Van Halen at The Tacoma Dome: In Concert [City Heat – February 1992]

VAN HALEN at The Tacoma Dome
Wed.Jan.22

Well. first off, the miserable drive down to the Tacky Dome is always enough to get a rainy winter evening off to a foul start. This night was no exception. Couple that with typical TicketMaster annoyances and a mighty ensemble of over zealous south end security and you’ve got a fairly representational Tacoma Dome event.

Due to the distance, we completely missed Alice In Chain’s set, which, opening for Van Halen, was something we’d looked forward to. Due to the wet cattle run/reptilian maze that stood between the tickets and the entrance, we missed the first half of Poundcake. No biggee, but we still gotta find our seats. On the other side.

By the time Judgement Day had started we were set. Runaround completed the initial greet from For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge then they went into several Sammy tunes, One Way To Rock and the solo acoustic Give To Live.

For me, the highlight of the evening by far was when they spontaneously launched into Rock Candy (from Sammy’s early days in Montrose) after picking up a local [RKCNDY nightclub] flyer thrown onstage.

Hearing Rock Candy done live suddenly made it all worthwhile. After having witnessed the Van Hagar production three or four times now, and feeling they are rather uninteresting live by this point, I realized that they still can swing flashes of brilliance.

They touched on the last couple VH albums, OU812 and 5150, with Black And Blue, Finish What Ya Started, Best Of Both Worlds and Why Can’t This Be Love. After I Can’t Drive 55, Sammy went into some angry rant about the state of society as an intro to This Dream Is Over. Then they took their traditional unified bow and left the stage. But you knew the old guys were coming back at least once; just like by looking around you knew they hadn’t lost their ability to pack throngs of scantily clad teenyrockers into arenas.

And they did. Returning with a silly Jump during the chorus of which Eddie was only able to get one foot off the ground at a time. Top Of The World was supposed to be the last, but Sammy, feeling good the first night back from a rest that began when they cancelled the show scheduled here in December, just didn’t want to leave.

So getting back at him for throwing the rest of them into Rock Candy earlier, the three original VH members dove headlong into Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love, a song Sammy finished by apologizing with,

“We haven’t played that one in five years!”

Sounded okay to me.

Gruntruck – Inside Yours: Hot Flashes Local Tracks [City Heat – February 1992]

Gruntruck
Inside Yours
eMpTy / RoadRacer

This is a re-release that a lot of people are glad to see given new life.

Feb 92 HF Gruntruck InsideYoursOriginally produced by Jack Endino and delivered by locals at eMpTy Records in fall 1990, Inside Yours, the debut of star-crossed Gruntruck, has been picked up by RoadRacer – who remixed a track and added two more before presentation.

Gruntruck is the thunderous culmination of Skin Yard’s voice, Ben McMullen, and The Accused’s guitar, Tommy Niemeyer (Tommy’s favorite is Flesh Fever and mine is the other new track on there, Crucifunkin’), joined by Tim Paul (Napalm Beach) and Norman Scott (Final Warning, Skin Yard) these grunge-crunchers create Seattle beauty at it’s heavy best.

Own it.

Queensryche: “Home Again” Cover [City Heat – Christmas 1991]

Queensryche
Home Again (Building Empires Tour)
Coming home. A lovely thought for road weary travelers. After spending the past year+ on the road, Queensryche returns to the Jet City to wind down the final leg of the Building Empires tour. When we last spoke to the ‘Ryche (Nov. 1990), they were about to venture forth on their first European leg. Guitarist/songwriter/spokeman extraordinaire Chris DeGarmo fills in the blanks of the year between.
“Last year, when you spoke with Michael (Wilton), we were doing our first headlining tour there, which was very successful for us. We brought our own production and headlined our own shows all throughout Europe and you know? It’s great to show up in a place like Zurich, Switzerland and sell the place out.”
I can imagine. Any other old world tour stops that you articularly enjoyed or care to discuss?
“Hungary. We played Budapest, which was beautiful, just an amazing city.” Any political viewpoints to share if we perhaps draw back the iron curtain a bit?
“Yeah, it was very exciting to play Poland, but certainly an eye opener (I think) to see the place and meet the people. We played a coal mining town there that was really behind in environemntal protection. It was one of the most polluted cities in Europe. Really pretty tragic in that respect, but the crowd was great!”
Offering more personal insight in relation to the other side of the Atlantic he continues, “It’s quite interesting, Europe was initially our strongest market as a whole, but since then the states has become the strongest. It’s definitely a little tougher over there. There’s not the rock radio network like we have in the U.S. and although MTV’s pretty thoroughly received  throughout Europe now, it’s a very different programming schedule and different music that you see. A lot of European artists.”
On their initial headline tour last fall, the boys were extremely fortunate in the fashion that they traveled and how the tour itself was orchestrated.
“First, we were flying and there were, like, four days off between gigs. So we had time to thoroughly check out every city and do a lot of sight seeing and getting to [truly] meet people. It was great. It was actually like a paid vacation and we were playing huge rock gigs at the same time. It was, by far, the best way I can think of to see Europe.”
They finished that leg in early December with a show in Madrid, Spain. Then, “We were home for a little while last Christmas before going to Japan, but wasn’t really very long.”
The break was spent tweaking out the stage production and enjoying home life (ever so briefly) before placating their legion of loyal Asian fans.
This summer gave them their “first real taste of the whole festival experience. Really the first time we’ve played with more than two other bands.,” and sent them across the Atlantic yet again. This latest visit was spent building empires in the best of company.  On the legendary Monsters Of Rock Castle Donnington stop they, along with AC/DC, Motley Crue, Metallica and The Black Crowes, played to an audience of 75,000 British fans. A few festivals later at an air base in West Germany attendance approached 90,000. But of course, the most phenomenal gig this year had to be the Hard Rock day at Rock In Rio when they shared the bill with the likes of GnR and Judas Priest in front of 130,000 screaming tanned faces.
All this excitement, which has included appearances and accolades at most every year-end music or video award show is due (forgive me for stating the obvious) to the incredible success of their fourth studio album.
“What happened with Empire has been just the latest pillar in an ongoing foundation that we’ve been building really. Operation: Mindcrime opened a lot of doors for us. What happened musically with Empire is a result of us continuing to try to push the chemistry of the band and do something a little different.”
“We were very happy with Operation: Mindcrime as an album but to do something like that again would just be too predictable. I think trying to take a different turn with Empire is what led to the songs on there.”
“With our songwriting this time, we focused very strongly on melody, streamlining the arrangements a bit. We were trying to make an album that was completely different yet still very much like Queensryche and something we felt good about.”
Obviously there are a lot of people, the world over, who also felt good about Empire, judging by it’s multi-multi-platinum status.
Now, with the conquering completed, it’s time for a well deserved rest.
“Everyone’s really excited to just come home and not do Queensryche for a while. Off the road, at home, is really my only private time. I just kind of disappear.”
With the winter off, they won’t begin writing for the new LP until the ground thaws, leaving time for family and personal pursuits. It’s pretty well known around here that Geoff is an avid sailor, but what sort of avocations puts the wind in your sails, Chris?
“I’m a pilot. I enjoy flying. I guess if I had a hobby, that’s what I enjoy doing.”
So now that time schedules and worldly success collide favorably, is there a plane in the plan for the DeGarmo’s Christmas?
“You know, I am working on that. So far, there hasn’t been a lot of time to justify my owning a plane yet, but with this time coming off, I’m considering it pretty strongly. My biggest thing is that I’m just so psyched to be home. I get to be with my wife and pet the cat and stay at home for a while and just be in Seattle, you know? It’s been a long time.”
After a heartfelt endorsement like that, I thought it might be a good time to inquire on a subject that has long been lingering in the minds of many Seattle citizenry, “Why is it we haven’t been treated to a local ‘Ryche performance for about three years or so?”
“It’s not so much that we haven’t wanted to play Seattle, it just that on some of those other tours, when we were opening for bands, we had to go according to their schedules. We had to just accept the tour for the sake of getting exposure across the country and unfortunately, on those tours we just didn’t get to Seattle very often. At home we’ve had time constraints, pressure to write or whatever, so that we couldn’t really put together a show that we felt good about. We didn’t want to just go and jam in a club or something. We feel a real strong attachment, from this standpoint, and I’m just so glad that now we can finally bring the show that we want to bring to Seattle.”
“We’re getting to play multiple shows [in advance, as primers] and our home town’s really gonna see us the way that we want to be seen. It feels really good. Just seeing the response when the tickets went on sale really makes the band know that we’ve got our home town behind us. It’s gonna be great.”
I wasn’t able to pry any particulars from Chris but he did admit that they are, “…organizing a bit of a special performance for Seattle, although it’s, in most respects, certainly the same show but we’re adding some extras in for Seattle which I won’t really go into. It’s our home and we’re finishing up the tour there [there’s actually one more ‘final’ show on the roster for Spokane] so we’ve got some special things in store. We’re really looking forward to it.” And why shouldn’t they be?
Queensryche (and we) are fortunate enough to be from the thriving Northwest Pugetropolis that plays host to a seemingly endless spring of cultural diversity and natural talent.
“Seattle’s always been a great rock mecca although there hasn’t [before] been a time like this where you see so many bands doing well with record deals and such. But I think even before all this was happening, concerts were always really well attended here, there’s always been a strong rock radio station support felt in Seattle. It’s just a great rock city!”
Amen to that, brother, and one final, lucid word from one of the great rock city’s great rock legends.
“I think, as far as the band’s concerned, we’ve got a good friendship with everybody here and we [work well as] a big team. We enjoy writing music together and we’ve brought it, with a lot of hard work, up to the particular stage we’re at now. I think we’ve got a lot of albums left in us. We’re all pretty young and are feeling like we’ve got a lot of material left, so I’m sure we’ll stay at it for quite some time.” Good, and we’ll keep listening. See you at the Coliseum!

Love On Ice – Nude: Hot Flashes Local Tracks [City Heat – Christmas 1991]

Love On Ice
Nude
Interscope
What a nice little package we have here outta Portland. Nude is a tight set of tunes (13, all under 5 minutes per) that captures a quality I like to see, and that’s a band’s ability to create different moods within their songs. Or even, as on Mine, different moods within one song.
Live, this band has already long proven itself amidst the elite of our city and hence has many devoted fans up here. They won’t be let down at all by this sorta major label debut with the full-on Don’t Leave Me as the lead-off ingle and the funky backbeat, quiet voices and mellow strum that starts the whiningly aggressive Leave Me Alone, the head-bobbing scamper of Goodbye and the perpetually crowd-pleasing Foot In The Grave.
In addition to these great straight-aheads, they also side-step nicely with the hopeless emotion of Gone Away and the knee-slappin’ hoedown, Country Boy. Self In Blue is a good indicator of their 70’s ‘Smithish roots. I get a vibe from these guys and with their early Van Halen style eccentricities, this just may be the next hugely successful arena band from the Northwest. See what you think.

Nirvana: “Halloween” Cover [City Heat – Christmas 1991]

It was just about 7:30 and we were standing out back by load-in talking to the DGC rep just a few feet from where Kurdt was timidly socializing with a small group (of what from all indications was composed of riot grrls). The three girls surrounding wore a shroud of indifference to him that led one to believe they were definitely traveling with the band in the shabby travel van parked next to the Paramount load-in doors. Kurdt was casually explaining to an acquaintance how he probably wouldn’t have time to get together seeing as how they had only the next day off and then Saturday were flying to Europe to begin that leg of the tour.
Climbing the Paramount’s rear stairway we passed Chris and Kurdt on the thrid flight and once again I was amazed at how insignificant 6’2″ feels standing next to Novoselic. As we exchanged formalities I attempted to succinctly mention what a good album Bleach’s followup turned out to be. More pleasantries and the ascent continued. Fifth floor at the meet-n-greet, radio and retail crowded first around the beer and deli trays then Chris and Kurdt when they arrived. Numerous industry photo ops ensued, pix snapped. Our turn arrived so Karen broke out the Santa hats and both Nirvanites happily donned the soon-to-be legendary black Santa hats. Forming a quick attachment, Kurdt decided that he wanted to keep his black Santa hat as keepsake. Karen let him.
Knowing full well that they were being assaulted this very night by a media and mania trying to get a grasp of the reasons behind the fanatic acceptance, nay wanton embrace, of Nevermind, I held myself to a single, brief question. I asked Chris how the band felt about the deluge of interest and hype, to which he replied, “Well, I suppose it’s better us than Poison.”
After the chatter we ran into “Mrs. Cobain”, who had finally managed to make it inside the venue. Said Wendy, “I’ve never had so much trouble and had to jump thru so many hoops just to watch my kid!” Nevertheless, she was smiling parent proudly as she said it. We went back downstairs to watch Mudhoney’s set from stage left. Possibly (probably?) their first live set from the Paramount’s prodigious floorboards, they were as tight as I’ve ever seen them, fun and showy with their ritualistic beer trips to the drum riser on a speedier pace than usual. The set itself was dramatically punctuated by a rain of change that followed a Mark Arm comment concerning insufficient finances. He was, apparently, quite serious. I later noticed him selectively picking out quarters off the stage. Steve Turner had different (yet similarly sized) priorities as he picked up and placed possessively on his amp the scattering mini-Snickers that appeared, along with coinage, around their feet.
When Nirvana stepped up to the plate for their set, the shit really hit as we felt the noise levels throughout The Paramount bounce up several decibels. They put on their patently energetic/introverted with Chris pogoing about while Kurdt stayed fairly stationary, vocalizing thru his dirty blondish mop of hair. Behind them both, Dave kept the rhythm rollin’.
About this time Kurdt’s mom Wendy re-enters our world, crawling across equipment backstage and generally beaming. I asked her if, now that she had passed The Paramount’s initiation, was she having herself a good time? “I’m having the most fun I’ve had in years and the best Halloween, EVER!”
The Nirvana stage was flanked on either side by androgynous go-go dancers, one male, one female, wering identical blond bobs, shorts, tinted goggles and t-shirts emblazoned with “BOY” and “GIRL” (which inaccurately, judging by their chests, described the occupants. I learned that, at least in live settings, Chris owns the voice that sings the stolen intro to Territorial Pissings. By the time it was over, I was so drunkenly delerious on this particular concert experience, I couldn’t remember what song they played last. I think it was Love Buzz, but whatever it was, it was on.
As are they. Bear witness to this ride, Seattle.