Last spring when I was not digging living in New Hampshire and Boston I got a phone call from an old friend of mine that some know as MC Trachiotomy. He told me New Orleans needs me. I felt the call pulling me south and began planning my exodus. It took a few months of work and travel back and forth between New England and San Diego, but I made it happen. A few days before Halloween I packed everything I had in my Chevy Corsica and left Boston on a mission to find my new home. I ended up in New Orleans, the Magic City, the Big Easy, Chocolate City, the only place that makes sense.
The talent pool in New Orleans is very impressive. The sense of community and comraderie here amongst the musicians in the 9th Ward is tight and refreshing, From The Spellcaster Lodge on St Claude, Mr. Quintron makes some swampy, groovy noise with his organs and his drum buddies and his puppeteer gal, Miss Pussycat, is leading the pack of cutting edge puppeteers with her latest endevour, Trixie & The Tree Trunks. Ratty Scurvics is a genius and plays more instruments than most people and plays them very well. Scurvics collaberates with Jeff Mattson (Crash Worship) and J? (Sex Hunter, Blort) in The Microshards. EYEHATEGOD has been inactive as of late with various members busy touring with Down and Corrosion Of Conformity but I don't think they've called it a day yet. To keep busy during EYEHATEGOD's downtime, when he's not doing time, EHG frontman Michael IX Williams has been busting out some chunky hardcore with Hank Willaims III and Phil Anselmo (Pantera, Superjoint Ritual, Down) in Arson Anthem, and Outlaw Order. Flesh Parade are the local heroes of grindcore. They've been around forever but rarely play live. King Louie and His Rock and Roll (ex- Persuaders, Exploding Hearts, Cajun SS, and a shitload of other bands) is a one man band who has a song about how much he hates chinese crawfish. Check out his 4-man homage to Thin Lizzy, The Black Rose Band (with Julian from Sex Hunter, Detonations, Flesh Parade) if you like guitar solos. Bipolaroid plays some real sweet Syd Barrett influenced psychedelic guitar-pop. Guitar Lightnin' Lee plays some down and dirty delta blues. Riff For The Riff Raff play a wonderful blend of folk, dixie, and country. Die Rotzz are fucking lunatics, The Buoyant Sea is one man with an electric mandolin and a shitload of pedals. Loose Marbles is pure dixie and have a beautiful singer. Ratzinger are pretty ridiculous and kinda rad. Julian gave me his old band's cd and I really wish The Detonations were still around.
After 4 years of roaming the country looking for a true connection with a music scene I have finally have a sense of belonging, and I couldn't be happier any other place but here.
I've seen alot of great shows since my move. King Khan & BBQ Show at One-Eyed Jack's. Andre Williams at Voodoo Fest on his 70th birthday. Miss Kitty Lynn and Guitar Lightnin' Lee at the Pearl. Static Static (ex-members of Detonations, Red Aunts) at The Saturn Bar. Followed Evil Army and Jay Reatard around for about a week and ended up in Austin for Fun Fun Fun Fest where we saw a rare performance by day one headliners Neurosis, Witchcraft (from Sweden), The Sword, Battalion Of Saints, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, Against Me!, Lifetime, The Saviours and tons of other bands all weekend.
The Sword put on a pretty powerful show but let's talk about Neurosis. Neurosis fucking slayed. They were simply awesome. Absolutely mind blowing! They sounded like a bleeding, dying, planet earth. It was pure, sonic-lava-overflow. They've honed their multi-media assault into an epic experience. They played a wide selection of songs going all the way back to Souls At Zero and pretty much totally crushed. I watched a quadroplegic guy that was totally entranced by their show slowly force his way through the thousand-plus crowd and make his way to the very front where he received a lapdance from a pretty punk sprite for his efforts. It was beautiful. Afterwards, Muscle and I looked at eachother and asked, "What The Fuck was that???". Convinced nothing could parallel Neurosis's show, we stumbled into Beerland in downtown Austin and caught an epic, spaztic performance by Milwaukee's HOLY SHIT!, and they lived up to their name. Again we asked, "What the fuck was that???".
I joined MC Trachiotomy's Moments and played a party at Mr. Quintron and Miss Pussycat's Spellcaster Lounge. I've got a lineup in the works for my Billy Druid project. I'm playing with Chad Booth (ex-Cajun SS) and Matt Muscle in a reunited Mangina. Matt and I also have a band called Snowman with Andy Rotzz (Die Rotzz) and Jason Panzer (Persuaders) .
Here's a sample of what we've been cookin';
Snowman- 40 Is My Lucky Number Mp3
These are pretty much the happening rock and roll hangouts in town;
The Saturn Bar
The Hi-Ho (where I do sound and might even book your band)
One Eyed Jack's
The Saint
Mimi's In The Marigny
I also do sound at the world famous, Tipitina's.
Walkmen- Louisiana Mp3
Quintron- Hurricane Mp3
Detonations- I Hit Mp3
Ratzinger- Sign Of The Cross Mp3
