October 6th, 1998: Cross My Heart, Brandston, Appleseed Cast, Situation at 1200, East Liberty @ Sound Exchange, Ellicott City, MD

I can't remember why the UMBC Commuter Cafe became unavailable for shows again, but this show actually got moved to the Sound Exchange record store in Ellicott City. Even though Brandston were ex-members of some crappy Jesus-core band, I thought their first Deep Elm release had some pretty decent indie-rock songs on it so I was into booking a show for them. Nothing Appleseed Cast ever released ever did anything for me, but they were on tour with Brandston. Situation at 1200 were an OK indie/emo band from New Jersey. Not sure if any of them went on to do anything later on. East Liberty were a local indie rock band featuring Pat Vogel (Crispus Attucks, FVKDC, Sick Fix...), Jim Ventosa (Passover, South Carey), and I forget who else. And like I said in a previous post, Cross My Heart were one of my favorite local bands. Good show.

October 4th, 1998: Knapsack, At the Drive-In, Antarctica, Charlie Brown Gets a Valentine @ UMBC, Baltimore, MD

I like to tell the story of this show cuz it goes to show how douchey some people can become because some people like their band. I never cared much for Knapsack, always thought they were a boring Samiam rip-off, but their booking agent sent me a copy of their new album, "This Conversation Is Ending Starting Right Now", and I thought it was decent. In the same package I got At the Drive-In's "In/Casino/Out". Fuck. I was blown away. They'd already had a couple of records out but hadn't done much east coast touring, if any, so no one really had a clue who they were. I couldn't stop listening to that CD. It was fresh and unique and energetic and really really good. I immediately agreed to do the show as they were supporting Knapsack on the tour. I was definitely way more excited to see At the Drive-In than Knapsack for sure. I don't remember who Antarctica were. Charlie Brown Gets a Valentine were a few guys from around Maryland that played pretty decent pop-punk (they're reuniting for this year's Insubordination Fest, mention this show if you go). Lucas, the guitar player, would go on to form Dead Mechanical many years later, who are one of my favorite current local bands. I added them to the bill and the show was all set. The show was in the Commuter Cafe at UMBC, which was, well, a cafeteria. Not your typical venue for the rising stars of emo-pop I guess, because when Knapsack showed up, they were the first band there, they walked in, looked around, asked where they could find some food, left and never came back. Meanwhile, the locals played to a small crowd and then At the Drive-In set up and blew everyone away. You'd think they were playing to a crowd of 1000. Totally going crazy, playing well, and having a blast. They were excellent. They were totally down to earth, friendly dudes just happy to play a show in front of new people. From that day on I always had a chip on my shoulder for Knapsack. The Jealous Sound were way better anyway. I have some pictures from this show somewhere but can't seem to find them right now. When I do, I'll post them. I made that sweet flyer.

October 1st, 1998: Kill Your Idols, Longshot, De Nada, Mendoza @ Sound Exchange, Ellicott City, MD

Ah, the Sound Exchange. Those were fun days for me because I met many of the people that would become some of my best friends at those shows, and I am still close with most of them to this day. Those were the days of cramped but fun shows in a tiny record store in downtown Ellicott City, epic Tetris matches in Josh's apartment above the store, late nights at the Double T diner in Catonsville after the shows...good times. This probably would have been the first time I saw Kill Your Idols. They clicked with the Baltimore area kids right away and were always down to hang out before and after the shows. That started a friendship with those guys that still carries on to this day. Pulling Teeth had the honor of playing one of their last shows. It's cool to see that over ten years later most of them are still making music. A super solid trio of locals opened the show and helped make it a super fun time. For those of you that are too young to remember the Sound Exchange, it was the third or fourth building on the right as you came under the train tracks, coming from Catonsville into old Ellicott City. I think it was a golfing supply store right after the Sound Exchange closed. Last time I was down there I think it was a chandelier/lighting store.

September 27th, 1998: Cross My Heart, Wrong Button, the Exploder, 5 Gold Stars @ Ottobar, Baltimore, MD

Hmmm, I saw Cross My Heart and The Exploder at the old Ottobar so many times they all get jumbled together. I'm pretty sure this was when Eric Kane (Strike Anywhere) was playing drums for The Exploder. They were such a rad band. I still spin their records fairly often. I also seem to like "West End Kids Crusade" more than anyone else I know. Cross My Heart are one of my favorite Baltimore bands ever. Indie/emo perfected. Funny aside, I am now engaged to the girl that that first EP (and probably a bunch of later songs) was about. Wrong Button were decent, but never really grabbed me. I can't remember who 5 Gold Stars were. Not sure who made this flyer, but I always liked it.

September 4th, 1998: Disembodied, Overcast, Zao, Darkest Hour @ Supreme Imperial, Baltimore, MD

Jamie Arthurs and Chris Brady booked this show. I made the flyer. This was the last show we did at the original incarnation of the Supreme Imperial. Again, we arrived to find no one around to open up for us so we broke in so we could have the show. I don't remember an amazing turnout but I think it was decent. If you were a fan of heavy metallic hardcore, then that was quite a line up, minus the corny-ass Christian rock element, but that was Jamie Arthurs for ya. I thought that Disembodied 10" was solid but I can't say I've listened to it in quite some time. Ferret Records had a pretty quality reputation for a while before they decided to follow the money trail. I actually enjoy Overcast more these days than I did then. It was a bit too much for me at the time, but I get it now. By that point we had had it with not having anyone show up to let us into the space so we moved all of our upcoming shows to various venues. The reggae band returned from tour at the end of the month and informed us that they were getting evicted by the landlords for not paying rent for a few months. They filled us in on how the guy they had set up to take care of their bills while they were on tour was spending the money on himself and then got arrested for selling weed. We acted pretty bummed but saw this as our opportunity to take over the space. We gave it a week or so and called them up asking for the landlord's phone number. Sometime in October we got in touch with the landlords and worked out a rental deal that included a clause that they needed to take care of a bunch of repairs to the building before any rent would be due. Things like putting in new windows upstairs, putting a security gate and new front door in, fixing the garage door so it was secure, fixing the furnace, etc. They let us have access to the space right away so we could get to work on cleaning it out, building a stage, painting, etc. We re-opened as the Chop Shop on November 4th, but more info on that when we get to that flyer. For more details on the history of the space, see my "Partial History of Supreme Imperial / Chop Shop" at deadvenues.com.

August 29th, 1998: Rain On the Parade, Longshot, For the Living, De Nada, Innerside Burning @ Supreme Imperial, Baltimore, MD

Another Steve Clark flyer. I honestly don't remember anything from this show. I have a feeling ROTP cancelled. I'm gonna defer to those with a better memory than me on the details from this one.

August 14th, 1998: Nerve Agents, Rain On the Parade, Count Me Out, Right Brigade, the Explosion, No Justice @ Falls Church VFW, Falls Church, VA

I think the flyer says enough. Amazing fucking show. I think I got the American Nightmare demo tape at this show. Did they play a few songs? By the looks of the flyer, Barfight would have been the "surprise guest", but I don't remember them playing. Maybe they did. I did sound for this show. I think Tru and Eric came up to me at one of the Supreme Imperial shows and asked if I knew anyone that had a PA that could do sound for their Falls Church VFW shows. The PA we were using at the Supreme Imperial was my friend Kevin's. Sometimes we used our friend Carlos's stuff as well. I talked to them about letting me use their equipment for these Malfunction shows and we worked out a deal and I ended up doing sound pretty often for those guys at the Falls Church VFW and then later on at High Fidelity Records in Woodbridge. There were some great shows. Linas Garsys made this flyer.