Big Drill Car reunion show

How many shows have you gone to where you saw the band so many times and listened to the music so often that you knew every single lyric, riff, and song? My list isn't super long: J Church, Chemical People, Fugazi, early Green Day, early ALL, Big Drill Car. The bulk of those were in my last years of college and first years after graduating, when my primary goal in life was simply to go to the next cool show. How often did I see those bands anyway? I saw Big Drill Car for the first time in 16+ years last night, and it's frightening how all their songs are still ingrained in my head.


After pre-blogging the show yesterday (or was it the day before?), the band's manager Greg actually emailed me to say that he reads GR and saw my post, and that the band's soundchecks were awesome. I had to try really hard not to fan out during the ensuing correspondence but maybe it was okay since band managers don't get many perks or much stroking--not one who manages BDC and Supernova anyway.


Like BDC, Supernova were a Coast Mesa band in the early '90s. They had a couple singles and an album or two on Am Rep. They'd arrive in a van decked out to look like a spaceship and wear jumpsuits. Last night they gave everyone tin foil to wear and get the mood right. (Above, my twin brother Greg and Canadian friend Wayne who drove up from San Diego to meet me at the show. Our friend Craig from shows gone by was there, too!)


The opening band picked up where they left off, playing all their hits as loose as possible ("Calling Hong Kong," "Chewbacca") with a lot of good-natured taunting of the audience ("Are my jokes too stupid or are you too stupid?"). Nice, short, fun set. I was glad they didn't drool on the carpet and they are probably glad they didn't get sideways Mohawks or shave Perfection shapes onto their scalps like they used to.


Since it was the first show of the reunion (with a couple dates on the Old School stage on the Warped Tour with TSOL, etc.) I kind of expected them to play a rough 30 minutes and huff and puff their way offstage. Nope. Starting with "A Take Away," Big Drill Car played hard and fast for their songs mostly off their first three releases. Shockingly great, and I forgot how powerful the original rhythm section of Danny on drums and Bob on bass were. Maybe it's because of the lo-fi PA and where I was standing? The only word that comes close to describing them is allular.


Mark has and always will be a guitar god and Frank still has his chops as a front guy. You could see the old moves coming back as the set progressed. Kicking, pointing, jumping (above). Oh yeah, his voice is pretty much exactly the same. All the hits were played: "In Green Fields," "Restless Habs," "16 LInes," "If It's Poison"... The albums (mostly on the SST imprint Cruz and Cargo subsidiary Headhunter) are out of print, but I highly suggest you find them on iTunes. Start with the songs I listed...


After the encore (the last song was their excellent cover of "Surrender" from the split 7" with the Chems) I talked a little to Chris, another Big Drill Car freak from back in the day. He's the one who called me out of nowhere to let me know about the reunion shows... I used to see him at all the shows and there we were 16 years later. Crazy.