Murder Junkiesw/HANK III

Turns out the Murder Junkies were G G Allin's infamous punk band. I did not know that. Well they're touring with good ol' HANK III, and they stopped in Salt Lake City - capitol of psychobilly hellraisin' & regular stop for every roots rockin' act in the USA since god knows when. You can be sure that when the REVEREND HORTON HEAT or my personal favorites THE SUPERSUCKERS from Seattle stop through this town - - every tattooed 50's greaser hellbilly freak comes out of the woodwork. And if you've been to any of these kinda shows here - be it Dave Alvin from THE BLASTERS or any one of over a dozen such dusty acts, you'd know just as well as I that Salt Lake City has got to be all these band's favorite stop.

G G Allin died 10 years ago, and it appears his self-destructive deathpunk band The Murder Junkies is on a celebrational, memorial tour right this very summer w/Hank III bringin home the whoop-ass while puttin the dick back in dixie. For any self-respecting fan of this kind of music - - and even the good old fashioned hard country spawned by Hank's grandpappy & many others (heroes cited: George Jones, David Allen Coe, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, the regular guilty parties) -- this is a show you simply cannot miss; always a guaranteed boot -scuffin good time w/plenty of rowdy drunks & hoe-down jammin'.

The Murder Junkies opened the evening with their crass, loud, and sneering, vulgar music. It was a hoot to stand back and watch the few rabble rousers shovin each other around in the pit. Shasta & I stood up close to the action and just watched. I enjoyed this band on the same level I enjoyed PIGMY LOVE CIRCUS (Tool's drummer Danny Carey's side-project) - a similar -themed band of pure balls-out aggression & testosterone -fueled macho posturing. Now that I think of it, Pigmy Love Circus would be a great combo w/the Murder Junkies.


HANK III

Hank's bassist was this cadaverous hellbilly punk that would have looked perfectly at home playin for Salt Lake's own THE PAGAN DEAD. He was a hoot. The whole time you could read his lips as he shouted unheard through the crankin music "Fuck you muthafuckas!" whilst slappin the hell out of his beaten ol' standup. The crowd responded by hurling plastic beer mugs & drinks up onto the stage, which only fueled his mock rage & kept things hoppin.

Here's Hank. Lemme tell ya - if you like old time hard country music, you should do yourself a favor and check him out. Lots of country -lovin' folk attend his shows, and leave right after the country set. Lucky for us, last night he really focused on that set, and musta played at least a solid hour of it. That was really all I was in the mood for - I've seen his punkmetal sets a few times, and well, I had to be here at work early this morning, and besides: I just can't get enuff of the new album "Straight To Hell", and was just dyin' to check that shit out live.

They played a rousin' rendition of everyone's favorite psychobilly anthem, Cash's "Cocaine Blues", I swear every one of these acts covers that song usually (I'll bet you a shot of whiskey THE SUPERSUCKERS will cover it the day after tomorrow, when they cruise through the Depot). The crowd went nuts during that song, and hell, most others in his set.

At one point during one of the faster country songs, the pit opened up for a real "country mosh", I had to point it out to Shasta cuz I just thought it was funnier'n hell.

Hank sang one of his granddaddy's songs, and also one of his Pa's. Some old classic Bocephus where the refrain says something like "You can kiss our ass", just another defiant country anthem that everyone in the damned place was lifting their beer mugs to while jostling one another in the crowd.

All in all, they cranked out one killer country tune after another, never lettin' down the pace (except for his slow ballad "Country Heroes", another shining moment of the evening as was to be expected).

We hung in there for the 2nd portion of his set, the "Hellbilly" part. It was short & sweet - I don't think they played more'n about 4 tunes on that one (maybe 5). By that time though, it was nearing midnight, and that was it. As much as I personally love the heavy ass punkmetal stuff, I figured it was time to go.

Before heading out though, I went over to the T-shirt stand, hoping there would be some Hank III patches. (I'm on this big patch kick right now) And lo & behold: not only did they have a small, oval "III" patch (perfect), but I couldn't believe my eyes at this one MASSIVE back-patch, at least 9 inches tall, featuring the Hank III logo amidst two wicked skulls, and a beautiful backdrop of ingrained spleef -images, we're talking the ultimate jacket-patch you ever laid eyes on ! It's safe to say I'm pretty much past my "T-shirt" phase, and am settling comfortably into my patch phase. ;b

So that was it - - I know that after the "Hellbilly" portion of his set, Hank came back for the third and final part: the straight-up punkmetal set, wherein anything /everything can happen, and all hell breaks loose. Maybe next time - - if only he'd come through on a Friday or Saturday night!