The Demonics || Has the Drag Race Stalled? || Hidden Rock'n'Roll p.3

The Demonics: Best Band Ever!  That is probably not the case, still for some weird reason deep in my brain that phrase harkens life every time I think about this band.  Why?  Because they kick ass, or is it kicked?  This is another classic Jeff discovery.  Back when he was in between jobs he worked for a short while at Zero magazine.  They would get piles and piles of CDs and Jeff said obviously there was great music always playing out of the the company stereo (now that is rock 'n' roll.  I wouldn't get shit done in that environment!)  One of the band of discovery was The Demonics.  He burnt me a copy of Demons on Wheels.  It was a short album on a great label, Man's Ruin Records, but most importantly it kicked ass from soup to nuts.  They just landed on my "gotta see live before I die" list...and the wait was on.

Several years into the wait they showed up on a bill at Thee Parkside is SF along with Gashuffer.  I had seen this early stage Seattle scene band at a dive bar in Chico back in the day and I was impressed.  I was even more impressed when the Demonics no-showed.  Fuck!  Still had Gashuffer tho'


Then probably not a year after that experience they showed up on a bill at the Blank Club. I bought tickets ahead of time.  I had to, they made my list...  I don't know what to say except that they delivered.  They burned through their setlist firing off one sweet rocking gem after another.  I went right over to the swag table and picked me up a T-shirt designed by none other than Dirty Donny.  A lot of the times if a show is good enough I go right over and support the band by acquiring merchandise.  It's the quickest way to put money in a bands pocket along with a hardy "thumbs up" seal of approval.  During the acquisition from the drummer I called her out on Thee Parkside "no show" and she said something like there was this psycho dude that was threatening to kill Russ or somethin'.  I said, "If you wouldn't have rocked so hard tonight I would've been pissed."  They fulfilled my quota of a kick ass show indeed.  And I was double stoked because Pickle for some reason bought me their latest, Hot Rod Pussy.  The model for the album was at the show....oh the memories.

A couple of years ago I asked them to play a show with my band because "why not?"  They declined.  Bummer for all.  If this group decides to put the machine back together I am sure that they would have a heavy following on street cred alone.  My vote: Let the people here the machine.



Here is some stuff I have gathered from online about The Demonics:


Jeff of SJSOBs enjoying the show...


Setlist from the show...









And now some videos....



Here is a pretty badass homegrown skate video to a The Demonics tune...


I cannot find any live footage besides some recent footage put up on their Facebook account.  If anyone else has any live footage, please post!

Here is also a good article on Russ' true love, his 1969 Super Bee.

Meat Hammer || Who the Fuck are These Guys? || Hidden Rock'nRoll pt.2

One Friday night back in the fall of 2007 Jeff and I decided to task the risk and just head down to The Caravan to see who was playing.  Our reservoir of live music needed to be filled.  To our luck this group Meat Hammer was about to go on.  Simply put, we were stoked before one amp was turned on due to the psychotic look they had on their faces.  It had nothing to do with the fact that they were all wearing butcher outfits and were cover in fake blood.  Then they plugged in.  Fucking classic speed metal.  It was awesome.  The crowd was loving it.  I was loving it along with them.  They were in total character the whole time even when were packing up their things and heading for the door.

Not much is online with these guys.  They have a myspace page but haven't checked it in 6 months.  I haven't heard about them playing.  Several years ago I thought that I had heard that they had broken up.  I hope it is not true.  The only other tidbit of info I have on them is a dude who was working for Century Stereo told me (I think...memory is sometimes foggy and I like to take the liberty that a free writer gets to take) that he used to work with one of them at Best Buy.  Either way, check 'em out if you can.  They are a great show.

Here is the best of what I could find online.  Enjoy!







This is a happy crowd. 
























I couldn't find any videos of them.  If anybody has some, please let me know. I would love to post them.

oh yes, One final thing.....Jeff loved these dudes performance so much he dressed up for work as one of them that year for Halloween!

The Gillbillies || San Jose's best kept Secret || Hidden Rock'n'Roll

Who knows what a Gillbillie is?  It is a fish from the back country that likes surf music.  And that sentence alone describes this band from the 408.  How did I first come about hearing The Gillbillies?  Rachel (booker/bartender) at The Caravan put in a call saying that we should come on down and check out this band that was playing at her bar that night.  It was a typical Caravan scene, but I had the feeling Steve, Jeff & myself weren't the only ones who got the call.  We walked in grabbed a beverage than posted up close to the well lit stage (x-mas lights on the drumset with lit cow skull if my memory serves me correctly).  Then in classic Stevil fashion he lets out, "God, I hope we see some good music tonight".  You see, the beauty of the Caravan is that it is a mixed bag of nuts.  You never really know what you are going to get.  And we had been on a "miss streak" lately seeing some really weak shows, but this all changed that night.  The Gillbillies blew the doors off the Caravan.  A wonderful tone of hard edged surf, punk country music played through Gibson guitars.  See the typical surf music is played through single coil pick ups (usually Fenders of Mosrites) over saturated with reverb dripping out of the speakers.  They played a fatter, harsher sound humbucking through classic 6L6 tube tone.

We were literally blown away by their sound, look and performance.  It was the best band that I had seen at the Caravan in a very long time.  And we only caught one of their two sets that evening.  All three of us walked away from that show saying the same thing, "Did we just see that?"

So who are The Gillbillies? First there is the axe-wielding Jimbo.  This dude knows his way around the guitar.  His array of Gibsons all include a bigsby vibrato for that much needed twang.  He has several Les Pauls, a few Flying Vs, and I have seen pics of him playing a LP Special too.  My favorites are easily the Flying Vs.  I mean who doesn't want to see surf songs coming out of a Flying V with a Bigsby on it.  He inspired me to live out my own dreams and pick up an '84 Designer Series V on Craigslist.  Thanks Jimbo!  He is a really precise guitar player that has a gentle touch on the whammy giving the tone that subtle dark mood.  Perfect for a packed house at The Caravan!

Next is Bass Player, Nick.  The man has a dead stare and a badass beard.  But besides that his minimalist playing (the hardest type of playing to do!) sets a perfect stage for Jimbo's reverb soaked guitar tone.  The first time I saw The Gillbillies, Nick was playing the heavy-weight classic tone of his '76 Ampeg SVT through an 8x10 Cabinet.  Oh the glory of that in your face at the Caravan.  It is a heavy, heavy rig, so Nick doesn't play it all the time.  If you see him encourage him to play it and offer him a hand on loading it in.  Also, I hear the rumors that Nick is the main man for working on all the Amps and Guitars.  Steve from SJSOBs said he has used him several times for amps and guitars and stated,  "the guy knows what he is doing."  From the sound of The Gillbillies live, that is easily the case.

Rounding up the Power Trio is Brad on Drums.  While the man doesn't sport the long beard like the others he definitely is an integral part to The Gillbillies sound.  Him and Nick work perfectly together to hold down a steady rhythm that allows Jimbo to freely go where he wants to on the neck of the Guitar.  Other than that I don't know too much about Brad, he seems like he is the quieter one in the group however all members are very modest for their abilities as well as very approachable.


In regards to history of the Band, not too much is known.  Their banner states that they have been rocking it since 2004,  however it has just been in the last several years that these boys have been playing heavily through out the South Bay Area.  There was a rumor floating around that Jimbo & Nick toured with the Reggae legends, The Itals for years.  I don't know if there is any validity to it but it does add to their mystique.  Either way, the three of them now make up The Gillbillies.  They play around San Jose quite a bit lately and I would give a strong recommendation for their live performance.  Go out and see live music today!


Here are a couple of videos to give you a taste of what the Gillbillies are all about.  (Disclaimer: However good you think these videos are, it doesn't does do their live shows justice!)

Bye For Now!!

UPDATED: August 22, 2011
Here is some more live footage from these dudes that I took last weekend.  The crowd was loving them.  They played with this band called Mons Pubis, that I need to go check out.  We walked down to catch a little Beerjuana at the Blank and only made it back for half of their last song.

Here is The Gillbillies taken care of business...


This is when things took off, Gillbillies doing some Sabbath...

They Always Say When You Write Make it Something You Know and Love

For me that is easy; I love music and I love San Jose.  I also live in San Jose and play music.  Hence, the love.  A while back, just like thousands of young music fans in the Silicon Valley, I would complain about a "lack of scene" in San Jose.  Years later I find that statement is absolute bullshit.  And I want to set the record straight.  See, there is lack of a big "well known" scene here.  By the time it takes for something like that to incubate it has already become passe.  Why? It has gone from a trend to a fad.

The process is always the funnest part anyways.  San Jose has seen its share of good bands.  And that count continues to grow.  Are kids caring more?  Or are they just getting better.  Partly both.  I used to think that in the future there would always be an epic music & arts scene here due to that amount of collective intelligence that makes this community.  I was dead wrong.  Through very little research there is/was and has always been a ton of artistic endeavors in this valley.  One does not have to look far (check out the San Jose Museum of Art and the exhibits they get rolling through that joint for starters).  Music too, however not nearly as much as other forms of art.

The objective of this blog is to highlight some shows that have occurred in the last 15 years or so (if anyone wants to tackle any other era drop me a line) that I attended in Silicon Valley and that have made enough of an impact on me that I willed myself to write about them.  So here goes nothing...