~Jay Unidos posted a set of photos on flickr from the year so far at 924 Gilman St, including two photos and the flyer from the Pinhead Gunpowder show on February 10. It’s a cool scrapbook that gives a feel for the place.

As many of you may recall, when Pinhead Gunpowder played a mini-tour in February, they debuted three new songs and said they would be putting out a 7 inch record. You can see Billie Joe making the announcement here, at 3:45. And you can hear the live versions of the songs on YouTube as well: On the Avenue, Anniversary Song, West Side Highway.

News about the record had been quiet for a while. We had only learned it would be released on Recess Records. About a week ago, I had heard from Shanty Cheryl — you’ll remember her from the great photos she took of the Pinhead Gunpowder shows — and she wrote: PS: Just listened to the master of the new pinhead record. The songs sound great! I’ll let you know when we release it.

The news has now been confirmed by a MySpace bulletin from Recess Records, which was reported on Green Day dot net, and later on other sites, including Punk News (though they don’t seem to be aware of the songs having been played live), that the release date is expected to be July 22.

I’ve always loved Pinhead Gunpowder. They’re like a grittier version of Green Day to me. I love Aaron Cometbus’s lyrics… love the whole package! So this is good news.

I remember ordering a copy of Jump Salty back in the Dookie days, when I was interested in learning about anything Green Day, or any of its members, had done, and falling in love with it. I also remember getting Carry the Banner, which at first had only been released on a 10 inch vinyl, which sadly I no longer have. I wonder what happened to it?

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German magazine Bravo has an article on Pinhead Gunpowder. As far as I can tell, the orange button says, “A sensation: Billie Joe plays for six dollars!” which struck me as kind of funny: oh my, a big rock star slumming it, in a dive! Imagine that!

If you speak German, which I don’t, you can read the whole article here.

~There was an announcement on the Idiot Club, reported on GDC, that Pinhead Gunpowder’s new 7 inch record will be out in May on Recess Records. Billie Joe himself said, during the February shows, that Pinhead Gunpowder would be coming out with a 7 inch record. You can see him talking about it here, at 3:45: “We’re recording right now. We just recorded three new songs. They’re gonna be coming out on a 7 inch.”

Update: I made some scans of the two page spread. Click on the thumbnails.

The new issue of Spin magazine has a photo spread on Pinhead Gunpowder’s recent shows. The photo above is by Shanty Cheryl, and the photos published in the magazine are hers too. Read her comments and see the complete photo here.

I’d pick up a copy but it’s the middle of the night. I’ll just wait patiently until tomorrow…

In light of some of the negativity that came out on the San Francisco Guardian’s blog, that I linked to in the next to last post (take a look at the comments that have been posted there since, for a more complete picture) it was a lovely breath of fresh air to read this glowing report of the show from one of the owners of Lookout Records and a longtime member of that scene. Read the whole piece here.

“What I truly loved and even remember from before…. was the chaos, but the excitement of that group sing-along, hearing all my favorite songs and feeling the nonstop movement of the audience. Like a Haley’s Comet, I feel we are all lucky to be bonded by this experience, to see this explosion of energy at the same time. It was, hands down, one of the best shows I’ll see all year.”

The San Francisco Bay Guardian published a review of Pinhead Gunpowder’s Feb. 10 show at Gilman St, and the author of the piece also posted some behind-the-scenes commentary on the Guardian’s blog that says: “Having a mainstream celebrity grace Gilman’s stage flexed the politics of everyone at the club, but struck to the core of a few.”

That there was tension among some of the volunteers and members of the scene about hosting Pinhead Gunpowder at a place like Gilman St doesn’t really surprise me. In fact it surprised me a little, at first, that the reactions that came out were so overwhelmingly positive, but then again, it really shouldn’t have been unexpected, because what makes a show magical is the music and the energy, from both band and audience, and there’s no question from all accounts that just about everyone was just happy to be there and that the performance was inspiring and wonderful.

So I’m not sure if this author is unnecessarily looking for discord when he says, “On the surface, the show was a raging success. But from talking with various people involved in the club, I knew not everyone was tapping their toes.” Surely, if you’re looking for it, you can always find someone who will grouse about anything?

It’s ironic that the piece specifically mentions the mistrust that the club’s staff feels toward the Guardian, and then goes on to be the only account of the show that gets in its digs at the club and its volunteers, opening with the statement that the staff at Gilman has “an overwhelming elitist vibe” that’s “insidious in thwarting the average person from attending shows there.” Gee, I wonder why the staff was skeptical about having the Guardian cover the event?

Still, I don’t doubt the truthfulness of the account, that there was indeed tension and some negative feelings about Pinhead Gunpowder’s show tucked in among the happiness and euphoria. I don’t know anything about Gilman St first hand, only what I’ve read. But I had some experience with the underground punk scene. I was a volunteer at a DIY venue that hosted punk shows every week, along with other activist and art projects. If we were seen as elitist or surly, it was because we had to be: it was an attempt to create some armor plating. Trying to run a community effort that is completely self-sustaining, without any help from the corporate world or any business interest, and that’s kept afloat by volunteers and dedicated individuals, is a fragile proposition. There’s never enough money, things are always falling apart, people are always flaking out or squabbling. It would be so tempting to accept some kind of sponsorship, to allow some big entity with big money to come and rescue the constantly-on-the-verge-of-sinking ship. But that would defeat the purpose of having created an independent alternative to the mainstream business model. It’s a very slippery slope, and it can get confusing to decide what should and should not be accepted within the confines of the scene. Some people react by being very intransigent, sometimes with good reason and sometimes not.

Sometimes, as Robert Eggplant is quoted as saying, people “are way more committed than they should be. They take it too seriously sometimes.”

Green Day’s relationship to both the punk world and the mainstream commercial music business is complicated. I think it’s a huge credit to them that they can navigate the paradoxes and come through with their integrity intact. But it’s understandable that not everyone would be completely at ease with their choices, and that Billie Joe’s presence on Gilman’s stage might bring out some of that unease.

Be sure to keep checking Shanty Cheryl’s flickr. She’s been uploading more and more of her wonderful photos of Pinhead Gunpowder’s shows from February 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. I have to share these two because they are just too faboo:

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This was written by Gabe at bohemian.com:

Bodies crushed, heaved, and lurched as one in the beautiful fray of the crowd.

‘Welcome home!’ someone yelled.

‘Welcome home!’ replied Billie Joe, in a sort of gleeful amazement at the phrase, and then began singing, ‘Welllll-come hoooo-me, wellll-come hoooo-me!’

Obviously enjoying the hell out of the occasion, Billie jumped around like a madman, quoted John Denver and Don McLean lyrics, and slashed away at his black Gretsch guitar. He couldn’t have appeared more inspired on Gilman’s well-worn stage.

I caught up with him [outside], steam emanating from his drenched body. ‘That,’ he told me, ‘was great.’

What a wonderful review… next best thing to being there. Read it all, here.

I posted some pictures and other tidbits on GDA. I’m not going to re-post everything, at least not today…

I love pictures and videos as much as anyone of course, but I also really love the stories, hearing about the experience from people who were there. So here are some accounts from three different people who saw Pinhead Gunpowder in the last few days. And there are pictures too.

Ben Goetting, who took the photo in the previous post, wrote:

“It could only be described as magical. I danced, I sang along until my voice was horse, I bruised a rib, and I had the best night at a show in … I can’t even remember since when. A good punk rock show makes you feel like you can do anything. I’m going to go to the show they are playing tomorrow but there’s no way it could live up to being eye level with Billie Joe Armstrong as he sang some of my favorite songs of my youth, right up front, screaming my heart out. At the end of the night I got home and washed of the smell of sweat, smoke, and beer; but there was no way you could wipe this smile of my face not even with a bat.”

The Lackey, who also posted some pictures she took, wrote:

“How do you describe an evening that helps restore your faith in all you stand behind? Billie was gorgeous. Billie was having fun. Billie was the Billie we all know and love.”

It’s All That I Wanted has lots of pictures, and wrote:

“As soon as they started playing, these punkies went nuts and started crowd surfing. A body literally crawled in my head. It was really crazy. My eyeglasses were smashed, my ribs were crushed and my other earring got lost! I never recalled in my entire life that I sweat that much. Good thing I was able to snap shots before the crowd went wild! It was really fun yet a tough show….”

Rolling Stone says:

“With a beanie pulled over his bleached hair, Armstrong strolled onto the stage like one of the roadies, a Red Stripe in one hand and a guitar in the other. Armstrong pulled fans up to watch from the stage, but also told them to put away the digital cameras. ‘YouTube can’t own everything,’ he said. ‘There’s also something called memories.’”

Pinhead Gunpowder at Babe’s Warehouse in Long Beach, Feb. 2, 2008. Photo by Ben Goetting. Click for more pictures.

It’s so great to see so much documentation of these rare performances. I remember back in the day, when you would read about a concert weeks later in a magazine if you were lucky!

More photos and links on GreenDay.net, the GDA Picture Vault, and GDC.

Videos:
Feb 3: Anniversary Song, My Boot in Your Face is What Keeps me Alive.
Feb 2: Before the Accident (25 seconds); Losers of the Year and New Blood.

DJ Rossstar wrote an account of attending Pinhead Gunpowder’s second show, last night at Babe’s Warehouse, and he also posted a picture he took with Billie Joe. He says video is coming as well. Read about it on GDC or Buzznet.

There’s also a small video on youtube of some people hanging out with Billie Joe at the show and taking his picture. It’s very dark and you can’t really see anything. [Via GDC ]

I’m just so happy to know that Pinhead Gunpowder is doing these shows that I can’t be upset about not being able to see them. I’m glad DJ Rossstar has been so generous about sharing his experience. I love hearing everyone’s stories.

Here’s a bit of history, for nerds like me who like to dot all the i’s. List of Pinhead Gunpowder’s shows prior to this week:

04/05/92 Punks with Presses
04/11/92 924 Gilman Street
01/22/94 924 Gilman Street
01/27/94 Yummy Hole, Berkeley
02/03/94 X-Ray, Portland
02/04/94 Jalapeno House, Seattle
02/05/04 Lucky 7 House, Olympia
02/06/94 Velvet Elvis, Seattle
02/07/94 Komotion, San Francisco
08/30/96 C.O.W. Cafe, Benicia
09/14/96 Eggplants Backyard, Pinole
02/17/98 Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco
03/08/01 Starry Plough, Berkeley
04/16/01 Clock Tower, Benicia

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