I have no idea what year. It must have been late 89 or early 90’s. Killdozer. Dalton turned me on to them. Slow, dirge filled, anger laced and funny as hell. Sort of like Black Flag through syrup.

“You call that a hamburger?!”

The opportunity to see them at a club in Madison (where they were formed) came up and Dalton called me. I was totally in.

Prior top the show Dalton made me a tape of their most recent release.

This was recorded on one of the Pharmacology Of Over-The-Counter Preparations tapes, which made it all the better.

 He also included the song list (note mystery songs). I later added a Cattleprod song.

And an explanatory note

And that my friends is why this tape from 20 years ago, holy crap, is still around and still a classic.

Anyhow…

After working 2 jobs that day, I jumped in my car and met Dalton at his downtown apartment (room) and we walked to the club just off of State Street. I can’t remember the name of the club, but I know it has been like 3 things since, if not more, so the point is moot. The music was b l a s t i n g out the door onto the street and we slowly made our way in. The Cows were playing. I will never forget these guys. They were beyond loud and the singer/trumpeter, yeah, trumpeter, was screaming out the lyrics, rocking forward and backwards precariously and whipping everyone there into a frenzy. The place was packed. He kept playing that trumpet for all it was worth; bleating like a sheep during death and making it pierce everyone’s brain. We stood somewhat mesmerized for a few songs making it to about mid club. I noticed that there was a small, very small, table up front on the right of the stage with no one at it. No way! I grabbed Dalton and indicated we should try and get there and we eventually did. As soon as we got there I realized why no one was sitting at this table. It was right, and I mean right, in front of the stage speakers.

Now this was prior to my L7 show hearing loss scare, but it was actually painful sitting there. It was a great place to see the show from though and we refused to move. One song, two songs, more trumpet, I swear I could almost see the shock waves and hear it crackling straight out of the speakers into our faces. I had been to some loud shows before, but this was undeniable at the time the loudest. I had to take drastic measures. Mind you I’m not proud of this, and I can’t imagine what fools we looked like, but I lead Dalton in making impromptu ear plugs out of cigarette filters we found in the ashtray nearby.

I know. I mean it when I say it was loud.

The Cows blissfully finished their set and we moved during the band switch so that we were right down front for Killdozer, away from the speakers. This was a standing spot and I readied my tape equipment. Yeah, I was a bootlegger. I must still have that tape downstairs somewhere. The sound though was admittedly was not good at those volumes. The stage folks made a few changes and then Killdozer was out and the show began. The sound was loud, but not painful, a nice reprieve after the sonic boom of deaf con 4 at the speaker table. The growly lead singer launched into the first song and it was awesome. I was fresh on most of their songs (thanks to Dalton’s tape) and I was loving it. Killdozer killed it every song and the whole place was rocking out and the vibe was perfect. This was what seeing a band was all about.

The song I wanted to hear them do was “Cinnamon Girl”, a cover of Neil Young. Between each song I yelled it out. “Cinnamon Girl!! Woo!!” Finally, I was noticed by the lead singer. He looked at me and stated: “We don’t do that song anymore. (pause) It makes us tired”. On ”tired” he drawled it out slowly  as if in pain and then they launched into the next song. I was so psyched. Yeah, he didn’t play my song, though they did play “American Pie” by Don Mclean, but he did make a connection with me. I loved it. I remember on my boot you can hear that part clear as day. The rest of the show was awesome as well and I went home that night happy.

Incidently, Killdozer also does a song about Space 1999 (this was MY Star Trek as a kid and I recently purchased the entire series on DVD), called “Space: 1999”. They get points JUST for that.

There were a lot of shows with Dalton back in the day, this one was particularly memorable. Thanks Dalton. The memory and the tape live on!