Pikadori?

     Am I the only person that remembers the band Pikadori?  If I didn't have their CD, I wouldn't have believed they existed.  The band was Joey Vesley, Joel Grimes, Jacob Leger and Jason Kirker.

     They were active in the early aughts and played a lot of shows at the old Roboto Project and I never had a chance to see them play.  Back when there used to be enough green space over at Carnegie Mellon for their Tech Fair to be held, a friend of mine did get to see them.  He called me the next day and thought Pikadori would be right up my alley.  And goddammit if he wasn't right.  I picked up their CD the next time I stopped into Brave New World and the band's Dischord/Fugazi sound was, in fact, right up my alley.

     Pikadori's self-titled record isn't streaming anywhere that I noticed and I could only find a handful of grainy live videos on Youtube.  At first glance, Google didn't offer up too much information about the band itself.  Outside of an album review posted on a defunct website called the New Yinzer.  On the third or fourth page of my search, things started to get interesting.

     After Pikadori dissolved, Vesely and Grimes went on to form a band called Allies.  The band released a self-titled album in 2008 and another in 2011 titled Wire Walk which came out on the label Lock & Key Collective.  Then the pair went on to form a band called Trace Remains which seems to be active in some manner since they played a show back on July 1^st of this year.  The Trace Remains Bandcamp page has one song posted and says there will be an EP on the way.  The Allies albums have been downloaded and I am eagerly awaiting the release of the Trace Remains EP.

     My brain got stuck on Pikadori because the band Emptier reminded me of them so much.  Not in a derivative way but in a “I need to hear more” kind of way.  I have seen Emptier twice and they were impressive both times.  Their album OMW is worth putting some time into.

     Pittsburgh has always seemed to lack noisy, nerd-rock type bands to fill my jones for that kind of music.  Either that or the very real possibility that I've been looking for it in all the wrong places.  Lately, Emptier has been scratching that itch for me.  What's worse is that touring bands that play that style of music seem to be allergic to Pittsburgh and skip over the city.  The Canadian band METZ was scheduled to play here back in October but cancelled the show for some reason.  They were already south of the border playing in other towns so I'm guessing low ticket pre-sales caused the cancellation.  Either that or it was the usual “Why the fuck are we going to Pittsburgh?” excuse to pull the plug.

     I'm glad I ripped my old Pikadori CD onto a hard drive because when I went back to it recently there was a skip halfway through the second to last song.  Since I treat my records and CDs better than most people, my guess is that the foil on the back of the CD has started to degrade.  There are a handful of copies available on the Discogs so if my nostalgia becomes too overwhelming I will be able to find a replacement without too much trouble.

     I do know for certain that the next time Trace Remains is playing a show somewhere in town that I will try my damndest to be in the room when it happens.

Invalid At The Rock Room On November 26, 2022

     Here are pictures that I took at the Rock Room on November 26, 2022.  The lineup was Invalid, The Hell, Illiterates and Nasty Nancy.  This was Invalid's first show.

Invalid:

The Hell:

Illiterates:

Nasty Nancy:

These Hulls Have Been Hammered

     Back on November 17^th, 2022, I ventured north to Cleveland once again.  This time to witness Hammered Hulls play one of the best sets that I've ever seen a band play.  They already put out one of my favorite records of the year and the proof of their greatness is in the pudding of their live show.

     The pedigree of this band is no joke.  It's Alec MacKaye on vocals, Mark Cisneros on guitar, Chris Wilson on drums and Mary Timony on bass.  Unfortunately, Mary Timony couldn't make it on tour so Brendan Canty (i.e. the drummer from Fugazi) was sitting in on bass.  As much as I wanted to cross off seeing Mary Timony play from my list of things to do I was willing to settle for seeing Brendan Canty play bass.

     Look up any of these musicians to see what other bands they've played in and get ready to pick your jaw up from the floor.  Faith, Helium and Medications to name but a few.  They are Washington, D.C. heavyweights that take up a lot of space in my record collection with their various bands.

     Hammered Hulls released a three song EP in August of 2019 that I listened to repeatedly.  I hated that record based solely on the fact that it only had three songs.  I would angrily watch it spin after side B had ended wishing that there were ten more songs.

     In late October, those songs finally landed on my porch when their LP, Careening, was released.  I made the mistake of putting the record on for background noise while I was trying to get some writing done.  The computer ended up closed and put aside while I sat on the floor and watched the speakers fill the air with one of the most stunning records that I've ever dropped a needle onto.  I have been trying to think of a song that's nearly as good as “Written Word” but am having a difficult time finding one.

     Hammered Hulls started recording Careening in early 2020 and suffered a pandemic sized delay in being able to reconvene to finish the album.  The album also carries the distinction of being one of the last records recorded at Inner Ear Studios before the block the studio was located on was set to be demolished as part of a new art/industry redevelopment plan in Arlington, VA.

     I ended up missing Ian MacKaye's new band, Coriky, when they played at a library in Harrisburg in February of 2020 so there was no way I wasn't going to be at the Grog Shop to see Hammered Hulls.

     The opening bands, Autopolitan and The Missed, were worth the trip alone.  I made sure to pick up whatever records The Missed had at the merch table and, from what I could figure out, Autopolitan is a relatively new band so they didn't have any merch but their demo is streaming on Bandcamp.

     The sad thing was that not too many people showed up and I couldn't believe it.  The Grog Shop should have been packed to the rafters.  When I catch wind of Punk Rock royalty coming anywhere near me, I start plotting and planning to be in the room.  I know the show was on a cold Thursday night but I don't think there were even a hundred people in attendance.

     Taking pictures was an uphill battle because of the lighting.  There were two lights across the front of the stage that were out so faces were grainy or nonexistent and using the flash was out of the question.  I did manage to get twenty pictures of Hammered Hulls that didn't make me wince too much.

     I did have to remind myself from time to time to actually take pictures during their set.  They were so good that I was getting distracted from the task at hand.  I eventually gave up and stood stage right to watch their set unfold.  There are some times that I just want to watch a band play and to hell with taking pictures.  This was one of those times.

     After the show, the band hung out at the merch table and I was able to fanboy out for a minute.  I bought another copy of the record and had everybody sign it.  I figure the chances of me being in the same room again as the drummer in Fugazi and the singer in the Faith were slim and none so going full record nerd was unavoidable.  Everyone in the band politely suffered my queries and I even got a laugh out of Brendan Canty before I made my way back to the turnpike.

Hammered Hulls At The Grog Shop On November 17, 2022

     Here are pictures that I took at the Grog Shop on November 17, 2022.  The lineup was Hammered Hulls, The Missed and Autopolitan.

Hammered Hulls:

The Missed:

Autopolitan: