Noah’s couch had fallen apart some time since we had last stayed there so Hannah and I slept on the floor, which, combined with the 44 degree weather and lack of blankets or heating, meant very little sleeping was actually accomplished. Regardless, I woke up with King Diamond’s “Welcome Home” looping in my head, so I made a quick coffee run to 7-11 with Mercyful Fate keeping me company. Shrieking “GRANDMAAAAA!!!” became the theme of the day.

Tonight’s show was a vegan potluck Friendsgiving organized by Kevin of the Bedlamites and Earthlings for Alien Liberation, whose house we played at back in May, and hosted by the Inland Empire Pyrate Punx, who always show us an incredible time. Additionally, Russell had a rare full weekend off which meant he’d be able to join us. Russell’s job keeps him from getting to play many of our non-local shows so it’s always a treat when he’s able to come.

Once Russell pulled into town we hit up Total Wine in Pasadena to kill some time, where we sampled Ommegang’s Three Philosophers aged in red wine and bourbon casks. Russell and Noah each ended up buying a four-pack plus a bottle of rum while Hannah picked up supplies for amaretto sours. Total Wine is kind of like the Costco of alcohol so we dicked around for quite some time marveling at $8,000 bottles of tequila and laughing at Megadeth beer.

The drive out to San Bernardino was mercyful; last time we played there with Oxx it took us three hours to make what should have been only an hours’ drive. We pulled up to find plenty of homies already present and an incredible spread by Leigh’s from the IEPP, including an incredible roast cauliflower and a vegan green bean casserole. Hannah and I had hoped to make some vegan chili in Pasadena but Noah’s kitchen wasn’t the best equipped.

The show opened (pause) with Open Sore, a new solo endeavor by Ian from Christian Lovers. He had told me it would be a solo sax+electronics deal but instead he played bass and had Kevin drum for him, playing pitch-shifted-vocals noisecore.

Mrmanlosthismind had to drop from the bill so Squirrel Spam played next. They were doing their large group thing with Thad from Three-Armed Men on bass and Ashley from Brain Fragment on keys, plus some dude who just rolled up (literally) on recorder. Verge’s vocals in particular were a highlight while she acted out cooking a turkey using cardboard boxes and inflated condoms.

Sophie and Kevin did their Identity Combat/Bedlamites collab next. I don’t know if it was equipment failure or not but they cut their set very abruptly, but before that happened they had played some wonderfully harsh power electronics carried by Sophie’s always intense vocals.

Sophie performed a second set immediately after under her new guise, Lady Gein, playing harsh minimal techno with lots of distorted kicks and acid house basslines.

Our set started out fantastically; we sounded brutally loud with a particular emphasis on Russell’s hyper-distorted bass (courtesy of the new OS-2 I had just supplied him) and James from the Pyrate Punx turned off every light in the house for us which made the projections even more eerie. The wrestling was an early highlight too: JT from Rat God threw himself on the floor and started bashing his head thereon until I picked him up by the collar and ripped his shirt off his back. At one point I backed into Ian who tried pushing me away but I threw him in a headlock and tossed him over my shoulder before Brandon tackled me from behind. Unfortunately, my mic cable wrapped around Brandon’s leg, and while we were thrashing on the floor we ended up shattering my mic and bringing the mixer, laptop and projector crashing to the ground, effectively ending our set. Despite the premature showstopper, everyone in the crowd heaped praise upon us and it was a blast getting so violent with everyone present.

(One funny aside: after our set, Ian asked Russell how long he had been playing with us and if he would be at any of our future shows since they had never met before. I had to explain that Russell was the only original, founding member of this band still around.)

Brain Fragment closed out the show with their spastic, frenzied take on prog-punk,

After the show, we made our way to the Holy Land for our post-performance meal. I decided to run with a good thing and ordered the Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Tenders Sandwich with Seasoned Fries again plus an order of Mozzarella Sticks. Service was fast and I daresay this meal was even better than last night’s. Blogging may be dead in 2019 but maybe one day I’ll convince Denny’s to sponsor us.

Driving to San Bernardino playlist:

ONLY KING DIAMOND.

One small break for Lord Fist’s Green Eyleen.

Vanity Plates:

“GLOB CPA”

“CARO BBY”