KILL VAN KULL
CLEANSED
MERKIN
GRID LOCK
GRAVEL
at The Coconut Teaszer

By The King of Rock Fans

"I Wanna Rock!" That's what Dee Snyder told us all in the 1980's, and although they've told us rock's gone and forgotten, I still keep getting flyers for and then attending these fabulous Heavy Metal Nite shows at various clubs around the city. Some bands change from show to show, but headliners Kill Van Kull, host Sheena Metal, and the loads of tape and CD giveaways remain constant. How do you find out when these shows are happening? Well, just browse through any issue of Rock City News and look for the formidable advertisements, or listen to the enticing KLOS ads.
When I arrived at the club, a growling hardcore metal threesome called GRAVEL was spewing little bits of macabre death and dark power chords into the smoky club air!
As GRID LOCK started to set up, I spotted Kill Van Kull's fairly famous drummer Rick Steele. My neighbor - who thinks that he's Neil Pert and Tommy Lee - has attended one of Rick's drums clinics and worships him. Back to Grid Lock - they're hard-edged and powerful with a 1990's groove that's almost alternative but then still old school heavy metal.
It was during a wayout, strange and 1960's groove oriented set that I first saw Sheena Metal hanging around. Actually, I smelled beer and when I turned around I saw Sheena. It's either a strange perfume or last night's party scent left over. I'm not sure which.
CLEANSED played half their set without a bass player. I've seen a lot of strange gimmicks on stage, but it was a first time for that one! Their singer is a dredlocked white boy with an effects rack that would put any GIT graduate to shame. I think that I saw their guitar player working at Radio Shack. They seemed like angry college kids with a set that was half love and half hate. They're angry, yet endearing. Sheena said they she wanted to have the singer's children. What tangled hair those kids would have.
Headliners, KILL VAN KULL were in rare form. They set up Rick's drum set off to the side of the stage and very close to the edge so that you could see every move he made - every drum he hit, every cymbal he crashed. This girl standing next to me said that he was a sweaty beast. She looked 12 and had obviously come to see Cleansed. Just then Rick popped up, grabbed the singer's microphone and started growling this ferocious tirade about metal coming back. People looked stunned and scared. Even his band looked stunned. Then he crawled back behind the drumset and started playing again. The bass player also ran around the stage a lot, making porno movie faces and jamming like Hell. I've never seen such a good set from them.
Then the great giveaways were over and the ghetto blaster was raffled off and all that was left was a set from MERKIN. The running joke of the night was "what's a merkin?" evidentially it's some sort of crotch hairpiece - Sheena called it a "pubic wig." They, too were metal and not half bad.
The next Heavy Metal Nite is some sort of weekend festival in August. I guess look in Rock City News to see when and where. Just don't miss it - and don't forget to tell them The King Of Rock Fans sent you!