home record ramblin recomends



  Show Review: Lugosi, Scholastic Deth, Esperanza, and Ruination
May 26, 2001 at Mission Records


  I'm still sick as all get out, but I haven't been to a show in weeks and this looks to be the best thing going on for a long time. Plus, it's a matinee show, so I can laze around the house, go the show, and laze around the house. Knowing Mission Records, I aim for about 50 minutes late, and it's still another 40 or so till the show starts, but the the older, backbone of the scene, kids are out in force, so I chat it up gleefully.

First up is Lugosi, who still, with the exception of their Pixies cover, remind me of Youth of Today without the muscles, though the similarity seems not as strong as when I saw them at the Palo Alto Y.W.C.A. The seem to have some problems with the bass, but overall heads are bobbing. At one point the singer yells out "It says on a flier we're playing here next weekend. Does anybody know anything about that?" From the back, Robert yells back "You're playing."

Next up is Scholastic Deth, featuring Max Ward, drummer for a thousand bands, taking a turn on vocals. The music is thrash punctuated by lectures from Max. He gets some enthusiastic fists in the air for one rant by starting out "this next song is about books." There are a few hecklers in the audience, yelling out "Is this going to be on the test?" "Did you bring a number two pencil?" During the impassioned intro to the skate song, while Max is talking about the added allure illegality gives to skating, Dan yells out "Smoking Crack." Max dead pans back "That's illegal too, but you gotta relish in the criminality of it." Musically Scholastic Deth are dead on, spreading warm feelings of thrash throughout the audience.

After another break where everyone goes out front to cool off, Esperanza from soutern california take the stage. More solid thrash, this time with between song messages about police brutality and racial injustice. Last up is Ruination, the super group with Ebro from Charles Bronson and Los Crudos, and Chris from the Swarm. They procede to finish of the evening by providing: more thrash. I was pretty impressed by how many songs they had. Every time I thought they would be done, they busted out three more. All in all, a solid show, and a great way to spend a saturday afternoon.




Last updated: 2001 06 05 by: smurph @tha smurph.org