Today I am going to do something a little different and turn the blog over to my friend
Bob Suren. You may know Bob as the owner of the Sound Idea Record Store in Brandon FL (rip) or perhaps through his record label
Burrito Records, or maybe still from his many musical ventures which includes Failure Face, The Flaming Midgets, Gross National Product, John Madden And The Electric Condoms and his current band Murder-Suicide Pact. Bob also hosts a weekly internet radio show entitled
The Punk Rock Record Party which is a great place to be turned on to all kinds of great underground music. Anyway, at this point let me step aside and let Bob take over...Dave G.
Bob: In 2003 I got the idea to get every band that had ever been on Burrito Records to do a show at my old record store, Sound Idea, in Brandon, FL. I called it the Burrito Records FeAst. A few bands just could not do it or could not be located, but what we got was pretty impressive. Eleven bands played on day one (SAT MARCH 23,2003) and on day two, eight of the same bands played again.
Shane Hinton, a local punker, made audio recordings of every band from the first day. I can't remember if he recorded the second day or not. If he did, I don't have the recordings. Anyhow, I recently ran across these recordings, tucked away on the bottom of my file cabinet. I figure it is better to get them out there than to leave them unheard.
Shane recorded everything with a single mic hung from ceiling in the middle of the room. The sound quality is better than I expected. Not perfect, but listenable. And if you were there, this will remind you how much fun those two days were.
A lot of people were shooting pics, but very few of them ever made it to my hands. Several people were shhoting video over the two days, but I've never seen any of it.
Anyhow, here is who played on day one and what I remember about their sets...Bob Suren.
Flaming Midget: FM was the first band on Burrito Records. I was the bassist. John, the drummer flew in for Texas, but we could not find the guitarist and the singer could not make it. John and I drafted Frank Vagnozzi from Reckless Deerhunters to play guitar and Richard Halsted to sing. We practiced once and did the show. We mess up the first song and then it gets better. I started the set wearing a zarape and a sombereo but had to ditch them after a couple of songs because it was so hot.
Scrotum Grinder: SG was kind of a mess this first day. Most of their set is tuning and jokes. They were a lot better on day two.
Combat Wounded
Veteran: The CWV set was short and frenzied. They got the crowd going pretty good. I think this may have been the last time they ever played.
Runnamucks: The Runnamucks were never on Burrito Records, but the intention was to have them learn a bunch of Hated Youth songs and get Gary Srtickland,the singer of HY to sing with them. But Gary didn't want to do it, so the Runnamucks just played their own stuff. They were always good live and played at Sound Idea many times.
Failure Face: The first Failure Face show in about seven years. We practiced for about 20 minutes at 10:00 AM the morning of the show without our bassist. I didn't know if we could pull it off, but I'm pretty happy with the set. I mess up the last song but other than that, it is fairly tight. This set was included as bonus tracks on the "Complete Failure" CD released by Burrito Records in 2003, now out of print.
Reason Of Insanity: ROI was always a good live band and this set is no exception. Sadly underrated and dearly missed by those who understand good hardcore.
Terrorain: Pat Lawlor, the singer of
Terrorain flew into the US the day before the show and stayed up all night practicing with the drummer and guitarist of Reason Of Insanity and Sound Idea employee Sam Watson on bass. They fucking nailed it. Pat says the UK version of Terrorain never sounded this good. I'll have to take his word for it
.
Otophobia: Atlanta's Otophobia absolutely shredded on both days. The drummer from Scrotum Grinder turned to me and said, "These guys are awesome. Keep them!"
Bread And Water: One of the many times Bread And Water played Sound Idea. They were excellent every time. Amy, the singer, really goes nuts. And drummer Chris Bland is one of the nicest guys out there.
Roach Motel: I didn't
believe Roach Motel would really play until they actually started playing. They had been debating back in forth by email for months about the logistics of reuniting the band members, who had moved all over the USA, squeezing in some practices and getting them all to the show. Then there were the lengthy and heated emails about what songs to play. I was fowarded copies of all of these emails. Some were very funny,like singer Bob Fetz's joking email that if the band didn't "...open with 'Sorry Ass Sucker,' I will tab George with a pair of scissors." That was the last straw for George Tabb, who decided right then not to do the reunion. They carried on as a four-piece. RM played the day before their Brandon set in their home town of Gainesville -- their first show in 19 years -- and supposedly, it was excellent. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when they finally arrived late on Day One of the FeAst. Roach Motel is an important band to me and probably the most important band in the history of Florida punk. You can hear me gush about them in the beginning of the Murder-Suicide Pact set. Anyhow, seeing them play that night was one of the biggest thrills of my punk rock life.
Murder-Suicide Pact: Roach Motel wanted to play before MSP. I didn't want to do that, but when Roach Motel talks, I listen. So, we closed the show. I do a little spiel in the beginning of this set about what Roach Motel means to me and I actually get a little choked up. I know, I'm a cornball. This was a fairly typical show for us, but with way more crowd participation. The sound quality is the best live recording of us I have heard. I had never listened to this set until about a week ago.
BURRITO FEAST MARCH 2003 #1
Flaming Midget
Scrotum Grinder
Combat Wounded Veteran
Runnamucks
Failure Face
Download #1 BURRITO FEAST MARCH 2003 #2
Reason Of Insanity
Terrorain
Otophobia
Bread And Water
Roach Motel
Murder-Suicide Pact
Download #2
