Basements

The day after I submit this to the La Palabra editing staff I will be running sound at a New Brunswick basement that’s having their first show. It’s a magical thing. I’m ambivalent at best when it comes to children, but there are three things I get all warm and fuzzy and excited about the births of: 1. puppies, 2. new bands featuring either friends of mine and/or members who we’re previously in now defunct bands I was a fan of and 3. show venues especially house show venues. This new place will be called The Zoo. I’m hoping it will flourish. I hope that this will be the first of many great shows there and it will come be looked at with the same fond regard I have for all of my favorite basements that came before it. In hopes of putting out some positive vibes let’s think about and discuss some of our favorite previous ones. Granted this is a zine article, so it’s gonna be a pretty one sided conversation. But if you write something about your favorites and send it to me as a response, I totally promise to read it. Also please note there were many more than the five I list here, but there’s only so much space I can take up per issue and these were the first ones that came to mind while I pounded this out real fast at work. The Silo – This will always hold a special place for me as it was my first introduction to basement shows back in the summer of 2000. It was called the Silo because it’s where The Atomic Missiles lived, but I’m pretty sure, some, if not all of Mohawk Barbie lived there too. Got to see Worthless play there, and a select few got to see some of The Ergs earliest performances there. The walls were all white and covered in graffiti sort of similar to early Fresh Prince music videos. The Parlor – You can’t talk about New Brunswick basements and leave this place out. This was my, and I’m sure most of my peers’, favorite show basement ever. The Ergs, Hunchback and Screaming Females, the holy trinity of the 2000’s New Brunswick scene all played here regularly. Many times some combination of them or even all three played on the same bill. It was also the first place I ever saw Lemuria. I played there about a dozen times over the years, mostly with Kohuff, but occasionally solo or sitting in with other friends’ bands. It feels like it was around for a really long time, but actually only existed from 2005-2008. The Manor – This place had the highest ceilings of any basement I’ve ever played/attended shows in. Standing at about 6 foot even, that was always a giant plus for me. There was always an awesome party vibe about the place. When bands weren’t playing people were still down in the basement dancing to whatever was being played through the p.a. or occasionally just singing songs and jumping around together even though no band or house music was on. Also this was one of the only places I ever got to see some drunken bare lady parts at a basement show as opposed to the grossly disproportional amounts of dongs and dude ass one would usually be subjected to. Not that those weren’t also regularly present though. 97 Commercial – As far as I know this place never got a name and just went by its address. This was the smallest of all the basements I ever went to shows in. The p.a. speakers had to rest on top of the guitar and bass amps, and if you were to fall over while rocking out you were definitely more likely to hit the wall well before the floor. But, there were mattresses on all the walls which made for a fun asylum padded room type feel which both cut down on injuries and helped muffle sound. Prior to the advent of The Parlor this is where I would always see my Ohio pals Delay. Nick Nolte’s House Of Ribs – I’m pretty sure there were only ever two shows here. I was privileged enough to play at one of them. It’s a damn shame cuz this was an awesome space with a lot of potential. I figure it deserved some print space, as it’s for sure an unsung hero of house show history. I may decide to talk about more basements I’ve loved in the future if I can’t think of anything else to discuss. I also know all of these existed within the same decade and readers older than myself will probably argue there were places in the 80’s and 90’s that were better. Hell Bouncing Souls and Inspecter 7 used to live in New Brunswick and I’m sure they had to play somewhere, but I’m too young to have any recollection of it. Either way I had fun reminiscing about my heyday last decade, and hope there’s many more great house show memories for years to come. Best of luck to The Zoo. May it be a proud addition to the legacy of the many great basements before it and an inspiration for the ones to come. Scuff

In Loving Memory: Joey Kohut

It’s been a couple of weeks since Eddie “The Editor” Chops contacted me to let me know La Palabra was going back into print, and that I could write about anything I wanted to. I was psyched to hear it and excited at the prospect of another dozen or so people trying to decipher my ramblings. But here we are less than a week before the deadline, and I’ve got nothing. I’ve been having trouble getting ambitious about much of anything as of late. For those of you who don’t know my cousin, former band mate and longtime best friend Joey Kohut died in early June during the zine’s sabbatical. His years of alcohol abuse had caused him to have seizures on a pretty regular basis that were eventually fatal. Now I’m not here to demonize alcohol (it’d be career suicide in a zine whose board of directors is largely comprised of a group called The Somerville Town Drunks) I’m here to point out that there’s really something to the theory of drinking being a serious problem when you do it alone too often. Those who knew Joey prior to his reclusive last few years knew a fun loving, confident, dynamic little imp of a man who while very much an instigator would happily offer whatever assistance he could to friends and strangers alike. He threw all of himself into everything he did. Sadly that last part remained very true with his drinking. It began as with many of our peers in high school as a rebellious thing. In the beginning the goal is to get as drunk as possible as fast as possible preferably for as little money as possible. Eventually the connoisseurs learn what they like and what they don’t and only go with the former. As crazy as it sounds they might even moderate their intake and savor things. But Joey was always “all or nothing” and looked at such things as half-assing it. In many facets of his life this mindset was admirable, but when pertaining to his love of straight vodka it was not conducive to longevity. When he and I first became enthralled with punk rock and ska followed very shortly by learning about the existence of the local scene it provided us with all of the excitement and catharsis we needed. Our fascinations with the genre and the culture seemed to be focused on different features of it. While I was more into the camaraderie and the actual creative output Joey seemed much more interested in the chaos and the rebellion. Binge drinking was definitely idealized among the factions who focused more on that particular element of things. When the passions for the music and culture were combined with the drinking Joey’s outlook on attending shows gradually shifted. They started out being expressly about the music. Shortly after that it remained mostly about that with the added incentive of being able to get drunk before, during or after the show. Somewhere a little further in those last two parts were reversed and shows became a place to drink with the added incentive of seeing bands. Not much longer after that he decided he’d cut out the show part entirely and just focus on the drinking. The money spent on gas and the cover charge seemed better suited for purchasing alcohol and holing up in his room. Readers if you take anything from this please avoid that path. Everybody’s got their vices, and that’s fine, but don’t live solely to feed said addiction. I was told this was a double issue, and that I could contribute two articles if I saw fit. This more melancholy offering was to mourn the death of my cousin by circumstance and friend by choice while the second one is about celebrating his life.

Joseph Walter Kohut was born January 25, 1983 in Flagstaff, Arizona. I was born six months prior. My mother and I flew out to visit my newborn cousin and his parents, but for obvious reasons I don’t remember this trip. Somewhere shortly after this they all moved back to Jersey where both of their families lived. Many of my earliest memories of family outside of my parents are of bonding with the cousin of mine I was closest in age with at our grandfather’s house. However since we were both only children and not accustomed to having to share anything be it toys or attention we didn’t much care for each other in these earlier years and would often fight. I don’t remember when Joey’s parents divorced, but it was definitely sometime prior to his being old enough to attend school. After that my parents always tried to include him in things we did as a family and in time we grew closer. As my father would make me mixtapes of songs he thought I’d enjoy from his records I’d copy them for Joey, so we bonded predominantly over music since well before either of us took up an instrument, but once I got my first guitar and he quickly followed suit we became pretty much inseparable. We’d each boast at our respective middle schools to our classmates about the band we were in with our awesome cousin despite minor details like not even knowing basic chords yet or not having a drummer. In the years that followed we got better and had been in actual full bands together from 1996-2008. Somewhere closer to the beginning of that time we became aware of the local punk and ska scene and quickly switched over from ripping off Nirvana style riffs to trying our damndest to write punk rock. Shortly after the turn of the century he realized he was much better at drums than guitar. For as close as we were and for all the common interests we had we were also very different. Joey was fearless and indestructible when it came to anything on wheels. From what I’ve heard from mutual friends of ours that went to school with him he also didn’t seem to be messed with much as he seemed to know from much earlier on not to show any sort of reaction to douchebags trying to get a rise out of him. He also from his youngest days on through his last years never grew out of his love for any toy that transformed from one thing to another, anything pertaining to martial arts, horror movies or weapons. In 1998 he was the first of us to chop the long grunge hair we both had into a mohawk. He shaved my first one in for me the following year. He also lacked any sort of fear/level of caution for handling animals domestic or otherwise. Part of me always laughs thinking of how he should have parlayed that into a career as one of those animal experts you see on talk shows just without the knowledge they exhibit just him being like “umm yeah this is an alligator. They hate when you taunt them like this”. One of an infinite amount of fond memories I have of him involves a trip we took to Merrill Park nearby his house where we often grew up killing time looking at the various animals. One of the small turkeys got loose, and he just scooped it up without any hesitation and walked around carrying it for a while. The turkey seemed oddly at ease with this. Joey’s summation “yeah he’s chill. He’s just like “hey what’s up? I’m a turkey”. After he returned the bird to the proper side of its enclosure he wanted to playfight. He fancied himself a master of several forms of martial arts despite having only seen movies as opposed to taking any kind of formal lessons. His usual go-to style was drunken fist as he’d seen Jackie Chan’s “Legend Of Drunken Master” a few dozen times too many. I, who actually had taken karate for a few years from elementary school into my early teens, would humor him and impress people watching by being surprisingly nimble and flexible for a fat guy. This particular bout however ended with me splitting my pants when trying to perform some kind of head level kick. He was both a blood relative and my best friend, and the world will forever be a much lamer place without him. IN LOVING MEMORY OF JOSEPH KOHUT 1983-2011.

Issue #5 Albums I Love 2010

Unlike previous years when I’ve had top 10’s and even 20’s this year there’s only five. That’s not meant to imply that said five albums are just the best of a year that’s short on great music. They would all be on any top list I made regardless of when they were released. My top five albums of 2010 go as follows:

The Obvious – Bringing Wreck – This was without a doubt the most highly anticipated for me. I had first seen this band about a year prior and been entranced by the combination of their sound, energy, enthusiasm and talent ever since. Sadly I had nothing to own and listen to whenever I felt like it with the exception of having “K.O.? O.K.!” (which continues to be my favorite track) on the pop out player of my myspace profile. Take everything you love about 90’s grunge (especially the female fronted bands) and mix it with everything you love about whatever you’d classify a group like Yeah Yeah Yeahs as, and you have a pretty good idea where this band is coming from. It’s only a five song EP, so making it flawless is a little easier than it is with a full length. But considering I love everything else I’ve heard from this group’s live sets I don’t doubt that they’re capable of releasing just as perfect an entire album.

Black Wine – Black Wine – Continuing with the awesome resurgence of the 90’s alt/grunge sound most of us grew up on, but still making it their own and not coming off as some sort of retro gimmick is Black Wine with their self-titled release. Comprised of the former rhythm section of Hunchback and Jeff Schroeck formerly of The Ergs it’s no wonder this is incredible. While the members are all capable of all sorts of intricate musicianship their guitar/bass/drum acrobatics and feedback squeals never come at a cost of keeping the melody intact. My personal favorite track would have to be “Chateau Of Ghosts”.

Screaming Females – Castle Talk – Much like their previous release this album took longer to grow on me than their first two. The great songs are all there, but the downside of our fellow New Jerseyan’s meteoric rise to national prominence is that they’re always on the road and we’re not hearing the songs in the basements of New Brunswick or the local venues we love prior to their release. We had grown accustomed to seeing the songs played live for months before actually owning them to listen to at our convenience. Sadly now we have to wait for the album to drop like the rest of the country. And when the tour comes “home” it’s way the hell up in Hoboken. Songs like “I Don’t Mind It” and my personal favorite “Sheep” however make the wait feel worth it.

Gogol Bordello – Trans-Continental Hustle – Odds are you already know who this band is/what they’re about and already have your good, bad or indifferent feelings about them. Personally I love them. This was the most pleasant surprise of the year to me in that it was promoted very little prior to its release. I had literally gone to the store to purchase the next album on the list as part of my wife’s birthday present and right by it in the new releases section was this. Since becoming an ipod owner it’s rare that my car cd player sees much use anymore, but I had to open and put this in immediately on my drive home. This album is easily the equal if not the superior of their previous release. Also on the off chance you need to still be further sold on this it was produced by Rick Ruben.

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – I Learned The Hard Way – Whether it was released this past year or had it come from soul’s inception in the 60’s/70’s this would still be one of the finest offerings the genre had to offer. Musically this is one of the tightest and most impressive ensembles you could ask for. Combine that with the relatable lyrical content and urgency of delivery from the voice of Sharon Jones, and it is an unstoppable force.

Christmas Playlist Thoughts

So things have been hectic with the holiday season as is almost always the case. Gotta send cards to and buy gifts for relatives you see once a year or less regardless of whether or not you’re in a comfortable place financially to do so. It’s never much fun. That being said here’s the best thing I could come up with for this month’s issue. Think of this as my own spin on the 12 days of Christmas. Except instead of gifts it’s just observations I made throughout a slow Monday at my warehouse job. So in no particular order here are:

The Top 12 things the playlist I compiled to listen to at work on Monday December 13, 2010 have reminded me of:

1. Rainfall is The Apples In Stereo’s second greatest song right after Baroque.
2. I do not have a favorite Kinks song. Victoria and Well Respected Man will always be locked in a dual to the death.
3. The beginning of Mephiskapheles’ Bad Toupee is possibly one of the greatest moments in the history of percussion.
4. The snap at the end of the final chorus in The Zombies’ Tell Her No is the single most well placed snap ever recorded.
5. The Grains say “Punk rockers in the USA” as opposed to “UK” in their cover of White Man In Hammersmith Palais. I Hadn’t noticed this on any of my prior listens. It’s a neat little way of making it their own.
6. Time Out For Fun is both Devo’s greatest and most underrated song.
7. No matter what my wife or other people who get super into xmas tell me to the contrary, a song simply having “Christmas” or some variation thereof in the title such as Descendents’ Christmas Vacation or Tom Waits’ Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis counts as a holiday song.
8. While I don’t wish Rivers Cuomo any actual harm or misfortune I do wish something would put him back in a dark enough mindset to write another Pinkerton.
9. When The Ergs were recording their dub version of A Million Perfect Days there was talk of having the studio engineer record a “bong solo” over the instrumental break. The thought makes me chuckle every time I hear the song.
10. Bob Dylan’s holiday album from last year makes him sound a bit like Tom Waits on some tracks. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Waits takes a cue from this and releases one of his own.
11. Lemuria has gone through a few different bassists in recent history. What if they merged with Motorhead to form Lemmy-ria? Could the world handle something that badass?
12. Every second of Radiohead’s nearly six and a half minute Paranoid Android is totally necessary.

And a partridge in a pear tree. Or something to that effect. See you next year folks.

Issue #3 "Album I Love"

Mephiskapheles – “Maximum Perversion” – 1997 Moon Ska Records - There are albums that came out at pivotal times in your life that, on top of being great, hold such sentimental value that they always take you back to that time and mindset. I thought of that as I drove into work this morning and Less Than Jake’s “Automatic” came on my ipod. As you all know that’s on their album, “Losing Streak”, arguably their greatest. Listening to that album always takes me back to my teens in the mid to late 90’s when I first saw them headline Ska Against Racism at Montclair University and when I won my cassette copy of that album on one of the wheel games down at Seadside and then played it incessantly in whatever boom box, walkman or car stereo I had access to. But everybody already knows that album rules and doesn’t need me to tell them so. As luck would have it though my ipod seemed to sense I was wistful for the 3^rd wave ska explosion and the next track was “Introduction To The Yellow Passion” from Mephiskapheles’ underrated 2^nd album “Maximum Perversion”. Despite this album coming out at the same time as many of the other benchmarks of the genre it somehow seemed to slip through the cracks for most people, myself included. I actually purchased this album almost a decade after its release. I did however have several compilations (a lost concept- it seems nobody’s putting out good cheap comps like they used to) that had tracks from this album on it. All of those comps are also worth owning, but for now I’m gonna stick with talking about actual albums. Mephiskapheles for the most part were geniuses in the sense that they knew people would enjoy them most in smaller dosages, so they just gave submitted songs to comps like crazy which is how most of us learned about them. That and satanic imagery is always fun for teens trying to be rebellious. Their first album that more people are familiar with, “God Bless Satan” really milks the latter whereas “Maximum Perversion” is more about “okay you know what our gimmick is, and we’re happy you dig it, but check out our musicianship cuz we’re all really awesome at what we do”. Don’t worry they knew what their bread and butter was and still have a couple tracks on there that give props to the Prince Of Darkness. But my personal favorites “Attack Of The Geniuses”, “Bad Toupee” and “Break Your Ankle Punk” don’t seem to be about religion or really much of anything in particular other than showcasing incredible horn and rhythm sections. Seriously there’s a lot going on in ska and drummers typically fade into the woodwork, but this guy makes you take notice. Check this album out you’ll be glad you did. You can most likely find it on Half.com for less than $5 with shipping. What have you really got to lose? (with the possible exception of your soul)  SCRUFF

Issue #1 "Album I Love"

Tom Waits - "Rain Dogs" released 1985 on Island Records –

Today I was cruising around running various errands unemployed people run (getting cotton balls for my fiancé and a cheap vcr from Craig's List for myself if you're wondering) listening to my ipod when
" Union Square" by Tom Waits came on. As I often think whenever a song from Rain Dogs comes on, "holy crap this is a great album".  Tom Waits as you may or may not know is an acquired taste. He's got a gravely voice and loves macabre subject matter and often employs creepy circus/carnival instrumentation to recite said macabre gravelly tirades over. This is one of his more accessible albums which still aren’t to say that many will care for it. It was a favorite of mine to put on during my brief stint working at the Hot Topic in Woodbridge Center back at the turn of the century.  To watch the confusion and annoyance of the younger patrons wondering why we didn't just put on more nu-metal or emo teeny bopper pinup bubblegum what have you, which were sadly the two most prevalent genres at the time? This was the first album by Tom Waits I bought. Like most people of my generation my first introduction to him was seeing the video for "I Don't Want to grow Up" (famously covered by The Ramones) on Beavis and Butthead. Shortly after that I noticed an album by the same guy within my Dad's cd collection. It was 1973's live album "Nighthawks at The Diner" (also flawless and worth owning, but that's for another time). Upon one of the many visits I would make to the no longer existing CD World at Menlo Park Mall back during that time because of their expansive used section and seemingly random selection of non-used albums to put on sale for under $10 I found "Rain Dogs" for the too good to pass up price of $6.98 and it's one of the wisest purchases I've ever made. The opening track "Singapore" has been one of my favorite mixtape/playlist staples ever since.  Other favorites include the closer "Anywhere I Lay My Head" with it's New Orleans jazz funeral outro, the title track "Rain Dogs" featuring the unmistakable staccato guitaring of Mark Ribot, country song it's okay to admit liking "Blind Love" and the almost impossible to classify genre-wise trifecta of "Tango Til They're Sore", "Cemetery Polka" and "Jockey Full Of Bourbon". This album also contains "Downtown Train" which Waits is the original writer of. It's a far cry from the more polished but much less soulful version popularized by Rod Stewart. If you love things you get to describe using words like quirky, atmospheric and peculiar, then odds are you'll love this album. And if for some reason you don't, somebody that's fortunate enough to find it in the used bin after your giving up on it surely will.
Scruff Cardinale