Sometimes autumn does help – this time around a quick week off to our favorite fjord view in Thy did turn into 6 days of gray, rain and low hanging mist – so less beach walks and more time for reading! The only moment of some late afternoon sun was captured above…
Halloween can normally kiss my ass. A couple of real young kids on my doorsteps trying to scare me is ok and they’ll get some sweets thanks to my big love but a Halloween Party themed show? Do i really want to go? I struggled long but in the end the Blackpool Pilgrims persuaded me: Dirt Box Disco is hot fun shit, with a notch-notch and a sing-a-long. And there was something else, it was the 20th anniversary of Charly Jungbluth’s Tattoo Parlor and the money from the evening would go to Sea Shepherd (rebels with a cause). And, on top, the party was assured by Hamburgs own GERD – always a sing-a-long guarantee!
The party was opened by Charly Jungbluth, who was the host you could whish for: Dead but his pockets full of beer vouchers he was handing to the audience – a flying start whilst searching for Gerd, who seem to have to gotten astray getting their Halloween make-up fixed.
If you have not seen Gerd (and if you do not know who Gerd was – see ROCKER – DER FILM) then you most likely do not get the fun – a bunch of old punks play early 70s rock (and some early punk, and then some glam and and and) for the fun of it. And they do it quite well and it is just this neat feeling of sing-a-long that makes it worthwhile. They kicked off with the well themed “Kick Out the Jams” and took it from there:
Next on Dirt Box Disco. I guess there have been 30 odd old punks in the audience who savored them in Blackpool earlier this year – hence they where greeted with a strong “Hooray! Hooray! It’s Dirt Box Day!” from the dance floor.
And the show went on it’s way – high speed punk rock with tongue-in-check lyrics and great sing-a-long choruses. On top of that a 4-piece where all had some sort of stage-persona-via-dress and just made a great show. So listen up and next time round i want to see so many more people rocking the house when the call for arms is sung!
Here they take the stage – Hooray, Hooray – it’s Dirt Box Day:
… and stormed into Burning (as we are all going straight to hell):
And his lowness the fucking Pope himself graced the stage to bless Dirt Box Disco so that they do change the world:
Dirt Box Disco not only are King of the Castle…they where Kings of the Knust for sure:
Hamburg is Rock’n’Roll – there ain’t no fucking question:
Sure the next one was open invite – gettin’ fuckin’ wasted was always on the map for this niight:
And sure the encore that the crowd did ask for all night long:
Do you want more? Go and buy their records, download them or just make sure you get to see them if they are near you. And trust me, they are worth a long ride so make the radius that defines “near” quite large!
And if you enjoy this page and the videos then consider it free (as i waste my time and efforts) and consider dumping some funds to Sea Shepherd too – do it right now and here! Thanks you!
Lifelong companions i’d say! From the early stuff of “Hardcore ’81” (1981), “War on 45” (1982) and the John Peel Sessions “Don’t turn yer back (on desperate times)” (1984) D.O.A. have been in the picture, only to move into some sort of hard rock sound in the late 80s and finally odd trash with “Murder” in 1990. And then correctly calling it a day, from where i sit for good musickal reasons. Now looking at all their massive output over the years their 1992 “comeback” on Alternative Tentacles put them back on the map big time: Great lineup as a trio with Wimpy Roy (of Subhumans fame) and excellent production by John Wright of NoMeansNo fame. And that makes it stand out from all the stuff they did – good songs are matched here with perfect production and excellent recording.
The verdict:
1977 – yes, but with a scent of hardcore
published by a cool label – Alternative Tentacles – any Q?
found in a cool shop – Michelle Records, back then a great place for vinyl!
catching sound – perfect mix of punk, hardcore and most likely the best produced and recorded D.O.A. album…
the lyrics – surprisingly sharp, to the point and up to date still today with the climate issue.
I have seen them so many times over the years that i have lost count but i still a wee bit frustrated that i missed their acoustic tour in August 14 in Hamburg. Nevermind – i am sure they will be back!
The sticking song of that record is “Hole in the Sky,” a song people have dubbed as a song “Al Gore would like if his wife had better taste“:
now you're gonna burn! there's a hole in the sky the ozone's ripped and you can't hide burning death and corporate greed cause there's a hole in the sky you can't see but it's a mess killing the ozone put our planet to death making profits out of thin air the sky's opened up you can't hide anywhere now you gonna burn! there's a hole in the sky the ozone's ripped and you can't hide burning death and corporate greed cause there's a hole in the sky take a walk outside see the blue sky watch your step might be suicide well it's pretty obvious you think they'd learn but when money comes first we're all gonna fry yeah you're gonna burn! there's a hole in the sky the ozone's ripped and you can't hide burning death and corporate greed cause there's a hole in the sky burn, yeah you're gonna burn yeah you're gonna burn (c) Sudden Death Records / Alternative Tentacles 1992
Now listen up:
Let’s be frank: D.O.A. are key to punk in Canada. Just take the number of cool folks who went to join Joey “Shithead” Keithley – be it Chuck Biscuits, Randy Rampage, Wimpy Roy, Dimwit and Ken Jensen (RIP). Whilst this one is in my list of loveliest vinyl it is way to “small” to represent the 30+ years of joy D.O.A. have been bringing and making PUNK and CANADA one item in my mental map! And sure they also had their hands in some cool Hockey-themed (like in Icehockey!) punk songs – love them for that too!
What else? Make sure you read “I, Shithead” from Joey, a cool biography written with a lot of wisdom. It’s even in it’s third print run since being published in 2004!
And whilst you are at it, seek more via these great flicks: