Even under new management Gee Coffee really scares me. It's not so bad when someone like The Get Up Kids play, but when it is relatively unknowns then the place is full of freaky kids I've never seen before. I think they must live at Gee.

Matters were made worse because Vanessa and I drove over a little early expecting to meet up with Squidboy. They appeared on a CCR Tribute I released and so I offered to take them out to dinner if they got in early. Unfortunately the didn't so that meant we were at Gee Coffee from 7pm onward surrounded by the "anywhere but home" kids.

We sat on one of the "new" couches (one that didn't smell like Marlboro yet) with an open Pitch before being joined by John who wanted to chat mindlessly about old school hardcore and such. He's not special kid Brett, but they are friends. Occasionally I'd excuse myself to pace the door waiting for Squidboy to arrive. I'm not sure what time it really was when they pulled their touring ambulance behind the club, but I quickly went up and introduced myself. The band was a little standoffish as 1) we had never met face to face and 2) they recorded the song for the CCR comp over a year ago and it still wasn't out. Still it seemed kinda odd. I learned that this was the last date on the tour so they'd probably just head back to Des Moines after the show.

Squidboy set up and played first. A 25 minute or so set of rock and roll. There is a 70s driving hardrock feel to their live show that is hard to pin down. Around 50 folks were in the club and 20 or so came up to stand in front of the stage for their show. I was surprised to see some of the kids there come up, pretty open minded. The rest of those standing up front seemed to be imports, as a number of Squidboy's friends had driven down from Des Moines to check out the show. The show was fairly tight although the mic was shocking Eric pretty bad, and the whole band seemed understandable uncomfortable with the fog machine.

Squidboy was followed by Sway. Sway are cocky local boys who long to be Korn. It seemed like the little grrls came up front to see the band (many of which got greeting hugs from the band before the set) and the over 18 crowd slipped back to sit down, play pool or visit the Squidboy merch table. The band are fairly good at what they do, it's just over done and definitely not my thing. About 20 minutes into their incredibly long set a number of us were driven outside to escape the noise. Nessa swore they ripped off a Snapcase song and outted the band to anyone who would listen while we sat on the cold concrete steps.

I rushed in during the final applause for Sway so I could catch Overture setting up. I spied their drum kit earlier and anticipated I was in for a treat. It was a drum cage about 10 feet high and 12 feet wide, there were like 8 hanging cymbals and 10 drums. The guitar cabinets were Crate half stacks, one with chains and a dagger hanging on it, the other with chains and a horned "human" skull. That was enough to keep me around even though it meant I had to survive Sway.

Overture (with the help of some roadies) set up the stage and I just giggled with delight as every new piece of gear was placed. Besides the gear mentioned earlier, a big red-haired Viking of a man started setting up his bass rig. Duel 2X15 Ampeg cabinets and a full rack of effects and an Ampeg amp to drive them. More importantly there were gargoyles placed on each of the cabinets. He brought up two basses, first a 5 string and then a 6 String. They had to be custom built, and they had to be worth more than all the gear of the first two bands combined. They had a Colonel Parker type old man running the merch (they had a CD and shirts). I thought maybe he was the rich old man who invested in all the gear and put the band together to bring black metal to the top of the pops. Someone mentioned they were from Topeka or Wichita or something and my interest was peaking, but on the other side of a peak, it's all downhill.

Overture were announced over the PA, and their lead singer/second guitar (thin, young somewhat charismatic with short hair) urged the audience to come up in a fairly gruff but human voice and the band launched into their first song. I was hoping for black metal with cookie monster vocals but instead it was just metal and for all the wonderful gear on stage, the band didn't use it. You don't need a 6 string bass when you only play 2 strings, and two kick drums don't do you much good when you can't command them. The stage show was fun, but it was somewhat like watching Spinal Tap. They tried hard, and were entertaining but I just had to go. John said after I left they finished with three Slayer covers which I would have liked to have heard but oh well. That's the chance you take when you leave early. They did mention they have a monthly gig at Gee so maybe I'll see them again.

Obviously I didn't get to see Triple X or even hear what sort of band they were but I'm sure I was home and in bed before they finished their set and I know they couldn't have topped that.