I started off the day Golden Gate Park at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and the (faux) DKs provide a nice, albeit jarring, contrast.
I have never seen Skip Greer before, but he was enjoyable. He covers the material well and provides a reasonable stage presence. He definitely has the sneer down though his inter-song ramblings, though while somewhat Jello-esque where more formulaic whining than anything insightful. That, or maybe I have a higher bar for ironic, angst-filled babble than I did when I was a teenager. The rest of the band sounded quite good and seemed to be having a great time.
One odd part the show was a group of six or so 50ish guys wearing their studded leather jackets that looked like they hadn’t been out of the closet for 20 years. Every time Skip Greer came out to the front of the stage they would yell, in drunken unison, “You’re a fraud.” Ummm, guys, who did you expect to see tonight? Did you miss the press release 25 years ago? Overall, the audience was much younger than the crowd that goes to see Jello. Maybe they were there to see the opening bands?
It was a 9:00 show with three opening acts. The first band, 13 Scars, was unremarkable.
Guantanamo Dogpile, the second band was interesting primary for their stage act. It was a big band; about a dozen people on stage. The guys all wore a mixture of ski masks, suicide vests, and gas masks and the women were dressed in burkas. They brought out a hooded prisoner and, after chaining him to the drum kit, proceeded to “beat” him and throw gooey pumpkin innards out into the audience. Later in the show they augmented this with Silly String and confetti. Towards the end of the show the “burka chicks” brought out leaf blowers to clean the stage. Quite a spectacle indeed.
I didn’t know that Fang, final opener was even skill around. They are a straight-up hardcore band. I remember hearing of them but I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen them.
- East Bay Ray – Guitar
- Klaus Flouride – Bass
- D.H. Peligro- Drums
- Ron “Skip” Greer – Vocals