Re-Mains Of The Day | How did we all even fit in there? Screaming outback-outlaw country, Mick Daley of the Re-Mains came all the way to Wunderbar Monday, leaving with new fans and a lot of tequila on his shirt.
Toxic holocaust
(unrest fest)
New City Suburbs • Aug. 3
Unrest Fest filled New City’s stage for two days this weekend with some of the most famous and respected punk rock bands still playing music.
True, groups like G.B.H. and the Anti-Nowhere League have all but traded in their first guitars for walkers and their liquor for Geritol (1977 has come and gone—could it be time for those bands to pack it in?), but for newer, younger groups like Portland’s Toxic Holocaust, the original frantic energy of punk is still shaking the floorboards and cracking the woodwork.
The first day of the fest attracted people from all over North America. As I stood in line for Toxic Holocaust, IDs being checked at the door, in front of me was a girl from Georgia, two people from
Philadelphia, and outside the doors waited tribes of crusty punks who’d hitchhiked to the festival from God knows where, trying to bum enough change to buy a ticket.
Toxic Holocaust’s set was the perfect soundtrack to all this chaos: lead singer/songwriter and guitarist Joel Grind’s menacing stance, hard-edged aura, and biting guitar tones sent the crowd into a zealous, booze-fueled hurricane. It was over-
the-top, colour-by-numbers thrash: the type of stuff where you can accurately predict every chord change and volume shift.
But so what? Toxic Holocaust’s live show has that sweaty, muscular anchor—the band has an intensity and tightness that makes you hold your breath. At one point, an enthusiastic crust kid jumped onstage to share the mic, whereupon Grind strongarmed him mid-chord, clocked him in the face, and knocked him back into the churning mass of sweaty thrashers below. This was his territory: he owned the stage, he owned the chords, he owned the slam pit. The message was loud and clear: they may not be out to do anything new or exciting with their music—not at all—but you simply do not fuck with Toxic Holocaust.
