King Gary's Rock-n-Roll War Journal.
(For Bitchslicer, the Bitchslicer Acoustic sets by King Gary, the Hellside Wranglers,
and also for former bands ... Returner, & The World Famous Crawlspace Brothers)

February 12th 2008 @ Tritone - Philadelphia, PA
--- Bitchslicer, Pelvic Fury, Circadian Rising

Circadian Rising played first. These guys were a lot of fun, they had the feel of early 80's metal without really trying to. I know that all of the sudden there is a sort of fashionable phase with bands being retro thrash, but these guys didn't come across to me in that way. They do not sound like old megadeth but I think that might be a good band to compare them to or at least their range. They are heavy, fast, and thrashy in that pre 90's death kind of way, but there is also elements of complexity and some more progressive things going on as well at times. Good band and really nice guys.

Pelvic Fury played second. Holy Shit !!! These guys are so technical, crazy, and fast it is pretty mind blowing. I enjoyed the set but watching these guys play was kind of depressing from the point of view of a guitar player, damn. On their page I believe they compared themselves in style to a mix of Death, Rush, and Anthrax. I would say that is a pretty fair comparison for there sound and style, but Anthrax would be the least evident in the mix of the three though.

Bitchslicer played third. Our set kicked ass. Everything went really smooth and it was over way to soon.

The weather really sucked !!! It was raining ice, everything was covered in ice, and everything was really fucking slippery. I was expecting all of the bands to cancel to be honest with you, but only Exit Wound canceled, which was more than understandable considering the weather. There were a few people that came and hung out which was great, and the bands all hung out until the show was over which was also really great. In a way I think that since the show turned out to be mainly all the bands hanging out and trapped inside due to the shitty weather it kind of took on a different feel. Since the bands were all laid back we all hung out and that was really cool. I had a great time at this show, and everyone who came out in the ice really went above and beyond, Thank You !!!

Bitchslicer Set List
01 - Addicted to Porn
02 - Gore Whore
03 - Corpse Rider
04 - "untitled new song #05"
05 - Porn of the Dead
06 - Re-Penetrator
07 - Yeti
08 - Drag My Own Coffin to Hell
09 - YCH

February 10th 2008 @ Jeep Shop - Providence, RI
--- I Destroyer, Tinsel Teeth, Salt of the Earth, Hive Smasher, Rampant Decay, Bitchslicer, Dissector

Dissector played first. I love this band. This is the fourth time we have played together, I think that we have been averaging a show a year together since 2004. I guess they were getting ready to skate out, when we got to the show. Due to the shitty weather we arrived a little later, but I guess the deal was the band who was supposed to let them use their guitar amp had not shown up and no one knew what was going on. So when we showed up they set up with our amp and played. It was awesome.

Bitchslicer played second. We set up as soon as Dissector was done and we used their drum set. Our set went good. There were a number of outside inconveniences working against us, but I felt as though our sent went really well. We all had a little bit of an issue with hearing each other from the awkward set up of the stage and the stuff on the stage but we made it all work. We seemed to go over pretty well, we sold some stuff, and we had a good time.

Rampant Decay played third. Rich Horror's new band ... I am not sure how I would describe them. I guess because of Rich they do remind me of It will End in Pure Horror, even though the music sounds different. Maybe they could be a sort of Hardcore / Grindcore mix ??? I enjoyed the set a lot but I will say this, Rich did not talk very much in between the songs. That was the best part of seeing It will end in pure horror, all the funny shit he would go on about, or at least I thought it was all funny.

It took us eight hours to get to the show, about seven hours to get home, we hit a ton of bad weather, and I lost my cell phone ... but it was a great time. In a way this was our first real road trip as a band. Normally our out of town shows are not so far away and we normally take two vehicles, but since we were using Dissectors drums we all went in Ant's truck. We had a great time.

February 09th 2008 @ Victoria's Thunderdome - Philadelphia, PA
--- Northern Liberties, Bitchslicer, Kermit Hell Lyman III

Kermit Hell Lyman III played first. Kit is amazing & I love hearing his acoustic stuff. I have recordings of most of the stuff he does live and those recordings are amazing, but it's just not the same unless you are in the room with him while he plays. Everyone I know was always blown away when the first time they saw his acoustic set, even people who are not into acoustic music. He is very entertaining as a performer, but as a story teller I think that everyone can identify with and see themselves inside of his songs ... or at least I do. That being said he opened his set covering one my songs, "Jerkin' Off, Drinkin' Whiskey, and Watchin' Porn" which was awesome, and he changed the very first line, which escapes me now, but it is better than my original line. He definitely did it a lot different, but it was awesome. He also played this song by the Handsome Family that was amazing, I don't know the name of that song but that was awesome. "Butterfly, there is only so much wine that you can drink in one life and it will never be enough to save you from the bottom of the glass" I think that was how the chorus went. It was great !!! Before the show I heard him practicing that song and was into so later when he played it was a little familiar.

Bitchslicer played second. Our set went so smooth, and it was so much fun. Justin and I wore cowboy hats, which I honestly think made the set better. There is nothing I would rather be doing on my birthday, and there is nowhere I would rather be doing it !!!

Northern Liberties played third. Unfortunately I had to miss their set so that I could keep an eye on things upstairs. There were a few people who came to the show that Victoria and I didn't already know ... this seems to usually mean assholes, and tonight was no different. So I apologize to Northern Liberties, sorry I missed your set. Although what seemed to be happening during there set was ... assholes were not only being assholes upstairs, but there were also being assholes downstairs and interfering with the band while they played.

The whole day was great despite a few stupid things, and this seriously was the Best Birthday I can remember. Victoria went all out with decorations and cake. My little sister and Rob came down from back home with a ton of goodies for me including the smoothest scotch I have ever drank ... and some very nice cigars. We all went to Prospectors for diner before the show, and before we left one of tires on my sisters car was flat. She was so mad, since she bought all brand new tires about 3 hours before and now one was flat. Diner was good and then we headed back to the show. The show was great !!! Clamfight and Den of Germs were supposed to play but things came up for both of them and it ended up just being the three bands. Fran made a cake, Jonny gave me this really cool framed piece of his artwork that he made out of photos that he took of Justin and I from a show we played together over the summer, Ant and Justin each got me a bottle of fancy bourbon, Dave grind brought Victoria and I some plum wine, Kevin got me a big bag of pink Bitchslicer guitar picks, and every one came to the show and hung out ... it seriously kicked ass !!! Thank You All ... everyone who was not one of the assholes that is.

February 07th 2008 @ Championship Bar - Trenton, NJ
--- Swashbuckle, Bitchslicer, S.P.E.N.T., Capitalist Death Machine, We All Have Day Jobs, ???

??? played first. Dead in the Face was supposed to play but dropped off a week before the show so I have no idea who this first band was ???

We All Have Day Jobs played second. Very Mathy !!! I would consider them technical death with a lot of outside elements. They have no bass player, though they do have two guitar players, and they all wore suits. I was really enjoying their set and what they were all doing a great deal ... until they played a beatles cover. I cannot condone or support the beatles in any way, shape, or form. Fuck the beatles !!!

Capitalist Death Machine played third. These guys looked really young, but they were a decent band. There sound was a mix of various metal. They had a bit of a stage show going during their set. They had a painted sheet held up by some DIY frame apparatus and this dude who was not in the band would go behind it and put on costumes. He would dance around for a bit and then go put on another costume.

Spent played fourth. These guy are so much fun, I am glad we got to play together again.

Bitchslicer played fifth. Everything felt good, everything went good. It felt as if our set was over in the blink of an eye.

Swashbuckle played sixth. It was great playing with these guys again, they are such a good band. I was thinking about some things during there set. Not to take anything away from them at all, but with all of the extras you could still make a lesser band into a good band. With the costumes, the in character between the songs banter, the light show and the props, and the great sound ... a lesser band dressed up this much would still seem good. However, as a band they are solid, great players, and great music. I hope to play many more shows with these cats, they are some really laid back and friendly guys.

The night was a lot of fun, but it kind of felt like two separate shows that ran back to back. Early in the night there seemed to be a decent handful of people and everyone was hanging out and watching the bands ... but after the third band played like half of the people left and a lot of the guys in the first three bands left as well. Then the second show started. The night was still a lot of fun though, I am not complaining even if it sounds that way. Asides form playing our set, the best part of the night was after the show we all stopped at this 7-11 to grab some drinks for the road. It ended up being closed, but we all sat in the parking lot and listened to the cd-r of the two songs for our upcoming 7". Ant and Justin had never heard the mix, and in a way I had not either since I was sick and closed up when I mixed it. That was awesome, everyone was diggin' it. When I got home from the show Victoria was painting our bass drum head ... a good ending to a great night !!!

February 02nd 2008 @ CC22 - Seaford, DE
--- Hardsell, Goatbag, Bitchslicer, In Modern Times, The Barn

The Barn played first. I had no idea what to expect form a band called the Barn, but these guys were really good. They were very much Hardcore influenced with a lot of outside elements. They had a very heavy groove with a little bit of death mixed in, and at times the guitar playing would go into some crazy places with some almost video game sounding leads and arpeggios. They were really cool guys too, we were all talking afterwards about playing together in Philly sometime soon.

In Modern Times played second. I didn't really catch much of these guys set since I was getting everything ready for our set. Our gear was all in the bars kitchen in the room behind where the bands play, but from what little I did see of theses guys they had a lot of energy. Normally I would have warmed up a little bit and then caught the end of their set but for as sick as I was, my hands and fingers felt like wet noodles. So I ended up warming up for their whole set trying to force my hands to remember how to play guitar..

Bitchslicer played third. Our set seemed to go fine. I was still sick with the death flu so everything felt weird to me. My voice went out a few times but worked a lot better than on Wednesday. I did have a few coughing fits and my fingers did really feel like wet spaghetti noodles as I stated earlier, but we managed to keep it together. Ant and Justin said everything felt and sounded really good so I am sure it did. Playing sick really sucks but getting to play at all is just amazing !!!

Goatbag played fourth. These guys are just awesome, fun, sound great, and really put on a good show ... it was great playing with them again !!!

Hardsell played fifth. Metal / Harcore These guys were really tight, and had good energy. The band consisted of a drummer, a bass player, a guitar player / singer, and another singer who did samples and turntable stuff. Unfortunately most of the turntable and samples where so buried that I couldn't really tell they were there unless it was and introduction to the song.

There was a great vibe at this spot and with this crowd. CC22 is a pretty small building but it was a perfect fit for the show. There was a really good turnout and since it was a bar that also allowed all ages to enter you had a pretty ideal situation for a good turnout. The bands and the crowd all seemed to be into having a good time and watching the bands, none of the stupid shit that usually seems to go along with bar shows or all ages shows.

January 30th 2008 @ The Fire - Philadelphia, PA
--- Humanasaur, Bitchslicer, Zed Never

Zed Never played first. Post punk, alternative type thing. Even though they are from New York, they reminded me of a lot of Philly bands I saw in the mid 90's. Sort of zany, weirdo rock-n-roll.

Bitchslicer played second. All things considered, the set went amazing. I was crazy sick with the death flu, my voice had that death metal sound when I tried to talk normally so when I was yelling it sounded really cool but I would randomly loose my voice while singing too. It got worse through out the set and by the end there were times when I would open my mouth and nothing at all was coming out. A few times I had coughing fits while we were playing where I started to gag and almost threw up, but I didn't really mess up any of the guitar playing. The other thing was that I insisted we do this new song "Sexually Transmitted Disaster", which went pretty good accept for this break in the middle where it is only guitar ... I fucked that up bad. Yeah all things considered I feel as though we rocked it.

Humanasaur played third. These guys were really good. I enjoyed there set but I did spend a lot of time comparing the band and sound in front of me to the first CD which I have listened to so many times, it is such an amazing album !!! But they started off as a sort of dirty basement neurosis, and now they kind of have more of a Rollins band sound. It is good but it is so different. The band really seemed to be in good shape and Kevin had commented on how this is one of the best shows he had seen them play. Fun show, it was really cool to hang out and play with these guys again.

Asides from being sick the other highlight of the night was the clash with the sound guy. We had a number of issues. First off the stage is kind of skinny and the sound guy would not let us set up the way we normally do with the drums far up and the amps behind. Ant tried to put the drums forward and the dude told him to move them back and right next to the drums when the guitar amp should be was the drum monitor ... so here we go. The sound guy was on-stage with us, watching and waiting and telling us what he needed us to do. He was not a dick and you could tell that he had plenty of experience doing this ... but I kind of get the notion that he doesn't really go above the "Rock-n-Roll" threshold, let alone into the "Metal Zone" with a band that has a really loud stage volume, so whatever. We set up the best we could, and he sound checked us and had me bring my guitar volume down to about 33% of my normal stage volume and he still seemed unhappy with the guitar like I was some kind of asshole just trying to make his life hard. For the other band he had the guitar so low that I could not distinguish most of the guitar playing and the bass up way to loud, so I am guessing that was how he planned on mixing us. So I turned it down to where he was happy and then as soon as we were ready I turned it back up right before the four count to our first song and then we just plowed through our set the way we normally do without stopping. I am positive that if we would have stopped we would have intervened. After our set when he was on stage we was definitely irritated but was making at least a minimal attempt of trying to be cool. He asked me a lot of questions about my amp, I think in the end he was actually amazed at the amount of volume that I got out of that amp.

Bitchslicer Set List
01 - Addicted to Porn
02 - Gore Whore
03 - Corpse Rider
04 - "untitled new song #05"
05 - Sexually Transmitted Disaster
06 - Porn of the Dead
07 - Re-Penetrator
08 - Yeti
09 - Drag My Own Coffin to Hell
10 - YCH

January 26th 2008 @ Connie Macs - Pensauken, NJ
--- Hellside Wranglers, Old City Sideshow

Old City Sideshow played first. Sad, all I can say is that it was just very sad !!! They might be the nicest people on the planet, I don't know ... and I hate to talk shit on people but I guess I kind of am. Sorry.

Hellside Wranglers played second. Musically the set went fine which especially amazing after going a month in between shows and never practicing. We played right in front a giant flat screen TV that had the X-Games on at full volume ... through out our whole set. It was a really weird vibe in the bar and I was just really not into being there at all. There were LOTS of people at the bar and some of them seemed to be into the band, but there were a lot more that were not. They just wanted us to stop playing so they could hear the sports they were watching on all of the giant TV's and go back to getting drunk, and putting rohypnol into any unattended glass or bottle, while screaming shit like "Touch Down" and "All the Way Baby". Through out the set there were people walking in between Rich and the band to get to the bathrooms. They did not have to walk that way but they were doing it out of disrespect. In fact for most of them it would have been easier to not walk through the band. The absolute highlight of the night for me was right before the one song Rich jokingly said something along the lines of "any requests" and someone said "hey, play I'm a loser" that made me laugh out loud.

I was sick so I was really hoping to get there close to our set time, play and then leave, but that didn't happen. I got there just in time to see the sideshow act, yea !!! Then we set up to play and Pat realized that he did not have his snare drum, and he refused to play without it so ... Rich got on the horn and called up the boys, he had a snare drum their in about a half an hour. The whole time we were waiting for the snare drum Victoria and I were hanging out with Andy from Clamfight and laughing and talking shit about if it were Clamfight or Bitchslicer, both bands would have just played without the snare drum and would have been done with the set by the time a snare drum arrived. It was cool to get to talk to Andy and Rich for a bit, but other than that the night could just not end fast enough.

Hellside Wranglers Set List
01 - Mad Beast
02 - Bundy Beach
03 - John Wayne Gacy
04 - Hiednik Maneuver
05 - BTK
06 - Spoon Me
07 - Moors Murders
08 - Bite It You Scum

January 12th 2008 @ Victoria's Thunderdome - Philadelphia, PA
--- Scareho, Bitchslicer, Eph Tradition, Dead Gerber Babies

Scareho played first. This was their first show with the new guitar player and they definitely have a heavier sound than before. I am anxious to hear what they sound like after having more than one practice. They ended their set doing a few songs with Mikey Wild. It sucks to try to follow the guy who pulls his pants AND underwear down so that he can jump up and down and scream chics with dicks.

Bitchslicer played second. Our set was like a hit of crack, it felt amazing but it didn't seem to last very long at all.

Eph Tradition played third. Fun and hilarious as always. Edzilla was filling in on bass. They almost ended the set without playing the "Hulksters in the House" but we kept yelling at them until they did it anyway. Ed didn't know so he was learning it as they went. That song is so funny.

Dead Gerber Babies played fourth. The new songs sounded really really good. These cats are slowly getting heavier and heavier each time I see them.

This was our first show in the NEW AND IMPROVED BASEMENT !!! Over the last two months, with some help from Victoria and Walt, I tore out and got rid of everything in the basement, improved the lighting, improved the pa system, and added some sound dampening foam. Now it is so much more comfortable and accommodating for all of the bands and everyone watching. It really makes me happy to do these basements shows with Victoria and all of our friends, so being able to make things more pleasant for everyone is really cool.

Bitchslicer Set List
01 - Addicted to Porn
02 - Gore Whore
03 - Corpse Rider
04 - "untitled new song #05"
05 - Evil Awakening
06 - Re-Penetrator
07 - Porn of the Dead
08 - Yeti
09 - Drag My Own Coffin to Hell
10 - Nails in my Coffin
11 - YCH

January 08th 2008 @ Tritone - Philadelphia, PA
--- Eph Tradition, Clamfight, Bitchslicer

Eph Tradition played first. The set was so much fun, DJ was a fucking Riot. He was really drunk and just having a great time. He was jerking off at the door guy, throwing beer, rolling around, and just being hilarious. To be honest while watching him it was really hard to pay attention to the band playing.

Clamfight played second. Awesome !!! I am not sure if they played better than last time, but the songs becoming slightly more familiar and the ball crushing heaviness made it feel better than I remember it being last time. Such and amazing band !!!

Bitchslicer played third. Tonight we debuted our new 2008 set complete with a few brand new songs and it felt great !!! I really did not want to start out the new year playing the same set with the same opener and all ... So we opened with the two new songs we had been doing, and then the next two songs "Corpse Rider", & "Song #05" and then did some of the older songs and we did an Ernest Tubb cover "Nails in my Coffin" before YCH. I am not sure if it makes sense but I feel as though this set really highlights the new material and the direction, even though we are still doing some of the old stuff. It is a precursor to what is coming.

This show kicked a lot of ass !!! Nothing really went quite the way it was supposed to go but everyone (accept the door guy) pitched in and made the best of it. When I was hanging out with DJ at our last show at the City Tap, he had asked me who to talk to about playing the Tritone. He said he wanted to try to play a show there and since we playing the this show I told him they could play with us. So he was all exited since Jan 09th was his birthday. So the plan was that Clamfight was going to play first, then Bitchslicer, and the Eph Tradition so that DJ would be on-stage on his birthday ... but since the drummer of Eph Tradition is 4 months shy of being 21 he was not allowed in the bar until they played. This sort of killed the vibe so we switched them to first so Phil did not have to set outside all night waiting. I am not sure what the law is about this type of thing because I have seen it handled so many different ways, but Phil does not drink, and He is friends with Victoria and I who booked the show, and Victoria even works there ... so none of the vouching for him made the door guy allow him to come in which I think just about anyone else on the planet would have bent a little bit at this point. But anyway ... every made pitched in and made it work and we all had a great time, happy birthday DJ.

Bitchslicer Set List
01 - Addicted to Porn
02 - Gore Whore
03 - Corpse Rider
04 - "untitled new song #05"
05 - Evil Awakening
06 - Re-Penetrator
07 - Porn of the Dead
08 - Yeti
09 - Nails in my Coffin (Ernest Tubb)
10 - YCH (Hank Williams)
11 - Drag My Own Coffin to Hell

To Read More War Journal Entries from Older Shows Just Select a Year Below

2008 - ( Current. )

2007 - (45 Shows)

2006 - (25 Shows)

2005 - (04 Shows)

2004 - (05 Shows)

2003 - (03 Shows)

2002 - (01 Show )