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JULY:

25th Bottles n Beats
26th Restless Streets
27th Hip Hop
28th Black Phil's Memorial show with A TON of bands!
31st Delirium presents

AUGUST:

1st  Acoustic open mic
2nd Alex Portelli fundraiser
3rd C3 presents
4th Carl Daniels
7th Ill Doots
8th FREE show with Safeword
9th Delirium presents
10th Summer Slaughter at Upstate Concert Hall with an after party at Bogie's
11th Chaos presents
15th KEN mode at Valentine's
16th Dehumanized, Parastic Extirpation, Abhorrent Agression, Tyranize, Incontinence
17th SHEER TERROR
18th Chaos presents
21st Restless Streets
23rd Swinging Utters
24th Delirium presents
25th MOBB DEEP
28th Revocation
29th Bottles N Beats
30th Green Jelly
31st American Head Charge

Stigmata review

May 24^th: A Benefit for Justin King featuring Stigmata, Wisdom in Chains, Born Low, King Nine and Cheech at Bogies.

I’ve never been prouder to be a part of the Albany Hardcore Scene.

On the evening in question, Bogies was host to a packed house and a stacked line-up .This event, organized by Buddy Armstrong and Upstate Black ‘N’ Blue Productions, was held as a fundraiser for the King family. Justin King, who lent his six-string talent to a number of area bands (including Bulldog Courage), has been living with late-stage cancer for some time now; in an effort to alleviate some of the financial burden associated with medical expenses, a percentage of the door proceeds were donated to King. Additionally, special-edition event shirts bearing the names of the bands on the back, the front emblazoned in bold-block letters, “We Take Care of our Own!”, were printed and sold at the show.

When I arrived at 7:30 that evening, the club was PACKED! It was a veritable “who’s who” of the Albany scene. So many familiar faces – old and new – greeted me with warm smiles, hugs and handshakes. It felt like the Old Days – they even had the courtesy water-jug out! I haven’t seen such a high turnout this early in the evening since I was a teenager, and as openers Cheech weren’t scheduled to play until eight, this can only be seen as a testament of how far the 518 will go to help a brother in need.

All of the bands on the bill had a sound firmly rooted in the hardcore tradition, though none of them sounded alike. Boston’s Cheech was perhaps the most traditional, reminding me at times of NYC acts Killing Time and Sick of it All. Blending four on the floor punk-styled drum beats with metallic guitar riffing, straight-ahead passages and – of course – danceable breakdowns, Cheech began their set with some newer material, and later on broke out the oldies. Those in the know sang along or set it off in the pit. Incidentally, Cheech provided one of the highlights of the evening, at least on a personal level: as part of a double encore, they played their rendition of Sheer Terror’s “Here to Stay”. At this point, I had no choice but to participate in the ensuing sing-along.

Long Island’s King Nine and Reaper Records recording artists Born Low had a similar take on the hardcore sound; that is not to say that they sounded the same, however, but both drew on more metallic influences than the other bands. With King Nine, I heard a great deal of Sworn Enemy (the vocals) and Madball, but with a brutal stomp beat akin to Xibalba and the Acacia Strain. Born Low was a bit more traditional, but still heavier than Youth of Today, Judge and Gorilla Biscuits. Though they frequently play Bogies, tonight was my first opportunity to see Born Low, and I have to say that they impressed the hell out of me. Where much of the newer Albany bands have gone the way of metal or “metalcore”, it’s good to see an Albany band like Born Low flying the HC flag.

Next on the bill was Pennsylvania’s own Wisdom in Chains. Having never seen them live, their set was particularly enjoyable to me. Originating as a cross-Atlantic collaboration between members of the Dutch band Daredevil and PA bands Krutch and Mushmouth, Wisdom In Chains recorded one album with this line-up, only to reform years later. Perhaps one of the most unique bands on the bill, WIC’s sound took the best from the old and the new school: melodic Oi!/punk with infectious sing-along parts, Terror-style hardcore breakdowns, and careful attention to musicianship. Like so many of their peers around the globe, every member of Wisdom in Chains worked in collusion with each other with little show boating – save the occasional, appropriately placed guitar lead – to produce a rock-solid wall of sound. Fans of Terror, Sheer Terror, Blood For Blood and The Bruisers would love these guys.

As if the supporting line-up wasn’t enough to satiate the tastes of the average hardcore fanatic, tonight’s main event was nothing short of a milestone: the return to the stage of local legends Stigmata after four years of inactivity. Featuring the classic line-up of Bob Riley (Murderer’s Row), Mike Maney (Ill Remembered, Dead Rabbits), Jay Sunkes (Burning Human, Dead Rabbits), Buddy Armstrong and Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall, Burning Human, and now Anthrax), Stigmata began releasing demos under the names Displaced Aggression and Cranial Abuse in the mid-eighties. Adopting their present moniker with the release of 1991’s The Call of the Just, Stigmata is universally recognized as one of the founders of “Troy-Core”, a style that blended Slayer-esque guitar riffing with the traditional hardcore sound. The band went on to release five full length albums, the last of which – Do Unto Others – was picked up for distribution by Victory Records.

As the room went dim, the haunting, synthesized strains of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange theme poured from the sound system. Smiling ear to ear, Riley shot us all the bird and gave a brief dedication – as all of the acts had – to King before the band broke into their classic set, kicking the madness off with “Life for a Life”. From the stage to the bar, Bogies was as densely packed as it could be: the typically wide-open dance floor was full of spectators, who closed in to form a narrow “horseshoe of death”. The pit had been in full-swing since King Nine, but now the floor was no longer a safe place for the non-confrontational. Yours truly even caught a forearm to the head!

With the exception of a few songs from Do Unto Others, the majority of Stigmata’s set list consisted of material from their third full-length, Hymns for an Unknown God, the album considered by many to be their finest work, as well as Bittner’s debut as their drummer. Though they hadn’t played together in years, the band didn’t miss a beat – it was like stepping through a wormhole into 1996! The intense double-bass attacks of songs like “Nothing But Enemies” and “Ignorant and Wired” were just as crushing as they were when I was a kid, and the sheer heaviness of “Murder of Life” and closer “Burning Human” solidified once and for all their timelessness. Unfortunately, if you didn’t make it out tonight, the likelihood of catching Stigmata on stage any time soon is slim to none – not for lack of desire, just conflicting schedules. If you did, consider yourself lucky to witness such a milestone.

Schedule for June is up!

JUNE

1^st Tamerlane, Like A Storm, Stepback Eleven, Infinity Remains and Safeword

5^th The Goddamn Gallows

7^th Chaos presents

8^th Benefit for DUSTIN MELE featuring All For Revenge, Tyranize, Still I Burn, From Within, Here To Stay, Ematoma

12^th BLACK FLAG & Good For You

13^th AGNOSTIC FRONT, Lionheart, Brick By Brick, Aggressive Response

14^th Chaos presents

15^th KYLESA, Blood Ceremony, White Hills, Lazer Wulf, Maggotbrain, Never Odd Or Even

16^th Bermuda, Legion, Seeker, Sessions, The Conflict Theory, Realms

17^th BIOHAZARD, Sworn Enemy, Born Low, Before The Betrayer, Trife Life, Here Is My obituary, Peaks

18^th Polkadot Cadaver, Exotic Animal Petting Zoo, Breathless By Dawn, Arrest The Dreamer, Faced, Like Lions, Changing Tides

22^nd MURDER JUNKIES

24^th The Sharrows

27^th Bottles N Beats featuring DJ STRESS

Metal, Ska, Hardcore, Rock!! Jay Frost analyses a hardcore show!

The Anatomy of a Hardcore Show

By Jay Frost

Until now, I’ve brought you detailed, up close and personal accounts of performances from the myriad of acts that played Bogies in the first half of 2013. While these performance reviews are a lot of fun to write and helpful (I hope) to the musicians  whose sets I review, today I’ve decided to give you a behind the scenes look at all of the hard work and careful planning that goes in to organizing and orchestrating these events.

On Saturday, April 27^th, I worked under Upstate BnB stage manager and sound technician Dan Bushey from load-in to the final change-over for the last two acts. For the musicians, promoters and venue staff that may be reading, what I am about to recount is nothing new. The average concert-goer, on the other hand, can only venture a guess as to what happens in the hours before the doors open.

At 5 p.m., the six acts scheduled to perform began to arrive at the venue for load-in. With a door time of 7 p.m., it is of the utmost importance that all acts have their equipment inside the club, separated and ready to be placed on the stage no later than 5:15, 5:30 at the latest. In order to minimize confusion, each act chose a separate plot on the empty dance floor to stow their gear (guitars, basses, drums and amplifiers) and awaited further instruction from the stage manager.

When all the bands had loaded in, the order in which each would appear was determined. Typically, this is dictated by the amount of tickets sold, but tonight’s event was organized by Tower, the headliners, who therefore assumed this responsibility. Once the order was set, the bands and venue staff loaded the gear on the stage, guitars and basses stored in an enclosure behind the drum riser, amplification devices stacked stage left and right using a method known as “back-lining”. This process entails placing all of the amplifiers in the order that each band will appear – the openers’ equipment first, direct support and headliners last. As most of the acts on tonight’s bill featured two guitarists and a bass player, guitar amplification was stacked to the right and the left of the stage, the bass amps to the right of the drum riser. As you will see later on, this makes load-off between acts simple and free of aggravation. In order to prevent clutter, the openers and direct support shared some of the larger equipment (speaker cabinets for guitar and bass amplification).

After back-lining, drums for the openers were assembled on the riser, center stage. The bands slated to appear afterward began to assemble their drum kits in a fenced-off alcove directly behind the sound booth (left side of the room behind the dance floor). Just as back-lining eliminates unnecessary stress, partial assembly of the percussive instruments reduces the amount of time it would take to assemble them on stage, thus minimizing the set-up time between acts.

After the opening act was set up, sound-check began. Much like any other venue, Bogies has its own house P.A. system which is utilized to amplify the band and minimize the unpleasant feedback associated with the volume on stage being turned up too loud. Each instrument/amplification device is fitted with a microphone that is fed into a mixing board used by the sound technician to balance levels. As drums are essentially acoustic instruments, kits are fitted with a number of microphones – typically one for the kick-drum, one for the snare, and sever others mounted on toms. These mics also serve to amplify cymbal volume.

Sound-checks typically begin with setting drum levels: first, the bass, next the snare, and finally the whole kit. Once the sound man is satisfied with the drum levels on stage (and the drummer is satisfied with the levels coming through the stage monitors), one of the two guitarists plays in a few riffs in order to set their levels. After the guitars, the bass, and so on; depending on how many vocalists the band features, one to three microphones are tested and levels are set. Finally, the band as a whole plays a verse or two of a song for a final level check, then clears the stage until it’s time to perform.

As mentioned earlier, the openers and direct support shared equipment, which limited my responsibilities to assisting the acts with drum set-up and break-down. More often than not, the bands themselves are responsible for making this happen, so they were extremely grateful to have an extra pair of hands this evening. When the first of the openers completed their set, I aided the drummer in the breakdown and removal of the drums, and then offered my assistance to the next band. After their set, the first of the back-lined gear was removed from the stage as well. All of this gear is then placed in the alcove where the other acts set up their drums until it’s time to load out.

Though the technical side of orchestrating these events can be bothersome, careful planning and swift action on the part of venue staff minimizes any significant problems. Methods like “back-lining” allow for swift change-overs so that each act has ample time for adequate sound checks and enables venue staff to complete their jobs in an orderly, timely fashion. This is how the pros do it.