Music History, Part 18: The Later Boise Years 1988

Disclaimer: Memory is a funny thing, and an elusive one. Meaning; I might have some of this wrong, as 1. My memory is not always accurate, like anyone and 2. It is from my perspective only. Any friends  who were there, feel free to correct me or add things I have missed. It helps! Also, no gossip on anyone here, it ain't about that. Personal details are on a surface level, and friends, girlfriends and others are re-named to respect their privacy. People in bands generally put their names out there on albums and in interviews anyway, and are not in the habit of staying anonymous, and therefore are named here. That said, anyone who is in the blog that wishes me not to use their name has only to ask.


Drummer drink-off with Poison Idea and State Of Confusion (ending up in a result you might not expect).

This entry is the result of me discovering some errors in my entries covering the years 1986-1987, which started with me noticing that I had assumed that the State Of Confusion LP, 'A Street' was released in 1987ish but it turns out it was released in 1988 - which I could have determined by actually LOOKING AT THE RELEASE DATE ON THE RECORD...but I didn't.

As a result, my memory of a couple tours, one in 1987, one in 1988 (post 'A Street') blended together, so I have to go back and do corrective surgery on the blog, and that is what this is; the first knife cut and I suppose adding of an organ...eh, that's an awkward metaphor...moving on!

For the previous 1987 tour entries, I had the meticulous journal that Young Wayne left me, and for the '88 tour, I do not. Suffice it to say this will be a fairly short entry, and that I do not remember most of the shows on this tour. I assume it was pretty short. The purpose of this entry is mainly to insert a great tour story involving an infamous NW punk band, The Kings of Punk themselves; Poison Idea.

Above; Poison Idea around 1988/1990 (respectively) with Thee Slayer Hippy on drums (the long-haired blonde)

SOC scored an amazingly cool show in San Francisco, as mentioned, with Poison Idea. And, as mentioned in previous entries, we had bonded a bit with PI. Once, when they were playing Boise in the late '80s, they attended a party we were all at. Some outsiders infiltrated the party and were starting some trouble with one of us. Jerry and their new drummer, known as 'Slayer Hippy' (or 'Thee Slayer Hippy'), both very large, badass men, flanked us like soldiers and all they had to do was look at this asshole and he ran scared. I was impressed. They were never anything but kind and respectful to us, and we returned that vibe. It was perhaps this relationship that led to us getting the SF gig. I don't remember exactly how it happened, but I assume Pat set it up, as he booked most of our shows.

The club we played at in SF, I don't remember the name of it, (up the street from the famous Paradise club) was a trippy place. There was a dance floor covering over a giant swimming pool in the middle of the floor in front of the stage. On the roof was a separate bar.

We arrived early to see one of the opening bands do their sound check, I think they were called Happy Birthday, kind of new wave, a weird singer bopped around with shreds of paper tied into her hair. Poison Idea walked in, we said hi. I remember standing next to Jerry and Tom Pig as we all watched Happy Birthday do their sound check. Jerry and Tom had looks of disgust on their faces. I think Tom asked no one in particular, "What the fuck is this?" or something similar, in that way that only Pig could do. I shrugged.

After we sound checked and PI sound checked, we headed to the bar on the roof. The bartenders were working in these little booths and wearing top hats. There were gogo dancers in bikinis dancing in random spots throughout the roof, smiling madly. It was like being in some sort of fairy tale.

Erik and Slayer Hippy hit it off right away. They parked themselves at a table and began drinking heavily. I sat with them for a time, but I was not a fan of getting drunk before playing a show. Erik actually didn't do it that often, but there were a few times when he actually passed out while drumming at a show. He was usually kind of a light-weight since he was pretty small. Often he would pass out early. But this night, Erik was the man. It began to resemble a drinking competition.

Slayer Hippy started looking a little wobbly. Erik did too, but less so. It came time for us to play and Erik pulled it off. A memory from our set that stood out was that at the time, SOC was playing a cover of the AC/DC song, 'Dirty Deeds' and the crowd loved it.

We finished our set and pulled our gear off the stage and loaded it into our van. Poison Idea was up next, but we saw them hanging around their van. As we neared, we noticed that Tom Pig was sitting in the open sliding van doorway, his feet planted in the gutter, looking in front of him with an expression of despair on his face. When we were even with the PI van, we saw he was staring at a motorcycle parked in the sidewalk directly in front of him. Then we saw that someone was...working on the motorcycle? No, it was Slayer Hippy, passed out drunk, under the motorcycle.

The Paradise Club, San Francisco (1981 - now closed) Photo by Gregg Girard retrieved from:  http://greggirard.com/work/in-the-near-distance--12

We talked to Jerry and Tom, both understandably very bummed out. We were bummed for them, but, also understandably, we were pretty blown away that our drummer drank the drummer of the infamously hard-drinking band Poison Idea under the table---nay, under the motorcycle. They had to load Slayer Hippy into the van, like some luggage, and take off. 

Inside the club at around midnight, they had peeled back the dance floor from the swimming pool and people were jumping in, some fully clothed. Even as a young punk I thought that drunk people swimming was not the best of ideas. I assume they got sued at some point.

We moved on to The Paradise club up the street, where there was a band playing upstairs and a band playing downstairs (which we thought was the coolest thing ever). I don't remember the bands. But I will always remember that night. 

Next: Treepeople record the first 7 inch record in Seattle with Jack Endino and get busted for drinking in the park with TAD, and the author gets two of the citations...how? Read on and you shall see...