Band Out Reach

This last year I started on somewhat of a new adventure, one of reaching out to bands to see if they’d want to play at Wally’s House Of Booze here in Wenatchee WA. 

 

I used to, and still do on occasion, travel to Seattle or Spokane to see a favorite touring band, whoever they may be. About four years ago, I started going to Wally’s here in Wenatchee as some of the bands that I was going to go to Seattle to see, Ando brought them here (Ando is the master mind of Snatchee Records and the major force of bringing in bands to Wenatchee and Wally’s and is just an all around great guy).

 

During those early years, if a band that I liked was going be in the area, I’d mention it to Ando and sometimes he could get them to play and sometimes not. One thing that really surprised me though was how reasonable of a price Ando would get on some of the bands, some were down right cheap (a few were even free).

 

Ando has a wide variety of musical tastes which is nice as he’s brought in a lot of different genre’s to Wally’s. Me on the other hand, I’m a bit more picky when it comes to live music. For the most part I prefer high energy, fast paced punk / rock type stuff, especially psychobilly. 

 

Last March, on a whim, there was a band I wanted to see live so I asked Ando if it was okay if I approached them about playing at Wally’s. He said, “go for it”. The band was “The Silver Shine” from Budapest, Hungary and I simply inquired if they were planning a U.S. tour. Ati, guitarist / vocalist of the band, responded “yes” and said to contact their U.S. booker Tony of “The Rocketz” who had been in contact with Ando off and on already about “The Rocketz” playing so long story short, “The Silver Shine” played Wally’s last October 13th.

 

I had a small part in helping with bringing that show to town but I was hooked. I love the rush of the whole experience from first contact to getting a response, usually from an actual band member, to figuring out a date to negotiating fees (Ando’s department, I’m not there yet), then watch the band walk through the front door of Wally’s and put on a show.

 

So now I look for bands that are touring or reach out to bands I like or bands that others have said that they would like to see live at Wally’s and check to see if they’re heading this way. To date, I have reached out to 61 bands and have received responses from 44 of them. Some aren’t planning anything, some are, some referrer me to their booker of whom I have contacted.

 

The bands that have responded so far are:

 

Toy Dolls, Lower Class Brats, Not On Tour, Get Dead, Dune Rats, The Bennies, Gutter Demons, Hell’s Belles, Sicko, Screeching Weasel, Zipheads, The Silverhounds, Turbulent Hearts, The Adolescents, Cold Blue Rebels, The Generators, Continental, Metalachi, The Toasters, Authority Zero, Nekromantix, The Creepshow,  Maid Of Ace, Mad Sin, Bad Engrish, The Young Rochelles, OC45, The Hellfreaks, Mac Sabbath, The Swingin’ Utters, Night Birds, Agent Orange, The Living Deads, The Wolfgangs, The Dwarves, The Soviettes, Mobina Galore, The Courettes, Kitty In A Casket, The Silver Shine, The Dickies, Mean Jeans and The Spits.

 

Three of the above mentioned bands that have not already played at Wally’s in the past are scheduled to do a show at Wally’s this year, 2018. Any guesses?

 

Also, there are a few of the bands listed here that would have played had we met there asking fee, however two bands wanted $2000 each while another was seeking $5000…..yeah, just a tad much.

What bands would you like to have play at Wally’s House Of Booze? Let me know because, as I have found out, you never know who’s going to say yes.

 

Shows of 2017

Alas, another year of shows has come and gone. I went to 9 shows at 2 venues in 2 cities experiencing some 18 bands, down a bit from previous years but they were some awesome shows.

My first show of the year was a major one for me as it was one of my “bucket list” bands.  They played at The Psychobilly brawl at El Corazon, though they weren’t the headliner, they covered a lot of material. After being banned from the states for a few years, they are back, “The Brains”.

The rest of my shows occurred at my favorite local pub, “Wally’s House Of Booze” in Wenatchee, WA. There were some heavy hitter touring bands that came through such as “The Silver Shine” from Budapest, Hungary…..

…..and touring with them were “The Rocketz” from L.A.

Then there was “The Moans” from Sacramento featuring Danny Secretion…..

…….and “Authority Zero” out of Arizona, they’ve been around awhile….

…..and the heaviest hitter I think Wally’s has had yet, “The Swingin’ Utters!!

Saw many bands from the Puget Sound area such as “Psycho 78”, “Phasers On Kill”, “Circle Twerks”, “Neutralboy”, “The Heels”, “Ballbag” and “The Lucky Boys”……

…..and saw a few of the local guys “Not All There”, “Human Element” and “The Nightmares” and a couple from Ellensburg WA “Thunderhound” and “Cobrahawk”.

It twas a good selection of bands. I am really looking forward to what 2018 will bring as I will be discussing that in a future blog.

Until then, go to a show….you know you want to.

Warped Tour 2017

Warped Tour 2017 is coming. Now I haven’t been to Warped Tour since 2011 which was the last year it was held at The Gorge (and it needs to return to The Gorge). Since 2012 it’s been at The White River Amphitheater in Auburn….not my favorite place. This year it’s going to be in a parking lot, the north lot of Century Link Field, sounds interesting, more so than White River.

I looked up the list of bands playing and was pleasantly surprised. There’s “Alestorm”, “Anti-Flag”, “Big D And The Kids Table”, “Bowling For Soup”, “Save Ferris”, “Street Dogs”, “Streetlight Manifesto” and “The Alarm”. Awesome!…..but wha? These guys aren’t playing Seattle…bastards. They’re joining the tour later on.

So after further digging I found bands that are actually playing Seattle, there’s

“Bad Cop / Bad Cop”

“Barb Wire Dolls”

“Doll Skin”

“GWAR”

“The Adolescents”

“The Ataris”

and “The Dickies”

That’s not a bad start. I’m going to go through the list of bands and see if there are any more bands of interest, I’m sure there are. I may just have to go to Seattle this year. Anybody wanna go?

Shows Of 2016

Well, another year has yet come and gone along with a host of shows. This past year I went to 14 shows at 4 different venues in 3 different cities and saw some 30 bands. My main venue for the year was, once again, “Wally’s House Of Booze” in Wenatchee, WA with shows hosted by “Snatchee Records”

Wally’s had some returning touring bands such as “Calabrese” from Phoenix for their third time…..

“Stump Tail Dolly” from Nashville TN….

From Sheboygan, yes Sheboygan, was “Spruce Bringsteen” (they don’t like spiders).

From Boise was Clark and the boys of “Dogs In The Fight”…..

….and from Yakima was “Bad Habit”.

For me the best touring show at Wally’s was a triple-header. From the bay area it was “Bad Cop / Bad Cop” and “The Atom Age” (second time for The Atom Age at Wally’s this year) and from Scotland, that’s right….Scotland…..was “Murderbergers”.

Wally’s had a great showing of Puget Sound bands including “Acid Teeth”…….

…..”Bad Koala”…….

…and “Staxx Brothers.

Tacoma was represented by “Psycho 78” and “Phasers On Kill”……

…..and “Hill Top Rats”.

While Bremerton was well represented by “Circle Twerks” and “The Know Nothingz”.

I saw 2 shows in 2 towns on 1 day. Saw “Spike In The Impalers” in Ephrata Wa (they do a great AC/DC)……

….then I saw “Furniture Girls” at Wally’s, one of the best shows I saw featuring Stacey and company.

There were also my local favorites “Rich And Rare Rebels”, “Velvet Brick” and “Not All There”…..

Old guy time, caught 80’s band “Cheap Trick” at the Town Toyota Center.

Went to Seattle to El Corazon for a few shows. Saw “Wednesday 13” for my 7th and 8th time (the guy constantly tours)…

…and “Relapse Symphony” opened for Wednesday at one of the shows.

And I got to see one of my bucket list bands. I’ve been trying to catch them for over 7 years and finally, saw them live, “ONE-EYED DOLL”

All and all it was a good year band wise. Excited to see what this year brings. Already getting ready for a band that was banned from the U.S.A. for some 6 years but have just been allowed back in. Gonna see ’em in a few weeks…..sweet. Punk on everybody!

Shows Of 2015

Another year of shows has come and gone and for me, it was a lot like last year. I went to 15 shows, saw 35 different bands / performers and all of the shows were at “Wally’s House Of Booze” here in Wenatchee WA.

Once again “Ando” of “Snatchee Records” used his booking powers to bring quite an assortment of performers to “Wally’s” from acoustic nights to punker mayhem to legends to country flare, hell he even brought in a puppet show.

For me, the highlights were as follows.

There were returning touring bands once again as “Calabrese” from Arizona made their second appearance.

And “The Independents” made their third trip out from South Carolina.

There were some punker legends such as “MDC” from Austin who have been doing this since 1982.

And punker legend “The Freeze” with vocalist “Clif Hanger” from Boston has been doing this since 1978. “The Freeze” apparently enjoyed playing “Wally’s” as they posted the following on their page after the show.

“Wally’s house of booze to my surprise was this really great little pub in a small town in north central WA. Was a great night to have for end of mini tour! Thanks Snatchee Records and Ando for having us. Here’s a clip. Everyone was singing along . Good times.”

Psychobilly, being my favorite genre, was well represented as “The Creepshow” from Toronto stopped by…….

…..and so did “The Rocketz” as they stopped by for my birthday, which was very cool……….

……and brought with them “Enemy Proof”

Another favorite, from Boston, was “OC45”.

There was from “Fat Wreck Chords” of San Francisco, “Toy Guitar” who, after playing “Wally’s” did some heavy touring across the states and over into Japan.

I mentioned a puppet show. Well we had “Green Jello” perform at “Wally’s”, now that was an interesting show.

Puget Sound was well represented by “Dreadful Children”…..

……”Ten Pole Drunk”, “Guns Of Nevada”, “Psycho 78″……..

……”13 Scars”. “Regional Faction”, “Phasers On Kill”……..

……..”Neutralboy”, “Mike Moen” and “Omega Moo”.

Portland came through being represented by “Ninja’s with Syringas” and “The Brass”.

The long distance touring performer goes to “Jonezy” as he came over from England……..

……and opened for “The Staxx Brothers”.

The locals will also well represented with “Virgin Thorn”, “Rich And Rare Rebels”, “Hate Team”……..

…….”F-Bombs”, “Past Tense Of Draw” and “Not All There”.

It was a great year for shows. Getting a chance to see some of my favorites, ones that I would have gone to Seattle to see, but luckily for me, Ando brought them to Wenatchee. Excited to see who he brings in during 2016. I’ve got my wish list. Who do you want to come to “Wally’s”?

The Creepshow At Wally’s…..The Show

It was a Sunday, usually an off night, but then “The Creepshow” came to “Wally’s House Of Booze”.

“The Creepshow”, from Toronto are in the midst of their 10th anniversary tour. The psychobilly bands current line up consists of “Sickboy McNab” on upright bass and vocals, “Kenda” on vocals and guitar, “Sandro Sanchioni” on drums, “Reverend McGinty” on keys and vocals and “Chuck” on other guitar and vocals.

They played a good variety of tunes during their 70 minute set starting with “Demon Lover”…..

…..and ending with a double oncore of “Creature Of The Night” followed by “Buried Alive.” After “Buried Alive”, “Kenda” was having such a good time she said “I don’t want to leave.” (3:30 mark)

When they played “Devil’s Son”, “Kenda” seemed a bit surprised that so many of the audience knew the lyrics and sang part of the song to her (2:15 mark)

They threw in an old fashion drum solo half way through “Grave Diggers” as if “Sanchioni” doesn’t drum hard enough already. Great job by the way.

My favorite song of the evening was “Hell Bound” where I like the ending line.

I always like how the bands at “Wally’s” usually run their own merch tables so you get a chance to meet and greet as I had a chance to meet with “Reverend McGinty”…..sweet.

For me, of all the shows I’ve been to at Wally’s over the years, this one is definitely in the top two. Even though it was on a Sunday night, there was a good size, happy partin’ crowd. It was obvious that “The Creepshow” was having just as much fun as the crowd and I really think they were a bit surprised as to how great the crowd was and how well the show went. I’m hoping they’ll be back.

Follow the link if you’d like to see more video’s of “The Creepshow” playing at “Wally’s House Of Booze” in Wenatchee WA. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+creepshow+trshorte+wallys

Side note: big news at “Wally’s”…..NEW CARPET!

Go to a show….you know you want to.

Dreadful Children at Wally’s

There’s always dreadful children at “Wally’s” but this time around it included “Dreadful Children” from Seattle.

“Dreadful Children” is now a five piece (I’ve seen them as a three piece and a four piece) from Seattle playing good ol’ punker rock and roll. The current line up consists of “Shane Forsberg” on guitar, “Lonny Bristle” on lead vocals and guitar, “Johnny Mischief” on slappin’ bass and vocals, “Kevin Labarre” on drums and “Lizzie Franks” on vocals. They’ve been around for quite a few years but this was their first time playing “Wally’s”, matter of fact, it was their first time playing Wenatchee. They have a new album coming out so a lot of the material was from that plus they played numerous old favorites.

They started the evening off with “America / Kimi Cutthroat”…..

…..and ended the evening with their classic “Pink Elephants On Parade”.

In between, they played what appeared to be a favorite of their’s “Shimmy Wiggle”

One of the newer songs that I wasn’t familiar with was “He’s A Modern Dionysus”.

One of my favorite songs is “Dot To Dot”. This is an interesting version that included the new lyric “I need a cable” and it ended with impromptu guitar. Also during this song, I’m amazed at the bitch slap beating that Johnny’s bass takes but keeps on thumpin'”

It was a great night. I’m really glad “Dreadful Children” finally made it to Wenatchee and Lonny says they are planning more trips this way in the future. I highly recommend checking these guys out when they return.

If you’d like to see more video’s of “Dreadful Children” playing “Wally’s House Of Booze” in Wenatchee Wa, follow the link: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dreadful+children+wallys+trshorte

Go to a show…..you know you want to.

Wally’s Weekend Triple Header!!

Three days, three shows, three bands per show all this weekend at “Wally’s House Of Booze” presented by “Snatchee Records”.

Day one, Friday May 1st from Tacoma will be “13 Scars”…..

…..and from Seattle will be “Dreadful Children” (real excited these guys are finally coming to Wenatchee)…..

…..and opening the show are local favorites “Rich And Rare Rebels”!

Day two, Saturday May 2nd from Denver CO is “Party Like Thieves”…..

http://partylikethieves.bandcamp.com/album/the-two-eps

…..and from Wyoming are “Poor Me”…..

http://poorme.bandcamp.com/album/readymade

…..and opening is “Bip Jeffers”

https://bipjeffers.bandcamp.com/album/under-the-covers-with-bip-and-no-others

And day three, Sunday the 3rd from Toronto it’s “The Creepshow”!!!!…..

…..and opening will be local favorites “Rich And Rare Rebels” plus “Not All There”….

All shows start preciously at 9:30ish, are 21+ and are just a $5 cover. Get your favorite adult beverage from the fabulous Brittni and Emily. Gonna be a punking good weekend.

Go to a show….you know you want to.

HAPPY APPLE BLOSSOM!!!

OC45 At Wally’s

Last Saturday “OC45” played “Wally’s House Of Booze” here in Wenatchee WA and they just plain…..NAILED IT!

This four piece from Boston was formed in 2011 and consists of Nick Tanzi – Bass/Vocals, Derek Rossi – Guitar/Vocals, Adam Femino – Guitar/Vocals and new kid Aaron Vaughn on drums. They have one LP and two EP’s the their credit and played many a song from their collection starting the evening with “Robbery”….

….and ending with “Heads Up” (well second to the end)

In the midst of the set they threw in a cover. This particular cover seems to be the cover of choice these days but it’s a great song.

All through the night the band showed off their “mic dodging skills” as evident here of Adam Femino doing a great avoidance job at the :10 mark of my favorite song “Strong Coffee”.

And Derek dodged one so hard that it unplugged his guitar at the 3:58 mark.

Mic dodging, a punk activity.

The band has about another six weeks left to go on this tour. I for one hope that they return to Wenatchee sometime in the near future and from the reaction of the crowd through out the evening, a return of “OC45” would be very welcomed.

Go to a show……you know you want to.

Psycho 78 & Omega Moo-The Show

A punkish good time took place at “Wally’s House Of Booze” on Saturday night as a pair of west side bands returned to Wenatchee to give us a great punker show.

The show was to start at 9:30 as there were three bands on the bill but apparently the local opener had better things to do than honor their commitment to play and didn’t bother showing up, not even a call so “Omega Moo” graciously started early to get things going.

“Omega Moo” is a four piece surf punker band type from Seattle WA. The band consists of “Snapper” on bass, “Adam” on lead vocals and guitar, “Ian Meek” on keys, vocals and cow suit and on drums “Jack Love”. I saw them when they played “Wally’s” last year….barely. My son got married on the day they played and after the reception I made it to “Wally’s” just in time to catch their last song (I was they guy in the tie with the camera). This time around I got to see the whole show.

They played many a song during their 60 plus minute set including “Wreck This Town”…..

…….and my favorite of the night “Safety Dance” (love cover tunes a la punk)

The headliner for the evening was “Psycho 78” out of Tacoma.

This three piece, formed in 2005, consists of Mike Waco, vocals and guitar, Jay O’neill, vocals and bass and Davo Sanchez on drums. They have played “Wally’s” a few times in the past but for me, this was my first time and their style was right up my alley.

I don’t know the name of the songs but the following was my favorite of the evening.

And of course there was a cover.

For me it was a great show. Actually glad the opening band didn’t show up. Got to see two awesome punker bands for a mere $5. Another thing I really like about these punker shows is that afterwards I talked for a few moments with Adam of “Omega Moo” and Mike of “Psycho 78”, they’re just regular guys that are genuinely appreciative that I came to the show and I’m very appreciative that they came over the hill to Wenatchee.

People…..go to a show…..you know you want to.