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… Punk Rock live rule #6345: shitty sound is for the support stint not for the main act!
It wasn’t the best start into a Friday night show: I was sick most of the week, my team managed to loose despite scoring 3 goals, me mates who would accompany me to footie and to the show where off sick and i had plenty of time walking from the Millerntor down to the Hafenklang to replay the grotesque game i just had seen. Aaarrgghhhhhhhh….

At least the Hafenklang was warm, friendly (i had my ear protection forgotten at home but thanks to the lovely girl behind the bar got a replacement) and to-be full of fellow old punks. And actually it was to be sold out (no surprise, given The Generators street-credibility and musical capabilities) and one of me mates came late from the game and without a ticket and was … unlucky. Not very clever mate!

Toxic Vapors (Hafenklang, Hamburg 11.03.2016 (c) gehkacken.de)

First on Toxic Vapors from ~100km south of Hamburg, so they do not pass as locals. They kicked of with a tight and fast version of “Filler” (Minor Threat) followed by “Boredom” (Buzzcocks) before relating to own material. The unsatisfactory first slot, as ever, was paired with ignorance by the crowd. But they managed through that and at the end they got some smiles. The Toten Hosen cover though was something i would always let go.

The Lamplighters (Hafenklang, Hamburg 11.03.2016 (c) gehkacken.de)

Next The Lamplighters from Sachsen-Anhalt who impressed me on many fronts: High on the list for rather pointless band name, a guitar player with a huge effect board (almost like in a surf band) and a bass player who centers (but does not sing). Very unusual and surprisingly good! The only item that did put me down was the fact the songs where almost all one tempo – variation please!

Unfortunately i only captured a short snippet and that from the side of the stage, but listen for yerself…

They got quite some applause from the by now full house and they seems to have thoroughly enjoyed the set.

But the crowd was waiting for Doug, Mike and the rest of The Generators – and they got it in a “wham-bam-thank-you-mam” fashion:

Shitty sound, technical issues and a bass player AWOL. That’s punk rock and it does not stop The Generators. For my liking the drums where to loud, the guitars to silent and the stage light too dark. Never mind, some of it got corrected during the set but the sound never was quite right (maybe on stage, but that is not really helpful for the audience).

But on stage they seem not to care too much, handled technical issues like pros (more or less) though Doug sometimes asked probing questions to his fellow band members (“Are we ready…?“). Still, the fun prevailed and they took course through the rather large Œuvre of 10 long players and some more and were met by an enthusiastic crowd (with an eye for detail and typical Hamburg hospitality ie. serving them some Jägermeister on stage).
```
The Generators (Hafenklang, 11.03.2016) (c) gehkacken.de)
```
And what more? Endless encores, i lost count after like six or so. So here is some more mu-sick to make you jealous (if you stood outside without a ticket mate):

That should have been the theme for the sound actually, “There gotta be a better way …“.

And on the final return to the stage they finally had an ear for the endless requests from the audience for “… play some Schleprock” (somehow this must be a bit of an annoying legacy i guess) – they gave a no frills version of my loveliest Schleprock song:

I guess that one went out to all the cheerleaders who talk to much, eh?

Luv it, just luv it! And it makes me so jealous that some of me mates saw Schleprock at PRB15 last year, damn them forever!

They blasted for 1 1/2 hours, took no prisoners and boy Doug is the perfect front man no matter what (by the looks, by the smile, by the commandeering of the crowd and sure by the voice). If only, if only – the sound would have been perfect. Then it would have been a perfect set, from a perfect band and would have wiped away my footie tears with endless joy. But hey, i am complaining from a very comfortable point of view and for fucks sake this is punk fucking rock!

With a nice Generators shirt for me wife i headed home and felt all fine again: good show, saw a lot of faces and finished of a bad week (out of work being sick) in best possible way. Thanks Hafenklang, Toxic Vapors, The Lamplighers and The Generators!
2016/03/13
… welcome to the hell of St. Pauli, home of the grotesque goals!

Home, sweet home…

Déjà-vu? Die blaue Pille? Im Februar gab es die Doppel-Kombi “Heimspiel & Konzert” schonmal, diesmal standen der magische FC und danach die großartigen Generators im Hafenklang an. Die Heimniederlage gegen den FSV war mit einem Konzert im Monkeys verbunden, also war mein Fußballaberglaube besänftigt: Es war ja eine andere Location.

Es war trotzdem ein denkbar schlechter Start: Meine Bezugsgruppe war durch Arbeit (me love), Urlaub (me Doc and me Capitano) und Krankheit (me mate) arg geschrumpft, dazu war auch ich die ganze Woche krank – eine gute Vorbereitung sieht anders aus!

Wer allerdings da war waren jede Menge Schotten (von der Gegengerade mit schöner Blockfahne begrüßt), die meisten torkelten allerdings vor und nach dem Spiel besoffen durchs Viertel, in bester Insel-Tradition nur im Polohemd – dem Wetter trotzend. Und nervten im Suff: Dem Vereinsapotheker am Paulinenplatz wurden die Vereinsfahne von der Fassade geklaut (und von ihm Heldenhaft zurückgeholt) und in jede Grünfläche im Viertel wurde uriniert. Danke Jungs, das brauch ich nicht!

Millerntor (11.03.2016 18:28 (c) gehkacken.de)

Und auf dem Feld? Da war schnell das Gefühl das das Team, wie schon in den letzten Spielen, am Anfang einfach nicht wach ist. Dazu kam diesmal auch eine extreme Nachlässigkeit, Langsamkeit und Zuweitwegheit, so das der FCP einfaches Spiel hatte: Das Schülerabwehrverhalten des FCSP 2x genutzt, hinten gegen locker vergebene Chancen Glück gehabt. Und Chancen waren da, wenn es schnell ging hatte Paderborn Probleme.

Aus der Pause kam ein andere FCSP und der Druck wurde dank eines Foulelfmeters auch umgesetzt. Und mitten in diese Druckphase fingen wir einen Konter bei dem am Ende alle über den Sportkameraden Ziereis meckerten (oder lachten) – und dabei den eigentlich “Schuldigen” übersahen.

Sportkamerad Alushi wird seiner Absicherungsaufgabe nicht gerecht…

Wir haben einen Freistoss, unsere Innenverteidiger sind vorne und der Freistoß ist schlecht. Dieser wird lang geklärt und die Aufgabe des Sportkameraden Alushi ist Absicherung. Und diese nimmt er nicht energisch wahr sondern will einen billigen Freistoss – den er aber nicht bekommt. Und damit rollt der Konter.

Und am Ende ist der Sportkamerad Ziereis der Megadumme, weil er sich nach einem 90 Meter Sprint innerhalb einer Zehntelsekunde entscheiden muss – und sich falsch entscheidet.

Sportkamerad Ziereis … mit Rechts und Risiko zur Ecke, oder …

… mit links sicher rausspielen … ups ….

Und das war dann noch ein Grotesktor. Weiter sollten folgen, zwar nicht das 1:4 aber das 2:4 durch Waldemar (3 Versuche aus 5 Metern, der 3te war drin) und ein Kopfball durch den ehr kleinen Picault. Und auf einmal war der so sichere FCP fucking nervous, also nocheinmal den Ball vorne hoch rein … NEIN, der Sportkamerad Alushi spielt es wieder langsam, mit Dreher und noch einem Dreher und … Abpfiff.

Was nervte? Die Schlafmützigkeit. Die Chancenauswertung. Das wir keinen Stürmer haben. Und das der Sportkamerad Alushi das langsame hintenrum Aufbauspiel nicht ändert wenn der Gegner mit 3 Spielern laufstark und schnell bereits am Strafraum des FCSP angreift. Und überhaupt das Spiel langsam macht. Mit Abpfiff hörte ich rechts von mir “…was ein Glück das der das Vertragsangebot abgelehnt hat!“. Dem war nichts hinzuzufügen. Und damit ab ins Hafenklang, southern californian Punk Rock wird den Abend schon retten!

2016/03/12
my loveliest vinyl, part 47
V/A – Tooth and Nail (Upsetter Records UP WR 1&2, 1979)

And that is another cool compilation – as i said in a previous version of “my loveliest vinyl” there was little spare money back then and i went for a lot of compilations as they provided more bang for the buck and a chance to experience new and unknown stuff.

I think this was the first US compilation i got, must have been in 1980. A friend did tape me some stuff, included there i think it was U.X.A.’s signature song and that got me (as i do like women singing punk songs). And it is an absolute smasher my dear!

The verdict:
1977 – yes, but US Style (and you can smell a scent of H/C and things to come – do i have to say “The Middle Class”?)!
published by a cool label – Upsetter Records – a complete DIY effort by the Fleash Eaters frontman Chris D. (and named in fame of Lee “Scratch” Perry i’d recon)!
found in a cool shop – cheapo bin at local Membran (back then a local record store chain) outlet in my northern suburb in 1979!
catching sound – For fucks sake, this can be injected into my veins anytime – it is the perfect blend of punk and to-come hardcore!
the lyrics – Thanks to Chris D. for having a lyrics insert (he dodged that one on a later reissue) and thus allowing me to actually work it out (with a dictionary)!

Just that this one from said “U.X.A.” – you can wake me up anytime anywhere and i am able to sing this chorus:
```
How fast three minutes seem to pass these days
when all your sacrifices haven't changed a thing
how fast your life will seem to disappear away
when you finaly wake up from your sleep
```
No, honestly, this is most likely the greatest moment in US Punk glued to Vinyl. It has the DIY ethos, it has exclusive recordings never featured anywhere else and was driven by an enthusiastic individual – Chris Desjardins from the Flesh Eaters.

He was around in LA forever, starting as a writer for Slash and funding member of endless bands including said Flesh Eaters. He also branched into writing, acting and even directing: “I pass for human” is a 2004 horror movie that plays on the fact that heroin addicts escape death – heroin leaves its users never quite dead, yet never quite alive. And that is full circle back to Tooth and Nail, as Chris D. in 1989 whilst sporting a nice heroin (and alcohol) addiction was in need for money and did a repress of Tooth and Nail, the only re-release ever done.

You can read more on Chris D. here or here (beware, that one is in German).

He recalls Tooth and Nail in John Doe’s “Under the Big Black Sun” as follows:

Chris D. on Tooth and Nail ( (c) 2016 Da Capo Press)

For me this record was the door opener for The Middle Class (and soon after i did buy the “Out of Vogue” EP at Konneckschen, soon to be presented here) and specifically to the Germs. Little did i know about the band itself but their “What we do is secret” 12″ and the LP soon also found home in my collection and they became a mainstay!

So whats makes it stand out – listen up and for yerself! Here my 4 loveliest songs from that record, but just by inches!

The Controllers – Jezebel
```
Aaaahhhaaaahhhaaahhhhaaah

If ever the Devil was born without any horns
It was you, it was you
If ever a pair of eyes promised paradise
It was you

If ever the Devil's plan was made to torment me girl
Deceiving me, grieving me, leavin' me blue
Jezebel, it was you

If ever the Devil was born without any horns
It was you, it was you
If ever a pair of eyes promised paradise
It was you

If ever the Devil's plan was made to torment me girl
Deceiving me, grieving me, leavin' me blue
Jezebel, it was you

If ever the Devil's plan was made to torment me girl
Deceiving me, grieving me, leavin' me blue
Jezebel, it was you

Aaaahhhaaaahhhaaahhhhaaah

If ever the Devil was born without any horns
It was you
If ever a pair of eyes promised paradise
It was you, It was you

If ever the Devil's plan was made to torment me girl
Deceiving me, grieving me, leavin' me blue
Jezebel!

(Word & Music W. R. Shanklin)
```
Flesh Eaters – Pony Dress
```
Stick a mirror between the bars
see what'S happening to me
you in your pony dress looking up into my face
there's a nasty little tear befor the sheets hit the floor
there's a sticky gleam of sweat like the firemen get
I'm gonna trip my holster, draw the bell spur
blur with the ringing in your pony dress

She can't escape, she meaning I, from the private world
She can't escape, she meaning I, from the menstrual delusion
She can't escape, she meaning I, from the private world
She can't escape, she meaning I, from the constant derision

You're an axe cage screaming from justice
roaming in the alleys, crying in the dark
you're breaking up breakdown, my big day against the house
I'm stringing along the city to upset sex
expecting to end but marked to live
I'm gonna trip my holster, draw the bell spur
blur with the ringing in your pony dress


She can't escape, she meaning I, from the private world
She can't escape, she meaning I, from the menstrual delusion
She can't escape, she meaning I, from the private world
She can't escape, she meaning I, from the constant derision

You look so pretty in your pony dress
you're so pretty in your pony dress
You look so pretty in your pony dress
you're so pretty to me ...

(Words & Music Desjardins)
```
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48rSLbJyA-s

U.X.A. – U.X.A. (United Experiments of America)
```
Let's forget this and that again
and talk about the nightmares about the nightmares
the froozen city of Baltimore
those slippery terrors traditions affairs

What do you think you're dying for?
it's changed you name changed your name
youir friends will call you famous doctor or Jim Jimmy 
impossible crime

How fast three minutes seem to pass these days
when all your sacrifices haven't changed a thing
how fast your life will seem to disappear away
when you finaly wake up from your sleep

(Repeat verse and chrous)

Famous doctor
but you're blind
you can't see, you just can't see

Famous doctor
that's all you've got
that's all you've got to show, but anyway

In the U.X.A. why did you die today?
In the U.X.A. why did you die today?
In the U.X.A. why did you die today?
In the U.X.A. why did you die today?

(Words: DeTroit/Kowalski, Music: Piscioneri)
```
Germs (GI) – Strange Notes
```
Billy Druids face is marble
he keeps every thought in its place
he lets the days turn tomorrow
someone's always walking on his grave

He wears the lines just like Garbo
and talks at a saturnine pace
listening to the strange notes' marvel
only giving what it takes

It's a sad man's world
and for Billy, it's sure to crown
dragging beauty into darkness
inflicting a pale white frown

And the matter the runs
through Billy's head -
is too concerned to fall -

(Words: Darby Crash Music: The Germs)
```
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF0reqsjqyI

In a nutshell? This is for sure the best southern Californian punk compilation ever, if not for all of the US. It is the “link” between classic rock based punk and faster hardcore. And it is just a hell of a great effort, by one individual and with a load of friends. One of the best scene documents from out there. Lovely. One of my lovliest vinyl records in me collection!
2016/03/09