012 list by forgetting the intrepid “fan club” president who released the Solid Space “Space Museum” cassette on vinyl early in the year, which was undoubtedly the best fan club release of the year. Sorry about that, whoever you are. Finally, we have the first installment of a great new column called INTERNATIONAL VOMIT by our pal Mattt, which will delve into the underbelly of cinema alongside Rob Vertigo’s TV AS EYES. Matt starts us off with The Recurring Dreams of Jean Rollin, which is just Part One of a series covering Rollin’s considerable body of work. Look for Part Two soon. We’re hoping to feature more film and book coverage this year alongside our usual music spiels, so if any of you out there have some ideas please contact the editor. On deck: reviews, FNU Ronnies, White Load and perhaps a “full issue” update if all goes well…

I’ll try and keep this brief. Here’s a new heap of reviews just under the 2012 wire. We have a LOT more ready to go as well, but I had to cut the cord on this installment, which I should have done a month ago. It’s just hard to let go when there’s so much you want to include…I listened to the Toy Love live 2XLP twice tonight while working on the site, then realized I forgot to put it in this update – repeat that frustration x20, and that’s pretty much why this shit takes so long… We’ll have more posted very soon, as well some Best of 2012 reporting as well. If your release did not appear in this update, firstly I apologize profusely, and secondly drop the editor a line and he’ll give an excuse/explanation. I assure you many more records were (and are currently being) reviewed but we just didn’t have any more time this go-round. As I always say, we’ll be more frequently updating the blog in coming weeks (our New Year’s resolution for five years running…) with some interviews and articles and hopefully cleaning off the desk of 2012′s stragglers quickly enough. Thanks for being patient, as always. We appreciate everyone who reads Termbo, sends materials in for review and the staff who put up with the editor’s general dumb-assery. A lack of enthusiam by anyone involved is certainly not what holds up our updates, it’s finding time, which will hopefully in more plentiful supply in 2013. Happy New Year.

Just when I think I’m starting to catch up on things I realize I haven’t actually updated the blog/site in nearly two months. Shit. Things are certainly busy around HQ, we have piles of reviews here ready to post, the first of which is a long overdue run at the TAPE DELAY/DEMO ZONE section. There’s still a few more in the can, but I had to cut the cord just to get something finished, so if you sent in some tapes recently, fret not, we have more coming soon. I also had to leave out the “Printed Matter” section this time, to be used as a solo update in the coming weeks as well. I had originally planned for Phase I of the End-of-Times update barrage (which begins now) to be the actual record review section, but we had a mishap here at the office which resulted in a rather large file full of reviews to be lost, which was completely morale-crushing, so we switched gears to the Demo Zone at the last minute just so the editor would stop sobbing every time he looked at the page-in-progress. We’re attempting to re-create those lost reviews as we speak, and hoping to have a full-on reviews section shortly. As always, thanks for your patience, if you have questions/comments please contact the editor. And it wouldn’t be a blog post without me promising that the updates will be more frequent from now on. A man’s gotta dream. We’ll talk again soon…

Summer is ending so that means it’s time for me to cut the cord on this reviews update, as painful as it is. Some of these reviews were written way back in January, some were written last week, with a whole lot in between. And it’s still incomplete. I’ve held some back for blogs posts coming ASAP, including but not limited to a Locals Only (WNY Edition) post, extended rambling about some of the best LPs of the year so far (Hank Wood & The Hammerheads “Go Home”, FNU Ronnies “Saddle Up”, White Load “Wayne’s World III b/w Godfather IV”, Timmy’s Organism, Bits of Shit, etc..) which may contain some interview segments as well, more Aussie reviews and tons of other shit. We also have a Demo Zone/Tape Delay almost ready. I apologize for the tardiness of a lot of these reviews, it just got out of control and then turned into me constantly pulling the old “Just one more review to write/edit and then I’ll post everything…” for a few months. Again, I’m sorry. Hopefully getting this reviews monkey off my back will finally allow me to get things moving more quickly and in a more current fashion via the blog. If we missed your record this time around, it’s most likely waiting in the wings, but please feel free to contact us if you’re wondering. Please know that I’m trying as hard as possible to keep things going, and I plan getting better/timelier (or at least attempting to) in the near future. Thanks again to all contributors, bands, labels and readers. Reviews are in two sections: A through M and N through Z . We’ll be back real soon, right now I need to go listen to the Satanic Rockers 7″ again….

While I finish up the editing on the new reviews section (any day now, I swear), here’s an interview with The Sleaze (that should have been published months ago as well) to enjoy for now. Thanks to the band, Andy, Steve and Eli for participating and being patient. The Sleaze put out not one but two of my favorite singles last year, and their entire catalog is gold. I hope you enjoy their stories of debauchery and young punk antics. Great kids, we need more like ‘em these days. Be back soon.

Dear Readers – as you know, Termbo has become…stagnant, let’s say, over the past year or so. No one is more painfully aware of that fact than myself. When TB began, I envisioned it a true online zine, with issue length updates and a decidely print-informed layout and aesthetic. As time has gone by, that idea has slowly faded and become harder and harder to pull off via time constraints, staff downsizing/disinterest and other mitigating factors. I never imagined TB as a blog, but it’s becoming ever more clear that in order to make this thing work at all anymore, and provide the readers/contributors/bands/labels with any sort of timely feedback, we’re going to have to start utilizing this thing more. Fear not, we’ll still have larger scale review updates, interviews and (hopefully) the return of some long-running colums, but in-between those features myself and the staff will be updating the blog with smaller-size reviews and posts, just to keep this ball rolling forward. It’s only fair and actually makes a lot of sense at this point. At least to me. I feel incredibly guilty about how shoddily the website side of Termbo has been run the past couple of years, so this will hopefully fulfill the need Termbo is here to serve and help me get out of a rut. We have a huge backlog of reviews we hope to get caught up with in short order and hopefully this blog can become a weekly habit. Enough whining, thanks everyone for their help and understanding, be sure to bookmark this page and on with the show…