The Vandals Live! “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” DVD Kung Fu Recs. Now this is cool! Expanded from a 1993 video, the footage holds up great and the Vandals show why they’ve survived, to the extent they have, all these years. Looking over the 20 odd years the thing covers, you’ll find traces of yourself and your friends -- if you’ve been around long enough to have driven legally in the 90s.. BUT the bonus material is what carries the disc over the top. There’s the commercial for an electronic drum module made by a very young Josh Freese (I think I almost remember it, but I prefer his solo album) fuzzy Italian bootleg footage, a great amateur interview of the Sugarcubes (when Bjork was barely legal, it seems) by Joe Escalante, and more. My favorite - next to Bjork, is the band’s onscreen commentary that accompanies endless tape of fans waiting to get into a show, and security patdowns of the chicks and goons that came to see them. Questions: First, who would think to tape this stuff? Second, who would think to put it on a DVD? Third, who would buy it? Answers: The Vandals, Kung Fu, anyone board with the situation comedies the mainstream media would have you watch instead. - Ment
Kittie “Spit in Your Eye” DVD Artemis Recs. Demonic, gutteral growls punk-tuate most of Kittie’ songs. And for the voyeurs in the crowd, you cant watch these youngins lounging on top of oneanother in the back of the, limo, commercial jet, or tourbus, as it winds its way through towns like Topeka. Multi-camera shoots from different shows are cuttogether for a big-budget look. It violates the tour timeline, but leaves you not caring Then there’s the evidence of larcenous behavior like hotel bible theft (for the construction of a bible table) and captured innocent moments like toothbrushing. So zaney! Watch as they bitch about the greenroom. Get their hair done, and mug for the camera with their pierced eyebrows. I like it. I always like Kittie. I like all kitties. Who wouldn’t? - Ment
Secret Weapons of Kung Fu DVD. The thing sells for $7. That’s punk! It’s 18 videos by about half as many bands, mostly fairly low-budget performance heavy clips with a dose of narrative stuff, like a heist from a down and out street musician in The Ataris “Teenage Riot” or wedding theme that runs throguh “This Ain’t No Way to Live” by No Use For A Name. Also cool is the Vandals “My Girlfriend’s Dead” - available both as live action and animated! “My girlfriends dead, you see. It’s a total lie but it’s easier than havingto admit that she likes somebody else.... I guess there’s a part of me that likes the sympathy” Try Mi6’s “Jeff Brown” shot both indoors and on location in a field near a power line tower. There’s all here, Ozma, Antifreeze, Assorted Jelly Beans, Useless I.D. Imaging, you can see the bands play, even if they never come to play in your town. Kung Fu ships free in the US of A, rah rah! - Ment