On June 16th we went to the Brooklyn Bazaar in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to see The Street Dogs play with The New Darkbuster opening. While I was there, I drank a lot of beer and when I drink a lot of beer, I need to go to the bathroom – and so I did. Thank God! Because had I not I'd have never found out that a last minute Dayglo Abortions show was going on at the same venue in a week. It seems kind of fitting that I'd learn about a Dayglos show in a grubby, dirty, graffiti covered bathroom, the venue lineup taped to the side of the stall door.
At any rate, I could find no other advertising for this show at all. There was nothing on the venue's Facebook page, there was nothing on the band's Facebook page and I didn't see the option to buy tickets online on any of the typical outlets – but regardless, when the 22nd rolled around I left work, popped over to Heavy Metal Horace's place for some pizza and some warm up beers and off we went because earlier in the day the promotor did send out an email blast announcing the show, noting that the show started at 7:00pm and the doors opened at 7:30pm. Clearly organization was an afterthought here.
We arrived about 8:30, and there were, not including the bar tender and the sound guy, three other people there. The guy at the door told us the openers, NYC's own CHUD, would be going no at 8:45. They didn't, it was closer to 9:00, but no big deal. Because CHUD were great. Their set was too short but the singer told me afterwards that was because they were booked last minute. You're probably noticing a trend developing here. Anyway, CHUD are worth seeking out if you're into sloppy, dirty, booze fueled hardcore. They put on a seriously energetic set and had they had any albums for sale I'd have bought one. But they didn't. Here's a shitty, blurry, camera phone picture of CHUD in action.
Anyway, the Dayglos did come on around 9:30ish, surprisingly punctual given all that had come before, and despite the fact that the band at this point in their career is singer/vocalist/founder Murry 'Cretin' Acton and two guys who I'd never seen before, they killed it. I didn't catch the names of the drummer or the bass player, both of whom were seriously good, but they played a tight set with a load of energy. Cretin was in fine form, cracking bad jokes, heckling the crowd, and coercing audience members into bringing them shots of Jack Daniels from the bar (which somehow seemed to work). They played a mix of old and new. The early stuff like 'ARGH FUCK KILL' and 'I Killed Mommy,' classics like 'Drugged And Driving' and 'Dog Farts,' and of course, 'Two Dogs Fucking' was likely what most were there to hear. And the killer extended version of 'Acting Like Black Sabbath' (completely with an Iommi inspired guitar solo) was great. But as a fan of the new record I was genuinely happy to hear tracks from Armageddon Survival Guide like 'I Love My Mom' and 'Your Facebook Can Kiss My Asskbook.' The new material fits right in with the catalogue stuff, and their sound hasn't really changed much over the almost forty-years that they've been doing this.
When the show ended, I counted twenty-two people in the crowd – and that's a damn sight better than five, but still far less than they should have played for. I've seen the Dayglos play a few times in the past over the years and I know for a fact that they definitely can draw a crowd. That didn't happen this time around but to Cretin and company's credit, they gave…. about 85%. Repeated requests for Germ Attack were answered with 'Man, if you want me to play Germ Attack you're gonna have to go get the fucking record and play it for me because there's no way I'm gonna remember.' Either way, it was one for the books.
Oh, and to finish it all off? Before they left the stage Cretin mumbled something into the mic about their having merch for sale. At that point the bass player leapt off the stage, wandered into the green room and came out with a cardboard box. He then setup a card table and dumped the contents out. There were no lights on so people had to use their cell phones to look at things, only to find out that all the shirts were either small or medium. Maybe not so surprisingly, there weren't a lot of smalls or mediums in the crowd that night. I asked him 'Hey, aren't you guys hooking up with Negative Approach next week to play a tour?' and he said 'Yeah, we're gonna have to get this fixed.'
A few camera phones pictures…
Tags : brooklyn bazaar, brookyln, chud, chud nyhc, concert photography, concert review, greenpoint, murray 'the cretin' acton, murray acton, new york city, the cretin, the dayglo abortions
Mark Tolch - 06-30-2018, 04:30 PM
Willy for whatever reason isn't playing with him on this tour, and neither is Marc...dunno if they're just done or not, and Cretin is the only one still going. Willy quit drinking and drugging last year, I don't know if maybe the Dayglo gig is too much to deal with in a sober state.
EDIT: There's a Jaks bash down south this week, which may be the reason. Willy's filling in on bass with Dr. Know (the band, not the Bad Brains dude) down in Texas as well.