The Misery demo & Althea - Ladders To Climb and Stones To Throw

As promised, here is the Misery demo and that Althea EP I mentioned a while back...

The Misery - demo: http://www.mediafire.com/?j2btpong6z7qy5a

(check it out if you like Saves the Day and all those early 2000s bands that were taking the Lifetime sound and running with it)

Althea - Ladders To Climb and Stones To Throw: http://www.mediafire.com/?9404mcioaniyr08

(check it out if you like Deep Elm Records at their prime [first few Emo Diaries comps])

July 25, 1999(?) & May 16, 2000(?): I Farm, Clancy 6, Boom Boom Cats, Charm City Suicides, Caste, Kerum, Die Cheerleader Die, and the Overprivileged

Sorry for the lapse there folks, I had to scan more flyers. While doing so I found these two older ones, so this post is a little out of sequence.

The first flyer was actually on the flip side of a flyer I was scanning from 2000. I didn't go to it. I've asked the promoter and one of the band members and the best guess is that this show was from 1999 (but possibly 1998 or 2000). Josh from The Sound Exchange in Ellicott City booked the show.

I didn't attend the 2nd show either. Someone gave me this flyer for the blog, but now I can't remember who. Club Ozone was what is now the Ottobar. The best guess for the year of this one is 2000 (not long before the Ottobar took it over), but possibly 1999.

We'll get back to the regular rotation of flyers tomorrow.

July 28 - Aug 12, 2000: Sidebar calendar

This is a calendar flyer designed by Carl Caracia for a handful of shows at the Sidebar. I don't remember who Box Car Children were (did they play that Swarm show at the Kaffa House?), but The 65 Film Show were a rad post-hardcore-ish band from Virginia Beach. I think Curtiss Williams from Time Flies played in that band if I remember correctly. Not sure if any of them made any music after that band. Garrison was a post-hardcore band on Revelation that had a couple of decent songs, but didn't really grab me. Same thing goes for The Stryder from Long Island. That August 5th show was pretty cool. Midtown sucked and I don't know who The Falls Version was, but The Stereo, The Movielife, and The Misery were all great. The Misery were a melodic hardcore band out of Baltimore with Aaron from Torn Apart/Behind Closed Doors, PJ (Ziggy from The Wire), Pete Hilton, and I can't remember who else. I'll try to remember to upload that demo this weekend. I definitely didn't attend that Commin Correct show, but CodeSeven were a decent band with cool guys.

EDIT: Found this post-posting this post...

July 27, 2000: Purpose, Worthless, Holding On, Looks Like Rain @ the Sushi Cafe, Baltimore, MD

I don't remember this show being hugely attended but I do remember having a good time. I really enjoyed every band on this show. Purpose were some cool "Revolution Summer" inspired hc/punk from NJ. The singer and I went to the same elementary and high school. He was a few years younger than me, but it's cool to think that anyone from my tiny grade school in Bumfuck, NJ went on to play in a cool band. (The drummer from Rad also went to the same elementary school.) He (John) went on to sing for the Break a few years later. Their first record is great. Not sure what any of the other members went on to do. Worthless were a cool punk band, also from NJ. Matt Times (Fast Times, Tear It Up, the Rites) played drums for them. I think this show was right around the time they were suing Ann Beretta (no shit, AB just popped up on my iPod as I'm writing this) for ripping them off on a song that was on their Lookout! album. I remember being told about this situation at this show. Not sure how any of that ever panned out. Also not sure what any of the other members went on to do except for a short-lived band called Rock, Star that put out a decent demo. I think this was the first time Holding On came through Baltimore. Looks Like Rain would go on to play with those guys quite a bit and it was always a pleasure. Good band and really good guys. Karl went on to work for Bridge 9 Records, and is now at Epitaph. Some of the other guys formed bands but the only one I can remember right now is Hope You Choke (named after a lyric from my favorite Poison Idea song). Not sure if any of them are still playing in bands. Fun time.

July 23, 2000: Churner, Looks Like Rain, Angel Eyes, Ourselves Alone, Victory Red, Flirting With Disaster @ 1253 Columbia Rd, Woodbridge, VA

First things first, I actually did what I said I was gonna do. Here are Ampersand's two EPs for your listening pleasure:

1a34959u - http://www.mediafire.com/?oh8h2o2wompx12b

Telluric Currents - http://www.mediafire.com/?3ves3anw7m0pv6o

Check 'em out if you dig 90s heavy discordant hardcore, somewhere between Bloodlet, Die 116, and Lungfish. Mitch Olshansky, I'm looking at you. "Interrogation Techniques" on the first EP is the jam.

Onto the flyer...The only recollection I have of this show is that it was in the back yard. I have no idea whose house that was. I remember that Churner were from NoVA. Heavier stuff if I remember correctly. No idea what any of them did after that band, if anything. Angel Eyes was Matt Bidwell from the Green House in Vienna, VA and friends. They played Gravity Records-kinda stuff. I have no idea who Ourselves Alone or Victory Red were. Flirting With Disaster were an all-female band, though I don't remember exactly what they sounded like; metalcore, I think. So much for my memory.

July 20, 2000: Engine Down, the Future Perfect, Ampersand, Looks Like Rain @ Ottobar, Baltimore, MD

Hey there. It's been a while. Sorry about that. My one new year's resolution for 2012 is to get this going again. I welcome your participation. Any memories you have about any of the shows or bands I post, please feel free to contribute. Thanks for checking this out...

One of these things is not like the other. Don't ask me why Looks Like Rain got asked to play this, but I'm glad we did because all the other bands were great. I never owned any of Engine Down's albums but I always enjoyed seeing them live. So tight and really interesting songs. I'm not sure if any of them are still making music. I hope so. The Future Perfect - first of all, great band name - I've mentioned them before on here. Cool band featuring former members of Blank and Bridgewater. The brothers Silanskis both played in the band. Any band with a family connection already has a leg up. There's a connection there that can't be denied. I don't think they ever recorded anything which is a bummer. I promised a friend I'd send him rips of the Ampersand demos and EP a while back and still haven't done so. I'll try to do that this week and post them here as well.

July 15, 2000: Kill Your Idols, Grey Area, Life's Halt, No Reply, Looks Like Rain @ the Sidebar, Baltimore, MD

I booked this show on the Life's Halt / No Reply tour a couple days after the Philly show. As you can imagine with that line-up, it was a lot of fun. I still have an orange towel that one of those dudes left at my house that night. This may have been the first show I booked at the Sidebar.