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Category: Shows

… home alone: whilst everybody pilgrims to Blackpool Total Chaos bulldoze the Monkeys!
The Monkeys phrased it as “Killer rivets night” which was a wee bit off but it was a setting for some serious streetwise punk rock (and a resort for some who did not do the pilgrimage to Blackpool).

DMF, self proclaimed Hamburg Hate Punk, sneaked into the rooster and made the start into a rather long evening.
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Disillusioned Motherfuckers (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 05.08.2016) (c) gehkacken.de)
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As ever, they played to a rather small group in front of the stage and rarely some movement within the crowd. It wasn’t polished stuff for sure but it also did not strike any chord with me … go and check out for yerself. Appreciation from the audience was small, but i fear that is the hardship of supporting the support.

Next on Topnovil from far away down under and with a kick-start they had all the elements that DMF missed: Tunes, stage presence, showmanship (in a positive sense) and mu-sick-al abilities – this is how they took the stage:

The damn internet (the one that never forgets) had them down (in a local music website in Australia) as:
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Born in 1997 out of the Wollongong punk scene, Topnovil is an authentic fourth generation Aussie punk rock’n’roll band. Heavily influenced by “77” Punk and third generation punk rock bands, you can hear where the lads developed their distinctive Punk Rock sound.
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Frank – that reads like an insult to me!
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Topnovil (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 05.08.2016) (c) gehkacken.de)
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Topnovil got the crowd moving as in singing and dancing and should actually be on a bigger stage as they need room on stage to move around and do little funny stunts with their amplifier cases as platforms. Clever trick indeed!

A great and tight set and with loads off applause (though with some surprising technical issues of a non-working guitar). I guess they need to leave down under to really have success as touring that continent must be a struggle.

With some delay Total Chaos where ready to take the stage next and boy did they surprise me:

From the first chords and into the first song it was like a bulldozer coming upon The Monkeys and pushing the audience forward, forward and then some more. Fun fact: The bass player borrowed the “amplifier case platform” trick from Topnovil and got himself a prime spot thus (against the rest of the band he needed an uplift as they all towered him).
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Total Chaos (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 05.08.2016) (c) gehkacken.de)
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I have seen Total Chaos before and did not particular dig them and thus have to admit that i was more then surprised to be engulfed by that wall of sound they delivered from the stage. Tight, fast paced and with a load of energy and commitment.

I think i need to put their early Epitaph records back on the player and re-accustom myself with their newer stuff. And a stark reminder to judge bands by the live performance and not too much by their recorded and released output. On this tour they seem to be just perfect, so go and make sure you get to see them!

And that gave way for the “headliner” of the night, a quarter past midnight The Casualties took the stage and speeded things up further:

And indeed the crowd took things a bit further too and quite a large dancing pit evolved. The Casualties took no hostages and killed song after songs with high speed street punk. Some even tried to stage dive from the tiny elevation of the stage and should have known better but it was at least a try.
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The Casualties (Monkeys Music Club, Hamburg, 05.08.2016) (c) gehkacken.de)
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Way after 1:00 The Casualties left the stage and invited the audience over to the bar – both the band and the audience soaking in sweat and thirsty for beer.

A stunning show with a surprise winner in Total Chaos. And the Killer Rivets? Little where seen and nobody got hurt.

But still there was a negative déjà-vu: There seems to be a new and annoying dancing style that involves a giant mutant baby punk to ignore the music and just have his eye on pushing people around and slamming his shoulder into those who actually want to dance.

At the Dickies show this resulted in justified pit violence, at the Monkeys i could hear people after the show whispering “… i should have given that bloke a beating, he was just annoying”. If you ask me i will reply “and so shall it happen!”. Same for those who come in the pit with their backpack – don’t you wonder that you are being kicked around! There is fucking wardrobe to place it you cunt!
2016/08/06
… giant mutant babies and an almost perfect sing-a-long show: The Dickies, yet again!
It is August and thus the Rebellion-itch is with many people – those who do the pilgrimage and those in Hamburg who need to decide what shows to see, as many bands use the short hop to Hamburg to add a couple of shows. It is oversupply times dear Bookers!

The Knust spared no expenses and rented a ritual dancing secret society to perform a ritual dance in front of the venue in order to lure people into the club. About 180 followed, which created some open space in the club that easily hold double the capacity. I’ll take it is down to another odd 100 folks from Hamburg ditching this show as they will see them next weekend in Blackpool.

Shirley D. Pressed (Knust Hamburg, 01.08.2016 (c) gehkacken.de)

Kick off was for Shirley D. Pressed who claim their mu-sick as “Poorly played Skatepunk since 2007” and who made no impression on the audience as far as i can make out. They sounded too much No FX, too much Epitaph or Fat Wreck for my liking and lacked the genuine “this is us” moment. But judge yerself:

Demo EP by Shirley D. PressedI only watched a couple of songs and resorted back outside to engage with friends and listen to their Rebellion plans.

After some re-arrangements on stage The Dickies greeted the audience with their ode to Rosemary (and a little hick-up on the stage entry backdrop music):

It ain’t only the band – there is a new PA in the Knust and the sound is stunningly clear. And from there The Dickies took us through their catchy tunes and covers, all with a shitload of humour and comic style.

The Dickies (Knust Hamburg, 01.08.2016 (c) gehkacken.de)

Stan Lee the ever smiling hat wearing guitar hero, Leonard the quirky singer plus their younger backdrop: Adam the well dressed drummer, Ed Tater the sturdy bass player and a new guy on guitar (as far as i could make out).
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The Dickies (Knust Hamburg, 01.08.2016) (c) gehkacken.de)
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It was hit-on-hit but it was also a wee bit short (and lacking some songs i would have selected). When querying Stan Lee after the show why they did not play their cover extraordinäre “See my way” he agreed that it a class item but adding songs to the setlist with Leonard “… is like pulling teeth“. So after 40 minutes they called it a day.

The Dickies – Set List (Knust Hamburg, 01.08.2016 (c) gehkacken.de)

Warning! They dropped “Killer Klowns” and pulled “Rosemary” to the start of the set – so do not just copy this into setlist.fm you donkey who has not been there!

And that giant mutant baby? He and his friend annoyed the majority of the audience, got two times what he deserved and he and his family generally made a laugh out of themselves. Pointless but well justified pit violence: Hey, THAT is punk rock you dickhead. Keep telling us you invented punk rock and that your behaviours are the only correct ones … makes our day.

This song thus is for you:
2016/08/02
… THEY LOVE US, WE LOVE THEM, WE CAN WIN – NO WAY FLAG IIII WAS NOT A KILLER!
The tale of the two Black Flag incarnations has been an ugly one, with law suits and what have you but in the end of the day it boils down to mu-sick for me. And there it is a rather clear cut:

Greg Ginn’s outfit called Black Flag continued down the path of the late Black Flag and their – at least to my ears – slow and complicated metal style and seems to be on hiatus since their ill fated “What The …” 2013 LP (with a non-Pettibon cover that just illustrates how off Ginn seems to be).

On the other side founding members Keith Morris (vocals) and Chuck Dukowski (bass) play with former members Dez Cadena (rhythm and vocals) and Bill Stevenson (drums) plus the addition of Stephen Egerton (Descendents/ALL guitar hero) and keep their stuff clearly on the early Black Flag output (with some small excursions into heavier stuff, then sung by Dez).

And they name themselves Flag IIII and they are the clear winner on all counts. If you ask me. Curiosity test: For those who dare mix old Black Flag stuff with Keith singing with the first Off! EPs – and then guess what is Black Flag and what is Off!

Proceedings where kicked off with Teenage Hate from Hamburg and it was their last stand.

Teenage Hate (Knust Hamburg, 29.07.2016 (c) gehkacken.de)

They were hampered with line up issues but provided a hard and to-the-point set nevertheless. Unfortunately, as ever, to a rather empty space in front of the stage and many folks rather having a chat and a beer at the bar. The missed songs like this one though:

Next on Krank from Hamburg (not the band with the same name and the allmost same genre from Zürich) and their “krankpunk“. They are in mind much more gifted than Teenage Hate but they did not get their recorded sound onto the stage that night if you ask me.
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Krank (Knust Hamburg, 29.07.2016) (c) gehkacken.de)
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Strange one, normally it works out the other way round for – Bands prove on stage their worthiness. It might have been me that evening, it might have been the band or the soundman (though those working the Knust are trusted members of the circut) … never mind, make it up for yerself:

<a href="http://krankpunk.bandcamp.com/album/ns-verderben">†ns Verderben by KRANK</a>

And that paved way for Flag IIII, who where quick and professional to set up their stage and then taking the same (and the audience in one go) with some simple tunes and yelling for “Revenge“.

Yep, that’s it. That is the sound of Black Flag. Delivered today. You can moan and bitch that Stephen Egerton “stole” Greg Ginn’s guitar sound – i’d rather say he adapted to it. And without a stop they kicked into “Fix Me“.

No doubt, that is how i expect that part of the Black Flag history (or legacy?) to be delivered. To the point, perfect sound, stage presence and also visual (Chuck and Stephen storming forward).
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Flag IIII with Keith singing (Knust Hamburg, 29.07.2016) (c) gehkacken.de)
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And it also had wit and humour as you can see from the intro to “No More“.

That Chuck is bad-ass sure thing but that Bill now sports a massive chest and likes his nipples? Ok, that was too much! And as it was too much they changed over and Dez took the mike.

“American Waste“, an often overlooked B-Side of the Six Pack EP. Me mate Frosch actually made a nice tip-off to said EP by greeting my prior to the show with a six pack (of warm beer to much disappointment). “Spray Paint” from Damaged was next and Dez slightly rusty voice fitted the bill to the max.

By now the audience was more than thrilled and singing, dancing and enjoying it like hell.
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Flag IIII with Dez singing (Knust Hamburg, 29.07.2016) (c) gehkacken.de)
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The only shortcoming for me was the massive amount of Turbojugend geezers that went to the Knust as all other Turbojugend-Days shows that night where sold out. In fact they got the real thing, for once.

If only some of the other lackluster re-unions had that power, energy and street credibility – the mu-sickal world would be so much better! But these two subsets did draw on the old folks so they needed a break.

Coming back for the encore Bill, in all his simple truth and with all his honesty, gave a short, simple and oh so true statement.

Indeed we have all been eager to get our hands onto that new Descendents album. Some in the US where lucky where it was shipped a week early, some in Hamburg where lucky as the postman delivered it at 10:00 in the morning and me pitiful me waited all day long for the postman … he never came (but dropped it on Saturday instead): I literally had a “Nervous Breakdown“!

That and a couple of more encores left a sweaty and soaked audience in the not fully packed Knust (and real disappointment if you ask me) and no way that this was not a killer show. It’ll be in my Top 10 for 2016 and it is a clear contestant for the crown so far.

Was that all that was delivered? No, they almost branched into spoken words, not sure if all got the jokes within it…

Yep, like all old fellas they talk about health and compare medical resumes. Just like me and me over 50 mates start to do. But where else do you get the old to chat about their medical up’s and down’s and praising the young for their recordings? Never ever out in your home town, i bet ya!

And that’s all? Nope, there is one more down in hi-story:

(c) Oldpunks.de / Holy War Archive

Next to the Dead Kennedys 1980 and 1982 Black Flag where one of the first CA H/C Bands to play Hamburg. Henry Rollins remembers this in his Black Flag Tour Memories (“Get in the van”) as follows:

Henry Rollins – Get in the van ( (c) 2.3.61 Publications Inc. 1994)

And we old folks remember it because Stickel (of Channel Rats fame) untied the show laces of the singer of the support band (Nig Heist if i recall correct) whilst standing directly in front of the stage. To much embarrassment for him and laughter for us he was ordered to re-tie them and did so.

I do not recall it to be that nasty with Skinhead violence but maybe as a local i was too much accustomed to it. I do recall though that me and me mates stood right there in front of the stage and loved it to the max – as much as me and me mates (and a couple of more in the audience) loved Flag IIII.

We love you – so thank you Flag IIII!
2016/07/31