Ludichrist and Scatterbrain – B.B. King’s Club and Grill – New York City, NY – February 23, 2007
Posted by Jesse Coy on 03.06.2007
Two great bands that you thought you'd never see again, all for the price of one... the return of the hardcore prankster legends and funk metal gurus.
PROLOGUE
The address they had on the net must be old, or these cheap bus lines are getting more legitimacy, because their booth was set up inside the South Station Terminal. It wasn’t behind a counter. It was more like a lemonade stand. $15, and the 2:30 bus was leaving five minutes later. As for quality of the bus, having been on a Greyhound Bus recently, last time I was in the valley, I noticed no difference in quality. As a matter of fact, the overhead lights worked here, and there’s been some Greyhound buses I’ve been on where they didn’t work. The bus had a functional restroom compartment, too.
I would’ve liked to some booze during the ride, but alas, it was not to be. Couldn’t find any delis that sold cheap 40’s in Boston’s Chinatown. I did some of my journal at the very beginning of the ride, but that’s hard to do on a jouncing bus. Thought we’d be in New York City by a bit after 6, but it was more a bit after 7. I started reading The Hunger, which seemed so fitting, especially as we saw New York City lit up in the night. Ah… wicked city! I asked the girl behind me if the bus picked up the same place as it dropped off (Bowary and Canal Street). Yep.
New York City was rather chilly. Didn’t try to orient myself right off, but rather moved a ways into Chinatown before I stopped to look at the map. I made my way to Broadway Avenue, and then turned up that. Again, some of those streets were quite chilly. It was like a wind tunnel effect. My fingers were definitely frozen stiff. And as I walked on, I marveled over the range of people… and block after block, buildings. I’d been to New York City many times over, of course, but not recently.
Found a market where I bought a turkey wrap and can of Sapporo, which came to $10. That’s right, there I was in New York City, brown bagging booze. Reached Times Square, and what’s the first things I see? On the news ticker, Iran Defies Nuclear Limitations, and then right next to that, in the center of Times Square, a military recruiting booth lit in the colors of the flag. It was a very Orwellian moment.
Located BB King’s, and went downstairs to see which band was playing. The band before Ludichrist was halfway through their set. Goody… time for a drink outside, so I wouldn’t have to pay the high cost inside. Bought a can of… what’s that Chinese beer? Kirin? No, it’s Japanese, too. There were lots of police in the area, so I stuck to side streets along the theater venues, pleasantly drinking my 24-ounce can in the frigid cold.
THE CONERT
Damn, why did I take my coat apart? They charged me double at the coat check, plus charged for my backpack… $6 total. Well, in my mind, the tip was included in that price. Went in to use the restroom, and what’s my first impression of the night there? Vomiting… some dude sounding like he was losing his guts down the commode, though it doesn’t reflect on the band, because they hadn’t even started yet. Also interesting was the No Moshing signs posted throughout the place. I’d kind of thought that B.B. King’s was an odd venue for a Ludichrist/Scatterbrain show.
For Ludichrist, I stood to the left of the stage, right in the front. Since Ludichrist only has two main albums, one thirty-one minutes long and the other thirty-six minutes long, it’d be easier to say what they didn’t play rather than what they did play. They didn’t play their remake of “Last Train to Clarksville” (instead, opting for a more fitting “Ace of Spades,” with a Kid Rock chunk thrown in the middle) or “Down with the Ship” (because they happily played the Scatterbrain version of that one). There may be four or five other tracks (tops) that they didn’t perform, but that’s it. As Tommy Christ pointed out, “the good thing about this Ludichrist set is, if you don’t like the song, all you gotta do is wait around a minute for the next one.” Well, personally, there wasn’t much I didn’t like, if anything, of Ludichrist.
While the material is great on CD… damn, it sounded awesome here. It was thicker, more fleshed out, and tighter. I also thought of System of a Down, and the truth of the matter being that another act, these guys, were one of the pioneers of that breakneck time change switching or highly precision style. And that was twenty years ago. Tommy said that it was a long story as to who did and didn’t want to participate in this as far as past members go. Yet if the music’s great, who cares? Besides Tommy, I recognized Guy (bassist of Scatterbrain) and Dave (drummer from the second Ludichrist album) (soldiering forth amidst a fever). Al Batross (first Ludichrist drummer) was in attendance in the crowd.
Ludichrist staples performed? Specifically, there of course was “This Party Sucks,” “Fire at the Firehouse,” and for an encore, “Most People Are Dicks” and “Green Eggs and Ham.” Kudos, also, for some of my other personal favorites, like “Legal Murder,” “Tip of My Mind,” and “Damage Done.”
Intermission time… and on one of the booth seats, what do I see? The vomit theme reinstated. It was barf all over the seat (was vomit boy roaming like crazy throughout the club?). I moved front and center for the next act… uh, them. But they were dressed differently.
This was Scatterbrain. You know, I never thought about it, but it was kind of a chancy thing to do a combo show of the two bands, especially when they have such a different style (eclectic hardcore for Ludichrist and funk metal for Scatterbrain). Well, there was no moshing, so maybe that prevented fights. Yet there had to be some hardcore kid, half heckler, occasionally calling out for Ludichrist stuff during Scatterbrain (despite the fact that they’d played nearly everything from Ludichrist that they had), who was also probably the same occasional heckler during the Ludichrist set.
That said, he was a small voice among the many others cheering for Scatterbrain, and at times, I nearly felt that the Scatterbrain material got an even stronger response. I’m likely somewhere in the middle, loving Ludichrist equally with Scatterbrain’s first album, Here Comes Trouble. So I got the best of both worlds, because they played nearly all of that debut (with the sole exception of “Outta Time”).
Of course, Scatterbrain’s set began as only a Scatterbrain set could… giant inflatable lobsters, Tommy in a lobster outfit, and the opening to the B-52’s “Rock Lobster,” with the guitarist and bassist smashing their instruments before Tommy sang a word, the whole band then proceeding to thank everyone and say good night. And no, I didn’t scurry for one of those broken instrument pieces, which were handed out (likely on ebay now, Tommy having signed the bigger chunks).
The Scatterbrain debut songs were great. I didn’t think they’d play “That’s That,” one of my personal favorites. Their “Down with the Ship” was mostly the debut album version, but with Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” riff like how they did it on the EP. “I’m with Stupid,” “Earache in My Eye,” Here Comes Trouble,” and “Mr. Johnson”… all great. And I love “Goodbye Freedom, Hello Mom.” As a Nuclear Assault fan, it was too bad John Connelly wasn’t in town. He could’ve done the duet on that one, and Ludichrist’s “You Can’t Have Fun,” like he did on the albums. But hey, I don’t want to get too greedy here.
The guitarists’ work (hell, and the bassist and drummer, too) not only on “Sonata #3” and “Sonata #11,” but if I’m not wrong, also Ludichrist’s “T.S.B.S.” was amazingly cool. Some of the tracks from Scamboogery suffered a bit without the horns (mostly “Tastes Like Chicken,” which they played) (and that’s probably why they didn’t play one of my favorites from that album, “Swiss Army Girl”) (someone in the crowd kept calling out for it, too). The only other tracks off the second album that they included were “Bartender” and “Grandma’s House of Babes.” They performed nothing off their final EP (even though “How Could I Love You” from that one is kind of fun).
Their set list wasn’t very much of a mystery, because this tall, bushy haired metal head next to me tilted an amp over to see the set list that was taped onto it (dude… wait to open your presents, okay?). The encore was “Don’t Call Me Dude” and “Drunken Milkmen” (another great but odd song, which I wouldn’t have thought they’d play).
Tommy was a bit down on himself, or self-conscious, about being old. Cheer up, bud. Besides, most of the people in the crowd were probably in a similar ballpark age wise. And hell, if Iggy Pop is still doing it, punk rocking and raging, you can’t complain much. The band promised another possible reunion show in twenty more years. Hopefully, they’ll do it sooner, but if not, I’m glad I caught this one this one. The two Ludichrist CD’s, one of which took me a while to track down, were both on sale there (reprinted imports).
EPILOGUE
Okay, so I stumbled out of the place… no I didn’t. I didn’t have anything to drink in there. I was sober, but I wanted to be stumbling drunk, because I had five hours to kill in the wee hours of night in New York City, and it wouldn’t have been so bad were it not so freakishly cold out. So it was time for a 40 (or a religious session with that special saint… Ides). I’d be a full-on city bum. And it was so cold that my lips nearly froze as I drank that stuff.
The plan was to drink that, and then find a place to chill out (or warm up) for a few hours. Would a cop really have stopped me if he drove by and saw me drinking out of a brown paper bag? I didn’t know. Didn’t see anyone else doing it, so I tried to be discrete. I had a fair walk ahead of me, too, to get to the Village. All I had handy was a five-year old guidebook on the city with a few possibly interesting places I’d try.
Naked Lunch sounded interesting. What? An $8 cover charge? Nah. The other place? It was a Russian-themed martini bar. I had a credit card for charging. No cover there, either… good. By the way, I’d finished the 40 by then. Finished that before I even hit the Village. I was going to write while I sipped a drink. Not in the mood for many people, I found a quiet upstairs area. Ordered one of the place’s specials (tasted like a cross between a martini and a mojita, with mint leaves), and then just a straight up vodka martini, Russian brand. The place would be open for another hour. It was only the bartender and another gal upstairs, and then when she left, a server gal or two came by (one from the Czech Republic). The other server gal gave me advice on where to hang out after I’d said that I was waiting to catch a six o’clock bus. She recommended Puck’s Fair. The bar would be open until past four. So I went there.
It was kind of like a normal bar right there in the Village… or, no… wood floors, and two floors. Packed. I had two pints there. Damn lucky I didn’t have a third. The bartender was from Cork (Ireland). I think I briefly talked to an Asian fellow who did media work. Then, to be honest, I really don’t remember leaving, nor the inebriated message I left for Shirleen, nor getting on the bus. Or, I only vaguely recall getting on the bus and being a bit lost before that (very vaguely). The next thing I knew, someone was shaking me, telling me we were in Boston.
Yee-haw… teleportation! You should try it some time.
Okay, you can put my straight jacket back on now.
The 411: Sweet... that's all I have to say about it at this juncture in time.
