Notes from the underground.

ANOTHER TRIP THROUGH THE NORTHWEST, and good goddamn if I didn't plan the trip just fight to coincide with some kick ass rock. I motored the Valiant from AZ to Seattle so I could catch the Gloryholes the first night I was up there, and they tore the place apart even though the show was more subdued than in other places I've seen 'em (or maybe it was the fact that I'd had six hours of sleep in the past 72). They're a genuine Northwest treat seeing as they don't get out and tour much. I hope they're doing a new record soon so I can listen to 'em at home ... The Spits played a few days post, and it was kick ass start to finish. First up were the Okmoniks from Tucson, AZ. Raging garage quartet featuring one chick and three dicks, with the keyboards right up there. Next in line was the Atoms, underage new wave blasto tunes, with a few killer covers like "Where's Captain Kirk," originally by Spizz Energi (which is, I guess, a decent comparison, although not much else Spizz Energi did was worthwhile). They're young and have lots of years of rockin' ahead of them, which is a good thing. And the raddest thing is how they fanned out when the Spits were playing, even though they had to watch them from outside as they're all still minors. And then it was ... the Spits. Not your serious grey matter kind of rock and roll but the best shit never is. Full bore, Arab costumes in effect, they were lighting off smoke bombs (get it? Terrorist attack! And it was just a couple days after July 4th) and rockin' out in their Ramones/Weirdos style. There idea to put a huge banner in front of the club announcing "Tonight Only! The Spits!" It worked in terms of getting some random people off the street in the show: there was a mustachioed dude wearing lederhosen and with a hiking stick, and some random older lurkers who looked out of place and shat their pants when the shit went down ... Two more nights away was another night of solid gold rock and roll: The Statics reunion show with perennial garage stalwarts from Tacoma, Girl Trouble. The Statics chopped through a killer live set of some of their more well-known songs, dressed in matching sweater vests. And Girl Trouble is always a fantastic show; they've been playing together since about 1984 (same line up!), and they get the crowd going with their Tacoma-Aroma drenched swing ... And then the next weekend, as the Valiant headed south again, the half way point intersected with Sacto, where the Losin' Streaks were playing two shows, one with the mighty Sonic Love Affair at a crash-'em-up derby! SLA played a furious set of '60s-influenced fuzzed out primal rawk, in 105-plus degree heat, in the vein of MC5, Stooges, and Birdman (and even Sons of Hercules if you want a more recent point of comparison). Curtis, one of the guitarists, was so amped he smashed his guitar in a fit of channeling Pete Townsend, and of course it was after I put down my camera ... The Losin' Streaks played a great set despite the heat as well, and really shone that night. Technically brilliant, musically adept all around, catchy as all get out, these guys are not to be slept on, which is why I did an interview with them in this very issue ... Back home, and who rolled through town but the Briefs. They're still playing hook laden, syntho punk with a new wave edge, and it's always the songs from the first record that gets the crowd singing along the most for some reason. The funniest part was when they played a cover of the Plastic Bertrand Band song "Ca Plane Per Moi," invited anyone up on stage who could sing it (and Texas Terri made a failed attempt), but absolutely nobody knew any of the words of the verses, just the chorus. Dude, it's fucking French and that shit is hard, although they could have cheated and sung the Damned version in English ... And then the Groovie Ghoulies played with another fine upstart, the Teenage Harlots, from San Francisco. The Harlots were going off, none of them could stay on stage for more than a minute, and despite the fact that the singer had a faux-hawk they kicked ass and were fun as hell. And the Ghoulies played through a great set of their Halloween-inspired pop punk ... Geez, I ran out of room just writing about some killer live stuff and have already gotten a ton of great records and other stuff to review, but I guess that'll have to wait until next time ...