First off, I’m sorry that my posts have gone a bit quiet lately. Truth to tell, I’ve lost a bit of my blog-mental-mojo lately with various things here and there that come along with the bullshit of life since American Idiot on Broadway closed last month, and the posts to the blog will more than likely be a little infrequent until someone or something brings my mojo back to me!
May Mojo Bringing
Until said mojo-returning time, I have some mojo-boosting to look forward to during May, including seeing the Dirty Pearls at the Webster Hall Studio (May 11th), Dear Landlord at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn (May 12th), and then Honah Lee in Brooklyn at the Charleston (May 13th), as Honah Lee celebrates the upcoming release of their new album. Hopefully I’ll survive three straight nights of rock and roll so that I can head to the theater the week after to see Derek Jacobi in the sold-out Donmar Warehouse production of King Lear at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and The Tempest by Target Margin Theater at HERE. The Donmar Warehouse and Target Margin are two of my favorite theater companies, and though I’ve seen productions of both Shakespearean plays a billion times, I can watch a good Shakespeare production any time of the day or night. I was also lucky to see Michael Esper and an old schoolmate of mine, Matt Servitto (he played an FBI agent in HBO’s The Sopranos for years),in Tony Kushner’s new play, Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures at the Public Theater. Esper and Servitto are in pivotal supporting roles and they are great, as is the production in general. It’s a very heavy show, mixing family misery with a dose of labor history and a father’s announcement of his impending suicide, but through the heavy there are some excellent laughs, a sharp script, lovely set, and outstanding performances. And Esper is shirtless for a bit in the show, so… MOJO BONUS!
June Mojo Bringing
Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits Tour Schedule May-June 2011
Bobby Joe Ebola, Cheesequake, Dog That Bites Everyone - Lulu's, June 7th
Then June brings some fun California mojo back to the New York area in the form of Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits! Bobby Joe’s Corbett Redford III and Dan Abbott are hitting the road again, with their “Ring Around the Bullshit” tour from May 13th to July 6th (though the tour goes through July 29th), starting off in California with stops in the Metro New York area in New Brunswick, NJ (The Alamo on June 6th) and my very own borough of Brooklyn at Lulu’s on July 7th. The above graphic has the tour dates but check out their constantly updated Facebook event page for tour venues and last minutes updates and changes. Make sure you catch them for a down-to-earth good time when they come near you.
Redford and Abbott are two of the hardest-working musicians out there. Not only did they finish up a week with the Frustrators touring back in February with a bunch of great bands, but they’ve been working non-stop on shows as well as on 13 videos to each of the songs from their 2010 album release, F. The first of the videos came out a few weeks ago… and was immediately banned from Youtube! That should indicate to you the level of provocative imagery that the first of these videos (the first being the song “Poly,” below) will bring you for the other 12 releases. Stay tuned to their Facebook page as well as their homepage, BobbyJoeEbola.com for more videos. Vodpod videos no longer available.
Bobby Joe Ebola - ¡Carmelita Sings!: Visions of a Rock Apocalypse
Especially for this “Ring Around the Bullshit” tour, the duo are re-releasing their 2000 album entitled, ¡Carmelita Sings!: Visions of a Rock Apocalypse, a collection of 30+ songs including a few live tracks. The original version came with an special art book that’s being reissued as well, with art by Jon Carling, who did cover art for F, Robert Eggplant of Absolutely Zippo, and Jason Chandler of the Frustrators, among others.
I love this album! I snagged a copy of it during their NYC tour last year, and it’s in heavy rotation on my iPhone. Every song is worth a sing-along as Bobby Joe sings songs of turtles losing their home (“Mr. Turtle”), psychotic girlfriends (“Psychotic Girlfriend (The Smurf Nazis)”), dentists who provide meat for Iams and Purina (“Root Canal”), the joys of college and not calling your parents (“Money for Books”), loving drugs that call me “potato” (“I Love Drugs”), and, “You Don’t Have to Die Alone”… so when you die a violent death, take someone with you… . The album is completely irreverent, funny, over-the-top and musically satisfying. I’ve never seen the art book that comes with it but with all of the artists that appear in it plus the additions to the disc, I’ll have to buy a new copy of the set when they hit Brooklyn in June.
Here’s a press release about the re-issue:
¡Carmelita Sings!: Visions of a Rock Apocalypse
“The dark and cerebral classic 2000 album now reissued for the first time with its original 40 page ‘art book’! This brick of awesome also features some new art inspired by the album cataclysmic tone, B-sides, an unreleased MacNuggit radio performance from Canadian station CITR, recorded October 19th, 1999 AND never before reprinted buttons & stickers from the tense and bygone era this opus came out.
The art book contains illustrations, paintings, collage and more from many artists including Jon Carling, Moses Saarni, Fermin Mata, Robert Eggplant (Absolutely Zippo), Julia Booze, Dylan Blackthorn, Christopher Murdoch, Jason Chandler (The Frustrators), Baby Deer (Fleshies), Caoimhe Über Alles and even some doodles by the band members!
Come to think of it, all of this great stuff in the next few months is sure to bring me the mojo! I’m looking forward to it. I hope everyone has a great couple of months, and I hope to see you at a show!
"Gabriel! Your "Griller" CD is coming your way, baby! SQWARK! Does anybody else see that pink bunny up there, or have I just been drinking too much lately?" - Zombie Stanley by Art Tedeschi
If you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering if you won a contest or something. I won’t keep you waiting, so let’s get right down to it.
Thanks to everyone who entered! I know that the questions were a bit frustrating, but hey, welcome to my world!
Winners: Gabriel Bernard and Marisa Graham!
Only one person correctly answered all twelve questions and he was also the first person to send his answers in. Literally… The first person. It probably isn’t fair that he won since he runs his own Frustrators fan website and knew all of the answers. Congratulations, Gabriel Bernard! You win a CD that I am pretty sure you already own!
"F" - Released October 12, 2010 - Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits. Baby Goat of Rock Photo by Corbett Redford I, 1942. Cover design by Jon Carling
The second place winner is Marisa Graham. Marisa took the photograph that appears on the back album cover and insert to the Frustrators’ 2000 EP, Bored in the USA, taken at the band’s second-ever live performance, at 924 Gilman. It’s probably not fair that she won, either, but Marisa was the first person to answer eleven of the questions correctly as well as the second person to enter the contest.
Marisa’s only incorrect answer was to Question #11: “What is the name of the upcoming album by Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits that lead singer Jason Chandler designed the album cover for?” Marisa answered F, which was released by Bobby Joe Ebola last year on October 12, 2010, on Silver Sprocket Records. The album that Chandler (lead singer of the Frustrators and graphic artist) designed the cover, CD, and booklet art for, Meal Deal with the Devil! is Bobby Joe’s upcoming album and book release due in mid-2011. (See below for more!) Sorry about that, Marisa! But, on a bright note, you won what you wanted… the Frustrators bag. Congratulations!
Prize #2: Frustrators Felt BackPack Bag
A shout out goes to Crystal S. who was the only other person to answer eleven of the questions correctly, but unfortunately, I have nothing else to give away but my sincere thanks for taking the time to enter the contest! Unfortunately, your answer to “Did the Frustrators play their first ever live gig at 924 Gilman?” was incorrect. See below for the answer!
Gabriel and Marisa, send me your mailing addresses at greendaymind@gmail.com and I’ll send your items out as soon as possible. Or just wait until I email you, one or the other!
Dang, that was frustrating! What is this? School?
And here’s the answers. I have to say, it was great fun looking this stuff up! But then again, I’m a nerd…
1. The Frustrators have four songs/EPs/Albums on the Adeline Records label. What are the four Adeline numbers of these recordings?
Griller - AR 046
Might as Well... Can't Dance - "Trout" - AR 008
Achtung Jackass - AR 020
Bored in the USA - AR 005
The Frustrators have four songs/EPs/Albums on the Adeline Records label. Each record released by Adeline is numbered in the Adeline logo by the order of release. The numbers for the Frustrators releases are: Griller AR 046, Achtung Jackass AR 020, Bored in the USA, AR 005, and Song #6, “Trout,” appeared on a Adeline showcase album entitled Might as Well… Can’t Dance, AR 008.
2. The band had two potential names before settling on “The Frustrators.” Name one of the potential names.
It’s funny about the name. At first we wanted to call ourselves “the Ropers.” It is such a great name. It brings to mind all kinds of good things, like cowboys and Three’s Company (that show with Suzanne Sommers, the landlords were named the Ropers). It was cheesy. We liked it. But we found out there was a band signed to Velocity Girl’s label in DC already named “the Ropers.” Ooh, we were pissed. So then we came up with “the Regal Beagles,” which was the bar in Three’s Company. And we had them put that name on the flyers for Backyard Believers [the venue of the band’s first show], and then we found out there was a ska band in LA with that name! So now we were frustrated. And that is where the name came from.
The answers, the Ropers and the Regal Beagles are from a television show that I watched a lot back in the day, Three’s Company. In fact, I think I got most of my life’s philosophy from this show, which is really, really weird. The show’s plot entailed three roommates, Janet Wood, Chrissy Snow and Jack Tripper, two women (one bombshell blond, Suzanne Sommers and one brunette everywoman, Joyce DeWitt) and one man (John Ritter, one of the funniest guys on the planet, RIP). The three mixed-gender roommates lived together because of the cheap California rent and hung out at the local bar called the Regal Beagle. The show ran from 1977 to 1984, a time when men and women who weren’t married or related were beginning to openly share homes as roommates. If you weren’t married or related, you were living in sin, even if everyone had their own bedrooms! Their landlords were Mr. and Mrs. Roper. Mr. Roper (classic comic genius Norman Fell) was opposed to a mixed-gender living arrangement if the man was straight, so Jack had to constantly pretend that he was gay in order to satisfy Mr. Roper’s rental requirement. Mrs. Roper (the wonderfully wry Audra Lindley, seldom without a drink in her hand) loved her dopey, but cheap husband and liked the tenants, and she knew that Jack was straight. Jack also had the heavy hots for busty and blonde Chrissy. Believe me, hilarity ensued. It was a show full of classic comedic pratfalls, subterfuge, innuendo, double entendres, and boobs. Ah, the 70s.
All in all, I’m glad that the potential names, the Ropers and the Regal Beagles, were out of commission because The Frustrators is the perfect name for the band, and I totally get where their sense of humor comes from. Oh and yea, cowboys, too.
3. Name the Frustrator who sculpted the zombie version of Stanley the Chicken which appears on: the cover of the Griller 7″ vinyl, inside the CD fold-out, and on the t-shirt worn by Mike during the tour? (See the t-shirt on Mike)
Zombie Stanley - Sculpture by Art Tedeschi - Courtesy of the Frustrators
Mike and Stanley - Photo: Kerry Harris
Art Tedeschi, drummer of The Frustrators, is a former makeup artist among other professions, and sculpts and does life casts for fun. He sculpted the zombie image of Stanley the Chicken. In fact, it’s called… Zombie Stanley! If you’re wondering how it was made like I was, Tedeschi was found in his corner of the bunker and asked. He says that: “It was sculpted by hand with stone clay, I used clay tools to do any detail work, then painted with water-based paints and finally, it was fired in a kiln! He is the Zombie Stanley!” Tedeschi went on to to say: “I used to go to all the make-up trade shows in LA and got to meet some cool professionals. I even modeled for the make-up artist that ran the dept. for Buffy the Vampire Slayer teevee show. He gave me a vampire forehead and when I wore it outside, no one seemed to notice. That’s LA for you.”
Needless to say, when he mentioned Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I swooned. Best teevee show ever.
The sculpted head is pretty amazing, and the details and coloring are nicely done! I did not ask what the inspiration was for the Zombie Stanley sculpture. I figure that I’d leave that to the Frustrators themselves to explain one day, but there is a slight resemblance to a certain bass player…
Griller EP Special Vinyl Cover with Zombie Stanley
4. Which two Frustrators members played with Green Day on an episode of Mad TV?
Terry Linehan Performs with Green Day on Mad TV
The two Frustrators members who played with Green Day on MAD TV were Mike Dirnt and Terry Linehan. Jason White was on tour with the Influents during this performance and Terry stepped in for him. Linehan is part-owner of a bar located in Providence, RI called the Scurvy Dog. Arrgh! Pirates! Go in and have a drink if you’re ever in the nabe! Terry is also in a band called Hope Anchor. They recently were featured on a compilation album of cover songs called, Failed Tribute Bands and have a pretty awesome version of “Stand By Me” included [Direct LINK to song track here]. I was listening to this compilation celebrating the 100th release of the independent record company, 75orLess, and there are some gems on it! The download is free, so check out Hope Anchor as well as the other local bands that appear on the free download.
5. The animated cartoon character in the tease leak to the song, “Prettiest Girl” has a name. What is it?
Joy McQueefy
Joy McQueefy, Punk Princess! Find her on Facebook, where she occasionally gives out punk beauty wisdom such as:
Joy’s Punk Princess Beauty Secret #2 — Discounted white-label Japanese cosmetic contact lenses that say they’ll make your eyes look bigger and show up at your house in a crushed box wrapped in newspaper are TOTALLY WORTH THE PINKEYE LADIES!! I looked awesome for a few minutes there, and will do it again just as soon as my stupid antibiotics run their course.
6. What year did their first live performance take place?
They partied like it was…. 1999!
7. Did the Frustrators play their first ever live gig at 924 Gilman?
The cover of “Bored in the USA,” shows the Frustrators at their first-ever show performance… but it’s not taken at 924 Gilman. The first-ever live performance by the Frustrators took place at an outdoor vintage car event called the Backyard Believers, a week or so before the Gilman show, which took place on August 20, 1999! The answer to this question is found in the link below, though the Backyard Believers part was a bit more difficult to track down on the Internet. The Wayback Machine Archive of the Frustrators old website had to help me with that one.
The Wayback Machine Archive has links to two photos of that first show, but the links are dead. Pictures for this gig’s show might be lost forever in the bunker, back in the days of actual film!
This passage is from an interview that Lis Booth of “PunkGlobe.com” did with JasonC last year:
The big photo on the back of “Bored in the USA” was from that [Gilman] show. I think Gilman was our 2nd show, and maybe the first one where we called ourselves the Frustrators. … I just Googled it, yes indeed it was our 2nd show and the first one where we used the name “The Frustrators.” It was in 1999. At that show we handed out hand-burned copies of our unmastered “Bored in the USA” which had just been mixed. It was our first indoor show so it was nice.
8. What two legendary and well-known venues besides 924 Gilman did the Frustrators play in 2001?
The Fillmore in San Francisco and the Troubabour in Los Angeles. The shows were for an Adeline Records showcase. The Frustrators were on the bill with several Adeline bands, including The Influents: Jason White, Bill and Greg Schneider, and Willie Samuels. An archive of old postings at Greenday.net and a list of past shows at the Influents website helped with this one.
9. From which European country does a rock surf band named “The Frustrators” come from?
If you hear talk of the Frustrators touring around in Europe, make sure it’s the Frustrators from California! There’s a surf rock band from the Czech Republic who share the name, “The Frustrators.” Sadly, it’s unlikely that the first and true Frustrators will ever tour in Europe, so if you find yourself at a Frustrators show in the middle of a landlocked, former Eastern bloc country with awesome beer and limited available surfing, you are probably hearing the surf rock Frustrators of the Czech Republic and not the ironic pop-punk Frustrators of the East Bay. Check out the surf rock Frustrators at their Bandzone.cz site. They aren’t bad!
10. Within the last week, The Frustrators posted Youtube videos on their Facebook page of several young bands covering Frustrators songs. Name one of the bands, the country that they come from, and the song that they covered.
There were four cover songs (two acoustic solos and two band recordings) that were featured on the Frustrators’ Facebook last week. One of the bands were Loudstuff from Italy. The other was The Razorblades from Brazil. Both bands performed “I Slept with Terry.” It’s nice that they support these young bands from around the world. If you have a cover of a Frustrators song, whether solo, acoustic, with a band, in your pajamas, whatever, send it to them at their Facebook page.
Loudstuff – Italy – I Slept with Terry [Starts about 5:30] – 2009
The Razorblades – Brazil – I Slept with Terry – 2009
11. What is the name of the upcoming album by Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits that Jason Chandler designed the album cover for?
Meal Deal with the Devil- Bobby Joe Ebola and Children MacNuggits - Design by Jason Chandler, Horrible Comics 2011
Meal Deal with the Devil- Bobby Joe Ebola and Children MacNuggits - Design by Jason Chandler, Horrible Comics, 2011
Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits will release their upcoming recording Meal Deal with the Devil! later this year. The cover features Chandler’s characters, “The Flies.” Kinda adorable. From what I understand, there’s a comic or graphic book that goes along with the album. Combined with the storytelling genius of those Ebola dudes, Corbett Redford III and Dan Abbott, and Chandler, it should be pretty awesome. I can’t wait to hear and see what these guys have cooked up for us!
Meal Deal with the Devil will be released in mid-2011 on Silver Sprocket Records and I think that Bobby Joe Ebola is gearing up to tour this summer. Don’t miss these guys if they pass through your town! Keep up to date with news from them at their website. Bobby Joe Ebola is currently working on videos from their album, F, released last year. Photo stills posted on their Facebook page from the video shoots range from mimes in a bar to psycho pig-snout human butcher demons. Hmm! Check out the video to their release from last year, Freaky Baby, from Funny or Die.
12. Name one other band that Mike Dirnt has recorded with that is not Green Day, the Network, the Foxboro Hot Tubs or the Frustrators.
Everyone who entered the contest sent in the name of the same band that Mike Dirnt has recorded with: Screeching Weasel. You can view the DJ Rossstar video below, starting about 2:30, for more bands that Dirnt has recorded with.
Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits - Dan Abbott (l.) and Corbett Redford III (r.)
West Coast sunshine, music and hilarity is coming to brighten our oncoming East Coast Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), as the days get colder and Winter lurks just around the corner. Brr. The East Bay‘s Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits are making their way to New York, New Jersey and surrounding areas! Woohoo! I mentioned back in October when Bobby Joe Ebola began spreading their Children MacNuggit wings again after a “Bush Administration-era hiatus,” that they were flying this way in December and well, it’s December and they are… uh… on their way!
Before arriving in New York and New Jersey, the Ebola duo of Corbett Redford III and Dan Abbott will kick off a mini-“Kill Yourself with Hugs” tour with Tartar Control for four California shows from 12/2-12/5/2010 and head straight to Minneapolis afterward on 12/6 for the start of the “Get a Bathroom Pass” tour with shows at two venues. From there, it’s a whirlwind, two-week tour through the Midwest and East Coast from Monday, December 6th to Monday, December 20th, including said Minneapolis, along with Duluth, MN, Appleton and Milwaukee, WI, Chicago, and Lansing, MI before hitting Philadelphia and Wilkes-Barre, PA, Trenton, Brooklyn, New York City, and finally, Boston. Whew! That schedule is exhausting just thinking of, but after a ten-year break from working as a duo, Abbott and Redford III are ready for road action, and being from California, they’ll have to stay constantly on the move around these parts just to stay warm.
"F" by Bobby Joe Ebola & the Children MacNuggits Review in Maximum RocknRoll - Click to read
I’ve been listening to their new album, F, and I highly recommend heading over to Silver Sprocket Records for a hard copy or Amazon for a digital download. If my recommendation doesn’t convince you, you can read a review of the album at the indie music blog, FensePost. The review includes two songs, “The Only Difference” and “Life is Excellent,” a song that makes me laugh and cry and shout out loud with its ranty yet bouncy chorus of “Life is excellent, the tap water tastes like excrement, the skies rain poison, but I’ve got to pay the rent.” Well, ain’t that the truth?
It’s a bit difficult to categorize their music, but the tags on their Bandcamp site (where you can hear two live recordings of the band) pretty much sum them up: anti-folkblack metalalternative popcomedy rockOakland. Uh, ok. Suffice it to say that you think their songs will be serious from the music, and then all of sudden they’re singing about polyamorous girlfriends (“Poly”) or friends and radiation poisoning (“The Crazy”) or bands that go on killing sprees (“Postcards from Inferno (I’ll See You in Hell)”). In other words, you never know in what direction their songs will take you, but it’s certain that you’ll laugh. Through the laughter of F there are serious underlying themes about migrant workers, consumerism, or environmental damage, among others, but they never hit you over the head with it. Or, hardly ever. I mean, with a song called “Sweet S**t of Christ,” you pretty much know what side of the religious coin they rest on. Their philosophy might be summed up in a Ghandi quote mentioned by Redford III in an interview at Uncle Critic: “If I had no sense of humor, I would have long ago committed suicide.” Yep. That about sums it up for me.
By the way, Billie Joe Armstrong has mentioned them as one of his favorite bands, and they “borrowed” one of Mike Dirnt’s cars for their recent “Freaky Baby” video while he was on tour. I believe that they eventually told him. I hope.
So do yourself a favor and fend off the SAD by catching them on the road when they come to a Midwest/East Coast town near you. I’ll be — at the least and hopefully all — in attendance at two of their shows when they hit New York, Don Pedro’s in Brooklyn, and The Cake Shop in Manhattan. I’m super excited by both shows, particularly the Don Pedro show as the Max Levine Ensemble, who I’ve heard a lot about but have never been able to catch (along with 50 Million, Weird Fantasy Band and Cheesequake) will be on the night’s bill with them. The Cake Shop show is sure to be fun, too, as it’s a Mike Cm Production show with local bands, Ergquist, House Boat, Mirrors and Wires, and the Tattletales. And remember, you get a free pizza with a purchase of a beer at Lulu’s in Brooklyn. Rumors are that they’ll be playing at ABC No Rio on the Lower East Side in Manhattan and maybe New Brunswick, NJ on Saturday, Dec. 18th, but as of now, there’s no confirmation.
Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits are looking for venue help with the Wilkes-Barre show, so if you can lend a hand in that surrounding area, give the band a shout-out on Facebook or their official contact page. For tour information and locations for the complete “Get a Bathroom Pass” tour, head on over to the Year-End Recap and Tour Page. See ya there!
New York City and Surrounding Areas – 12/15-12/19/2010
* Wed., Dec. 15th – TRENTON, NJ @ MILL HILL BASEMENT w/ CAPTIVE, DAY IN AND DAY OUT & ALL AGES — 300 S. Broad St./10PM
*Thurs., Dec 16th – BROOKYLN, NY @ LULU’S w/ THE PARKING LOTS, WEIRD FANTASY BAND AND MORE! — 113 Franklin St./9PM
*Fri. Dec. 17 – BROOKLYN, NY @ DON PEDRO’S w/ 50 MILLION, MAX LEVINE ENSEMBLE, WEIRD FANTASY BAND AND MORE! — 90 Manhattan Ave./8PM
*Sat. Dec. 18 – NEW YORK, NY @ TBA!
*Sun. Dec. 19 – NEW YORK, NY @ THE CAKE SHOP w/ ERGQUIST, HOUSE BOAT & THE TATTLETALES! — 151 Ludlow St./8PM
Here’s two videos of Bobby Joe Ebola, both from shows at Gilman, “Kool-Aid Man” from a 2007 show and a song from their current album, F, called “Sandwiches and Ammunition” from a April Fool’s Day performance in 2010.
Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits – “Kool-Aid Man” – 924 Gilman, 2007
Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits – “Sandwiches and Ammunition” from F – 924 Gilman, 2010
East Bay band and Vaudeville-punk act, Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits, released a four-song EP recently, Freaky Baby, on iTunes and made their first music AND rap video. [iTunes LINK HERE] The video to Freaky Baby is a little… freaky, but don’t get your panties in a bunch about the content. I’m sure it’s a parody of, and a statement on, the awesomeness of booties. I don’t know the band very well, but they are legend and funny as hell and have rattled around the East Bay since 1995, though according to their website, they took the Bush Administration years off, and are ready to hit it again. I was sitting in a Williamsburg bar recently waiting for a band to start, and folks in the bar were talking about them. They are starting a tour of the U.S. in the next few weeks. I wouldn’t miss them if I were you. [TOUR LINK HERE] The band consists of guitarist Dan Abbot and singer Corbett Redford.
I saw them as one of the opening acts for a Mystic Knights of the Cobra show back in February. They were stretching their performance wings after their hiatus, if I remember correctly. They were pretty great as a two-piece, and from what I understand, they have added a full band, including two members of the Mystic Knights of the Cobra, drummer Joshua “Gryptron” Wharton and bassist Sean “Night Moves” McTiernan. You can spy with your little eye the two Cobras in the new video released on Funny or Die, below.
Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits just held a video release party at Thee Parkside in San Francisco on 10/08 with Emily’s Army, The Secretions, The Angel and Robot Show (Angel Nova and AR-7 from Phenomenauts) with a special appearance by the Bay Area Derailleurs, the bike dance troupe featured in the Freaky Baby video, they being of the awesome booties. Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits tour starts 10/19/10 in Las Vegas, and after making their way through various towns and festivals in the South and Midwest, will hit the New York City area in mid-December. See you there!
Party! Party! Party! with the Mystic Knights of the Cobra and Honah Lee
HERE WE GO! HERE WE GO! HERE WE GOOOOOOooooOOOOO!!
I went out to the East Bay back in February and saw two great bands and two wild shows: Pinhead Gunpowder playing at 924 Gilman in Berkeley (see Youtube video of that show here) and the Mystic Knights of the Cobra playing at the Uptown in Oakland. (See Michelle Lawlor’s great photos from the Uptown show here.) It was my first time seeing either band live and though it may be my last time seeing the elusive Pinhead Gunpowder, I’m happy to report that there are not ONE, but FOUR opportunities coming up in April to see the Mystic Knights of the Cobra on their first NYC/NJ/East Coast tour. If you want a show with it all, magic acts, vaudeville and funked-out punk from the visceral gut, don’t miss the Cobra shows coming up in either NYC (Arlene’s Grocery, 4/21; Don Hill’s 4/23) or New Jersey (Asbury Lanes, 4/22 and Trenton, Mill Hill Basement, 4/24). Trenton-based band Honah Lee (“Frolicking in the autumn mist of a land called Honah Lee“) along with a few other bands (and special guests?) will be performing as well.
GO COBRAS GO!
It’s difficult to describe the Mystic Knights of the Cobra (aka, MKOTC or the Cobras). Are they funk punk? Party punk? Punk punk? Just punks? Their Facebook and MySpace pages list the following genres: Rock, Punk, Showtunes (!) and goes on to say: “Mixing punk, hard rock and old school with the occasional rap/break-beat or booty bass line, the Cobras are hard to put in any musical box.” Well, you got that right, don’t even try to put Baby Cobra in a box, she’ll kick your ass. The Cobras follow few musical rules except maybe those referenced in the song “Tranny Sex” from their 2009 album, There Is No End and spoken by the extreme punk, GG Allin from an appearance on the Geraldo Rivera Show:
“My body is a temple of rock ‘n’ roll, and my flesh and blood and body fluid are a communion to the people. I’m not out to please anybody … I’m trying to bring danger back to rock ‘n’ roll and there are no limits or laws, and I’ll break down every barrier from this time until the day I die…”
They don’t go as far as GG did (and that’s a good thing), but they do live in the same rock ‘n’ roll neighborhood, only, they have toilets in their part of town.
Hailing from Crockett, CA, MKOTC’s tribal members all share the same last name, Cobra (Baby Cobra, Lady Cobra, Crystal, Gyptron, Chinatown Meatloaf, Hotel Trell, Call Me Donny (RIP), Night Moves, Big Chief, Ghostown, College Prep, Call Me Donna, Lockdown, Cakes, Hot Lips, El Leche, Sexual, Alcatraz, Hey Puto, Cup Cake, Lu-Lu, Ki-Ki, Soda Pop, Hebrew National and Dirty Nasty the Filthy Gentleman) and while not all of them will be making their way to NYC, many of them will be coming East for the first time. The core band consists of singers Baby Cobra (Rachael) and Lady Cobra (Monica), guitarists Chinatown (Michael) and Ghosttown (Aaron), keyboardist Trell (just call him Trell), bassist Night Moves (Sean), trombonist Crystal and Gryptron (Joshua) on the drums.
I expect all of you jaded New Yorkers and New Jersians to get off of your asses, come party with MKOTC West Coast-style, and welcome them with a giant East Coast presence. It’s going to be a PARTY! PARTY! PARTY! that you will not want to miss.
Oh, and buy the band some drinks, too. They will love you long time if you do.
Go Cobras Go! - Mystic Knights of the Cobra at the Uptown, 2/13/10 - Photo by Michelle Lawlor
Green Day Mind 