archives: Top Players Choice: #9 for Keith "Krash" Adams - session 354

 

As was mentioned in a previous blog post, Instagon played an epic Sunday night residency at the Liquid Den in Huntington Beach,CA between 2002 & 2004.  One night, in December of 2002, a southern gentleman from Louisiana named Kieth Adams wandered into our Den..had a saxophone and said he wanted to jam, and so he was invited to play..and well, he just stuck around and came out nearly every week after that! We played a bunch of shows over the time of 2003 and when it was all said and done Keith had played 36 sessions with Instagon, giving him the #9 Top player spot.  Currently Keith is on the East coast.. he still plays sax occasionally, but spends most of his time training and running in marathons.  I got a hold of Keith recently and asked him what his most memorable show was.. and right away he started telling me about a night that Yod played.. and that we played a REALLY long version of Jazz for Satan and that it was really crazy...so I started comparing dates that Yod & Keith played together and there were only a few, and then narrowed in on a session from 2003, that also included David Chetkin on drums, & Zak from The TAINT playing with us too.  I showed this data to Keith and he confirmed this was indeed the show he was thinking of.. and so .. now we present it to you for your enjoyment.

Instagon Top Player's Choice #9
for Keith Adams
session #354
August 17, 2003
Liquid Den, Huntington Beach,CA
http://www.archive.org/details/instagon2003-08-17.flac16

This was a Sunday night at the Liquid Den.  We came to jam and drink beeeer.
Sometimes we would have a 2nd band play with us on a Sunday, this night was night that kinda night.  The session was made up of players who had all experienced Instagon previously, so there was no new blood for the deamon that night...but we all were there and ready to have a good time.. well all except Zak Olson..who arrived late and only played for the 2nd set.  The band consisted of DAVID CHETKIN (of the local band Frogdog) on drums, SEAN CAMPEAU on guitar, KEITH ADAMS on sax, LOB INSTAGON on bass & vocals, and later on ZAK OLSON on keyboards. The first set was pretty typical of sessions from this time period of Instagon...a couple of covers.. a couple of originals.. something new.."Ubertracker" was a song that we played during the summer of 2003 that only had 3 or 4 outings.. (this may be the final appearance) Also in this set there is a rare cover of The Who's "Boris The Spider", which only appears in the set every once in awhile (mainly if Chetkin is on drums), there was also a unique space/noise piece called "Area 51" that is exclusive to this set.  For the 2nd set we got Zak all dialed in and added to the stage.. and he started playing around with his key board and playing the opening notes, with the right effects, for Pink Floyd's "Echoes" .. and so we joined in and explored into that calling it "Echoes23"..this is the ONLY time Instagon has attempted to play Echoes. The set continued on with one of Keith's favorite jams, "Thee Little Turtle" ...then a "Rock Lobster" ..a nice relaxing version of "Spider"...and THEN it happened.. the epic "Jazz for Satan".. it clocks in at 21 minutes!..during this jam there was lots of switching of instruments and people.. Sean played bass.. Lob played guitar.. keyboards.. Zak played bass..Sean played keyboards.. Zak played drums.. David played keyboards..and so on.. only Keith played Sax for the entire jam.  The show closed in standard fashion with a jam on The Germs' "Shut Down".. but then came back for an encore with another noise/soundscape piece called "Liquid Dream" ..and then a cover of America's "Horse With No Name".  This is one of my (lob) favorite songs ever..and I had totally forgotten about this rendition of it until i started uploading this recordings.  This is the ONLY time Instagon has played this song by America. This session was recorded in the audience.. with a Mini Disc recorder..it was transferred to CD at home, and then just this month the original CD recordings were re-mastered for this posting.  This is the entire show, it will require 2 discs if you are burning it.  Click on the link above to stream or download this classic Liquid Den session from Instagon.   THANKS KEITH!

archives: Players Choices: #5..(tie) Robert Fisher & Sean Campeau

When we started this series of show postings,..these 2 players were NOT tied...but with last week's gig at Vega's in Old Sacramento (session #577) Robert Fisher has moved up one more notch and now he and Sean 'Yod' Campeau are both tied for the #5 spot.. The Fifth largest number of shows played by any individuals is 58 shows and currently both Yod and Robert are tied with this number to be proud of.  So we asked both of them to choose a show that was their favorite memories of playing with Instagon.
 Sean's first choice was a show from 1994 in Fullerton,CA at the Muckenthaler Museum. (session #37,4-29-94). This was a show that involved a procession of percussionist walking up the street to the Museum and into the grounds to the stage area...where we continued to create a tribal percussion with drums and wind instruments...soon a small crowd gathered that included random children that were VERY excited and into what we were doing.. soon we had the kids on the stage playing the drums and other instruments and WE were sitting on the grass watching. It was very very fun and well.. because of the nature of it..there does not seem to be a recording. This is one of those rare shows that does not appear to be found in our immediate archival collection.  IF someday this show DOES find its way to materializing.. we will for sure share it.. but it does not seem to be available. ..and so ..we asked Yod what his SECOND choice would be .. and he came up with this

Players Choice #5 (tie)

for Sean 'Yod' Campeau

session #314
Dec. 22, 2002 -Liquid Den, Huntington Beach,CA
http://www.archive.org/details/instagon2002-12-22.flac16

The Liquid Den was a bar in Huntington Beach that was owned by Jim Cline, brother to Opus23.  He hired Lob to book the bands for his bar...we had live music 7 days a week (when we could make it happen).  Instagon played an 28 month Sunday night residency at the Liquid Den...nearly every Sunday night for almost 2 & half years , with a different line up and stellar shenanigans. Sean also worked at Liquid Den at the end of the run in 2004 as the sound man there.. but this show is from the early beginnings of this epic residency in December of 2002.. a holiday show. We played 2 sets. The players included all regulars to the Sunday night happenings, The band was Lob, Sean Campeau, as well as Liquid Den's then current sound man Don Rawlin (RIP)...sax man Keith Adams..and members of THE TAINT..Zach Olson & Jack Johnson. ..Sean said he chose this show because during the show at one point I turned to Don and asked him to start something from the guitar.. to begin the next jam.. and he started to play the xmas tune "Carol of the Bells" and it was the funniest thing he remembers ever happening during an Instagon... and we indeed continued on and played Carol of the Bells... as well as Little Drummer Boy...just to be sure everyone understands that the Deamon has xmas spirit damn it!  Because it was the holidays, this show was played to nearly an empty bar..probably under 10 people witnessed this glory...the sounds of frogs and crickets you hear on the recording are put there.. We used to run this looping track of that audio behind us during shows like this just to add to the empty atmosphere as a joke.  This show has been digitally remastered from the original recordings. It was previously released as TIF058 a 2CD package .. limited to probably 10 copies or less.  This show as also dedicated to JOE STRUMMER (of THE CLASH) who passed away on the day of the show.   Lots of great riffs.. first time songs.. songs we don't play any more.. and fun times in this Players Choice.   Click the link above to download or stream this show.

Players Choice #5 (tie)
for Robert Fisher

session #173
Sept. 12, 1998 - PCH CLUB, Wilmington,CA
http://www.archive.org/details/instagon1998-09-12.flac16

The P.C.H. Club was a run down shack of a warehouse space in the industrial area of Wilmington, CA. near the waterfront on Pacific Coast Hwy. It was a DIY Punk venue that was run by a number of local Long Beach/San Pedro punks and was able to house shows for a few years before it closed or was shut down..I cannot really remember...but it WAS a place where a LOT of really great 1990's hardcore and indie punk shows happened in So Cal..it also was friendly to grindcore, noise, and just about everything else.  It was across the street from an oil refinery that had flames bursting from the top of it continually around the clock..so the place for sure had that underground, anarchistic hidden clubhouse feel to it.. it was perfect.  Instagon only played the P.C.H. Club 4 times, this was our 2nd visit. The line up was amazing for an experimental show at the time.. opening the show was PARAMECIAL WEDDING from Los Angeles (Joseph Hammer, Mitchell Brown, Tom Grimley!), followed by Huntington Beach locals THEE AHMISH (featuring Charles Ardinger,& Dr. Oblivious), and also the power of San Francisco's SUB ARACHNOID SPACE.. one of the greatest west coast space rock bands ever. Instagon also was happy to be including Mason Jones from SAS on guitar joining the band as well as EDDIE NERVO (DOG,DESTROY DATE), BRETT RUBIN, and also 2nd guitar ROBERT FISHER. Even though we are long time friends, this show is one of only 2 sessions that Mason Jones (Trance,SAS,Charnel House) has played (as of yet) with Instagon.
Robert said this show has always stuck with him as just being super spacey and groovy and a fun time..it was very lo-keyed and fluid and we just jammed hard. The first half of this show (up until "Forward") was full improvisation and without boundaries. Its not the longest show in the archive.. nor is it the shortest..but its very very spacey and worthy of your adventurous ears.
click the link above to experience this show.