well, how was it rick??
They were completely great, as usual, and it was a rare treat to see them play in such a tiny little room. But overall, the show was kinda mixed between moments of awesome and not-so-great. Weird timelags and tension between bastions of Mick's friends that rarely intermingle.
The show started kinda late due to all the local bands being unaware of the band order....none of the local bands had all members present until about 8:30, and that was unkuT:Hunkz, which included the birthday boy himself. Mick is like the Davis captain of the Sacto chapter of the Pyrate Punx. That's a sorta fratlike body that is like a confederacy of bands and DIY show promoters. I give these guys a lotta credit for making things happen locally that otherwise wouldn't thrive. Pretty resourceful dudes...and they're all nice enough dudes, too. But a lot of them only seem to like canonized punx-with-an-x bands, with the only exceptions being their buddies' bands.
So, during unkuT:Hunkz, the place was totally packed to the gills and really wild and rowdy, but extremely fun. I saw Tony from Hank IV in the back of the room having a grand time of it. But none of the Pyrates came inside during Hank IV's set. Instead, it was pretty much just the KDVS record collection scrutiny team in there. That's probably just as well anyway.....if the Pyrates came a'moshin', most of those people would go totally vadge and split.
One quasi-problem with that little shack is that it is just a 9x14 room, so it is way too loud for a lotta people. So, for a lotta folks, the most enjoyable place is watching from just outside the window. The place is so poorly soundproofed....I suppose it actually does sound better outside the window than inside the room. So there were dozens of people crowded around the window.
The next band was Knifethruhead....a fairly whimsical gore-grind band that dress up ridiculously and have a sax player, too. They make frustrating records...like, they might just put a really straight soft-rock cover on the b-side of an otherwise ripping record. But everyone should try to see 'em live at least once because they are a spectacle for sure. All the Pyrates packed in for them, and things got outta hand. Some dude pounded on the window with his fist, and of course, it broke. The band kept ragin', it was way past 10:00 (the moment that Davis PD begins to enforce the noise ordinance very strictly), so the cops were pretty quick to come soon after that.
With the hostess already pretty drunk, I had to go in there to get 'em to stop. They ignored my throat-slashing motion for about three minutes during a free-spazz feedback squealfest, and when it finally subsided, I got clocked from behind and went flailing over the drumkit. I tried to twist my body away from landing on the drummer, but then I went down so that the small of my back landed on ride cymbal stand. I was walking around like an old man until today thanks to that.
Two bands didn't get to play. No biggie....we'll see 'em again someday.
The gal who hosted the party wasn't the least bit happy about the Pyrate Punx' presence there. She tried to get everyone to leave after the cops came, but because she is just a cute, small girl who looks all of maybe 16, she was not taken seriously, so everyone just stayed put. Then she tried to get mean with people, and because most of these Pyrate dudes are from Sacto, it turned into a "FUCK DAVIS" sorta thing, and the whole fun party vibe was completely lost. To add insult, someone fired off some fireworks from the car. The girl was so upset.
That little shack was a great place for shows a couple summers ago, and that was the number one reason that girl moved there last month. She was hoping that she could do something once a month there, but now...who knows???
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